Good morning to everyone. We are continuing our study in the book of Ephesians this morning in chapter 1 at verses 7 to 12. And as we begin, I'd like you to get a big picture perspective of this text. This text, this section of Scripture, is meant to tell us what God is doing, what God's plan and purpose is in Christ, how God is bringing His will to pass for His glory, and the application for the believer is security and assurance in God's grace.

So in these few verses, we see God the Father mentioned over and over, what His will is, what His plan and purposes are, His grace again and again. And we see that all these things occur, are brought to pass, carried out to consummation in Christ.

If you look at the back of your outline, I just wanted to show you something I found interesting. We have ten verses before us this morning in verses 3 to 12, and 23 times we see these pronouns, Him and His and who, and they're all about what God the Father is doing through Christ. So 23 times in ten verses we see this. This is about what God is doing. And it is in Christ that God will bring to consummation, reconcile all things in His eternal plan and purpose.

In verse 9 it says, Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him.

You know, it's our tendency, and I think the tendency of preachers, to make everything about us, to place our focus on ourselves and what God is doing in relation to me, or how this or that Scripture applies to me. And this is good and right in those Scriptures that apply to us, that have a direct application for us or are talking about us. And certainly that's true in the book of Ephesians and talking about what we have and who we are in Christ.

But I think we come to a more full understanding of God, of His will, of His plan and purpose, as well as my part in that eternal plan, if we focus on God. Who He is, what He's doing, ultimately, His glory. And what we see in this section of Scripture in Ephesians 1:1-14 is this emphasis. And the overarching theme is that God has planned and purposed and carried out all of these things and will bring them to fullness and completion in Christ.

This text is really about God the Father and His plan and purpose to gather all things in Christ in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. We see that all of these spiritual blessings are in the realm, in the sphere of Christ. So we learn here of God's eternal plan of salvation and consummation, a setting of all things in order to the praise of His glory in the kingdom and for eternity. And if you are in Christ through faith, then all of these things are yours in Him.

Let's look at our text, Ephesians 1:7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, redemption. Second, the mystery made known. Third, all things in Christ. Fourth, an inheritance. And fifth, to the praise of His glory.

In our first verse, we see the main truth of the section, the emphasis of Paul, which is redemption. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Once again, we see that all spiritual blessings are in the sphere of Christ, in Him, and it is in Him that we have redemption.

Now our text gets very interesting as we follow it down through verse 10, and what we have are cascading phrases that modify this truth of redemption. In Him we have redemption, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him.

The culmination, the mystery of His will, is in verse 10, that in the plan and purpose of God at the end of the ages, the fullness of times, He gathers together in one all things in Christ. And we're going to talk more about this amazing verse in a little bit, but it's important to see that this gathering relates back to verse 7 and the redemption we have through His blood at the cross.

The cross is the focal point where Jesus accomplished redemption and also defeated sin and death and hell, rising from the dead on the third day. It is at the cross and His death through His blood that we find the basis of a setting of all things right in the universe, God's eternal plan and purpose in Him.

It's vital that we first understand what we now have and what redemption is. There are three words in the New Testament that are translated redemption or redeem: lutrosis, meaning the act of paying a ransom to free someone; exagorazo, meaning to buy out or to purchase from the market.

On the way here, Bobby was looking at some article, and she said, You know, you can buy a slave in Nigeria for 80 bucks. Still going on around the world, this idea of buying someone out of the market. But this is exagorazo, to purchase from the market, to redeem by paying the price to release someone from bondage.

And in Ephesians 1:7, we see the word apolutrosis, meaning redemption, deliverance, release, literally buying back or repurchasing what was lost. These three terms together cover the act of redemption, the ransoming process, and the purchase from bondage.

So what is redemption biblically? How is it that we can be redeemed? The very concept assumes the problem. We are separated from God in Adam. We are in bondage. We are a slave, a slave to sin.

And we see this truth in Romans 5, where death entered the world through Adam's sin, and the result is that every man born in Adam is born with indwelling sin, the inward corruption that causes us to commit acts of sins outwardly, which are the grounds for our guilt before God. It is from this condition that Jesus redeems us, buys us back, purchases us out of slavery to sin, and frees us from the penalty and the power of sin. This is absolutely vital to our understanding of redemption.

In the world of religion. There are many different understandings of how one is redeemed. The problem for man, that which separates it from God, holds him in bondage as a slave, is sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. So the penalty that had to be paid was death for our sins. All of the religions of man, even many who claim the name of Christ, seek another way to pay the debt. They seek another way to find favor with God, to buy themselves back into the grace of God. But the fact is that God demands death for sins, and Christ died for our sins. There's no remedy for our condition or our condemnation in good works, or sacraments, or religious rituals. These things are not an acceptable payment for our sins to redeem us.

Peter said in 1 Peter 1:18, Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, listen to this, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. It reminds me of a time I was studying with the head of a Seventh-day Adventist church, and we went through the scriptures and met with him for weeks and went through all these scriptures, and I remember him at one point standing up and slapping the table, and he said, It was good enough for my grandfather, it was good enough for my father, and it's good enough for me. Aimless tradition from our fathers.

We were not redeemed that way, Peter says, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish. And without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. You were not redeemed, bought back from slavery with corruptible things, not by tradition from your fathers, your religion, but with the precious blood of Christ. It was the cross, the death of Christ in our place, in our stead, that accomplished our salvation, that redeemed us and bought us back.

I would remind you of a very important truth encompassing our text in Ephesians 1: all of the spiritual blessings, including redemption, are in Him. It is Jesus who died for my sins in my place and accomplished my redemption, who bought me back at the price of His life. If religion were true, such religion as we see in the book of Galatians, for example, then my redemption would not be in Him, but it would be in me. It would be my works, my sufferings, my alms, my good works and law-keeping and circumcision and baptism or whatever. It would be in me. But it's not in me.

Some confuse the situation, such as in Galatians or in the Christian mainline denominations today. They say it is in Christ and in me. He does His part and I do mine. But this is a lie. Paul said anyone who preaches such a gospel should be damned to hell. Anathema be upon them. It's not Christ plus me. Redemption cannot come through my works, but actually happens apart from the law, apart from good works. Redemption is accomplished solely by Christ and His death in my place for my sins and His burial and resurrection on the third day.

I want to look at one text on this. There's many texts we could look at, but one text on this truth before we move on, perhaps the clearest text on redemption and justification by grace through faith, that's Romans 3 at verse 19. You know, I get these videos on my phone all the time. I've been getting these ones from the Catholic Church. They're making these fancy AI videos and showing why it's the OG church and all that kind of stuff. But I got one last night on the Orthodox Church, and it was attacking evangelical Christians. And in those courses, those things, or maybe you watch a podcast or see an interview, and people will bring these things up, and I'm always screaming, There's like 47 texts that come to your mind, and the Christian is always there like, ugh, you know? I mean, this is so clear in the Bible about redemption over and over and over. And you just wish you could sit down with those people and tell them the truth that they might believe and be saved.

Romans 3:19: We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there's no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith. To demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Paul's just laid out the doctrine of condemnation of all men in Adam. He said in Romans 3:10 and following that there's no one righteous, no, not one. His conclusion to that section is found in verses 19 to 20. In verse 19 he tells us that the purpose of the law is to find us each one guilty before God. Therefore he writes in verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The law, the Ten Commandments, were not given in order for us to keep, to establish our own righteousness, but to show us our unrighteousness before a holy God, that all of our righteous acts are as filthy rags before a holy God. No man can be justified by the works of the law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But verse 21 brings us the adversative, but now, the good news. But now what? The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, how? Through faith in Jesus Christ. For who? To all and on all. Who believe. This is the good news. This is justification by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone.

Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, that law sermon that was given to show us our sin and our need, particularly to show the religious Jews that their religion was a house of cards built on the sand. He told us in Matthew 5:48 that in order to see the kingdom of heaven, listen to this, we must be perfect as God is perfect. We must be righteous.

Now the bad news is that we cannot be righteous. No one is righteous, not one. But now, the good news is this: but now the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Did you notice that? It's not as religion says, the righteousness of God plus my righteousness through law-keeping, my good works. No, it is God's righteousness apart from the law. I cannot be righteous, but I must be righteous to go to heaven. So how? Only one way: God's way, God's plan, God's design in Christ. I can only be righteous by receiving His righteousness by grace through faith in Christ, by imputation.

Look down to Romans 4. Romans 4, verse 1. What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Now look at verse 4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Could it be any more clear? The only hope we have is to receive the righteousness of God as a gift of grace. And how does God say we can receive this gift? Not by works. To him who does not work, it says, but believes. It's the ungodly, he says, who are justified. The ones who place their faith in Jesus alone that God imputes to them His righteousness.

It's not the good people who go to heaven, because there are no good people. It is the ones who know and understand their need and their sins and turn to God in faith, trusting Jesus only.

But now, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there's no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Justification is by grace through faith apart from works. And so, my friends, if your church teaches salvation by works, by law keeping, by sacraments, by baptism, by communion, or any work or anything that you contribute, then this is a false gospel. Justification is based solely in what He did, in Him, not in me.

And this redemption that Paul speaks of is found solely through His blood, His death in my place for my sins on the cross. Look at verse 25 of chapter 3, Romans 3: whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might remain just, punishing all sin, and be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This is God's plan, His eternal plan before the foundation of the world. In Christ, all things would be accomplished in Christ. God set Him forth as a propitiation, a wonderful word, a great doctrine. The word means a full, satisfactory payment. Jesus' one-time death in my place for my sins fully satisfied the wrath of God, paid the debt I owed, redeemed me, bought me back out of slavery to sin, and imputed to me the righteousness of God by grace through faith.

Redemption was accomplished through His blood, it says. This is what our text says, and His blood speaks of His death on the cross. We must understand that everything centers on, focuses on, finds its foundation in the cross. And that's what we see in the next several verses in our text as we follow these cascading phrases which all modify His death, the redemption. That we have in Him.

Did you notice those words of assurance? We have. We have present possession. Remember, Paul's writing to believers, the ones who have placed their faith in Jesus alone and His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection. And for those who have believed, who are saints, who are the faithful in Christ Jesus, we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

And it is this grace of God that becomes the focus of Paul's eulogizing here, blessing God, speaking well of Him. Look at verse 7 again. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.

The words here say that He lavished His grace. He made it abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And how did He do this? The next phrase tells us, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.

Vincent says, Here's another key word. God's grace, as manifested in redemption, is a mystery in virtue of its riches and depth, as the expression of God's very nature. The mystery of the redemption in Christ, belonging to the eternal plan of God, could be known to men only through revelation, only if God made it known to us.

The word will is a desire based not upon reason. God's will is not based on reason, but a desire based on the emotions. God's will or desire here comes from His heart of love.

This will is according to His good pleasure, that which is right or well, the right thing to do. Weestraights the delight, pleasure, and satisfaction which God has in blessing the saints is found in the fact that what He does for them is dictated by what is good for them. You believe that? God does what is good for you. Sometimes it doesn't seem good to us, but it's what's good for us, which He purposed in Himself.

Expositor's Notes: The purpose is God's own free determination originating in His own gracious mind. The ultimate culmination of this plan and purpose of God is found in verse 10, and this is what God is leading to in the implementation carrying out of this plan based in the cross and redemption.

Look at verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, in Him. The word translated dispensation, or in your translation it may simply say plan, this word is made up of two words, oikos, speaking of a house, and nomos, meaning law. So the word means the administration of a home. We're speaking here of God's house, which includes the entire universe, the things which are in heaven, the things which are on earth, all things, not just intelligent beings, but also the creation, all things.

The phrase the fullness of the times is significant. It's speaking of epochs, not chronology. It's not chronos, like succession of moments. It's epochs, seasons of time. This is the idea of dispensations, that God works in different times of history in different ways with different people. And this phrase points to the ripening, the fullness of all these seasons of the times of men, and points to the millennial kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth, when this will all be wrapped up. So it is the fullness of the ages, the completion of all the different epochs of history, that God will gather together in all things in Christ, gather together all things in Christ.

The key phrase here is gather together. The word gather means to bring back to and gather around the main point. I've got a couple of comments here. Follow along.

God contemplates a regathering, a restoration to that former condition when all things were in perfect unity and normally combined to serve God's ends. This unity was broken by sin. Man's fall involved the unintelligent creation, Romans 8:20. The mystery of God's will includes the restoration of this unity, and through Christ, one kingdom on earth and in heaven, a new heaven and a new earth in which shall dwell righteousness, and the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

The purpose of God, therefore, is with a view to the administration that has to do with the completion of the seasons. It's a consummation of God's plan. And at the close of the Messianic kingdom, the great white throne judgment will take place at which all lost human beings, fallen angels, and demons will be judged. It will be set right. The material universe cursed by sin will be brought back to its pristine state. The saved of the human race will live on the new earth, and the endless eternal ages will begin. This is what is meant by an administration of the completion of the seasons.

God will accomplish all this restoration work in and through the Lord Jesus and His atoning death on the cross. We saw the same truth in Colossians 1. Colossians 1:19 says, For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Based in the cross, He's going to reconcile all things.

We noted in this text that the word reconcile means to bring back to a former state of harmony. The mystery of God's will is this: that based in the cross, redemption accomplished through the blood of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, all things will be brought back to a former state of harmony in the whole of creation, in a right relationship, as God rules over all.

For the saint, the one who believes, this means that he is in Christ, that he has forgiveness of sins, that he is predestined to be holy and blameless, that he has the adoption as sons and looks forward to the glorious revealing of the sons of God.

For the demons and for those who reject Christ, they too will be set in proper order, and this finds its basis in the cross as well, where Jesus defeated sin, death, and hell and the principalities and powers. Look in Ephesians 1 down to verse 19. Paul explains this. He says, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

All things will be set in order. All things are not in order now. This is Hebrews 2, right? Mark's quoted that and quoted the Psalm this morning. God set man over the works of His hands, but we do not yet see all things set under man the way God intended. But we see Jesus, right? Jesus will fulfill that theocracy. Everything will be under Him in the millennial kingdom and then in the eternal state.

For us, for the believer, we will be gathered into God's house, His kingdom, where we have every spiritual blessing in Christ, and we will spend eternity in heaven with Him. But for those who are outside of Christ, there will be judgment and subjugation. Every knee will bow, excuse me, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. For them, they will be outside the house of God and will spend eternity in the lake of fire, subjugated, separated from God.

This is God's plan and purpose in Christ for the ages, His eternal plan from before the foundation of the world. And Paul reiterates what he wrote before in the text we studied last week, down in verse 11, Ephesians 1:11. In Him also, we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

According to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. See, He has a plan in Christ, and when you come into Christ. Christ by faith, you become part of that plan. And now He works all things according to the counsel of His will. That's the security that Paul is trying to show us here that we have in Christ.

In Christ we have an inheritance. We are co-heirs with Christ. We are predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, and we are saved for this purpose: the praise of His glory. And this is where this all culminates in Christ, God's glory.

So the question you should be asking is not who God has predestined, but to what has He predestined. That's the key to understanding what Paul's saying here. The question for you is this: are you in Christ? If you have believed Jesus, then you are in Him, and all these blessings are yours in Him, and your future is wrapped up in Christ, His future.

Verse 13 says, In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Those to whom Paul writes had heard the gospel. They had believed the word of truth, and because they were placed into Christ, they were sealed and given the Holy Spirit as a down payment for the salvation that will be revealed in glorification, the redemption of the purchased possession. They are in Christ, and thus they have entered into the sphere of God's eternal plan and purpose. And therefore all these things will come to pass, and they will receive the benefits of this salvation, this plan of God in Christ, and they, the believers. will be to the praise of His glory.

This is the message of this text for you and for me: assurance, confidence in God, in His grace, in His eternal plan, in His power to bring it to pass. When we stepped into the sphere of grace in Christ by faith, we became destined for eternal glory in Him, and we became part of God's plan to glorify Himself in the church. We are His, and He will carry this work to completion in Christ.

Let's close in prayer.

Father, we're so thankful for Jesus. We're so thankful for Your plan in Him. So thankful that You keep teaching us and showing us who He is, who You are, what we have in Him: our future, our salvation, for Your glory. We look forward, we wait eagerly with anticipation, and we trust You and believe You and know that You are sufficient for today and every day, and that You will accomplish Your will in us, in the church, and in all creation. We look forward to that great day in Jesus' name. Amen.