Sermon Central
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Liberated Series
Contributed by Erick Adams on Apr 17, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: This is third in a series of sermons from the book of Ephesians.
LIBERATED
Rev. Erick J. Adams
Kiel Alliance Church
April 17, 2005
* Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people--free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, (The Message)
* in whom we have the redemption through his blood, the remission of the trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, in which He did abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, (Young Literal Translation)
* Because of the blood of Christ, we are bought and made free from the punishment of sin. And because of His blood, our sins are forgiven. His loving-favor to us is so rich. He was so willing to give all of this to us. He did this with wisdom and understanding. (New Living Translation)
* Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding, (Contemporary English Version)
* 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, (New King James)
* In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight (New American Standard)
REDEEMED
* Redemption has lost it’s meaning.
– Theologized
– Partially Decayed.
* Liberated
– Modern equivalent
– To be set free.
* To redeem something is to restore to usefulness.
* Liberated means to be set free for usefulness.
* Paul pictures an open slave market.
* The picture is of a slave purchased and freed in order to be useful and fruitful to someone.
* Pawn-Shop salvation.
* We are useless in our natural human condition for whatever God has designed us for.
* There is no way we can achieve the sense of fulfillment we long to have.
* “I know some Non-Christians that seem pretty fulfilled.”
* Achievement vs. Fulfillment
– Many achieve much but few are really fulfilled.
– The answer to fulfillment is right here in these verses.
* Jesus came into this slave pit and LIBERATED us.
* He restored us to useful, fruitful, eternally significant living.
FORGAVE
* Through the work of Christ we were liberated from our sins.
* They were forgiven.
* The Greek word for trespass/sin means:
– Missteps
– Stumblings
– Hurtful blunderings
– Devastating, deadening, disillusioned
* Forgiveness:
– Dismissed
– Set-aside
– No longer considered taken into account
– Ignored.
* All of our sin, trespasses, missteps, stumblings, blunderings, etc have been
* Dismissed
* Set-aside
* No longer considered taken into account
* Ignored.
BY HIS BLOOD
* Blood is not a pleasant thing.
* For some it makes us faint.
* “The Passion” was hard to watch because of the brutality and the blood.
* “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb. 9:22)
* The blood underscores the reality of our guilt.
* Jesus died because we deserve to die.
* Jesus became more than a substitute he took our place.
* “He who knew no sin, was made sin for us.” (II Cor. 5:21)
* We are to blame for our misdeeds and sin it is our fault.
* Man is the one who chose to eat of the forbidden tree.
* Man is the one who ignored God.
* Man is to blame, not our environment, not our parents but us.
* The Gospel clearly teaches that we are to blame that we deserve to die.
* But then it argues that the price is fully paid.
* FULLY PAID!!
* God’s integrity has not been violated.
* God is free to love us to the utmost degree.
* His justice has been upheld in the BLOOD of HIS SON.
* We can look at our guilt and say “The cross has fully taken care of it, I am free, I am liberated, I am redeemed, I have been bought with a great price, the cross has settled it. I am no longer what I once was because of the cross and the blood of Christ.”
LAVISHED
* When you lavish something upon someone you heap it on more and more.
* Lavished means repeated portions, again & again.
* Paul is not talking about the time he became a believer.
* He is talking present tense.
* Redemption in the new testament is always in the present occurrence.
