Easter 2023

This is Holy Week for all believers throughout the world, and this week will come to its peak this Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and now at Easter we remember God’s ultimate act of love toward us. Jesus was born so that He could die for us, and that through His death and resurrection we might have life.

The next book of the Bible we’re going to study is the book of Ephesians. But before we get into it, I’m going to bypass the introduction to Ephesians and the first 6 verses. We’ll pick up at the beginning next week, but in this message, I want to start in verse 7.

Eph. 1:7
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Here Paul gives us a spiritual mountaintop truth, that we have been redeemed through the blood of Christ!

Why exactly do we need to be redeemed?

Rom. 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We know that all means all, thus putting us all in the same boat as sinners. The answer for us to this sin predicament is found in verses 24 and 25 of Romans 3:

“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,”

What are the benefits of redemption? It includes things like eternal life, forgiveness of sins, becoming righteous in God’s sight, being adopted into God’s family, deliverance from sin’s bondage, having peace with God, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. To be redeemed, then, is to be totally forgiven, holy, justified, free, adopted, and reconciled to God. It doesn’t get any better than that. Can I get an Amen?

How is redemption even made possible for us? It’s through the blood of Christ! Like we just sang, “There’s power in the blood.”

We need redemption and we need deliverance from the slavery of sin. The only way to get there is through the blood of the Lamb.

I Peter 1:18-19
“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” (NLT)

Christ’s own death, the shedding of His blood, was the perfect substitute for our death.

Jesus did this for us, proving God’s love for us in a way that only He could accomplish. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Heb. 10:10
“For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” (NLT)

Even though Jesus never deserved it, He took on the bloody sacrifice that was set before Him, making the payment for what otherwise would have meant our condemnation into hell.

For some people, the subject of blood makes them uneasy, especially the sight of blood. To the ancient Israelites, blood was the emblem of life and equal to life itself. As the fluid of life, the blood of animals belonged to God, the giver of life:

Genesis 9:4
“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.”

Blood was never to be consumed as common food; when a sacrifice was offered, the blood was drained and then offered up to God on the altar.

During the time of Moses, God introduced blood as a saving agent.

Exo. 12:13
“But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

This blood meant that there was to be the sacrifice of an innocent lamb. By the Jews putting the blood on their doorposts, it showed their obedience and their faith in God.

The symbolism here is sobering, it gives us a glimpse into the future, where God will put His own blood on wood. This of course isn’t on any doorframe, but it is a picture of the cross, where Jesus will put Himself, that His blood would be shed on the cross to save our eternal lives.

In John chapter 6, Jesus really stirred things up when He said:

John 6:53-56
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

The Jews probably immediately thought of Lev. 17:10 when Jesus said this:

“And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.”

Of course, Jesus wasn’t speaking literally about people drinking His blood or eating His flesh. Both of these were spiritual metaphors pointing to Jesus’ sacrificial death for our sin, but the thought of the coming Messiah being a sacrifice was totally foreign to them.

In keeping with the context of John chapter 6, we see that Jesus’ audience were the ones who were with Him when Jesus fed the 5,000. These people were hanging around Jesus to see if they could get another free meal from Him. So, when Jesus started speaking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood they were grossed out, they were thinking only on the physical plane, whereas, Jesus was speaking to them on the spiritual plane. He wanted them to be hungry for the spiritual things of God.

Matt. 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Also, in John 6 Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of Life. Like mana that came down from heaven to give the Israelites life sustaining food, Jesus came down to this earth as bread from heaven to give us eternal life. Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of Life three times in this chapter.

John 6:33
“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

So, what does it mean to eat the bread or the flesh and drink the blood? This is where faith comes in.

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (6:29) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. (6:35) “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (6:40)

Just as good food and drink sustain our physical life, Jesus is the real (reliable) spiritual food and drink, which sustains all who will believe in Him. Jesus’ flesh and blood give eternal life to those who will receive Him. And this was only made possible through the suffering and shed blood of Jesus.

After Jesus’ resurrection, He drops in on the two disciples walking to Emmaus, and reminded them of the Scriptures:

Luke 24:25
“Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’”

Jesus’ shed blood and suffering had long been prophesized, and was necessary for salvation. The reality of the blood of Christ as the means of atonement for sin has its origin in the Mosaic Law. Once a year, the priest was to make an offering of the blood of animals on the altar of the temple for the sins of the people.

Heb. 9:22
“And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Again, this was hard for the Jews to think about the Messiah shedding His own blood.

I Cor. 1:22-23
“For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”

Christ crucified… this brings us back to Eph 1:7

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

It’s Christ crucified… Jesus did all the work. Paul uses the phrase In Him. It is “in Christ” that we find our redemption, it all has to do with His merits. We have done nothing to gain our redemption except to believe in Him. The blood of Christ was indeed a stumbling block for the Jews, but for those who believe, they will find forgiveness of trespasses as it says in verse 7.

The primary goal of redemption is to find forgiveness of sins.

John MacArthur, “Behaviorists and those from some other schools of psychology maintain that we cannot be blamed for our sin, that it is the fault of our genes, our environment, our parents, or something else external. But a person’s sin is his own fault, and the guilt for it is his own. The honest person who has any understanding of his own heart knows that.”

This is purely the victim mentality that has permeated our society, and has been encouraged for decades, and undoubtedly satan driven. Not taking responsibility for our own sin makes it easy to reject the need for salvation.

Sin cannot be ignored.

There are obviously sins that we are shocked and disgusted by, and usually we see some sins as worse than others, but the reality is, all sin separates us from Christ. There aren’t different degrees of separation – you are either reconciled to God or you are a stranger to Him, there is no in-between.

I John 1:8
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Because God hates sin and God is righteous, holy, and just, His nature disallows Him from coexisting with sin in His presence. For this reason, God must keep Himself separated from sin, but God loves us so much that He bridged this separation from Him through Jesus, His only begotten Son.

God’s hatred for sin is so great, that it only took one sin to separate mankind from Him. Thus, God’s love for us is so great that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son, to make a way for us to come back to Him.

Forgiveness of sin is monumental, because without forgiveness, there is only death. Forgiveness in the Bible is a “release” or a “dismissal” of something. Through Jesus we have a complete dismissal of all charges against us.

Romans 8:1
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Col. 1:13-14
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The Amplified Bible translates the last phrase like this: “The forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].”

Through God’s forgiveness, the penalty for our sins has been canceled, there is no condemnation for us whatsoever. As a result of this, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

With forgiveness comes life, eternal life. Forgiveness in Jesus is undeserved. The good news is, it is free and complete. Those who have Jesus have freedom from sin, now and all throughout eternity.

I John 2:12
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.”

In Christ, our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven for His name’s sake and for His glory. Because we continue to sin, we do need on-going forgiveness.

I John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Even though our sins have been forgiven by God, we still have our “old sin nature.” When sin occurs in the life of a believer, they don’t lose their salvation, but they do lose communion and fellowship with God. There is a brief separation from God, that is until their sins are confessed.

With forgiveness of sins, comes the expectation of forgiving others.

Eph. 4:32
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

Perhaps forgiving others is similar to seeing God’s judgment falling on others – it’s okay, just as long as His judgment doesn’t fall on us. With us being forgiven of so much, how can we not extend forgiveness to another person? Practically speaking, it just doesn’t make sense.

Col. 3:13
“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

The Bible tells us that we are to forgive those who sin against us. We should keep no record of wrongs against us, but forgive as many times as necessary.

Matthew 18:21–22
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’ ‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven!’” (NLT)

God promises that when we come to Him confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness, He freely grants it for the sake of Christ. Likewise, the forgiveness we extend to others should have no limits as well. Holding on to unforgiveness can eat away at your soul.

This Easter season is a time of celebrating the resurrection of Christ, let it also be a season of obedience by forgiving others.

It pleases God to forgive us according to the riches of His grace. Beyond our comprehension, there is a vastness to God’s forgiveness, and it comes out of His grace that is given to us.

God’s grace, like His holiness, power, and love is never ending, and is never exhausted. There are no limitations when it comes to God’s grace.

Try to picture the oceans of the world, now imagine these oceans symbolizing God’s grace. If each time you needed God’s grace you were to fill a bucket from the ocean, how long would it take for you to drain the ocean? We can never exhaust the riches of God’s grace.

The gospel message is the good news of God’s grace, so it is important to know what grace is and to constantly seek to get a better view of what grace does in our lives.

Grace is an essential part of God’s character. Grace is closely related to God’s kindness, love, and mercy. Grace can be defined as “God’s favor toward the unworthy.” This is in spite of the fact that we don’t deserve to be treated so well or dealt with so generously.

I think to fully understand grace, it is like trying to fully understand God, but we need to consider who we “were” without Christ and who we “are” in Christ.

If grace didn’t exist, Jesus never would have gone to the cross for us. There would be no redeeming blood, no forgiveness, no hope, no life. But God’s grace is real. The New Living Translation Bible many times inserts the word “lovingkindness” for grace, which is an accurate description. I also think God distributes His grace according to a person’s heart.

James 4:6
“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Jesus is the embodiment of grace.

John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Besides being an essential part of God’s character, grace is essential for salvation:

Eph. 2:8-9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Eph. 4:7
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

And so, in the cross, we discover God’s grace, providing a salvation for us that none of us are entitled to. It is a salvation we couldn’t earn, and one we certainly don’t deserve. But that is what makes the cross so wonderful, and why it paints such a beautiful picture of the grace of God.

Eph. 1:6
“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

Earlier I said it pleases God to forgive us according to the riches of His grace, but it also pleases God to save us by His grace, and as He does this, it brings Him glory.

Jesus says to us in Luke 12:32:

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

John MacArthur says, “He was affirming the delight of God in putting His glory on display.”

Paul also educates us in Phil. 2:13: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Some cannot fathom the fact that the saving of their very souls, pleases God.

The only thing that didn’t please God was watching His Son pay the price for our redemption. God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus, for a time, felt the desolation of being separated from His Father’s presence. This is the true pain of the cross. Never had the Father and the Son been separated throughout all eternity. We will never know or understand that pain.

Isa. 53:4-5
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

How innocent Jesus is… how pure, holy, and blameless… indeed He was the pure spotless Lamb, sent to the slaughter for our sins.

II Cor. 5:21
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

I thought to myself last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey colt, did Jesus have a knot in His stomach? He knew the cross was coming, in fact when He was praying in the garden before they arrested Him, He was overcome. Scripture tells us that Jesus sweat drops of blood.

There exists a medical condition that produces the symptoms described and explained in Luke’s mention of blood (Lk. 22:44). Hematidrosis (ˌhē-met-a-ˈdrō-sas) is a rare, but very real, medical condition that causes one’s sweat to contain blood. The sweat glands are surrounded by tiny blood vessels that can constrict and then dilate to the point of rupture, causing blood to effuse into the sweat glands. The cause of hematidrosis is extreme anguish.

Jesus was feeling extreme anguish for what He was about to do.

Friday was coming for Jesus. We call it Good Friday. How in the world can we call it Good Friday when there is coming so much pain and anguish for our dear Lord and Savior?

It is only “good” in the fact that this was the beginning of our redemption. It was God’s grace in action. It was God’s grace greasing the wheels of torment that was coming. The God-head was about to suffer greatly… all for grace, all for mercy, and all for love.

John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Grace is real, and it pleases God to give it to you. Don’t ever take it lightly, don’t ever abuse it or take it for granted. The ultimate price was paid for it with God’s own Blood. There’s power in the blood!

We’re going to remember the Blood tonight by taking communion together.