Calvary Road Baptist Church

“THE POSSESSIONS OF THOSE ACCEPTED”

Ephesians 1.7-8 

I hold in my hand a copy of the Constitution of the United States of America, a document that used to be the law of our land. But no more. This used to hold sway in our courts back in the days when Americans were a free people. But no more.

I grieve for this country. I anguish over this people. For we are a people who used to be free. We are a people who used to prize freedom. But no more. Do you doubt what I say? Then hear me. I will read a few excerpts from the first ten amendments to our Constitution, commonly referred to as The Bill of Rights.

Amendment X. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This means that what authority is not specifically granted to the federal government is denied to the federal government. This one was gone a long time ago.

Amendment VI. “In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him ... to have assistance of counsel for his defense.” This one is gone. No more speedy trials. Reflect on the number of those arrested for merely walking into the Capitol on January 6, 2021 who are still incarcerated without bail. It is incredible. And the idea of impartial juries is a joke.

Amendment IV. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause ....” What about the Internet of Things and the cameras and microphones that are built into modern smartphones, smart television sets, smart thermostats, smart refrigerators, and smart dishwashers? Not counting tech company collection of mega data and the illegal surveillance of American citizens by the three-letter agencies of the federal government.

Amendment II. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” It was long ago established by the men who wrote these very words that “militia” refers to individual citizens owning their own firearms. But what about the state laws against so-called assault weapons, which are nothing more than rifles with black plastic fitted around them rather than brown wood? Are those not laws that infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms? Remember, in the old days, all weapons were assault weapons.

Our Constitution used to be a document drawn up to provide for the governing of a free people. But we are no longer a free people. And our Constitution no longer carries any weight in the courts. It has been a long time since men stopped trying to figure out what the laws of our country are but instead began to tremble and wait upon what the latest court ruling says the law is. And who knows what the justices will say since most judges have abandoned the Constitution as their rule of law?

A case in point was the Roe versus Wade decision, which permitted abortions. It was dreamed up by Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, who said women had a right to abortions based upon the constitutional right to privacy.[1] But I’ve read this Constitution. You won’t find anything about a right to privacy here. And what does privacy have to do with murdering an unborn child?

The absolute topper came in May 1994, when President Bill Clinton, the most flagrantly open fornicator to ever hold the highest office in the land, though certainly not the first one, signed into law a statute making it a federal crime to assemble and peacefully protest in front of abortuaries. Reading the law might persuade someone that abortionists were being protected from violent opponents, but the enforcement of that law has resulted in Draconian denials of freedom of speech and assembly.

And who was looking on as the bill was signed but that well-known Senator from Massachusetts, the late Ted Kennedy.[2] You might remember the late Senator Kennedy, the so-called “lion of the Senate.” He opposed abortion so strongly that when he discovered his staff member Mary Jo Kopechne was pregnant with his child, he cast aside any notion of her getting an abortion ... in favor of the Chappaquiddick bridge, killing both mother and her unborn child by running his car off the bridge and drowning them.

I fear greatly for our people. That law, signed into existence by President Clinton, stands in direct violation of the first of our Constitution’s amendments. Let me read Amendment I. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble.”

Where would the civil rights movement have been but for this First Amendment? But now, two of its three points are all but gone. Do you imagine the freedom of religion phrase will stand up after the freedom of speech and assembly provisions are gone?[3] No way. Especially when pastors all over the country willingly capitulated to Covid lockdown demands to shutter Church’s worship services, which have now been proven to have been both illegal and ineffective.[4]

These power-hungry politicians are willing to take away your right to assemble and say what you want to say. And weak-kneed pastors have let them. With such laws as are now in effect, we can assemble anywhere we want to assemble, unless we want to assemble in front of a building where hundreds of unborn infants are murdered each year, or unless someone wants us masked and locked down. And we can say anything we want unless we want to speak to mothers who are so fraught with emotion that they are hastening to an abortuary to murder their precious children. Even if a Capitol Hill police officer escorted you into a federal building on January 6th, you can still be arrested and held for two years without bail, convicted of a misdemeanor, and sentenced to a prison term.

We are no longer a free people. And, for the most part, the citizens of this country don’t want to be free. Because with freedom comes responsibility. But instead of responsibility, our people want free health care, free food stamps, rent subsidies, and an ever-shorter work week. In short, we surrender whatever freedoms are necessary to obtain as easy a life as possible.[5]

But it doesn’t turn out well that way. When you surrender freedoms, liberties, and responsibilities, you become a slave. Free health care? Not on your life. Government intervention into your lifestyle. Freedom of choice for abortions? That’s not freedom at all but total slavery to passions, lusts, and selfishness, even if the results are cold-blooded murder. And with two-thirds of the First Amendment gone, I ask again, do you really think authorities will continue to honor the part about freedom of religion? Not on your life. You just wait for the laws making it a hate crime to preach against sexual perversion. Such laws already exist in some countries, and they’re undoubtedly coming to our country.

“Pastor, you sure seem to be agitated today.” I am agitated. I’m concerned. I’m scared for your families and your friends. I’m even scared for some of you. I’m scared because of a spiritual principle found throughout the Bible. It’s the principle of the object lesson. God uses life experiences we can see and remember to teach us about spiritual things we cannot see or remember.

Example. Does not God use the example of the children of Israel being delivered from Egyptian bondage to teach us about salvation? And are not people who have at least a cultural memory of the horror of slavery and a love for freedom more likely to understand such concepts as being in bondage to sin and being a slave to sin than those who take freedom for granted or who are lackadaisical about such things? I think so.

Look into history and look around our present world. Examine those places where the Gospel came into contact with people suffering oppression, where it came into contact with people who had only recently thrown off the yoke of oppression, or those people whose culture instilled in them a passionate love for freedom and a deep and abiding hatred for slavery.

Remember, you have to have the Gospel and the experience factor I’ve mentioned. When the Gospel came into contact with folks who had suffered under the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries in Europe, revival broke out, and conversions by the millions took place.

Before and after the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe, the Gospel had tremendous results. In Southeast Asia, and even China, the Gospel produces genuine conversions. And reports of conversions in Tehran under the present regime in Iran are ongoing. There are presently fifty countries in which the Christian faith is either illegal or the threat of persecution for being a believer in Christ is very high.[6] Yet the Gospel advances.

Yet, in the United States, we have what can only be described as anemic Christianity. Why? We have departed so far from being freedom-loving people that those spiritual lessons learned only by comparing sin to a slave owner and sinfulness to slavery are not being learned by us. And why is this? Because slavery is not abhorrent to us. We do not love freedom. This is evident by our apathy as our freedoms are slowly stolen from us. But such was not the case with the Apostle Paul and the Ephesians.

Remember, Paul was a Jew with the memory, not only of the Egyptian bondage of his people, as commemorated by the Passover each year, but also with the memory of the Babylonian captivity instilled into him, and the ongoing brutality of Roman domination everywhere. And don’t forget that Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written from Roman imprisonment. Did Paul love freedom? Did the Ephesians cherish what little snippets of freedom they enjoyed from time to time under Roman rule? You bet they did.

Ephesians 1.7-8. As we stand and read together, and as I preach from this portion of God’s Word, keep in mind that it’s not at all likely that people who do not cherish the concept of political, social, or physical freedom will have any great appreciation for spiritual freedom: 

7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. 

In Ephesians 1.3-6, Paul gloried in the role God the Father had in his salvation. Here in Ephesians 1.7-8, he begins to glory in the role the Lord Jesus Christ has in his salvation. In these two verses written to those who have been made accepted in the Beloved, God accepts those who trust Jesus as their Savior, what you have who are accepted.

It’s something the person who doesn’t mind being a slave will never appreciate. 

AS TO REDEMPTION. THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED IS IN POSSESSION OF REDEMPTION 

Three things about redemption.

First, the meaning of redemption. What does redemption mean? Redemption means deliverance. Redemption means freedom. Redemption means release. Redemption means unshackled. Redemption means liberty. “The process by which sinful humans are ‘brought back’ from the bondage of sin into a relationship with God through grace by the ‘payment’ of Jesus’ death.”[7] But that’s not all redemption means. Redemption also has to do with how such things as deliverance, freedom, and release are accomplished. And when the word redemption is used, the idea of a purchase price is always in mind. Go back and look at the history of every single identifiable people group in the world. Likely as not, they were enslaved people at one time in their history. But if you also look at those who have responded to the Gospel message, the two factors I mentioned will likely stand out. They still are in, or still remember, their bondage, and they have heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is this so? Because no one understands the concept of redemption better than someone who is or who has been a slave and who remembers. Oh, to be free. Not free by running away and having to hide from the authorities. But free and able to walk down the middle of the street in daylight... because your freedom has been purchased for you. That’s redemption. And nothing on this earth is comparable to the redemption of the lost man’s soul from slavery to that damnable master, sin.

Second, the means of redemption. “In whom we have redemption.” In Jesus Christ, we have this redemption of the soul that Paul speaks of, being purchased from that wicked master, sin. But notice the means. It is “through his blood.” Neither you nor I could pay the redemption price for your soul. The price is simply too high. But when Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of the living God, shed His blood on Calvary’s cross, it was in payment for your sins and mine. It was for the redemption of our soul. Freedom is a cheap thing to so many Americans. So many of our citizens ran away or avoided all responsibility to fight for freedom. Those of my generation who protested the Vietnam War were not protesting the war but the possibility of being drafted into the military, and when the draft ended, all protests ceased ... even before the end of the war! But my dad’s generation knew the price of freedom. They paid the price, many with their lives. But their sacrifice was only the price of political freedom. The price for a sinful soul’s freedom is infinitely higher. So high, in fact, that only the Lord Jesus Christ shed blood could meet the demand. Can you or I imagine standing on an auction block and being sold for a redemption price? Not really. We’ve never seen it happen. But Paul knew. He had seen it. And the Ukrainians know they’re living it. Try telling a Russian or a Romanian or a Vietnamese Baptist preacher that the blood isn’t really what saves. Listen to their response. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It’s the blood that makes an atonement. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. The blood of Christ is the redemption price. Hallelujah for the blood!

Then, there is the mirror of redemption. I refer to that which is a mirror image of redemption, at least in one respect. The forgiveness of sins. That’s what redemption results in. When you are free. When your bonds are released. When you are unshackled. What does it mean for the converted person to have his sins forgiven? It means that God will remember your sins and iniquities no more, Hebrews 8.12. And it means that God will remember your sins and iniquities no more, Hebrews 10.17. God doesn’t forgive like you, and I do. Oh no. When God forgives, He forgets with perfect forgetfulness. And that means we have with Him a perfect freedom. Not a freedom to do wrong and live a licentious and irresponsible life. But freedom to do right. A freedom to live responsibly so that others may be free. 

AS TO RESPONSIBILITY. THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED IS ALSO IN POSSESSION OF RICHES 

Notice the abundance of God’s grace: 

“according to the riches of his grace” 

God is gracious, is He not? I mean, He bestows favor upon His Own, does He not? Sure, He does. And what, may I ask, are the limits of God’s resources? There are no limits, are there? God is infinite. And His resources are limitless. That’s why we love such passages as, “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine,” or “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” So, not only has God provided for our salvation with His Own infinite resources through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, but He continues to provide grace to those of us who have trusted Jesus and are saved from the power of sins through those same limitless resources. So, those of you who know Jesus Christ as your Savior profited from an abundance of grace that resulted in the salvation of your soul. But you also continue to profit from an inexhaustible supply of divine favor throughout your Christian life. That means you are responsible.

How do I know this? Because Jesus said, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required,” Luke 12.48.

Notice the application of God’s grace. Grace is available in abundant and inexhaustible supply. What happens in the Christian’s life with God’s grace? That’s where verse 8 comes in: 

“Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” 

If wisdom has to do with grasping and appreciating Biblical principles, prudence has to do with grasping and appreciating Biblical practicals. The result of God’s grace in Christians’ lives, then, is an understanding of the principles and practicals related to salvation. How did you come to be saved? And, basically, how are you to engage in the work of faith so someone else comes to faith in Christ? Do you realize what this means? It means that when someone comes to faith in Christ, they can wrap their minds around the principle of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. They understand the principle of justification by faith, apart from works. They comprehend the principle of blood atonement. That’s wisdom related to salvation. And what about prudence related to salvation? It has to do with the practical matters related to salvation. It refers to dealing with folks about their sins and need of Christ, the importance of their soul’s salvation. It involves learning how to distinguish between someone who is saved and someone who is obviously lost. Have you not noticed, Christian, that some things you think are quite simple about sin and salvation and being saved are incomprehensible to people at work or people in your family who claim to be saved? Guess what? They very likely are not saved. They lack both the wisdom and the prudence that are lavished on folks who know the Savior. And what does that mean insofar as your life is concerned? It means that you have a great responsibility. You have been given the tools to understand and deal with others who may claim to know the Savior, but who do not know Jesus Christ in a personal and saving way. 

To sum up, then, it’s not very likely that folks who do not cherish freedom and who do not have a holy hatred for slavery will see much need for redemption from their slavery to sin. That bodes ill for our country.

But people who have been oppressed, and people who have a cultural memory of oppression, people who have a cultural love of freedom, will more readily grasp the concept of being a slave to sin in need of redemption that the blood of Christ must purchase.

If you are saved, if you are converted, you have such a redemption. It was purchased for you using the blood of Jesus Christ, for you could not possibly have paid for it yourself. And accompanying your redemption is the forgiveness of sins. Imagine it. “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” And all that because of the Lord Jesus. Praise His holy name.

But if you are saved, you not only have redemption, you also have responsibility. Because of the riches of God’s grace lavished upon you when you trusted Jesus as your Savior, you come to appreciate both the principles and the practicals related to your salvation.

You and I don’t know everything, certainly. And we should be learning more all the time. But we have been given basic wisdom and prudence that no unsaved person has, or can have. It comes from God, through Jesus Christ. And since only genuinely saved people have this wisdom and prudence, you have a responsibility to use what you have for the benefit of others. That is, you are responsible for getting out and working to get folks saved. And you have this responsibility because you have been given the capability to get the job done.

Our country is in deep trouble. So many folks who claim to be Christians haven’t the foggiest idea about how to be saved or how to engage the lost so they, too, might be saved. That’s because they don’t possess redemption themselves and don’t possess the wisdom and prudence that accompanies redemption.

So, what are we to do? We are to do what we are told. Seek to win people to Christ. Live a life of service to God. Stand up and be counted. And get ready for the persecution that must come with our loss of freedoms. But don’t be despondent. Remember that God, in His goodness and wisdom, will allow oppression to come only so that He might prepare multitudes for a genuine salvation in Jesus Christ.

I close with these two questions: First, what about you? Do you possess redemption? Do you know Jesus? Is it evidenced by your wisdom and prudence, knowing how you were saved and how others can be saved the Bible way? If not, I suggest we talk.

Second question: If you are saved, and you have wisdom and prudence, since it is given to Christians, shouldn’t you express your wisdom and prudence by telling folks how to be saved? Perhaps you’re shy. Then you should involve yourself with a Christian who isn’t so shy and work as a team. But should you find a way to use what Jesus Christ died and shed His blood to provide for you? Yes!

God wants every Christian to be active in his own Church. Church member, let us use the wisdom and prudence that Christ gives, usually through the growth experienced through the discipleship process. Involve yourself in discipleship, which must undoubtedly lead to your involvement in evangelism.

__________

[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harry-A-Blackmun

[2] https://prochoice.org/wp-content/uploads/face_act.pdf

[3] https://www.facebook.com/reel/349969931151857

[4] https://health.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-02-02/a-johns-hopkins-study-says-ill-founded-lockdowns-did-little-to-limit-covid-deaths

[5] https://youtu.be/kMWlOcjBdMc?si=A35UNYooGyeUbj33

[6] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-christianity-is-illegal

[7] Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), page 100.

 

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