In the sermon titled 'The Cost of Freedom,' Jason Dohm delves into Ephesians 1:1-10, with a specific focus on verse 7. The sermon explores the depth and richness of God's Word, emphasizing the recurring themes of adoption, redemption, and grace. Dohm explains that redemption is akin to a ransom payment necessary to free sinners from captivity due to their sins. This redemption is achieved through Jesus's innocent blood, which serves as the sole acceptable payment for sin. The sermon underscores that divine justice and righteousness are upheld, not through leniency, but through the sacrificial act of Jesus. Dohm also highlights the abundant nature of God's grace, which is lavishly poured out on believers, and warns against perceiving God as a miserly father. Throughout the sermon, various New Testament texts are referenced to reinforce these themes, culminating in a call to appreciate the richness of God's grace and to dismiss any misconceptions about other redeemers, leniency on sin, or the severity of one's own sins.

Good morning. I'm going to be reading from Ephesians 1, 1 through 10. And you may be asking yourself, I've heard that before, many Sundays. And the answer is yes. That's the beauty of God's Word, is it has unlimited amounts of depth and enjoyability to it where we can read the same ten verses over and over and over again and still not scratch the surface of how amazing our God is.

So please follow along with me with joy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound towards 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 and one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him you may be seated title of the sermon this morning is The Cost of Freedom.

Paul is teaching in our verse, We're isolating on verse 7 this morning. What Paul is bearing down on is that sinners are captives and there's only one way for them to be free. It sets before us the one way. Last week, in last week's text, we were brought by Paul to the wonderful concept of adoption, the choosing of a father to bring children into his family. And Paul's so clear that it's simply because the father wanted to.

There's no external thing, principle, obligation that's compelling him. He's doing what pleases him. So what a precious thought that is. It's just because it pleases the Father to adopt children. That's why He did it.

What wasn't to fix anybody else's problem, it does fix our problem. That's not what drove him to it. What drove him to it was that it was a pleasant thought to him to bring this to pass. It makes him happy to do it. Oh, there's such a splendor to this grace, And it draws out a response from the believing heart that our text last week ended with this phrase, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Just the splendor of the grace is before us and it just draws out our praises. Why are you here today? This better be why you're here today. It ought to be why you're here today. Let's let's pray for God to help us.

Oh God, I think the human heart has a built-in sense of this, but if we didn't, your Word makes it so crystal clear that we are responsible for our captivity, but you are responsible for our freedom. Holy, completely responsible for our freedom. Completely responsible for our freedom. Just pray that the glory of the truth that you would give me some ability to impart the beauty of them today. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.

If you're taking notes on the handout, the first heading is a further explanation of quote, accepted in the beloved. That was the very last phrase from verse 6. That's right where we ended last week. Paul starts with explaining that phrase accepted in the beloved. So follow along as I read verse 7.

If you divide that verse into kind of three parts I'll be reading the first and second parts of just that one verse. Verse 7. Ephesians 1 verse 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Let me read that again.

In Him we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins. Our verse does not exist in isolation. I'll remind you what I said last week which is that in Greek verses 3 through 14 are one sentence. Now I'm I'm glad our translators haven't tortured us by making it one sentence So I'm glad there are some periods in here. I think I said last week it's four sentences.

Most translations actually make it six or eight sentences. But the point is there is a unity of thought that Paul wants to press on us here. So It's good to slow down and just look at verse 7, but you can't allow that to disconnect us from what has gone before and what comes after. So our verse isn't in isolation, it follows immediately after this final phrase of verse 6, by which he, God the Father, made us accepted in the beloved. Now Paul follows this track and explains this acceptance of God the Father of sinners into his family.

So he's explaining adoption. How do you do that? How does a father like God, knowing what he's like, adopt these children Knowing what we're like before the blood of Christ, how can this be? Paul's explaining how this can be. Paul says that believers have redemption through Jesus' blood.

The forgiveness of sins. That's how adoption happens. That's how adoption can happen. This adoption of this kind of Father, there's only one of Him, but with what he's like, this can only happen through the redemption, through Jesus' blood, the forgiveness of sins. So let's go little by little through that.

We have redemption. What is redemption? The Greek lexicon says that redemption, this Greek word that's translated redemption in our Bibles means a releasing affected by payment of ransom. Affected by payment of ransom. A releasing, okay, you're free, affected by a payment of ransom.

The idea is that a person is a captive and they must forever be a captive unless, unless someone buys them out of captivity and pays the acceptable ransom for their freedom. I'm a captive, I want to go free. You can't go free. For you to go free, somebody's got to pay for your freedom. And it has to be the acceptable payment for your freedom.

Now that we understand that this is what redemption is, we can trace this out in our text. The captive is someone who is in prison because of sins. I'm in prison because of sins I want to go free you can't go free Somebody has to pay for this. The sins committed have trapped and bound and imprisoned the sinner so that now there's only one way out. This is the whole point of the text.

Now that you're trapped by your sins, bound by your sins, imprisoned by your sins, there's only one way out. The payment of a ransom so that the sins can be forgiven, so that the sinner can be set free. And what is the acceptable price that can accomplish this innocent blood? Only one way out, only one acceptable price, an acceptable ransom, innocent blood, sinless blood pays for the sinner. Jesus' blood.

That's why Paul begins by saying, in Him we have redemption through His blood. Jesus is the one who can pay the required price for a sinner's freedom, and the only one who can pay the required price for the sinner's freedom. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." That's what Peter says when he's preaching in Acts 4 verse 12. No, there's no salvation in any other name. There's no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

If you were going to be saved, you were saved in that name, and that means by the blood of that name, Jesus. Before we move on, let's look at two New Testament texts for commentary. The best commentary I read all week, and I read a lot of commentary. But the best commentary that I read all week is New Testament commentating on the New Testament. So we'll start with Paul providing commentary on Paul.

So turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 verses Romans chapter 3 verses 21 through 26. Follow along as I read Romans chapter 3 verses 21 through 26. Then we'll work back through it.

Paul writes, 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 is 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. Wow there's a lot there. It's almost feel guilty preaching on one verse and introducing that to explain the one verse.

But it is an expansion of the theme in our verse. Let me just walk through it. Now, keep your eyes on the text as I walk through it because I'm going to be saying kind of verse by verse what's there and how it relates to our text. Verse 21, righteousness apart from the law is the topic. Verse 22, it is a righteousness through faith in Jesus.

Not just regular old faith, but faith in Jesus. Anyone who truly believes is saved, period. That's it. That's the righteousness that's being talked about. Not faith and you do better or faith and anything.

Those who truly believed are saved, period. No more to the sentence. Verse 23, for all have sinned. So that's why it is a righteousness apart from the law, because it's too late for that. Righteousness by law keeping is in the rear view mirror, and there's no way to recapture it.

Do you understand that? It isn't that law-keeping isn't what we should do, isn't what it's it's not right that we do it, it's not what God requires, it's that we are past that in our failure. The righteousness through law-keeping is dead for you a thousand times over. You should have but you didn't and you didn't and you didn't and you didn't and you can't recapture it now and even if you could you wouldn't. Now starting in verse 24 I want to reread 24 in the first part of 25, follow along.

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. There's redemption, right? Right to our text, there's redemption. God set forth Jesus as a propitiation. God sent Jesus from heaven and he went voluntarily to be a propitiation.

Something that satisfies the anger of God. That's what a propitiation is. Something that takes the anger of God towards sin and swallows it up and satisfies it all something that appeases God. God hates your sin. But he's satisfied, he's appeased by Jesus.

He sent Jesus to come do that by His blood. So it is Jesus's blood and only Jesus's blood that satisfies the anger of God against sin, and faith in trusting myself to the bleeding life-giving work of Jesus is the mechanism by which I am joined to this saving work. So the saving work is all of Jesus's, it's Jesus's work, only Jesus's work. I don't add to that work. Faith doesn't add to that work.

Faith is just the mechanism by which I grab hold of the virtue, the merit, the good, the saving ability of Jesus's work on the cross. Let me read the second half of verse 25 through 26. To demonstrate His righteousness. So Paul says that all of what I just said actually demonstrates God's 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.

It's so important to understand this. Redemption through the blood of Jesus is a demonstration of righteousness not leniency. Let me say that again. The redemption through the blood of Jesus is a demonstration of righteousness. It is an exaltation of righteousness, not leniency, not overlooking sin.

Righteousness and justice are upheld and honored by the cross. Righteousness and justice are upheld and honored by the cross. With the blood of Jesus paying the acceptable price for the liberation of sinners, for the life of sinners, God is both just, righteousness and justice, and the justifier, a merciful pardoning of the sinner, of the one who has faith in Jesus. To say it in the more condensed terms of our text, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. So the first bit of commentary from another New Testament text is here in Romans 3.

The second place I'd like to direct us is Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9, The second New Testament text that provides wonderful, helpful, powerful commentary on Ephesians 1 verse 7, our text. Hebrews 9, I'll be reading verses 11 through 15. Here's the context. Paul starts out chapter 9 talking about the old covenant and the ceremonial requirements, the temple, The lampstand, the showbread, the altar, the sacrifices.

And he says in verse 9, Hebrews 9 verse 9, it was symbolic for the present time. What's he saying? He's saying the Old Testament ceremonial laws with all the things they did associated with temple worship wasn't the ultimate reality, it was symbolic of the ultimate reality. It pointed forward to the ultimate reality which is fulfilled in Christ. It was symbolic for the present time, verse 9.

So now with that as the context, Hebrews 9 verses 11 through 15. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Eternal redemption. For at the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Verse 12 again, with his own blood, this is Jesus and his own blood, with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. It wasn't the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer. Those were symbolic things for the present time. It was Jesus' blood.

It only had to be offered one time for all. That is the astonishing value of the Son of God. Think of all the sins of all of His people. One time, one death, one shedding of blood covers it all. Verse 15 is the bottom line.

Let me read it again. Verse 15. And for this reason, He, Jesus, is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant the law of God it's the ransom it's the ransom price to buy the freedom of sinners who have transgressed the law of God that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance reconciled free and reconciled receiving the inheritance I mean this is the This is the language we've been encountering in Ephesians chapter 1, adoption, redemption. Look at verse 22, just fast forward, still in Hebrews 9, but now verse 22. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

That's the bottom line. Without the shedding of blood there's no remission, there's no ransom price that's accepted and the ransom paid, except by the shedding of blood. Friends nothing else will satisfy this holy God, only blood. The blood of the sinner or the blood of an acceptable sinless substitute. Listen to how Peter speaks of this.

All these New Testament writers use the same language. Listen to 1st Peter 1 18 through 20. 1st Peter 1 18 through 20. Peter says, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. A lamb spotless, blameless, innocent, able to die for the guilty.

The innocent dies for the guilty. The undefiled dies for the defiled. God says He'll accept that as a ransom payment that will satisfy Him and turn away His anger and swallow up His anger so that it's all gone. The anger is all gone. Now back to our text.

I'll go there too. Ephesians 1, now the last part of verse 7. If you're taking notes on the handout, we're to the second major heading, what this incredible payment is according to. Payment fills in the blank. What this incredible payment, The blood of Jesus Christ is according to, Paul tells us, Ephesians 1 verse 7, the end of the verse, according, let me read the whole verse, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

All of this is according to God's grace. All of this is according to God's unearned, undeserved goodwill. But Paul's already said that in verse 2, grace to you. And in verses 5 and 6 where he says that believers have been adopted to the praise of the glory of his grace. Paul says more than that here.

He says redemption through Jesus' blood is according to the riches of His grace. And in the very next phrase, alright we're in a time capsule, we're going to next week's text, we're crossing the sacred line into next week's text. Paul will add, which he made abound toward us according to the riches of his grace, which he made abound toward us. These are riches which have been made to abound toward us, abounding riches. God has not tentatively given us His grace.

God has not sparingly given us His grace. God has not grudgingly given us His grace. No, He has poured them out on us. He has lavished them on us. He has given us abounding riches of grace.

We've started singing a city of light song, yet not I, but through Christ in me. It begins with this line, what gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is Jesus my Redeemer. There is no more for heaven now to give. Now what does that mean?

That heaven is resource constrained. Heaven sent Jesus, nothing more to give now. No, no it means that in giving us Jesus he's given us everything in Jesus. Not that heaven is out of things to give but that heaven gives us those things in him that when heaven gives you Jesus heaven gives you everything It means that our redemption means that we're adopted and our adoption means that we're co-heirs with Jesus. It means that He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for all of us will freely give us all things." That's Romans 832.

We keep coming back to it. I'm sure we will keep coming back to it. He doesn't give Jesus and withhold the rest. He's giving everything in Jesus. What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer?

There is no more for heaven now to give because it all comes in Jesus. According to the abounding riches of his unearned undeserved goodwill. Abounding riches. And Paul is going to be coming back to this theme of riches again and again. Chapter 1 verse 18, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Chapter 2 verse 7, the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Chapter 3 verse 8, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Chapter 3 verse 16, according to the riches of his glory, riches of his glory, riches, riches, riches. Paul knew a man named Saul of Tarsus. Oh, he knew him well.

He was him. Paul understood the abounding riches of his grace. He was captivated by the abounding riches of His grace. His heart was ravished by the abounding riches of His grace. Lloyd-Jones in one of his three sermons on verse 7, so I'm going fast believe it or not compared to some.

Louis Jones prints verse 7 and then he essentially says, stop, stop, don't go further, believer, Christian, Born again one, how can you keep going when that's just been said? Stop! Until your heart is ravished, until you're preoccupied with the riches of His grace, as the Apostle Paul must have been, he must have been when he wrote it. That's what Lloyd-Jones says. Dr.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, the Welsh medical doctor turned London pastor, invites us to consider the prodigal son. So in the chapter, I won't read this part of it, but he develops the parable of the prodigal son. You know, the son gets his inheritance and he goes and just squanders it all until he's left destitute eating pig food, or actually wishing he could eat what he's feeding to the pigs. And so he says, my father's servants, I'll go and tell my father I'm not worthy to be his son but I want to be a servant." And he goes home and he says that to his father. I'm no longer worthy to be your son.

Take me as your servant. Here's what Lloyd-Jones says. What are you talking about? Says the father in effect. Bring out the best robe.

Bring out the ring. Go and kill the fatted calf. That is God's way. It is full reconciliation. It is as if the prodigal had never done anything wrong.

As if he had never insulted his father before he left home. As if he had never left home at all. Everything is forgotten and banished. The reconciliation is complete. Abounding riches of his grace.

Oh, everyone who thirsts Come to the waters. All you need to be is thirsty. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. It's Isaiah 55 verse 1.

How is it possible? How is it possible to come and buy without money? Solve the riddle. Someone has already paid to offer it freely. Can't you see how this gospel puts the splendor of God on display?

Come by without money. Well, how do I do that? Because it's been bought and offered freely. Just looking at Isaiah 55 back through New Testament lenses back through the cross is amazing. Applications.

I'll give you four and in the four I'm on a mission for us to banish certain thoughts. I'm gonna kill certain thoughts. Number one, banish all thoughts of other redeemers. Banish them from your mind. Never think of other redeemers again.

The cause of our captivity is sin. There is only one price for sin, it is innocent blood. Righteousness through law keeping for you is so far in the past, it can never be recaptured. Number two, vanish all thoughts of the gospel being leniency on sin. Look at the cross and the man bleeding and dying and tell me God is overlooking sin.

Look at the price that he paid. And tell me that God has gone easy on one sin. Do you see how thinking of the gospel as meaning leniency on sin is so much less than what it really is? It's so much better than that. So much more beautiful than that.

Number three, banish the thoughts that you're not that bad. Banish the thoughts that you're not that bad. Somebody really needs to be treated like that because of my sins? I'm no murderer. I'm no adulterer.

Somebody needs to be treated like that, spit upon like that, beaten like that, crucified like that for these sins? Look at the cross and see what God thinks of your sins. Whatever you think of your sins, the cross, the dying Jesus represents what God thinks of them. Four, lastly, most importantly, maybe, banish all thoughts of God as a miserly father. Banish every thought of God as a miserly father.

Who is the most famous miser of Western culture? Anyone? Huh? Ebenezer Scrooge culture. Anyone?

Huh? Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. Anything you got from him you had to pry from his hand. A miser, children, a miser is someone who won't part with anything and if they do it's grudgingly. It's because they have to.

God is not that kind of father. No part of him is like that. It dishonors God to think of him like that when he's so freely giving. To the extent that you from time to time or often think of God as a miserly father, troubleshoot that. Troubleshoot that.

And whatever you find at the bottom of your troubleshooting won't be a God who you have to pry things from His hand. It will not be. I think there are things that we can do to wage war of thinking of God as a miserly Father. God, I continue to be in awe of these truths that we're encountering week by week. They're not new truths.

Such a privilege to just slow down and look at them one by one. I'm glad we're not rushing through them, but we get to look at the diamond. See the different angles, the different cuts, the different beauties, the different colors. Let our hearts be captivated by what we're seeing here. There's so many things that we should be, should do.

God I thank you that Paul didn't start there. That he spends three chapters just setting before us the riches of your grace which abound toward us. So that then out of that we can consider these frailties and sins in our lives and what we ought to do. Let us be so firmly established in your love that we can't wait to get to the things in our life that ought to honor you more. Pray this in Jesus name, Amen.