If you would turn with me this evening to Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we're going to be considering together a few verses from chapter 1, chapter 1 of Ephesians. We're going to start at the beginning of this chapter, but we're going to focus in a particular way on verses 7 to 10. So, Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. Hear now the word of our God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Christ Jesus in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. And now our text for this evening. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, To bring all things in heaven and on earth together, under one head, even Christ. Thus far the reading of God's word, may he bless it to us. Well, the title for our sermon this evening is The Gospel in Action. I chose that sermon title to be a bit provocative intentionally. In Christian circles nowadays, we hear a lot about the gospel in action. about the need to put the gospel into action. And usually what people mean by that is to be living a Christian life and the importance that there is to show people the effects of the gospel in our lives. And that certainly is a very biblical desire. That really is the message that James brings in large part, that the gospel is to have an effect. It's not enough merely to profess the name of Christ, but it should have an impact. Indeed, the catechism rightly teaches it is impossible for the gospel not to have an impact in the life of Christians. And I think many in our day are raising that point because they see so often that the church has a testimony, but has very little impact sometimes in the world around it. And many people have been signaling this cry that there is a need for the gospel to be put into action. And as with any good thing, and it certainly is good to seek to live a Christian life, to pursue holiness. As with any good thing, you can go too far. And there are many people for whom the gospel in action is the only thing that's important. It's only important that you show people about Christ. It's never important that you say anything about Him. And as people put more attachment on living a life of service to God, they put less and less importance on the Word. They say you don't need to tell people the gospel, you just need to show it to them. I want you to think about this. Boys and girls, maybe you can think about this. Imagine you were at school someday and had a really good thing happen to you. You did really well on a spelling test. And when your mom pulled up to pick you up at school, she sees you running out with this big smile on your face because you've done so well. And she can see that something has happened. It's just written all over your face. And as you open the door to the car, you can't wait to tell your mom what happened. And you're about to tell her and she says, No, no, don't tell me, just show me what you're happy about. Don't tell me, just show me. Now, if you're happy about the fact that you took a spelling test and finally remembered for the first time whether I went before E, how are you going to show that to your mom? How are you going to show that? Isn't it much easier to tell her? You see, there are limitations to what you show. There's limitations to action. Words can be much more clear. Words can be much more precise. And when the gospel is, as we were told in adult Sunday school this morning, when the gospel is the righteousness of God and the power of salvation, how can I just show that to someone in my life? My actions will always pale in comparison to that truth. I will never be able to show that myself. I need to tell people. And it's not, again, that actions aren't important. But when we confuse the good news with the effect that the good news has, we are going to fall short. And because the real problem is, it begins to focus on our actions, not on the actions of our Lord. Because that's really what the good news is. It's a description of what Christ has done. You see, it is about action, it's just not about our action. And so the reason we want to consider the gospel in action together tonight is because this passage talks about what Christ has done. It talks in a particular way about what Christ has done in history. Now, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. We don't know much about the church. It's very likely that this was a letter that was meant to circulate to many churches. It wasn't to be about specific things in Ephesus. It was meant to travel around. And that can be helpful for us in understanding what Paul is after here because he wants to give that general message, that message that can come to all the churches wherever this letter is read, that message that celebrates what Christ has done. And as we consider together what Paul is doing here in this passage, he is really lifting up praise to Christ for what he has accomplished. And in these particular verses that we're going to consider, verses 7 to 10, he's praising Christ for three particular things. He's praising him for his redeeming death. He's praising him for his empowering grace. And he's praising him for his enduring reign. That's what Paul is doing. He is praising Christ for his work. And particularly as we move into verse 7, we notice that there is a transition from the first few verses. Look with me at verse 3 of chapter 1. Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms. Paul is, I think, moving. He is moving his argument along. The praise starts in heaven. The praise starts in heaven with the spiritual blessing that God has given. And Paul goes on to talk about that plan in verse 4 that God chose us in Him before the foundations of the world. He predestined us. So Paul is talking about the heavenly. He's talking about before time began that God had put this plan into action. This plan that He purposed before the beginning of the world to save a people for Himself. And now as we move along into verse 7, we have moved from the heavenly and the pre-temporal, The before time into history, into the world. And Paul signals that by that little phrase in verse 7, through his blood. That little phrase signifies a movement from the heavenly, from the before time, to the world, to Christ's activity in history. And that little phrase conveys so much meaning. There's so much there. The blood of Christ. Because it really refers to His entering into history. His incarnation. His becoming a part of the creation that He had made. All His life that He was living as a perfect sacrifice to God. In perfect obedience. So that He might present Himself as a sacrifice. without blemish, so that his blood would be a worthy sacrifice. Of course, above all, this reference to his blood reminds us of that blood that was shed for the sins of his people on the cross. You see, it's not just this little phrase that's insignificant here. It conveys a huge wealth of meaning. It signals that Paul is praising God not just for his plan, but for that plan being put into action in Jesus Christ. That he enters into history. That through his blood he might save his people. And look what Paul particularly wants us to focus on, redemption. Verse 7 talks about redemption. Well, what do we mean when we talk about redemption? Well, we often say to be redeemed is to be bought back. And of course, there's a follow-up question to that. If we need to be bought back, if he was redeeming us, from what did he redeem us? What did we need to be bought back from? Of course, the answer is our slavery to sin. The slavery into which the human race had sold itself in Adam. We were slaves to sin and we needed someone to redeem us. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. A Song of Ascents. One of the psalms that pilgrims would sing as they went up to the temple to offer their sacrifices. This psalm signals a recognition by God's people that there is something wrong. That there is a desperate need that they have. And this psalm gives voice to that desperate need. It's not long, so I'll read the whole thing. Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness. Therefore you are feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. More than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord. For with the Lord is unfailing love. And with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. You see, this psalm signals a recognition by God's people that redemption is desperately needed. That they are in a deep and dark place. And like watchmen who stand guard all evening long and are so desperate to see the dawn, they cry and they say, your word has told me that that hope I'm waiting for is coming. That that redemption I need so desperately is coming. And that you yourself will come, Lord, and redeem your people. And you see what Paul is celebrating in Ephesians 1 is that that hope has arrived. That the Lord has come. The redemption is not now something that God's people look forward to. But it's something that has come into history even now. That God's people have been redeemed. God's people have been bought back. It's not now something God's people are waiting for the day when it comes. The day has come, Paul says, in him we have redemption. And not only have we been bought back from our slavery to sin, but we've been forgiven of all those sins. That's the next point Paul makes in verse 7. We've been forgiven of all of our sins, because it was not only that redemption that the people cried out for, but it was that forgiveness, that God might forgive their sins. And that too is intimately connected to the work of our Lord. Because when John the Baptist came heralding the good news that Christ was coming and had come into the world, we're told that John went around preaching a baptism for the repentance and forgiveness of sins. But that was the message that John brought. It was the message that Jesus brought. When the paralytic was lowered in through the roof, What did Jesus say to him first? Son, your sins are forgiven you. Or the woman who poured the perfume over his feet said you're forgiven. That was Christ's message to his disciples. And in Luke 24, when he went away, he reminded his disciples that that was to be their message. That they were to preach the forgiveness of sins. And we see the apostles taking up that charge. In Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, he talks about the forgiveness of sins. And Paul, when he is giving an account of the charge that Christ has given him, in Acts 26.18, it says this, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. You see, this is the message. Forgiveness of sins. They are to be witnesses that this has happened. The forgiveness of sins has come into the world. And Paul can celebrate the fact not only has redemption been made possible, not only has forgiveness of sins been made possible, but we have become partakers in it. Because it's not the mere fact of what's been accomplished that Paul celebrates. It's that this has been accomplished for us. In Him, we have redemption. Then you can see that's why Paul wants to praise God for this redeeming death. This death that had brought about redemption. That had brought about the forgiveness of sins. Had restored fellowship to God. That this had happened in history. But it's not just that he wants to celebrate this fact that it's happened for us, but he also wants to point out that there's another wonderful blessing that Christ has given to his people. It's not just a redeeming death, but it's also, in the second place, an empowering grace. Because we know that these things happened in history, but we also know there are people that have not seen. People who have not seen with the eyes of faith to believe. We know there were people in Jesus' time who saw the amazing things that he did and how that power testified to the truth of the word he brought, and yet they walked away in unbelief. And why was that? Because God had not opened their eyes to see, had not unstopped their ears to hear, had not replaced their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. And so as Paul moves forward and talks about how we have been lavished with grace, he says the real gift that God has given is wisdom and insight. And that wisdom and understanding, that wisdom and insight that God has given, the Scriptures are shot through with the importance of this wisdom. The first several chapters of Proverbs talk about these words that Paul gives us here, wisdom and understanding. That not only has Christ come and offered Himself as an appealing sacrifice to God, as an appeasing sacrifice to God, but He has given us the grace to understand what happened there. To be able to take it for ourselves. To be able to see and to understand what had been accomplished. It's the importance that God's empowering grace allows us to see. Paul says it allows us to see the mystery of God's plan. Paul likes to talk about the mysteries of God's plan. He likes to talk about mysteries. Six times in Ephesians, he'll talk about the mysteries of God. 21 times in all of his writing, he talks about the mysteries of God. And every time he talks about mysteries, he talks about how those mysteries have been revealed in Christ. They are never mysteries that remain mysteries. Everything that we need to know has been revealed to us. God has opened our eyes to see. And that is a heavenly gift by God's Spirit. The Spirit that Christ sent to open eyes. And we can think about how valuable that wisdom is, how important it is. Think back to when Solomon was asked by the Lord. What is it that you want? Ask whatever you want from me and I will give it to you. In 1 Kings 3, they had this amazing interaction with God and King Solomon. What do you want? I'll give it to you. Anything you want. And he asked for wisdom. And we're told that it pleased the Lord that he asked for wisdom. And the Lord said, It pleases me because you have not asked for riches, you have not asked for long life, or power over your enemies. Why did that please the Lord so much? Because Solomon had not asked for something earthly, for an earthly blessing. Because Proverbs 2.6 reminds us that out of the Lord's mouth comes wisdom. Wisdom is something from on high. Wisdom is something that only God can give. It's only God that can give us the wisdom we need to see it. And Paul praises God because he says, it's been lavished on us. We don't have just enough to get by. It's been lavished on us. It's been poured out on us. We have this amazing wisdom and insight. Some of the smartest people in the world, in their fields, do not have this wisdom and insight. Because no matter how much earthly wisdom you gain, you cannot see the heavenly without the Spirit being at work. And so Paul says, not only have we seen this redeeming death, we've understood its importance. We've understood its power. And we can only do that if the Holy Spirit's at work. And you see why that evokes such praise from Paul. Because it expresses such confidence that God's people can have that if you by faith see Jesus Christ and understand what His work accomplished, it means that the Spirit is at work in you. The Spirit is at work in me, that God has poured out His Spirit on me so that I can see it, poured it out on you so that you can see it. He's at work in you. We can have confidence. We can have assurance of faith that God is working among us and these things that had been mysteries that are unclear to so many in the world have been open before us because it's been Christ's purpose to call you and to have you know that that death was sufficient for you. But you see, Paul ends this passage by saying it's not just the death that we celebrate, that death that redeemed us. It's not just this grace that empowers us that we celebrate, but it's the enduring reign of our Savior that we celebrate. In verse 10 we read, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. When the times will have reached their fulfillment, we can think of Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, when Paul talks about Christ came in the fullness of time. To be born of a woman, born under law, to redeem His people. Paul's saying in the fullness of time these things happen, Christ came to reign, not only to die, not only to open the eyes of his people, but also to go to reign, to unite all things to himself, to bring together all things in heaven and on earth under one head. Now it's interesting here because Paul has been talking in the past tense things that have been accomplished. And it almost sounds like he has accomplished this bringing heaven and earth together. That he has accomplished the union of all things under his head. Well, what are we to make of this? Is that what we see in the world when we look around us? Do we see that things have been united under Christ, all things in heaven and on earth? We've been reminded in recent times of the number of deaths that have affected people in our congregation. And the disasters that confront the world and sin and its effects in the world. And we look around and we say, is Paul sort of whistling in the dark? Are things really united under Christ? Has he really brought all things in heaven and on earth under him as its head? Maybe we could say, you know, Paul is just not in touch with reality. He's just saying a nice thing to make us feel better that conflicts with everything we see in the world. But it's important to remember that Paul was not having a good time when he wrote this letter. He was not in an easy chair someplace just talking lightly about the glories of God. Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome. And his fate was uncertain. But in the midst of his difficulty, he can celebrate the fact that things have been brought together under Christ. And that is indeed what God's Word teaches, that all things have been put into subjection under his feet. That he has, as he said, been given all authority in heaven and on earth. As the writer of Hebrews reminded us in Hebrews 2, we just don't see it yet. But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. All things have been put in subjection under his feet. It's just that at present we don't see all things under his feet. But what does the writer of the Hebrews say? We might not see all things under his feet, but we see Christ. We see Christ. Now you might say, how? I haven't seen Him. But we see Him through the witness that has been born to Him by those who did see Him. That witness that has been preserved for us in God's Word. Those eyewitnesses who said, we saw it happen in history. We saw the Lord come, we saw the Lord live, we saw the Lord die, and we saw Him live again. We saw Him go into heaven and He gave us this promise that He would come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Everything He's ever promised to do, He's done. And you can have confidence that He has united all things. And He's coming again not to put some things in subjection under His feet. That's already been accomplished. But He'll come again to let us see it. To see the reality of what He has done. To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head. And that is Christ. You see, it's an awesome thing that Paul is praising God for. For this work that God has done in history for his people. And Paul reminds us over and over again in this text, we are apart. Paul doesn't talk about me and I. He talks about we and us. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ can celebrate this salvation. Can know that this redeeming death was effected for you. That Christ came to die on the cross for you to bring you into his kingdom. That he has left you his spirit so that you might see. And that he is reigning a kingdom in which you have a part. As we learned this morning, we are to be peacemakers because we have a peacemaking king. Who wants a peacemaking kingdom. And what should that cause us to do in reaction? It causes Paul to praise. To praise the glorious salvation that is ours. To praise God for what He has done in our lives and in our world. That even though He was heavenly and apart from us, He came into history. To effect for us a salvation and to leave behind a witness so that all who came after could see it. In Jesus Christ. I pray that everyone who is here this evening has seen it. That Christ has opened your eyes by faith to know this wonderful good that he has accomplished. That he has restored that relationship between God and his people. And that he has brought you from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. And if he has done that, praise God with Paul and with us. But if He has not, the way is still open. You can still be included in the we that goes on to glory. But praise God that we have such a salvation. And praise God for such a Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Father in Heaven, we thank You for this wonderful reminder we have from Your Word that Christ came to bring about salvation not just for others but for us. that you have made us partakers in this wonderful salvation that you have given us your spirit so that we might understand the mysteries of your will. We pray that we might be reminded and every time we see the effects of sin in this world in so many ways when it looks like the world is not in subjection to you that we might be comforted and reminded that even though we may not see it that we know that all things have been put under Christ's feet. And even though we don't see that yet, we do see Him. And we know that He who has promised is faithful. And He will accomplish all He promised to do. And will come again to make all things new. Keep us and guard us until that day. And may we praise Your name as we ought for such a salvation. Hear us, for we pray in our Savior's name. Amen.