Isaiah - Verse By Verse | Walking through Ephesians

Walking through Ephesians - Day 7

versebyverse | October 17, 2007 21:31

Thought: To me, redemption and forgiveness are the great pillars of the Christian experience. The more deeply I enter into these two qualities, the more humble, thankful and full of praise to God will I be.

Question: Have I let God redeem me? Have I accepted His forgiveness of my sins?

Scripture: Ephesian 1:7 (NIV): "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace."

"In him," that is, (verse 6) "the One he loves." The Father loves His Son, Christ. Redemption and forgiveness are parts of grace and all gifts come through Christ. Redemption is a process of buying back. It includes something having been lost but now newly re-acquired. Again, because free will allowed us the possibility of evil, and because sin came into the world through Adam's choice for evil, we are all "lost." God, however, newly re-acquires us, buys us back, and at great cost, I might add; but not at a cost to us--only to Himself. This is redemption--God rescuing us from the awful doom of sin. If we, however, do not regard sin as "awful", then we have no need of rescue, and we will reject redemption. We will choose to remain in sin, delusively thinking we are better off having the power of free-will to choose sin for ourselves, and that this power has a right to be exercised--even against God Almighty Himself. But if rebellion such as this is hated by the one who experiences it, and if he cries out in some way because of his sense of bondage in sin, wanting God instead of sins, then he can avail himself, freely, of God's desire to redeem him. God wants to buy back everyone, but He will not buy back those who refuse Him.

Another of grace's features is forgiveness of sins. This goes hand in hand with being bought back or redeemed. If it is the issue of sin and our opinion of it that determines whether we rebell or not, then it is sins that must be forgiven when we make a choice to come to God. You can't come to God and keep your sins, too. God cannot look upon sin, thus sins must be dealt with as you come to Him. They must be, in heart and mind, acknowledged as wrong, contrary to God, a grief to Him and His ways, and confessed as such by mouth. Then they must also be forsaken, given up, put behind the sinner. This is not to say they may not return to his life, they may. They may return in moments of temptation, to then be either resisted or succombed to. If resisted, God is praised. If succombed to, God is still praised, because that fall can also be forgiven--seventy times seven if necessary. Grace is pricelessly deep and raises praise because of its depth and reach. A true believer will eventually always confess and seek forgiveness when he sins. God's spirit within him will tell him his need to seek forgiveness. God cannot be untrue to Himself, His own Spirit, residing in a believer.

Thus, to me, we believers have an ONGOING redemption and a CONTINUAL forgiveness of sins, as needed, throughout our walk with God. First John tells us that we lie if we say we do not sin, (I John 1:10), but this book also tells us that a true believer cannot habitually sin against that life of God (Spirit) inside him, (I John 3:6). Conviction will win out. Sin will come out on the dying side because this person has the life of God inside. This winning life of God in us is "the riches of God's grace." Can we fathom this? What is grace? It is God having given His Life, Himself, to us. God invades us, dwells in us and begins to "take over." He will take over to the degree we allow Him to, and sin will reign in us to the degree we allow it. I believe grace allows for a believer to have every sin committed forgiven him all through life, even if that believer is weak and gives into most sins, if not all sin temptations, that he confronts. I believe grace allows for a believer to have his few sins forgiven in his life, when that believer is strong and resists most sins, if not all sin temptations that he confronts. Grace covers them both, strong and weak. Grace is able to, because grace and God are really equivalent things: to me, grace is God in us. This is why grace is so "rich." Only God is really rich, thus grace is God, coming into us, whether we are strong or weak. That is why God can predestine us. His grace, Himself, is enough guarantee that our destiny will be held firm to the end--whether we live weakly or strongly.

Now, some would say, "then why not just let go, be weak, and go out into sin. God's grace will cover me." IF GOD LIVES IN US WE WON'T WANT TO CHOOSE THAT WAY. God is love. Love in us, by grace (God living inside), will move us away from this irresponsible abuse of grace. Yet, I believe, we may abuse grace from time to time. We may rationalize and, knowing we can be forgiven in the next moment, slip in this moment. But I believe God can use these slips to teach us, even more deeply, about His Love, His grace, Himself. He will permit abuse of His grace to show us the pricelessness of it, in the long run, at the end of process. Else why would I John say "I would rather you not sin, but if you do, you have an Advocate, Jesus Christ, Who speaks on your behalf to the Father." And, "if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Could God turn away a true confession, even if it were the 490th time this person had committed this sin? No. Not if it were true. And God knows hearts. He knows when a confession is true and sincere. Only He knows for sure. The richness of God's grace, His life living in us, takes every sincere and good motive of the human heart, and honors it, causing Jesus' blood to wash away deeds done against our own hearts by our own bodies in the grip of sinful desire.

Prayer: Help me, Oh God, to fully accept your very rich gifts of redemption and forgiveness, and in so doing, to never abuse them. Amen.