This sermon emphasizes the importance of redemption through Christ's blood for the forgiveness of our sins. It delves into the seriousness of personal sin, the need for acknowledging our guilt, and the necessity of applying the blood of Christ through faith as our only hope for salvation. The message highlights the offense of the cross, the significance of Christ's sacrificial death, and the riches of God's grace in providing redemption and forgiveness according to His mercy.

Would you please open your Bibles to Ephesians 1. Let's read down through v. 7. V. 7 is where I want to focus this morning. But let's take it in context. Ephesians 1.1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are 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 in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. To the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. And that's what I want us to focus on. In Him, we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. Friday evening, my wife and I watched the videos of a couple of John Piper sermons. And somewhere in there, we watched a video that was a preview of a series of ten videos. And in this preview, they were trying to entice you to want to watch their full ten-episode series. And what they were doing was they were showing people that were miserable, troubled, sad faces, calamitous situations. People that were obviously separated from God. And they kept talking about thirst. And of course, Jesus says that He answers to our thirst. But that was their big emphasis in this. That nothing in this world can satisfy. And so they would show you these miserable, dismal people. And nothing in this world can satisfy, but there's something out there. There's something that, even if we're content and happy in this life, they showed some people like looking off into the sunset over the ocean. And once in a while, a person thinks, is there anything else out there? Or suddenly this desire within them crops up and makes them have this longing that there's something more. And so it talks about this thirst. And then in the end of this preview, everybody's happy. The people that were sad at first are now happy. And I had this caution in my own soul because I was saying, you know, this sounds good and everything and there's no doubt that Jesus answers to a thirst in the soul. But they're not saying anything about the cross. And they're not saying anything about the kinds of things that we have here. Nothing about redemption. Nothing about blood. Nothing about the forgiveness of sins. And you know, there's a lot like that today if you look around and you keep your ears open. A lot that claims to be Christian. A lot that is talking God. Maybe even talking Christ. Listen to this. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made this comment. I read in an evangelical magazine some years ago, a front page article on this theme. The message of the Gospel. Now see, we were watching a video that wasn't really claiming to be the message of the Gospel, although that may be what their aim was that the basic message of the Gospel is that Jesus answers to our thirst. But this specifically said the message of the Gospel. Listen to Lloyd-Jones. I was most interested to observe that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was literally not mentioned at all. Now, I don't know when. I mean, this could have been in the 50s or the 60s. Some 50 years ago or 60 years ago. Not at all. He was depicted as Savior, but only as the risen, resurrected Lord. According to that message, it is Christ's life that delivers us. The cross was not mentioned. There's no mention of our Lord's death. Still less of His blood. The cross was bypassed. The writer went directly to the risen, resurrected Lord. The atoning, sacrificial, substitutionary death was absent from the article. That, folks, is not a small matter. Whether it's today watching a video, or whether it was back then 50, 60 years ago reading the cover article in an evangelical magazine. Because largely, this is representative of much that we see and hear And you know, the thing is, when you come to Ephesians 1, you may notice, nothing is said about death. Nothing is said about forgiveness of sins. Nothing is said about redemption. Nothing is said about the cross prior to v. 7. You do not want to stop short of v. 7. You don't want to pass over it lightly. Because look, we love to hear about blessing. This preview that we were watching, it was about mind-blowing satisfaction. You know what? Everybody wants to know about satisfaction. This idea that, well, if you come to Christ, it's going to be better than your drugs. If you come to Christ, it's going to be better than the sex. It's going to be better than the party. It's going to be better than the alcohol. Brethren, there's truth in that. But if that's all we say, that's detrimental. That's not the Gospel. That's not the good news. There's stuff said here in v. 3 about blessing. We all like to hear about blessing. Everybody likes to hear that God blesses. You go on, there's choosing. There's holiness and blamelessness in v. 4. That's all good. There's adoption. Oh, that's great. Adopted. Adopted. We talk about being blessed or favored at the end of v. 6. Everybody loves favor. Everybody loves blessing. But let me tell you this, there is an obstacle to us being blessed. And there is an obstacle to us standing before God, holy and blameless. And there is an obstacle to us being adopted. There is an obstacle to us being favored. You see, the thing is, we read about and hear about the offense of the cross. The thing is, when you get to the cross, and when you get to blood, and when you get to sacrifice, when you get to an atonement, you know why that's so offensive? Everybody loves to hear about blessing. But when you get to the cross, it causes men to have to look at themselves as to what they really are. You see, you can talk about adoption, and you can talk about blessing, and you can talk about holiness and blamelessness, and you don't really have to get to stand and come to grips and come face to face. Men are glad to hear about these other things. By and large, people are glad to hear about Christ's imputed righteousness. But they're absolutely horrified at being stripped of any of their own righteousness. And all you have to do is tell people about the Gospel. You see, the heart of the Gospel is this cross. Because in the cross, you see what sin deserves. You take one look at Christ on that cross. You take a look at Him being forsaken. You take a look at His blood being spilled. You take a look at God's wrath unleashed. You look at Him stricken, smitten, afflicted. You look at Him suffering. You look at what the Son of God must endure. And suddenly you recognize there is a price, and it is an infinite price that has to be paid for sin. And if so, it means sin is that bad, and my sin is that bad. And it causes us to come face to face with the reality. Brethren, it is easy to talk about God, and it is easy to talk about thirst being satisfied. And it's easy to talk about a resurrected Christ, and resurrection, and power. But this is where we come face to face with the real problem. And He had to get here because there's an obstacle. And He needs to tell us. This is the heart of the Gospel here. Notice it. In Christ, we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. God's ultimate purpose for us is to stand before Him holy and blameless as sons. That is His ultimate. But there's something that stands in the way of that. There's obviously a great obstacle. My own wicked sins don't call for me to stand before God. They call for my destruction. They call for my damnation. So here we are. Hell is the only position I've earned. Damned and forsaken. That describes my lot. We can hear the prophet saying it. Your iniquities. That's what makes a separation. There's a separation. It's glorious to hear about all these things. Brethren, it's glorious to hear about Christ answering to our thirst so that we thirst no more. And that He's resurrected. But there's a problem that has to be addressed. And this is why Jesus Christ came into the world. To be a physician for the sake of the sick. He came to seek and save the lost. He came to give His life a ransom for many. There had to be a price paid. That's the issue. Now let's look at this. Redemption. Redemption. In Him we have redemption. You don't want to just skip over this. I know Paul is using a lot of this in Him, in Christ, through Christ. We don't want to just pass over that because brethren, there is no salvation at all apart from Jesus Christ. But look at the word redemption. Redemption. Redemption through His blood. Now let's stop and think about that word. I started thinking, how do we use it today? I mean in secular sense. So often when you hear redemption, it immediately takes us to something religious. If you saw a movie called Redemption, or you saw an article called Redemption, how do we use the term culturally? Redeem or redemption? And I thought, well, we talk about redeeming a coupon. You cut it out or you get it in the mail in one of those flyers and you chop it out. You take it to Walmart and you give it to the lady there at the cash register. And it's redeemed when she knocks 80 cents off the shampoo or whatever. We redeem a coupon. And we probably wouldn't use this terminology if it wasn't somewhat of a Christianized slogan. But we talk, at least as Christians, we talk about redeeming the time. The idea is buying up the time. The idea is delivering the time from waste. Can you think of any other way secularly that we use the terms redeem or redemption that's familiar to us? Because it's actually somewhat foreign to us. We don't use it a whole lot in a non-religious context. Redeemed cans? We did that in Michigan, but I don't remember it. We didn't call it that. What's that? Yeah, you make a mistake, you have to redeem yourself. What does that mean? I've got to redeem myself. Or you run a race or you play a game and you lose and next time you come up against the same team, there's going to be redemption. We messed up at work and the boss says you need to redeem yourself. Making things right. Let me tell you, in the Greek, there's a word group. And we get redeem, we get redemption. You know what other word we get out of it? Ransom. I don't know what you think about, but I think about somebody being kidnapped. And they need to be ransomed. That probably comes closest to the way that Paul is using the term here. Going to Walmart and redeeming a coupon just doesn't capture this. You know, the word redeem can mean in our colloquial expression setting things right, it can mean to deliver. Like redeem the time. I'm going to deliver it from a waste. There is a sense in which redeem means simply to deliver. But that's not the idea, because when you talk about through the blood, what Paul's doing is he's showing us that basically what we have is a deliverance that is taking place. Not just a deliverance, but a deliverance through the payment of a ransom. There is a paying of a price in exchange for something. In exchange for what? For our lives. For our forgiveness. That's what's in the text. For our forgiveness. Our forgiveness has to be bought. That's the idea of redemption as it's used here. The word ransom probably comes closest where we think about kidnappers. And they've kidnapped somebody. And they're going to kill them. They're going to end their life unless we come up with a sum of money that can be given to them so that we get in exchange for that money that person that is there in bondage to them. The idea of ransom or the idea of redemption is somebody has possession. Either legally or by an exertion of power, they have possession. And a redemption price is paid or a ransom price is paid to get that person freed from that bondage that they're in. And probably the best place and it never does us well to try to interpret words in the culture. Not biblical words. The best way to interpret biblical words is by comparing Scripture with Scripture. And if there's any place where this concept of redemption is set down for us, it's in the Old Covenant. It's in the Old Testament. We don't need to look back there, but just let me bring to your minds, this is not exhaustive by any stretch, but bring to your minds some of the ways in the Old Testament that God brought this redemptive idea or this ransom idea into the minds and before the eyes of His Old Covenant people. How about this one? In Exodus 21, we find this. If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past... Man owns an ox. The ox has a reputation of being a wild thing. Chasing people. Goring people. Hurting people. There's a reputation. You've got an animal that's dangerous, like owning a pit bull. And if its owner has been warned, the neighbors have said, somebody said, you've got an animal that hurts people, you better keep that thing penned up. But he doesn't keep it penned up. And it kills a man or a woman. The ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. So you see the provision. God says, you've got an animal that's been known to hurt people and you don't take precautionary measures and it actually hurts somebody again. Not only does it die, you die. But, he makes provision your life may be spared. You know, if it was my child that was killed, I may be in a position to say to the owner of that animal, I'll spare your life at a price. And so the provision was this. If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. Now, under the Mosaic law, there were various provisions like this that were made for redemption where a price could be paid and a life be spared. This is really where we want to see the kind of... The apostolic use of such terminology is certainly going to be developed for us back here in the Old Testament. Now, just listen to this. In Exodus 30, when you take the census of the people of Israel, what's a census? I'm simply counting the people. How many people live in San Antonio? That's a census. Let's go out. Take count. When you take the census of the people of Israel, each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord. You say, that's weird. We understand when my animal, my pit bull, I mean, I've got a pack of pit bulls in my backyard and it kills a neighborhood kid. You understand there might be repercussions on me. Taking a census you have to pay for your life? Anybody else think that's kind of weird? Each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number the people, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Listen, we need to recognize something. The very fact you exist and are allowed to keep walking this earth as a sinner is reason for a plague. It's like God is saying, the fact you even exist to be numbered is cause for Me to throw a plague on you and kill you in your tracks. The fact that officially you would be recognized as being a number who is in existence and alive is reason to cause a plague to come upon you. Brethren, that's what we deserve. And if you're even going to be numbered, you've got to pay a ransom to spare your own life. How about this? Exodus 13. Every firstborn of a donkey... See, the Lord said this, the firstborn are Mine. Even of animals. And so, your donkey gives birth for the first time, the firstborn, you've got to redeem its life with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. And I'll tell you this, in the New Testament, we find that these things are given to us for our own instruction. And we're told that these things pertain to Christ. They pertain to realities. You need to look past a donkey and a lamb and you need to look to us and to Christ. That's the picture here. If you're not redeemed, your neck gets broke. How about this? Leviticus. Of all things in the Old Testament, the concept of the kinsman redeemer. You know about that. Redeemer. Redemption. Redeemed. Ransom. That's the idea. What's the idea? Well, here I am, and I'm going through life, and I meet some financial difficulties. And I get into bondage, into debt, to somebody else, to a stranger, to a foreigner, and they take me as a slave. Because I'm in debt. I owe them. What can happen? A family member can come and pay my price and set me free. And we all remember Boaz. The kinsman redeemer. The picture of Christ. But you see, in the Old Testament, this concept of redemption is developed. And you know, when you come to the New Testament, Jesus says, you search the Scriptures, because in them you think you find eternal life. And He said, they speak of Me. You go back to all these pictures of redemption, and you know what Jesus is saying to us? It's Me! It's Me! It's Me! It's not about donkeys. It's not about lambs. It's about Me. If you've got eyes to see. So this whole picture of redemption is set forth before us. The idea of redemption is that a ransom price is paid for the deliverance of somebody. That's the picture. A ransom price is paid. Notice next, blood. In Him we have redemption through His blood. So redemption means deliverance by the payment of a ransom. What was the ransom price? In Him we have redemption through His blood. Have you ever just stopped and thought, that sounds strange. The redemption by His blood. Why not just say redemption through Christ? Why not say redemption through His death? Some of you may remember a number of years back, 20 years ago maybe, 25 years ago, very popular, one of the most popular preachers in our country. I don't know what text he was preaching on, but he basically said when the Bible says blood, it just means death. And he got all manner of difficulty because he made that statement. People were saying, ah, he's denying the blood. And you know, I have found that when the people that cried out the loudest, that if you asked them, what do you mean he's denying the blood? Explain yourself. They have a hard time explaining it because they have this kind of mystical, magical idea about the blood. And it was always mysterious, but he's denying the blood. Because you can't say that blood equals death. Well, what do you think? I would say this, just a little bit of rational logic would tell us blood doesn't equal death. Death doesn't equal blood. Is it possible that sometimes we say blood metaphorically in the place of death? Yeah. But that doesn't mean that blood equals death and death doesn't equal blood. You say, what do you mean? Well, we've all shed blood. Every one of us have bled in our lives. And we didn't die. Jesus could have shed His blood without dying. But also, on the other side of this, it's possible to die without bleeding. Strangulation. Suffocation. Poisoning. Death doesn't equal blood. Blood doesn't equal death. I'll tell you this, justice does not just demand blood aside from death. Justice demands our head. Justice demands that we die because of the sins that we've committed. Just bleeding. Jesus, if all that is necessary is that He shed blood, He could have got the thorns through the brow. He could have been scourged. He could have been crucified and then let down. Blood was shed. But you see, justice doesn't just demand the shedding of blood. But God's justice doesn't just demand death. Why doesn't it? Because God says so. I mean, plain and simple, that's the reason. God demands death and He demands the shedding of blood that brings death. Why? Because that's what He wants. Could God have accepted a strangled victim? He could have if that's what He desired. But you see, all those old covenant sacrifices pointed to Christ. And every time a lamb was killed, every time a goat was killed, every time a bull was killed, you go to the book of Hebrews and what does it talk about? The blood. The blood of lambs and goats. The blood. Why? Because God determined that the blood had to be shed. And the blood had to be sprinkled. The blood had to be seen. Sometimes it can seem, brethren, like blood is simply interchangeable word with death. Listen to this. Like in Matthew 20.28, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Nothing said about blood there. But to give His life a ransom for many. What was the ransom price? His life. Or again, therefore He is the mediator. Hebrews 9.15 of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. So we see death. He gives His life. There is death for redemption, for ransom. But, likewise, we have verses like we have here in Ephesians 1. We have some other ones. Revelation 5.9, they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Or the well-known 1 Peter 1.18-19 Knowing that you were ransomed, there's our word, from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Are they the same? They seem to be used interchangeably there. But as I said, death by itself without shedding of blood, strangulation doesn't work. Shedding of blood alone without death does not satisfy justice. When you open up your Bibles and you go to the Old Testament, you know what we find with the Passover lamb? One from among the flock. And they would bring it there with the family for a number of days. And then they, the family themselves, would personally have to kill this lamb. And they couldn't strangle it. Why? There was blood needed. There was blood needed for the doorposts and for the lintel, for the door header. Blood had to be shed. God required for our sins to be atoned. You know what we find, brethren? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. But in that, there is implied the death of the victim who shed his blood. God never accepted a strangled sacrifice. In fact, you see, if something was strangled, that was not good. Listen to this text. Leviticus 17.11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. You see how He connects both? The blood and the life. The blood is the life. And that's essential. When the New Testament authors use the idea of blood, it comes back to this reality. When they talk blood, they don't mean just blood that's been spilled and the victim goes on living. They mean the blood is the life and the life of the victim has been taken because this blood of its life has been shed. And He says, I've given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. This is a truth that we find in Scriptures. The shedding of blood is connected to the forgiving and the putting away of sin, the atonement of sin, the expiating of sin, the expunging of sin. This is the attachment here. There's got to be the shedding of blood, but it must take the life of the victim. You think with me about that Passover back in the Old Testament, back in the book of Exodus. The Lord said that on a certain night, about midnight. Now you think about this. That Passover has everything to do with us. You know what the New Testament tells us? Christ, our Passover, is slain. Christ is what was being pictured there. What was being pictured back there in Exodus has to do with us and with today and with realities now. You go back there. God said on a certain night about midnight, I am going to pass through the land of Egypt and I am going to strike dead all the firstborn through the entire land. All the firstborn. Firstborn of Pharaoh down to the maidservant. Even the firstborn of the animals. That's what He said. Brethren, we're told that these things foreshadow Christ. Egypt. What does it represent? I remember when Kevin and I went and we visited Egypt. We came back and we sang Hail, Sovereign Love. And you sing in there about Egypt's night or the Egyptian night or the Egyptian darkness. How does it go? The Egyptian darkness. Well, why would a songwriter under the New Covenant write about Egyptian darkness? Because brethren, let me tell you this. Egypt is a picture of the world. Egypt was the iron furnace. It's the place of captivity. It's the place that God's people have to flee from. Darkness. It's a picture of this world out here. And you know what? God going through and striking all the firstborn dead, that is a picture of Judgment Day. And that lamb is a picture of Christ. And that family inside, the families inside all those homes, a picture of all of us. This is what we have here. The plagues had done their damage. You think about this. Think about the book of Revelation and how it speaks about plagues. Those plagues are being brought forth now. Well, you go back then, and you know what you find? Before the day of dying comes, before the day of judgment comes, before the day of the death of the firstborn comes, all those other plagues were meted out upon Egypt, upon this world. This is a picture. We're in the time now when the plagues are being showered upon this world. You look at the death, the destruction, the despair. God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all of man's ungodliness and unrighteousness. It is out there, brethren. But I'll tell you what, it's all pointing towards another time just like those plagues were pointing towards that time about midnight on a certain night in the darkness in Egypt. This is Egypt and there is darkness and there is a time coming about midnight when God is going to come. And when God comes, it's a time of judgment. And when He comes, the firstborn will die. And I'll tell you this, all the firstborn must die. It is not just Egyptian's firstborn that must die. It is Israel's firstborn that must die. He's coming to kill. That's what we see. This is a shadow of a yet future day. And you need to grasp something. Those Israelites, the very ones that were in those homes, they were a stiff-necked people. The vast majority of them would die in the wilderness. Can I tell you something? They were sinners just like the Egyptians. They were a haughty people. They were a people that rebelled against God time and time and time again. God is going to judge Egypt. But I'll tell you, there is no difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. And God's coming with judgment. Why was there a difference between them? Scripture says God made a difference. That's why there's a difference. God made a difference. And if there's ever going to be a difference between anybody, it's because God makes the difference. It's not because somebody's better than the others. The Ephesians were not better than the rest of the people bowing down before that temple at Diana. Why were they selected out? It's because God makes a difference. And you know where the difference is found? The difference is found in the Passover. Those people inside that house were just as worthy of death as the rest of the Egyptians. The reason there was a difference was found in the Passover. Why? What happened? Grace. I mean, that's what happened. God's compassion. God's love. God's free choice. God determined to provide a way of escape for Israel. He made the distinction. The term Passover means exactly what it sounds like it's saying. To pass over. It's God exempting out. Leaving you out. Passing you over of what He otherwise is going to execute. And God's coming. The death angel's coming. We haven't reached the midnight hour yet, but it's coming. The day is far spent. And what happens when He comes? God is going to Passover. Why? Why would He? God's going to judge Egypt. There's no difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. What's going to make the difference? One thing makes the difference. And it's if there's blood on those doorposts and on that door header. To Passover? Brethren, it carries the idea that God will not do to that household what He intended to do to every household. And I'll tell you, when the death angel comes, brethren, it is a time of death. It is a time of dying. It is payday. Like, you take a census. And if you don't pay the ransom, you die. Why? Why? It's just a census. I mean, all I'm doing is living my life and I'm being counted. Yes, but you know who you are? You know who you are to be counted? Do you know your sins? And He's coming. And the picture that we have, brethren, we're talking about redemption through blood. Redemption through blood. When He comes, He's looking for blood. And that door on that dope doorpost, it's like there. You put it up the sides, across the top, down there. They would take hyssop. And they would take the blood and they would bleed totally. That lamb would be killed. That Passover lamb would be dead and its blood spilled. And they would put it in a bowl. And they would take it and they would dab it around there. And who was the blood for? Not for the preacher across the street to look at. Not for the neighbors down the street. Not for you to look at when you're coming in here. That blood was for God to see. He was the One that was looking for it. He is the One that it was done for. He is the One the blood was shed for. He is the One who's looking for the blood. And when He comes to a household, if that blood is not there, you die. You're a dead man. And this is speaking about now. Now! You come to the New Testament and you look at the festivals. You look in Colossians 2. And you know what it tells us? It's just flashing red. All those festivals like this. The Passover. It has to do with Christ. It's all foreshadowing Him. You want to know where the substance is? It's in Him. And what is it pointing to? There is a day when God is coming and you deserve to die. And you will die. There is a day of dying at hand. And if that blood is not found there, you're a dead man. You're a dead woman. That's the issue. What that blood speaks of is that there was a sacrificial lamb that gave its life. And it's represented there in that blood. Not just that it bled a pint or two. Its life was poured out. Because it was a substitute. Its life is accepted in the place of their lives. Passover. Passover. You can imagine that night. The screams as they started. How many firstborn do we have here? And that was just representative. Because on the day of judgment, it's not going to just be the firstborn. We are told that all the nations are going to wail. Because it's judgment day. And if you don't have blood, it's payday. There's only one thing that's going to still His wrath. You do not want to read Ephesians 1 with all of its glories about God choosing and predestinating and electing and Passover the cross. Those are high doctrines and they're glorious. You can look at adoption. You can think about all these things. But there is no adoption unless there is blood. There is no standing before God unless there is blood. There is none of that. There is no spiritual blessing in the heavenly places unless there is blood that has been shed as a ransom on your behalf. And you have put it on your door. What is that door today? Or the applying of it to the door? That is faith. You go there and you apply it by faith. There's no door there. But our faith latches onto that blood nevertheless. Payday. And God's going to come looking for blood. And there better be the blood of a substitute. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Egypt is the world. The firstborn and representative of all mankind. This darkness about midnight is representative of the darkness in this world. Midnight is the end of a day. I mean, what a picture of the end of time. The Passover Lamb is Christ. The people in the house are us. The door. The blood. The application. That's faith. This is what all this looks to. Blood on the door. Is God going to find blood? And what's the result of this? The ransom price is paid to God. The redemption price is paid by the Son to the Father. And what's the result? In Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses or our sins according to the riches of His grace. Now you just hear that. The forgiveness of our trespasses. Our sins. Our sins. We've been dealing with a situation lately where somebody talks about being thrown under the bus. He commits sins. When he's dealt with about the consequences of his sins, he says, I'm being thrown under the bus. Remember Adam? You know what, God? The woman You gave me, that's the problem. Not just is she the problem. You're the problem. You gave me her. Remember Eve? Eve was a serpent. He deceived me. Blame shifting. You hear what Paul says? Forgiveness for our sins. Our transgressions. They're ours. Be done with the blame shifting. Your lust, your covetousness, your greed, your lies. Keep going. Keep going down the line. That's not God's sin. That's not your neighbor's sin. That's not your parent's sin. That's not your spouse's sin. It's your sin. You are guilty. And God's going to be coming for you. The wage of sin is death. And He's going to be coming for you. The death angel has an appointment with you. It is appointed for you to die. It is appointed for you to face the judgment. And you cannot escape it. And you are guilty. And this is right where the offense of the cross is found. It stares you right in the face. And it says, You are this wicked that God had to give up His only begotten Beloved Son to pour out His soul under the wrath of God. That's how bad your sin is. It's your sin. Your sin. Your sin. Your transgression of His laws. And it's wicked. It's not a weakness. You hear everything today. Alcoholism. It's a disease. Your children are hyperactive. Oh, it's a syndrome. Or something of that nature. It's a disorder. It's a weakness. It's something you can blame on your parents. You go to the psychologist, and you've got all these problems in your life. And your conscience is all messed up. And it won't let you have peace. Why? Because you're a guilty sinner. And you're going to face God on judgment day. And they all want to put you to sleep. Well, tell me about your father. Tell me about your relationship with your parents. Why? As though it's their fault? It's not because you were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It's not because you didn't have the wealth somebody else had. It's not because you're underprivileged. We're talking your sin. Your sin. And God knows every one of them. And He knows the times you've fallen short of the glory of God. He knows your life. He knows. It is you. It is you who have said no to God. It is you who have raised your fist. It's me. It's us. We can't blame shift. Oh, the woman you gave me. The serpent. That doesn't fly. Look, that doesn't mean that other people may not coax us further into sin. That doesn't mean that other people may not be responsible for our falls or tempt us. But our sin is our sin. And you know what? Nobody gets saved until they first acknowledge their sickness is their own. He came to save. He came to heal. He came to rescue. He came as a doctor for the sick. And all are sick. But He wasn't talking about all men in their sickness. He was talking about those that recognize their sickness like the prodigal. Not like the older brother. He was just as sick. Brethren, God doesn't need to see blood on those door posts because you and I make mistakes. There better be blood there because you've sinned wickedly and you deserve damnation. That's why He better see that blood there. Sin is a little word, but it damns men greatly to an eternal hell. There's a greatness in that little word. Would you even begin to estimate the ransom price that it takes for sin? Look at the Son of God. He came from heaven. He set aside the glory He had with His Father before the world began. It is your outright trampling of God's laws. That's what transgression means. It means there's a line. God drew the line. You stepped over it. You transgressed it. God repeatedly has said, Don't go there. You went there. Do go there. You didn't go there. Don't do that. You did that. What Scripture tells us is we are so wicked that when God says not to do it, then we want to do it. We do it just because He said not to do it. It stirs up something in us that makes us want to do it all the more. Who are you going to blame for despising God's ways and God's laws and God's Gospel and God's Son? It's your sin. It's yours. Listen. Everybody in this room, I know it, you have a Passover hope. You say, What do you mean by that? There's not one of you here right now that's just absolutely convinced, I'm going to hell. I know it. I'm going to face eternal damnation, destruction, that weeping and gnashing of teeth we heard about in the first hour. That's me. I'm going there. I know it. You know what? You can't live a rational life. You can't live a sane life. You can't go on and be halfway normal in this life if you really were being pressed all the time by that reality that on your conscience and in your mind, you just recognized all the time, I'm going to hell. I know it. It's for certain. I can't escape it. Few more rolling suns at most aren't going to land me on Canaan's coast. They're going to land me in the very depths of that lake of fire. And I know it. And so I better live it up right now because this is all I have. And in the end, I'm going to die. I'm going to go to hell and I'm going to burn there forever. And I'm going to get the due consequence of my sin. I'm going to pay for my sin myself. And I'm going to weep and I'm going to gnash my teeth and I'm not going to have rest day or night. And you know what? I can live with that. No one can live with that. And you know why? Everybody has some hope because they can't live with that. And I guarantee every person here, including myself, we have a hope that when the death angel comes, He's going to pass over me. You have a hope. Every one of you. There's not one of you here that really expects and believes that you're going to make your bed in hell forever. And the reason that you can go on halfway sane is because you have convinced yourself one way or another that when the death angel comes, He's going to pass over you. But I can tell you this, if the blood on your doorpost is not the blood of Jesus Christ, your hope is vain. And you will perish. And that death angel will take you. Many in this world, they like to say, there's no God. Buy into evolution. You see, if you can buy into evolution, then God's wrath passes over you because there isn't any. Try to convince yourself one way or another. I'm not that bad. That's what some people put on their doorposts. I'm just not that bad. You're a goner if you enter judgment day with that hope. I know what some people's hope is. Tomorrow. Yeah, I'm vulnerable right now. I know there's no blood on those doorposts, but I plan to get it there tomorrow. Scripture says today. You know why it says today? Because James tells us the man or woman who says, tomorrow I'm going to do such and such, you're a fool. Tomorrow is a fool's hope. Because yesterday, today was tomorrow. And the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that, and you're not ready yet, you won't be ready tomorrow. Christ's death and Christ's blood alone give redemption and forgiveness of sins. You may have sinned yourself almost to the point of hell right now. You may have lived a debauched life. You may have lived all manner of sin in the face of great light. You may have grown up in a Christian family. You may have been exposed to so much truth up to this moment. But look, if you look at the text, it says it ends according to the riches of His grace. It's not according to the badness of your sin. It's not according to the lightness of your sin. It's not according to the fewness of your years or the majority of your years. It's according to the riches of His grace. That's how He saves. If you believe on this Christ who shed His blood and died, you are forgiven. That is the way of salvation. Don't put your hope on anything else passing over you on judgment day, but the blood of Christ. God must see the blood. And if He doesn't see it, you're dead. You're dead. Don't go on. It is so easy for people when they're not suffering the torments of hell to think lightly of what it will be like to do it. But you will rue the day you despise this blood. You say, I'm just not simply that bad. Okay, I mean, if that's the blood you want to apply to your door, you have the choice to choose what you're going to put on your doorposts. But this is all a picture of Christ. He shed His blood and He's died and He's paid this ransom price by which He frees men from all the requirements and the curse of the law. He frees men from the way of their forefathers. He frees men from sin and from death and from hell and from the devil. He redeems us from God's wrath. Sets us free. His blood was shed that in Him, in Him, there is redemption through His blood that you might be redeemed, that you might be forgiven. Do not put your hope anyplace else. Father, we thank You that You provided a way of escape. You provided blood to satisfy You that we might not receive what we deserve. There is forgiveness with You. You devised the sending of Your Son. You devised a way of salvation. You made it possible for people guilty as we are to be forgiven that our sins might be remembered no more as far as the east is from the west. Just cast into the depths of the ocean. Lord, have mercy on sinners. We pray in Christ's name.