As believers, we are called to live in the reality of our redemption in Christ.

By recognizing our old selves, embracing our new identity, and living out our redemption in practical ways, we reflect the transformative power of Christ to the world around us.

Let us continually seek to grow in likeness to Christ, allowing His redeeming work to shape every aspect of our lives.

BLESSINGS FROM CHRIST OUR REDEEMER - Ephesians 1:7-12

A.He Has Redeemed Us (Ephesians 1:7a)

“In him we have redemption through his blood, …..”

To redeem means “purchase, by paying a price and set free.”

1.The Person - Who made our redemption possible – Jesus Christ – His grace.

2.The Price – of our redemption is His blood – He died for us – Romans 5:8-9 .NIV

Ownership – bought at a great price – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Hebrews ;NIV 9:12

3.Redeemed from Slavery

•Human beings are as slaves to sin who are then redeemed by God, paid for with the highest imaginable price – His Son, Jesus Christ.

•There are different Greek words in the New Testament for redeemed, lutroo – which means “to redeem or ransom, to set free.”

•That is the word used in 1 Peter 1:18 and Titus 2:14.

•Lutroo is the Greek word used for redemption in Luke 24:21; 1 Peter 1:18; and Titus 2:14 - Because we have been bought out of the slave market of sin, we are set free to be sons of God.

•You could buy a slave to keep as a slave – (Exagorazo – Greek)

4.This means we are free from the law – Galatians 5:1.

5.This means we are free from Satan and the world – Galatians 1:4; Colossians 1:13-14.

John recorded the life and ministry of Jesus to encourage the reader to put his/her faith in the risen Lord.

“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

The experience, encounter and exchange with the risen Lord brought joy, praise, authority, and power for service and most importantly the assurance of His continuous presence to His disciples.

We have the same assurance, so wherever your faith is today, broken as Mary’s, wavering as the disciples, or doubting as Thomas, Jesus reassures us that He is the risen Lord and that the victory over sin, death and Satan is won. Hallelujah

THE BIG QUESTION –

There is a big question that Jesus asked those with Him when Mary ran to meet Him.

That question – each person must answer personally. At this season of Easter and today that represents the day that our REDEEMER rose from the dead to complete the work of redemption, we confront that question afresh –

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26 )NI

Portraits Of The Cross - Panel Session (Wednesday, 27 March 2024)

●The Apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome awaiting trial before Caesar.

He had been arrested as an insurrectionist against the Empire, and Paul was faced with the real possibility of losing his life for his faith in Jesus Christ.

Caesar had the power of death and used that power without hesitation.

●The Apostle Paul and his relationship with the Phillipi church when Paul was to face trial.

In the verses that follow verse 21, Paul explains that no matter what happens, whether he lives or whether he dies, either way is gain.

He is wrestling with whether he wants to keep on living and whether he would be willing to die. He’s wrestling with a simple question, “to live or to die?”

You may be facing many trials all at once? Many different battles and challenges.

To buy back by paying a ransom.

Clearance of debt or owed obligation to repossess pledged collateral.

The Means

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

The cross is the means through which God has redeemed fallen man. It is on its basis that God extends any mercy to both fallen and redeemed man.

How Did We Get to The Point of Needing Redemption?

The first Adam fell.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in the first Adam – because of his fall.

17 NLT-Romans 5:12

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.

14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.

15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.

17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.

15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

The word “compels” can also be rendered controls, constrains, confines, etc. It leaves no option. It is the most logical response in gratitude to the redemption of God.

The fact is when we understand what Christ has done through His redemption, we also like Paul, would feel compelled to live for Him – anything less could be a result of:

•lack of understanding of what redemption entails.

•Ingratitude.

•Distraction.

•Sick heart, etc.

If we have been so favoured and Christ died to reconcile us back to God, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation bestowed upon us? (Hebrews 2:3) We will have no excuse if we neglect the ransom paid for us and we choose to live in slavery to the devil.

We must examine our lives and give our lives to Him. We must rededicate our lives and give them totally and completely to Him so we can be partakers of His grace and gift to mankind.

Can a Christian, who has been redeemed by the Blood of

To address this question, we must differentiate between what is legally ours and what we experience.

Can a Christian legally be under a curse?

The answer is clearly, 'no.' The subsequent inquiry is, 'can a

To explore this, let's pose another question: 'can a Christian be legally sick?'

The answer is unequivocally no, for Jesus bore all our sicknesses and pains on the Cross (Matthew 8:17), and by His stripes, we were healed (1 Peter 2:24).

However, a Christian can experience illness. Similarly, can a Christian sin?

According to 1 John 3:9, 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin...' Hence, legally, we cannot sin, but in practice, many of us still do and must regularly confess and repent of our sins.

The same principle applies to curses.

Legally, we cannot be subject to a curse, yet many

As with every aspect of the Christian journey, we must appropriate what is legally ours and make it our