Ephesians 1:7-8 - Abounding Grace for Freedom from Guilt and Bitterness

Thisis what we are talking about today as we look at Ephesians 1:7-10: "Inwhom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according tothe riches of His grace." In the first six verses, we found the blessingswe have from God the Father. In God the Father, we have been chosen. We havebeen adopted into His family. We have been accepted in Christ. Now in theseverses we see the blessings that we have from the Person and the work andministry of Jesus Christ because of His blood. We have been redeemed and wehave been forgiven. We talked about that yesterday.  Onething I want to go back to: I mentioned that evidence of our forgiveness is wehave the ability and power to forgive others. And I made the statement that ifwe cannot forgive others, maybe we haven't been forgiven. Now, that doesn'tmean that we are not a believer. It doesn't mean that we're not saved, but itmight mean we have not accepted the forgiveness that we have already in ChristJesus. Some people are forgiven but don't know they're forgiven. They've beenset free, but they don't know they've been set free. How sad.  ReadRomans chapters 6, 7, and 8. There we read about the law of sin and deaththat's always pulling us down. But then there's the law of life in Christ Jesusthat we must also understand and accept, and that we believe in and that wewalk in. And when we do that, we're free. And we walk in that law of life inChrist Jesus through a life of humility. That's why so much is made abouthumility in Christ. The humility of Christ. He humbled Himself. We humbleourselves under the mighty hand of God. It is then that we receive the grace ofGod (James 4:6), “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble”. Whenwe receive God’s grace, we don't get bitter when people hurt us and they causeus pain. When they offend us. No, we're able to forgive because of humility. Weswallow our pride. We admit our sins, our guilt. Forgiveness is a daily thingfor us. And that is because every day we get our feet dirty in this world.We're human. We don't always respond correctly to the situations and problemsand hurts and challenges that we face and we misstep, and we must come to theLord every day.  1John 1 reminds us that if we say we've not sinned, we are a liar. The truth isnot in us. 1 John 1 is about the assurance in knowing that I'm a child of God andnow that “I can walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood ofChrist is daily cleansing me from all sin”. And that means I'm forgivingothers also at the same time because of God's wonderful grace.  InChrist, we are redeemed and because of that we have been forgiven. And then Paulgoes on in verse 7, to say, "Which He has made to abound toward us inall wisdom and prudence." We have everything we need to live that lifeof abundant life. Jesus said, "The thief came to steal, to kill, and todestroy” (John 10:10). That thief is the devil, and he wants to steal yourjoy. He wants to steal your peace. He wants to steal your walk with God. He's athief. He wants you to be miserable. He wants you to walk in darkness, myfriend. But Jesus came to set you free. And if the “Son sets you free, youwill be free indeed” (John 8:32-26).  Youare free to love the Lord, free to love others, free to forgive others becauseyou've been forgiven. This again is a great blessing that we have. And Godgives us this grace. How does He give it? “In all wisdom and prudence”. Thismeans that we know how to respond to the problems in life. And we do itprudently. We do it the right way by the grace of God.Today,be encouraged!!! Deal with bitterness, deal with guilt, ask forgiveness, giveforgiveness, and walk with the Lord today. And what a wonderful life of freedomyou will have and enjoy in Christ today.  Godbless!