The Great Rescue
Lesson Objective
The students will see God’s rescue plan for mankind and be drawn to their Rescuer.
Outline
Redemption from Sin’s Slavery
I. God Broke Our Chains by Redeeming Us from Sin (Ephesians 1:4, 7).
II. God Cleared Our Record by Reconciling Us to Peace with Him (Ephesians 2:12-14).
III. God Provided for Our Future by Adopting Us into His Family (Ephesians 1:5).
Ephesians 1:7
What was the cost to redeem mankind from sin?
Modern day slavery is a real and very dangerous dilemma. Those that have fallen victim are hoping and longing for someone that cares enough about their plight to raise awareness and devise a daring rescue! Unfortunately, for many in physical slavery, that rescue never happens. However, every human being who is caught in the slavery of sin can be rescued. The rescue mission has already been drawn up and carried out. The chief trafficker of people’s souls has been defeated and the chains of sin’s slavery have been broken. If that wasn’t enough, our rescue was much more than the prison doors simply being unlatched and us running for our lives. Our rescue from sin included getting us out of the prison of sin, reconciling our relationship with God, and even providing for us outside of prison by bringing us into His family (Ephesians 1:5). That is a rescue worthy of the front page!
Adoption: Being placed into God’s family and regarded as a true son with all the privileges and responsibilities that belong to that new relationship.
Reconciliation: A change of relationship from hostility to harmony and peace between two parties.
Redemption: Deliverance or freedom secured by payment of a price.
Checklist
1. Print info for the various Research Groups.
2. Paper and pens to write a prayer note to God at the closing of the lesson.
General Lesson Format
Introduction
Lecture
The situation of modern slavery is sadly similar to the condition of mankind. God created man in sinless perfection for a relationship with Him. However, it did not take long for man to get himself trapped in the slavery chains of sin. The great news is that God initiated a rescue mission through His Son, Jesus Christ that makes freedom possible to all that are willing to follow His plan. The news gets even better than that. God did so much more than just unlock our prison doors and hope we could get away safely. He ensured a whole new life for us once we were free. Our rescue gives us freedom from sin, a new life, and a new relationship with God.
Rescue missions are dangerous and many times unsuccessful. As we look to better understand God’s rescue of mankind, we want to remind ourselves of great rescues made by some very courageous people in modern times. Listen closely and see if you remember either the one rescued, or who was responsible for the rescue.
Teacher’s Note: Have a leader read the following story of a great rescue.
On April 8, 2009, four armed Somali pirates used grappling hooks to board the merchant ship Alabama under cover of darkness. In a struggle, the entire crew of the Alabama, including Captain Richard Phillips was taken captive. Through a series of events, Captain Phillips ended up as the only hostage aboard one of the ship’s lifeboats. At one point, Captain Phillips tried to escape by jumping into the water and swimming towards the USS Bainbridge, a Navy warship now on the scene. But the pirates caught him, dragged him back and tied him up.
Not much later, a military plane flew over the Bainbridge in the dead of night, and a squad of military personnel parachuted into the Indian Ocean. Once aboard the U.S. warship, three snipers took positions on the ship’s fantail and trained their night-vision scopes on the tiny lifeboat.
The snipers got their chance when the pirates briefly became visible through the hatches of the lifeboat. The three snipers fired, and all three pirates were killed. Phillips, safe and sound, was brought aboard the Bainbridge.
Content
Rescue missions are dangerous, but also very inspiring. Many movies have their plot based on a rescue of someone in danger just like the one we just heard. We want to use these stories to remind us of a bigger story, the rescue God coordinated for us. In our first look at Ephesians we investigated the awful spiritual condition we were in before Christ rescued us from the slavery of sin. In this second lesson, we will discover all that God did for us in salvation. It was much more than just unlatching the prison doors. Our story of salvation is truly an amazing rescue. It is a storyline of helpless children not only being rescued from the darkness of sin’s slavery, but also being adopted as children of the King! This is one of the most exciting topics Paul presents in the wide spectrum of benefits we have as Christians.
Our rescue from sin included at least three different aspects. We are going to see how Paul describes these in Ephesians. The three include: Redemption, Reconciliation, and Adoption. We will divide into discussion groups to look at these more closely.
Research Groups
Teacher’s Note: Divide the students into three Research Groups. If you have a larger group, divide into six smaller groups and have each of the points covered by two groups rather than one. Divide your adult leaders as well among the groups as evenly as you can to help foster discussion. Have each group complete their portion of the following questions. After five minutes of Group Research, reassemble for Group Reports and Teacher’s Comments.
Research Group One Assignment
I. God Broke Our Chains by ______Us from Sin (Ephesians 1:4, 7).
A. What did you find in Ephesians 1:4 that God did for us through salvation?
B. According to Ephesians 1:7, what did Paul list as a benefit of our redemption from sin and what is it based on?
Teacher’s Comments:
Group One, what did you learn about what God did for us through salvation?
I. God Broke Our Chains by Redeeming Us from Sin (Ephesians 1:4, 7).
A. What did you find in Ephesians 1:4 that God did for us through salvation? (We were made holy/blameless.)
Our sin made us guilty before God. Through the death of Jesus, God paid the ransom for our sin. Redemption can be understood as the deliverance or freedom secured by the payment of a price.
When God set us free from our dungeon of sin, He made us holy. While the concept of holiness may seem stiff and rigid to some, it is a mark of our freedom from sin. That we are holy means that we are separated from sin and consecrated to God. Prior to salvation, we lived in bondage to sin, having no desire or strength to refuse our sinful urges. We were chained to sin like a slave. Under the rule of our old master, we did whatever our sinful heart told us to do (Ephesians 2:2-3).
What most people forget is that we also have to live with the consequences of those sinful desires and actions. We often see this mistake in funny beer commercials on TV which fail to show the terrible after effects of alcohol addiction and drunkenness. They show the fit bodies and fun parties, but never the vomiting, DWI’s, regrets, or broken families. Holiness keeps us from some of the destructive consequences so many suffer. We no longer live under the cruel slave master driving us to live contrary to God.
That brings us to the second question.
B. According to Ephesians 1:7, what did Paul list as a benefit of our redemption from sin and what is it based on? (We have forgiveness based on God’s abundant grace.)
When we trusted Christ, God broke our chains by redeeming us from sin. In doing so, God declared us to be blameless. He forgave us and removed any evidence against us that would incriminate us before the Judge of all creation. This was not a simple thing for God. The ransom God paid for our forgiveness was the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7).
Forgiveness is a radically important aspect of being rescued from the slavery of sin. Fortunately for us, God’s pardoning of our sin was not based on our goodness, because that would run out quickly. Rather, it was based on the inexhaustible resources of His grace! In other words, out of the lavish abundance of God’s love, He gave forgiveness to those that did not deserve it.
While this benefit is free to us, it was not free to God (Ephesians 1:7). The extreme ransom God paid for our sin was the life of His Son. (Read 1 Peter 1:18-19.) Our freedom was based totally on Jesus dying and taking the punishment for our sin. Only those realizing the greatness of their guilt and their impending consequences can grasp the greatness of this benefit in our salvation. This newfound freedom and forgiveness should give us cause for celebration.
This brings us to the second great benefit God gave us in our redemption from sin’s slavery.
Research Group Two Assignment
II. God Cleared Our Record by ______Us to Peace with Him (Ephesians 2:12-14).
A. What did God do for us as a part of salvation?
B. What are some of the great benefits of being reconciled to God in Ephesians 2:12-14?
Teacher’s Comments
Group Two just looked at a few verses where Paul tells us what happened when we were reconciled to God. What did you learn?
II. God Cleared Our Record by Reconciling Us to Peace with Him (Ephesians 2:12-14).
A. What did God do for us as a part of salvation? (God made us acceptable or accepted.)
When God did the work of reconciliation, He made us accepted. (Read Ephesians 1:6.) Reconciliation means a change of relationship from hostility to harmony and peace between two parties. Everyone that has ever lived desires acceptance and love. Many people go to extremes to get these from the people around them. In salvation, God has made us acceptable by forgiving our sin and giving us a whole new beginning. He spiritually washed us and clothed us with the righteousness of His Son Jesus (Philippians 3:9). God lavishly showed love to those that did not earn it or deserve it. There is no greater love or expression of love that anyone could show than giving your life so others can live. To know that God did that for us while we were His enemies makes it even more incredible.
B. What are some of the great benefits of being reconciled to God in Ephesians 2:12-14? (The benefits are that we are no longer separated from God, and we now are at peace with Him.)
One truth we often overlook is that before salvation, our sin made us enemies with a Holy God (Colossians 1:21). We were not just good people making a few bad decisions, we were allied with the devil through sin (John 8:44). When we trusted Christ, our acts of treason against the King were forgiven. None of the sins of our past could ever be used against us in God’s court of law. Being declared innocent gives us the privilege of being in a peaceful relationship with God (Romans 5:1). We no longer must worry about God hunting us down to hold us responsible for our criminal actions. We now are at peace with the Creator. We are made acceptable to stand before Him as holy and forgiven.
Research Group Three Assignment
III. God Provided for Our Future by ______Us into His Family (Ephesians 1:5).
A. According to Ephesians 1:5, what did God do for us?
B. According to Ephesians 1:18 and 2:7, 10, what were our spiritual eyes enlightened to understand once we were saved?
Teacher’s Comments
Group Three has a few things to add to complete this picture of our rescue from sin’s slavery.
III. God Provided for Our Future by Adopting Us into His Family (Ephesians 1:5).
A. According to Ephesians 1:5, what did God do for us? (He adopted us.)
Not only did God release us from our prison and restore us to a peaceful relationship with Him, but He provided for our future by adopting us into His family. (Read Ephesians 1:5.) It pleased God to adopt us as one of His children. This was not expected nor was it a required part of our redemption. God could very easily have been congratulated as heroic for just unlocking our prison, but then He reconciled us and now adopts us.
Adoption is the process of being placed into God’s family and regarded as a true son with all the privileges and responsibilities that belong to that new relationship. That is above and beyond anything that we could have expected of a rescuer. Adoption gives us great advantages including an inheritance! While this inheritance is not money, it is much better than that. The next question that our third group is going to answer will show us some of the things Paul says our inheritance includes.
B. According to Ephesians 1:18 and 2:7, 10, what were our spiritual eyes enlightened to understand once we were saved? (We have the hope of His calling, rich spiritual inheritance, and being called to good works.)
A relationship with God brings hope to the most difficult and dark situations. While we will still experience hard times, Believers have the comfort of God’s presence at all times. This is just one aspect of the rich inheritance we get in our adoption by the King of kings!