2 Corinthians chapter 5. Here in verse 18 we read, and
all things are of God. Now this is likely in reference
to the previous verse, but all things, all things are of God. This speaks of His sovereignty.
All things are of God. God is sovereign. All things
in creation are of God. In Genesis 1-3, God said, Let
there be light. There was light. All things were
made by him, and without him was not anything made that was
made. Another place we read, Thus saith
the Lord thy Redeemer, he that formed thee from the I am the
Lord that maketh all things, that stretches forth the heavens
alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. All things
are of God in providence, Ephesians 1.11, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things, after the counsel of his own will.
Turn over to Daniel 4. Daniel 4, beginning with verse
34. And at the end of the days, I
Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes into heaven and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the None can stay His hand or say unto Him,
what doest thou? In creation, in providence, all
things are of God. In salvation, all things are
of God. Luke 10.22, all things are delivered
to me of my Father. No man knoweth who the Son is
but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son. He to whom the
Son will reveal Him. God said to Moses, I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy to whom I'll
show mercy. In creation, in providence, and
in salvation, all things, all things are of God. Now back to
our text. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to Himself. by Jesus Christ, reconciled,
returned to favor. Now, if we have to be returned
to favor, that means we had to be at odds with each other. We
had to be separated. Turn to Isaiah 59. Verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy
that it cannot hear. Verse 2, But your iniquities,
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. For
your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. God had told Adam, for in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And what
did Adam do? He ate, didn't he? He sinned
against God. You know, I hear talk of the
Ten Commandments. We need Ten Commandments posted
in the courthouse. We need them posted in schools. We need people to have them posted
out in their front yards. And certainly nothing wrong with
the Ten Commandments. We can't obey one commandment,
can we? God said, in the day that you eat thereof, you'll
die. Don't eat it. And Adam ate. Adam
took. He did exactly what you or I
would do. He disobeyed God. Well, we've
broken God's law. We've sinned against God. And
sin must be punished. Read on in our text. He hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. our righteousness, our representative,
our atonement, our sin offering. By his suffering and death, God's
holy law is honored. God's justice is satisfied. We
have peace, peace with God. Peace has been made between God
and his sheep, his people. And he hath given unto us the
ministry of reconciliation, the gospel. God hath given us this
ministry. It's not man's gospel, it's God's
gospel. It's the gospel of God's mercy
and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Read on in verse 19, to wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the word unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. What is this ministry of reconciliation? Well, we read there, God was
in Christ. God was in Christ. Look with
me at Genesis 22, a familiar passage. Genesis chapter 22,
verse 8. Let's see this Old Testament
picture here. Abraham said, my son, God, will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So both of them went
together. God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. The Lord will provide himself
as the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
lamb of God. He is God. God was in Christ. God was in Christ. The Lord will
provide himself a lamb. He's the one offended. He's the
one for whom the blood was shed, that he might be just and justifier. And the third, the Lord will
provide. He'll see to it. He'll see to it the redemption
of every one of his sheep, the honoring of his law, the satisfaction
of his justice, the fulfillment of his covenant, and the eternal
glory of his Son. It's accomplished. was left undone. God was in Christ. God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. The world, not
the entire world, but a people out of every tribe, kindred,
and nation. Nothing, again, nothing was left
undone. It's done for his elect. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Isaac wasn't sacrificed on that altar, was he? No, there
was a substitute. That lamb, that lamb died in
his place. And listen, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's our substitute. He's that one whose sacrifice,
he stands in our place. Christ, the surety and substitute
of his people, whose own self bear our sins in his body on
the tree. That we've been dead to sins
should live under righteousness by whose stripes we're healed.
And he had committed unto us this word of reconciliation. This message is preached to his
people by those who are called to the ministry. We read another
place, how shall they hear? How shall they hear without a
preacher? We have God's word. We have those men whom he's called
to preach his word. And they're given this ministry
of this, this word of reconciliation. Verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors
of Christ." What's an ambassador? Well, it's a representative. It's a messenger who carries
the message of the king. He speaks on behalf of the king.
He speaks his message. Paul says, we are ambassadors
for Christ, and our sole purpose is to declare God's word as we
receive it. John said, that which we have
seen and heard, declare we unto you. What's the message we declare? Read on. Read on here in our
text. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be you reconciled to God. Christ died for you. Has he given
you a new heart? A heart to love him? Romans 8
and 9, the carnal mind. His enmity, his hatred against
God. We've got to bow to him. Henry
used to say, lay down your shotguns. Lay down your shotguns. We've
been, we have to be brought down. We have to be brought down. Our
Lord said to Zacchaeus, what did he tell him? He said, come
down, didn't he? Name of the leper. He had those
high thoughts of himself. He had to be brought down. That
leper there in the New Testament, what did he do? He fell at the
master's feet, didn't he? We read that over and over in
God's Word. We've got to be brought down. Paul says, be ye reconciled to
God. He has to do a work in us. He's
done a work for us, and he has to do a work in us. Remember Saul of Tarsus? Turn
over there to Acts chapter 9. We'll read this here quickly.
Acts chapter 9, just a few pages over. And Saul, verse 1, and Saul, yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there
shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the
earth. And he heard a voice saying unto
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus
whom thou persecuted. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling. This is Saul who had went from
house to house arresting and look at him here. He's trembling. He's trembling and astonished. He said, Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the
city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Paul was a
changed man, wasn't he? He had a new name. He had a new
master. He had a new way. God had done
all this. Colossians 121, and you that
were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled. He had done that, hadn't he?
It's all the work of our Lord. Now back to our text, verse 21. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Probably one of our favorite
passages of Scripture. Here, in this verse 21, 25 words, if I counted them a couple
of times, making sure I was right on that, 25 words, we have the
gospel. We have the gospel. And there
are three persons mentioned in this passage, three of them. He, Him, and us. to quickly look at these with
the time we have left here this morning, look at these three
people. First of all, we have He. He, Almighty God, the God that
we read back there in verse 18, the God mentioned throughout
all Scripture, the God who we read all things, all things are
of God. Again, all things in creation,
all things in providence, all things in salvation. all things.
He is the Living God. He's the Holy God. He said back
in Leviticus, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Habakkuk said of Him,
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity. He's Almighty God, and yet He's
our Heavenly Father. Says here, He hath made. He hath
made. Our Lord being delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. He hath made. He hath
made. Here's the second person. Him.
Him. The Lord Jesus Christ. He who
knew no sin. He who did no sin. The spotless
Lamb of God. What did the apostles say about
Him? Turn over to Matthew chapter 16. There in verse 13, our Lord said,
Who do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, Some
say you're John the Baptist. Some, Elias. Others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. He said unto them, Whom say you
that I am? And Simon Peter answered, He
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood, that wasn't revealed to you by flesh and
blood, that was revealed unto you by my Father, which is in
heaven." Him, Him that was foretold to the angel, said, Thou shalt
call His name Immanuel, God with us. Him that's name is Wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God. What did Simeon say about Him?
Remember when Simeon saw Him there in the temple? He took
him up in his arms. He said, Behold, mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, thy salvation. God the Father said of him, This
is my beloved son. Here do him, him, him that knew
no sin, him that had no sin, tempted in all points, yet without
sin. He's God in human flesh. And
God the Father, He, God the Father made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be sin for us. Turn here, we looked at this
verse earlier, but turn to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2. him, the Lord Jesus Christ, verse
24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree
that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. At the cross we see man's wickedness,
plucking out his beard, spitting upon him, flattened with that
crown of thorns, yelling, Crucify Him, Crucify
Him. But we also see God's justice. God's justice, His holiness and
His justice. Will God punish sin? Look at
the cross. Look at the cross. Our Lord Jesus
cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Sin's
going to be punished. The wages of sin is death. He's our substitute. And Almighty
God made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. For whom did Christ die? He died
for us. See that? Us. Who's this us? I can tell you this. It wasn't
for every son of Adam. It was a particular people. Who
was Paul writing to this Who was Paul writing this book to?
Turn back a few pages there in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 1. He says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, unto
the church of God, which is a Korean. Who was he writing to here? He
was writing to the church. Us. He was writing to us, wasn't
he? Well, again, let me ask you this. Do you believe
the words written in this book? Paul says this us. He says in his letter to Timothy,
he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save who? Sinners. Sinners. You a sinner? Christ
came to save sinners. That's the words of Paul. Listen
to the words of our Lord. Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. He says here in verse 11, again,
these are the words of our Lord, in verse 11, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He that is an hireling and not
the shepherd whose own sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming
and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them and
scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he's
a hireling, the carib not for the sheep. Look at verse 14,
I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I'm known of
mine. And as the father knoweth me
as intimately as the father knows the son, even so know I the father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. Now the sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. They shall be one fold and one
shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."
Now the Jews, they didn't believe that, did they? Look at verse
26. He says, you believe not? You
got trouble with this message? You don't believe this? Here's
why. Because you're not my sheep.
You're not my sheep, as I said unto you. For whom did Christ
die? For whom was he made sin? For
his sheep, for his people. Back to our text. Back to our
text. He, God the Father, hath made
him, God the Son, to be sin for us, for us. Who's this us? It's his church. It's his sheep. It's his elect. Why? Why did he do that? That we might
be made the righteousness of God. Not just righteous, not
just righteous, but the very righteousness of God. As the
center substitute, Christ is made sin for His people. We're
made righteous in the sight of God, a holy God. We're justified. And don't miss those last two
words there. It's in Him. That work is all of Him. were
made righteous in Him, the very righteousness of God. Well, it's
in Him. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn with me to one more scripture and we'll close. Isaiah chapter
45. Beginning in verse 22 of Isaiah
45, he says, Look unto me, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Verse 24, Surely shall one say,
In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory. He hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him.