2 Corinthians 5, 18, on the subject of reconciliation.
Let's read this passage from 18 to 21, and I believe the subject
being dealt with here will be clear. And all things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God, him now Going back to verse 18. All things
are of God. That's literally true all things
are of God in the beginning God that was only God and Everything
he's the first cause of everything. He's the creator of everything
And the scriptures are clear that he runs everything this
book tells us that a paradise can't be rolled, but he determines
what comes up People don't like that. They say well that makes
us puppets. Well, I just want to be God's puppet and We pray,
Lord, pull my strings, don't we? Direct my steps. Keep the
door of my lip. Keep me from being what I am
by nature. Of course, it's not literally a puppet. We have,
by his grace, a heart that loves him and serves him and is devoted
to him. So I wanted to say, first of
all, literally all things are of God, but particularly Specifically
the subject of the context is that everything having to do
with salvation is of God That's what we're talking about how
God saves a sinner. I could entitle this message how God saves a
sinner But it's reconciliation. That's that's the Main theme of this passage
of scripture and so specifically those things having to do with
salvation and that's of God and his purpose. If man left it himself, we would
never seek God. God looked down upon the children
of men to see if any did seek after God. There is none that
doeth good. There's none, no, not one. There's
none that seeketh God. So God purposed salvation. Everything has to do with God
and his power. Man is without strength. We were
yet without strength. Christ died for the ungodly.
Well, we couldn't do anything about our condition before God
because everything we do is sin. By nature, he did something about
it. He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So it's his power. He said, my
arm is not shortened that it can't save. With men, it's impossible,
he said, but with God, all things are possible. God's power. It's
also in his performance of it. He accomplished salvation by
living the only righteous man to ever live. That's my righteousness
because he was my representative. As the scripture clearly points
out, he represented his people. He's called the last Adam. In
the first Adam, all died because he represented us in the garden.
In the last Adam all whom Christ represents are alive or made
alive because he in his righteousness is our righteousness and His
performance on Calvary as our sin offering our propitiation
our redemption he shed his blood to pay for our sins and to Bring
us atonement and Reconcile us to God so and also Purpose, power,
performance, and he perpetuates it. We'd fall right now if you
let us go. Unto him that is able to keep
us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of his glory. And we're not gonna make it another
step unless he keeps us from falling. He said to Simon, Satan
hath desired you that that he may sift you as weed, and he
didn't say, but I think you'll be okay, Simon, you're pretty
strong. No, he said, I've prayed for you. I've interceded for
you, so you're not gonna fall. You're not gonna fall. So all
things are of God, that has to do with salvation. Who hath reconciled
us? Now, let's think about salvation
a little bit more here. The love that saves is his love,
verse 14. His sacrifice, his death on the
cross is why we live, verse 15. This is what he's talking about
when he says all things. It is of God that we're in Christ
Jesus, verse 17. Only God can create. And he created
a new person when he gave us life and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, where it says there, you're a new creation, you're
a new creature. If any man be in Christ, God created something,
a person that didn't exist before. The new man, the new heart within
his people, Christ in us is that life that he gives and Christ
is the ambition of that life. Not henceforth unto ourselves
in the same context, but Christ, unto Christ who died for us and
rose again. So the word reconciled here, All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. All that pertains to
salvation is of God, and the result of it is that we're at
one with God, that the enmity between us and God by nature
is done away with, that there's no middle wall of partition between
his people or between them and God. When the Lord Jesus died
for us and rose again, reconciliation was made. And it's with God that
we have a problem in nature. It's with God. The word means
to return to favor with, to receive one into favor. Now, when were
we put out of favor? We know that, don't we? In the
Garden of Eden, man walked in unity with God, in perfection
before God, having everything that they could possibly need
or want. The only thing that God withheld and was very clear
about is that I'm God and you're not. You're gonna obey me. And that wasn't good enough.
We know that Satan, what Satan told Adam and Eve was you shall
be his gods. He tempted them with one thing
that could never be. And we still think we're a bunch
of little gods running around to this day by nature. To receive
one into favor, And again, the need for reconciliation is brought
to mind first. Listen to Romans 8, 7, because
the carnal mind, that is the fleshly mind, the mind that we're
born with, a human nature, and how they think is enmity against
God. Enmity, hatred, anger, hatred,
division. Against is a key word there,
against God, against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God. Enmity against God, why? Because
we won't bow, right? Not subject to the law of God. We're not gonna bow. We didn't
in the garden. That was the problem. God said this, no. And we said, yes, that's the
end of it. That's the end of, spiritual life, unless and until
God reveals his son in us, as he's purposed to do with his
elect from the beginning. But it is not subject, that's
the problem. God's law in the garden was very
simple. Thou shalt not eat of it, in
the day that you do, you're gonna die. And we weren't subject to
that, we didn't subject ourselves to that law. We didn't bow and
we still don't. That's what people don't understand
about. So one of the things that religion doesn't understand about
salvation, it's a bowing. You can't just come down an aisle
and make a decision and say, I've decided to follow Jesus
and then live like, live for yourself the rest of your life.
It's a bowing to his will. It's a bowing to his purpose,
to his service. And look, it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. I should have had you
tell, these words are key now, jot it down if you want to. Romans
8, 7 and 8. Neither indeed can be. You're
not going to just decide, well, I think I'll bow to God. God's
got to break your will. Man is born into this world,
the scripture says, like a wild ass's coat. You're not gonna
whisper sweet nothings in the ear of a wild donkey and get
him to do what you want him to do. You're gonna have to break
his will. And that's what God did with Saul of Tarsus. That's
what he does with everybody that he saves. So then, they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. If you still have that carnal
mind, if you're not born again of the spirit, If you're not
a new creation in Christ, if he hasn't created a new you with
a mind, with the very mind of Christ, Paul said in 1 Corinthians
2, I believe it is. With men, neither indeed can
it be. But all things pertaining to salvation are of God. And
with God, all things are possible. So that's a good start. All things
are of God. That's what we want. We want
God to do something for us. He doesn't need us to do anything
for him. Turn with me to Romans chapter five, and let's talk
about that a little bit more. This is how God saves a sinner
now. Romans 5.10, for if when we were enemies, that's what
we just read, the carnal mind, as we're born into this world,
and if God doesn't have mercy and grace upon us, we're enemies
of God, we're enmity. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son. much more being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life. You see that? He reconciled himself
to us when he died on Calvary. He represented his people, his
sheep, his elect, the scripture's clear about that. And if he reconciled
us when we were enemies, in spite of us, when we hated him, now
that He's not gonna let us go now.
He's not gonna give up on us. He's not gonna quit on us now.
And not only so, verse 11, but we also joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. That word atonement is the same
word as reconcile. We've received him through our
Lord Jesus Christ. And notice clearly here, we're
reconciled to God by the death of his son. Reconciliation. was made by Christ on Calvary. And notice here now, this is
important, the last part of that verse, this is what we preach. Now reconciliation,
listen to Colossians 1.20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were at one time alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, and we all were. Somebody says,
I've always loved the Lord. You know, that's too long. It's
not true. That's too long. Yet now hath he reconciled, how?
In the body of his flesh through death. to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. You see, all of
our sin is taken away by the death of Christ. God sees us
in Christ. He sees him as our righteousness
and our sin offering. And so there's no problem between
us and God. The scripture says your sins
have separated between you and your God. Well, my sins are gone
now in the sight of God by the death of Christ, by the redeeming
blood of his son. Now, the last part of our verse
in our text says that this is what we preach. He's given us
the word. He's committed unto us the ministry.
of reconciliation. So that's what we talk about.
Reconciliation on the basis of what Christ accomplished on Calvary. His death. His death. Our purpose in preaching by scriptural
definition is not to prove people wrong. It's not to argue with
people. It's not to strive over words.
It's not to preach doctrine as an intellectual creed that causes
hostility and judgment to people to look down on other people
because I know more than you about the Bible. That's not our
point, our purpose. It's to declare to sinners what
our Savior declared. Come unto me, bow to me, receive,
follow me, look to me, believe on me, learn of me. It's a person,
we preach Christ. Reconciliation with God, just
like every other aspect of salvation, is a person. It's Christ crucified. He reconciled us to God. He reconciled
us to God through the death of his son.
So we preach Christ crucified. He's committed to us that ministry.
Be ye reconciled to God on the basis of atonement, on the basis
of substitution, That's how sinners are reconciled.
And so that's what we preach. Verse 19. To wit, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Now see here that not only is
it God by his son that hath reconciled, but he's the one we must be reconciled
to. And I know that everything I've
said so far has implied that, but consider that for a second.
How can a sinner be reconciled with God? If we have any idea
what a sinner is, that's gonna cause us to be amazed that a
sinner can be reconciled with God, that there can be atonement,
at-one-ment with God for a sinner. He was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself, and he's talking about there what we read
already, by his death, by his sacrifice on Calvary. If two cannot even walk together
except they be agreed, then how can a filthy worm, and we see
that Word worm in scripture, that's not a cute word. Wiggle
worm, that's a maggot. That's the most repulsive thing
that I can think of in this world. How can we stand in the presence
of God, the thrice holy God? That's what he accomplished on
Calvary. He didn't give anybody a chance. He wasn't saying, okay,
now I've done all I can do. He did everything. He reconciled
us to God. on the cross. And when the Lord
comes to us and we experience his regeneration of us, I know
that's a word that's not in the scripture, but the doctrine of
it is taught all through the scripture. We're born again,
given life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. He's just telling us what
he did for us. And that's salvation in a sense
we're saved, maybe you could say on that day, but we were
saved when Christ died for us. That's what he did. He reconciled
us to God. We just don't know about it yet
until he reveals himself to us and the things of God to us,
the gospel to us. Imagine if it's even possible
to imagine what a mighty gulf, what a great and mighty gulf
God did span at Calvary. by the Savior, how can it be
that God would love a wretch like us and love us so that he
would give himself for us on the cross? Well, God tells us
here how it can be, and it's no less marvelous once we know
how. You know, if somebody does a magic trick or something, you're
like, wow, that's incredible, until you learn how they did
it, and you're like, eh, I guess that was cool. But what God did,
when you find out how he did it, it's even more amazing. It's
not magic, it's love, it's grace. How can it be? Well, God tells
us how it can be, and it has to do with imputation. You see
that in the text? In Christ, this verse says, being
in Christ and him having died for us, our trespasses are not
imputed unto us. Amputation means here to reckon
or charge to one's account. Our sins are not charged. And
it's the idea that's expressed in Psalm 130 verse three. If
thou, Lord, O Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand? In other words, if he keeps a
record of me and what I've done, Who can stand in his presence
if he does that? But our scripture says he doesn't
do that when it comes to those that Christ died for. He does
not mark your iniquity. He does not charge them to your
account. That's a key word in this text.
But listen, Psalm 130, verse three, I'm gonna start over and
read the next verse with it. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. There's forgiveness with
God. Not that he might be taken for
granted, but that he may be feared because he doesn't know it to
you. He doesn't know it to you. That we might reverence him,
that we might realize that my very soul was in his hand. And
that's what brings us to his feet. He's never turned a sinner
away like that. God be merciful to me, a sinner.
God have mercy, have mercy to me, the sinner. But we're gonna
come down now. We're gonna fear him. We're gonna
reverence him is what that means. We're gonna come with reverence.
Turn with me please to Romans chapter four. Let's look at this
together. Remember now that he's talking about reconciliation
and that is defined in the text as God not imputing our sins
to us. That's key to this whole passage
now. Romans 4.1. Romans 4.1, what shall we say
then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? If you read the context, you'll see that he's talking
about Abraham and how that God saved him. So what are we gonna
say? What's our response then? What
are we to understand happened with Abraham? How did God deal
with Abraham and his sin? Verse two, for if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. In other words, it
doesn't matter what you do. If you're the one that decides
it, and I know all of religion says that, you make a decision
for Jesus. If you decide it, you have whereup
to glory. If it's up to you, you have whereup
to glory. If you did something for God
to save you, you have whereup to glory. It doesn't matter what
it is. but not before God. You're not
going to glory before God, now, it's not going to happen that
way, in other words. For what sayeth the scripture? Let's see
if the scripture says you need to make a decision for Jesus.
No, it said Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Now, a religion, again, we'll
turn that around and say, see there, he had to believe, they
make faith a work. But the scriptures say the opposite
of that. that by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should both. Faith is not a work, it's a grace.
It's a gift from God. Abraham believed God because
God gave him faith in his son. The fruit of the spirit is faith,
not the fruit of the flesh. It was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace.
If you do something, if you keep the law, if you imagine somehow
in our utter delusion by nature that we may have kept the law,
then there's no grace for you. You're on a footing of works
before God. Now there may be grace for you,
but right now when you're Thinking that way, when you're on that
footing before God, look at what it says. To him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. God owes
you something. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the one with no good works. Do
you see who the ungodly is? The one that has no work to offer
God, the ungodly. The more you do, the more you
sin. Your work is evil. There's no good in us. But faith, the faith that God
gives is counted for righteousness. It's not that our faith somehow
makes up for our sin. It's not worth enough to make
up for our sin. That's not what it's talking about, but it's
faith in Christ that unites us It's the means that God uses
to unite us to Christ who did no sin. Neither was any guile
found in his mouth. Faith unites us to Christ, the
eternal, immutable, sinless lamb of God. But hold on a second. Can God just decide not to charge
our sins to us? Can he just say one day, well,
you know, I'm God, I can do what I want. I just don't think I'll
charge their sins to him. Well, immediately he's not just. Sin's got to be punished or there's
no justice. He can't just decide that he's
not gonna be holy anymore. He's not gonna require payment
for sin. His inflexible holy justice must
be satisfied. And just not charging our sins
to us is not gonna satisfy that justice. And that's where the
cross comes in. That's what Christ did. That's
what he accomplished. Our sins had to be punished or
God is not just in justifying us. Because he punished Christ
for my sin and Christ was a willing substitute for me in my place,
our iniquities were laid on him. Isaiah 53. God is just because
my sin is punished. And yet I'm justified before
God because of Christ. Salvation is Christ crucified. That's why that's what we preach.
Turn to Romans chapter three with me, please. In verse 23. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. No man is justified by works. You see that in the context here
in this Romans chapter, read the whole chapter. But what he's
saying here, none of us are justified before God because we can't measure
up to his glory, to his perfection, his holiness. So if we're gonna
be justified, how's that gonna happen? Verse 24, being justified
freely. That means without a cause. Freely. It doesn't mean God didn't
have a reason for justifying us, it's just that the reason
is in himself and not me. Salvation's unconditional when
it comes to me. I can meet no condition that
will cause God to have mercy on me. It wouldn't be mercy if
I did. It would be debt, like we read
a while ago. Being justified freely by his
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The
redemption, his precious blood, were redeemed by the blood of
the Lord Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins, that are passed through the forbearance
of God, so all of our sins, past, present, and future, Christ's
blood is eternal. It's eternal blood. He redeemed Abraham and Moses
just like he redeemed me. They lived before Christ died,
it doesn't matter. Now look at verse 26. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that God might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth. in Jesus. That's just so clear,
isn't it? I should just shut up and just
read scripture. That's so clear. God can't be just and justify
me except by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
set forth. And that's an important word
there, I think here, because I think it helps us with our
text. God set forth Christ to be a sin offering. That's the
way that Paul put it there. I believe that's the way he put
it in our text. This is one of the definitions of the word made
in our text in verse 21 of our text. To put one forth, to present. Made in verse 21 back in our
text, for he hath made him to be sin for us. And I'm deliberately
gonna skip verse 20 right now because I want Lord willing,
next time, talk about 20 and 21 again and say more about that.
But let's talk about this and see if the Lord will give us
some light. To set forth, now it's not the
same word. The word in Romans three there
is not the same word made in our text, but it means to set
forth is one of the meanings of the word made in our text.
And that's the way he put it there. That's all I'm saying.
So made, in verse 21 in our text, is the same word rendered bring
forth in Matthew 3, eight, where it says bring forth therefore
fruits meet for repentance. So that's, you know, you see
how that can be defined. He hath made him to be sin. We're
gonna talk more about that. Don't, just stay tuned here. He hath put him forth. We know
Paul spoke that way in Romans three. He hath brought him forth,
sin. Ring forth. It's the same word
rendered showed in Luke 1037. And he said, he that showed mercy
on him. And that's the Lord asking somebody
who was that man's neighbor that was bleeding out in the ditch
and the good Samaritan came by, a Levite came by and a Pharisee
came by and they passed on. But the Samaritan stopped and
helped him. And the Lord said, who then is
his neighbor? And the man said, he that showed mercy on him.
That word showed, that's also the same word made in our text.
It's the same word as dealt in Luke 2, 48. And when they saw
him, they were amazed and his mother said unto him, son, why
hast thou dealt thus with us? That's the word made in our text.
Same word. Behold, thy father and I have
sought thee sorrowing, she said. It's the same word make in 1st
John 5 10 he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a liar
You've put God in the place of a liar. You've presented him
as a liar. You're saying he's a liar It doesn't mean God's
a liar But you've made him a liar same word And this is important,
and it's stressed in verse 21 itself. It says there, who knew
no sin, and again, I'm skipping verse 20, but we'll get back
to that. Christ was made sin, who knew
no sin, which can mean, and look, strifes of words are gonna get
you in trouble. If your gospel hinges on a word
or two in the scriptures, you need to read it all again, all
over again, because the gospel is shouted from every chapter
of this book. It's not hidden in little words
in their definitions. I'm not talking about that, but
let's talk about it a little bit more here. We won't stay
in the weeds too long, but this, that he was set forth to be a
propitiation in Romans three. And it seems to be what it's
saying here to me also, because Christ was made sin who knew
no sin, who knew no sin. I believe it seems clear to me
anyway, that that's, a qualification of the statement
that he was made sin. He was set forth to be sin, but
he didn't know any sin. He himself was not sin. He wasn't
a sinner. He wasn't sinful in his nature. Sin only exists in two senses.
This is important to understand. And this is scriptural. This is not me making this up
and just thinking it through. If you have to think real hard
about your gospel, then you need to read it again. because our
thinking is not gonna improve the simple, plain, clear truth
that Christ died for his people and he redeemed them when he
did. And we have this ministry of reconciliation, but he's clear
in the text, and I'm just preaching the verse to you. He was made
sin who knew no sin, who knew no sin. Sin is either a nature
or it's a deed, a practice, an act. It can be thought, word,
or deed, but that's an act. It's a noun and it's a verb.
That's it. You're not gonna find sin floating
around in the air in the scripture. You're not gonna find it having
any mass or being, what's the word I'm looking for? Tangible.
It's not tangible. It doesn't float around in the
air and attack people. We're sin. That's what the scripture
said. We're sin because our nature
is sin. And sin exists as a thought, a word, or a deed. And that's
it. You're not gonna find it any
other way in the word of God. And it's real clearly declared
in the scripture in that way. And neither are true of our Lord.
And look, I know people differ with me on the idea of what it
means that Christ was made sin. There are people that differ
with me on that. And I'm fine with that as long as Christ's
nature wasn't sin in your mind, because we got a problem then.
And we also have a problem if you think he ever thought, said,
or did anything evil, in any way evil, anything but perfectly
holy. Other than that, you can have
a different opinion, and opinions are what they are, they're opinions.
But this is according to scripture now, it's a nature and it's an
act. Christ's nature is immutable,
it's holy, and he'd never sinned in thought, word, or deed, and
that's, I just wanna stress that. in this text because of those
words, who knew no sin. That's what that says, he knew
no sin. And he's unchanging in that. When our Lord said, this
is my body, which is broken for you, he didn't need to say not
literally, did he? Maybe you think he did because
a lot of people think that that was actually his body, that it
turns in. You know, it can be scientifically
proven that when you break the bread, the communion bread, that
it's not flesh, it's bread. If you analyze it, it's bread.
And so the religion comes up with this thing of it doesn't
change into his body until it's in your stomach. Okay, I'm pretty
sure that could still be proven wrong, but I doubt if anybody's
ever bothered to do it because it's stupid, right? He didn't
need to say, when he said, this is my body, which is broken for
you, He didn't need to say not literally, because we just understand
that, right? When he said, he that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life. And if you eat not
the flesh of the son of man and drink not his blood, there's
no life in you. He didn't need to say, I don't mean that literally,
that you need to be a cannibal. Why? Well, you're not going to
find anything in the language of that to prove that. And that's
why religion has taken it all the way. It's all literal, everything's
literal. But he didn't need to say that,
why? Because of all of the Bible, there'd be no reason for that.
He was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. There was nothing
magic about his flesh. Now, when he was glorified in
his glorified body, our bodies are gonna be like that too. But
when he was saying that, And teaching that, he was just a
man as far as his flesh was concerned. That doesn't save people. There's
no redeeming value in that flesh. And he didn't need to specify
that because it was clear what he was saying. But here in this
text, there's a careful, definite distinction made. And that is
that the Savior was on the cross, the same Holy Lamb of God without
blemish and without spot that he is tonight on his throne.
He knew no sin. He may not have needed to say
it there, but he did. He must have needed to because
he did say it. When he's saying Christ was made sin, he's not
saying that his nature changed or that he ever did anything
sinful in thought, word or deed. And it's clearly spelled out
in the verse. First Peter 3.18, for Christ
also, once suffered for sins the just For the unjust That
he might bring us to God. What are we talking about reconciliation?
Bring us to God What did he do? He died he suffered for sins
the just Not the sinful not the guilty the just We're sinful,
we're guilty, and he died in our place. And the scripture
talks about how our sins are laid on him. He hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. But salvation is not sin doing
something to Christ. The gospel does not concern what
sin did to Christ. We can't know that anyway. The
good news is what Christ did to sin. He put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. That's the good news. There's
nothing much to argue about that, is there? He put it away by the
sacrifice of himself. So in the context of our passage
of scripture, which is reconciliation and imputation, and look, reconciliation
and imputation are not the only aspects of salvation, but they
just happen to be the ones dealt with in this passage of scripture.
Imputation. Reconciliation by not having
our sins imputed unto us, but as we said, who are they imputed
to then? Because God can't just sweep
them under a rug, he's God. Someone's got to pay the penalty
of our sin for God to be just and justify us. God hath set
forth Christ and hath made him sin, imputed our sin unto him. He didn't impute it unto us,
but he did impute it to his son. He was charged with my sin before
God. and made us the righteousness
of God in him. Different word, made. Not the
same word. And we're not gonna get in the
weeds again, I promise. When considering us being made
righteousness, the words in him are key. If it's confusing to
you when you hear about forgiveness and justification, don't be confused
about that. Forgiveness is As we were when
God saved us, forgiveness is the sweetest word in the world.
Forgiveness. But justification, on the other
hand, doesn't acknowledge any sin. There's nothing to forgive
in those that are justified. That's where the words in Christ
comes from. He forgave our sins. Our sins weren't imputed to us,
they were imputed to him. And being in him, we don't have
any sin because in him is no sin. Imputation, and don't dare
ever think of imputation as pretend. Consider in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is the man to whom God
will not impute sin that is blessed. And when we're considered that
way, when God saved us, it's forgiveness. It's not imputing
our sins. Our sins are recognized. Our
sins are called out. Described. But now considering
us as we are in Christ, once we are saved, as we're rendered
unto God by the death of Christ, we're sinless. We've never sinned
in him because he never sinned. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
Just think about it, those words in Christ. In myself, I'm still
wretched and vile. In Christ, I'm holy and without
blame before him in love. In Him we're holy because He's
holy. As He is, so are we in this world. And never think of
that which is true in Him as being less true than what we
experience. It's more true. What's true in Him is more true
than what we experience. It's eternally true. And again,
I want us to look at verses 20 and 21. We'll talk about those
a little bit more. I want to talk about how God
has made us ambassadors for Christ. God is reconciling his people
to himself. And that's how he's doing it.
Again, what condescension? that he would make us stewards
of his grace in this world. And what a glorious redemption
that Christ accomplished for us. We were at one time alienated, and now we're one with God. Peace
made by the blood of his cross for us with God. That's how God
saves a sinner. All things are of God. Amen,
let's be dismissed.