Colossians chapter 1, read verses
20-22 again with me. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Christ became the Father, reconciling
all things unto Himself. By Christ, I say, whether things
in earth or things in heaven. You that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he, Christ,
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you thought holy and unblameable and unremovable, that's right,
and unrecruitable in his sight. Unapprovable. Unremovable. Amen. Do you remember how we read the
verses back there? All things. It says in verses
12-16, we give thanks to the Father who made us meet or qualified
or fit to be partakers of the inheritance and delivered us
from the power of darkness, translated us into the Kingdom of His dear
Son. Past ten, present ten, right
now, we're in His kingdom. In whom? In Christ we have, we
have, not shall have, but have redemption through His blood.
Something we need to notice here is that how many times He talks
about the blood and Christ's death. That's what this is all
about, isn't it? Even the forgiveness of sins.
We had forgiveness, complete forgiveness of sins, all sins.
How? Christ, His death, His blood.
Christ is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of every
creature. By Him, all things created. All
things created by Him and for Him. Verse 17, He's before, He's
over and above all things. Reigning, ruling, controlling,
sending, doing all things. And they're for Him, for His
glory. And somehow, God has created,
Scripture says, He created all things for Himself, even the
wicked, for the day of evil. That's what it said in Proverbs
16, verse 4. He's before all things, by Him
all things consist. Nothing is happening, nothing
is doing what it's doing on its own. It's all consisting. according
to His absolute reign and rule and authority. And when it served
His purpose, He rose. He's the head. He's the head.
We're the body, vitally connected. You can't kill the body if the
head's connected to it. Christ's our heads in heaven.
You can't kill the body. Well, He's the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead in all things, remember? Verse 18, all
things He has are preeminent. For it pleases the Father in
Him should all fullness dwell. Remember that? Brother Gabe reiterated
this to me. His message. Christ is all. Is that all you all got to say?
That's all there is. All means all, doesn't it? We've
already established that. If Christ is all, that means
all. He had the Son, had life, had
all. Thanks. All fullness. Now verse
20, this is where we begin tonight. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, He made peace by the chastisement of His peace. I was going to read something
a couple of days ago, knowing where I was going to preach from.
And I was going to read something, and I know you do this. But Lord,
show me something. And I just opened it up to Bible.
You've done it, haven't you? Opened it for a sign. You know
where it opened up? Isaiah 53. That's the sign. And always,
always, it's just about in the middle of my Bible, but it says
the chastisement of our peace was laid on Him. By His stripes
we're healed. With His stripes we're healed.
He was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, the
chastisement, the whipping, the punishment that was due to us.
Christ took it. He bore it in his body on the
tree, and therefore there is now no condemnation to those
whom Christ died for. We have peace with God. God is
angry with the wicked every day. That's what the scriptures say.
God hateth all workers of iniquity. That's what the scriptures say.
God will by no means clear the guilty. That's what the scripture
said. God's going to destroy this world someday. That's what
the scripture said. But there's no condemnation.
There's no hatred. There's no anger. There's no
wrath. There's no judgment. Only peace. Peace for God's people in Christ. Those who believe and trust Christ. Not those that worketh, but those
that believeth. Peace. Christ kept saying that
over and over and over and over to His disciples. How many times
does He have to tell us that until we have peace? Peace. Peace. Remember the last scripture
verse? Maybe not the last, but one of
them, where Christ said, Peace I leave with you. I'm going to
the cross to bear your punishment. God is going to pour out His
wrath, make my soul an offering for sin, and I am going to obtain
peace for you by the blood of my cross, my own precious blood. God is going to forsake me that
He won't forsake you. God is going to not spare me
that He will spare you. God is going to pour out His
wrath on me because He loves you. And I'm going to make peace
by the blood of my cross. He said, Peace I leave with you. Peace that passes to understanding.
Peace that nobody can take away. And my peace I give unto you
in your heart by hearing the gospel, by hearing His Word,
by believing. Peace by believing. Not as the
world giveth. That's what He said. Not as the world giveth. They
say peace, peace, but there is no peace. Christ said there never
will be peace on this earth. You'll hear wars and rumors of
wars. But the peace I give unto you,
no man can take. So, He made peace by the blood
of His cross. Verse 20 says in our text, it
says, By Him, by Christ, it pleased God to reconcile all things unto
Himself, to God. By Him, I say. Don't you love
that, Brother John? By Him, I say. Let me say it
again. Whether things in earth or things
in heaven. Now, the word reconciliation is a long word. It's one of the
few long doctrinal words in the Bible. There are not many long
words in the scripture. You don't have to know words
like transubstantiation, superlapsarianism. You don't have to know those.
But you do need to know justifications. Sanctification. Justification.
Five syllables. Sanctification. Five syllables.
Propitiation. These are Bible words. Five syllables.
This is one of the longest. Reconciliation. Do we need to know this? Twenty-three
times. Twenty-three times the form of
the word. Okay? Like election. Twenty-seven.
Reconciliation. What does it mean? Well, it has
several meanings. None of them differ. They all
go together and they all point to Christ. They all tell us what
Christ did. They all tell us what salvation
is by Jesus Christ. Listen carefully. You've got
to listen carefully. The word reconciliation means
atone, means cover. The word reconciliation means
restore. Restore to favor. The word reconciliation means
change. Make new. Don't you like it? You like it? The word reconciliation
is conciliate. Reconciliate. Conciliate means
to overcome the hostility. Overcome the enmity. to make
compatible, to make agreeable. Christ came to do all this. Everything
was okay in the beginning. Go with me to Genesis 1, okay?
All these things Christ hath done by being crucified. Reconciliation, okay? By the
blood of His cross, Christ has atoned, He's restored, He's made
new, He's overcome enmity, He's conciliator, that is, made compatible,
one, and agreeable. His people, by the blood of His
cross. All these things have Christ
crucified done. Now let me illustrate by the
Scripture. Genesis 1. Now we can look around
at our world and clearly see that everything is twisted and
corrupt and vile and just out of sync, messed up. There's nothing
straight. Everything crooked. Everything. It's a mess. It's corrupt, it's
vile, it's unnatural. Everything on earth. Nothing
is as it should be. Nothing is as it was created
by God. Mankind, his thoughts, his ways,
his heart, his will is twisted. Isaiah 1 says, from the sole
of his feet to the top of his head is not one single sound,
straight, good thing in him, not one. There was, there was
in the beginning, the world, our created world. The whole
creation in Scripture says, groaneth, travaileth in pain because of
sin. It's violent. The world is full
of violence. Even the animal world is full
of violence. It wasn't that way in the beginning.
Look at Genesis 1. When God created everything,
verse 31, God saw everything, verse 31, everything He made,
and behold, He was very good. I know he's smiling. Smiling. God is pleased. Everything is
very good. Everything is as it should be. Man, created for the glory of
God, for the relationship with God. He has it. Peace, love,
joy, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith. Temperance. Love. Peace. A peaceable kingdom. The animals. Peace. They weren't
eating each other. Man wouldn't eat them. Peace. Peace. As it should be. Something
happened. Chapter 3. Chapter 3, something
happened. You know, sin entered. A serpent.
A serpent came. Now, this Corruption didn't start
right there, it started in heaven. Remember? Things in heaven. Things in heaven got out of sync,
as it were. Serpents, Lucifer, I will exalt
my throne to the stars. I will, I will, free will. That's
where it all started. Started in heaven with free will,
started on earth with free will. Alright? The serpent. Everything
in heaven. He took a third, a third of the
heavenly hosts. Things in heaven. There was war. Scripture says war. Sin, enmity,
rebellion, war. And then He came to earth according
to God's will. He came to earth. Injected His venom into man and
woman, didn't He? And then sin came into this world,
and with it, fear, enmity with God and each other,
shame, blame, cursing, curse, sorrow, sweat, pain, toil, labor,
thorns, thistles, violence, Death. And so but God. Rather than destroy
the whole world, God said, one man is going to save it. By one man. Alright? You're thinking
of Christ. It's true. But there was a man
that represented Him called Noah. Go to chapter 6 with me. Genesis
chapter 6. Alright? Everything about man
was bad and evil and twisted. Wasn't it? And man was living
in this time 700, 800, 900 years. You know how sinful we are in
70 years? How sinful would man become in 900 years? Well, he did. And it's as if
God said, that's enough. Right? Look at verse 5. God saw
the wickedness of man was greater than the earth. Every imagination
of the thought of his heart was only evil contention. He repented
the Lord in our language. He grieved Him at His heart in
our language. God knew all of this in the beginning. But he said, I will destroy man
who I've created from the face of the earth, man and beast,
the creeping thing, about everything. I want to destroy it all, everything. But Noah, Noah, here's a picture of Jesus
Christ. The grace of God, grace and truth. Verse 9, Noah was
a just man, a perfect man. Noah walked with God. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Noah's name mean?
Anybody? Surely you do. Rest. His name means rest. God's going to destroy this world.
He said, I'm going to destroy this world. Noah, build an ark. God said, the end of all flesh,
verse 12, is corrupt. God said to Noah, see this was
between God and Noah, to make a vessel of mercy, a vessel of
love, a vessel of salvation. The end of all flesh, the earth
is filled with violence. Behold, I will destroy and destroy
them all, except those with you. Now look at verse 14. Make then
ark of gopher wood, grooms, nests, shalt thou make in the ark. And
thou shalt, that word is reconcile. That's the word. That's the Old
Testament word. Look it up. Look it up. It's
the exact same word as reconcile. Know what? You're going to reconcile
all things. Pitch it within, pitch it without. You're going to cover it. Remember
I said it's all? You're going to cover this ark. Noah, you're
going to do it, Noah. You're going to cover it by yourself,
without and within. And someone said this gopher
was like cypress, a cypress tree, and the pitch came from the very
tree that was cut down to make the ship. Christ by His own precious blood,
Christ the tree of life, Christ is this ark, Christ is Noah,
Christ is our rest, Christ is our propitiation by His own precious
blood, by Himself. His body was covered with blood
like that ark. And those found in Christ are
reconciled, atoned, covered, loved by God. I love saying this
because, Brother Stephen, if there was a bumper sticker that
said, Smile, God Loves You, it was on the inside of the altar.
It was on the inside of the altar. Because everybody God loved was
in that ark. Everybody God saved was in that
ark. And the wrath of God, the judgment
of God, God rained down. His wrath that was meant for
mankind rained it down on that ark. And there were sinners in
that ark, but that wrath didn't touch them. Why? Peach. Not one drop. That boat never
sprang a leak. Not one drop fell on it. That's
crap. See, they were reconciled. They
were pitched without being covered by that pitch. And so are we. I like this. Somebody said, Noah
didn't. He got up. He'd been in that ark for a while.
They got up and he stumbled and he fell. And all of God's people
were followed. We fall. We sin, don't we? But someone said he didn't fall
out of the ark. He can't. Why? God shut him in. And he's pitched, once under
the blood. You say, once under the blood,
always under the blood. I sure don't think. That's the
word reconciliation. I promise you, look it up. If
you believe me, don't look it up. If you don't, do it. Pitch, same word. Colossians
1, go back there. So that's the Old Testament word,
pitch. Reconciliation, it says all the
way through Leviticus, it talks about making the atonement, it
says you'll make, reconcile the altar and the blood and so forth,
same word. Alright, so God who was angry with the world, with
mankind, poured out His wrath upon it, upon the sinful world,
and everybody that was not in that ark died, didn't they? But
everybody, a few in the ark, were covered by that pity. They
had peace with God. Verse 20. So He has done that
for us through the blood of His cross. By Him, to reconcile. He did it now. The story of Noah
sounds like Noah did it all. There's no mention of anybody
helping Noah nail one nail or one row stroke of pig dead. Why? Because he's a type of Christ.
Because Christ did it all by Himself. But those few in the
ark are covered by pig. Now it says here, we have peace
with God through the blood of His cross. And Isaiah, I read
to you, it says we're by His stripes, we're healed. And it
says this in Isaiah. It pleased the Lord to do that,
to bruise him. He put him to grief. He made
his soul an offering for sin. And when he sees his seed, he'll
prolong his days. That's Christ risen from the
grave. Sacrifice accepted. The pleasure of the Lord prospered
in his hand. And he will see the travail of his soul be satisfied. Substitution and satisfaction. That's the gospel. Christ made
peace for us. God loves His people in Christ. Christ restored some of fallen
mankind to God. And He does this by the Spirit
of God. Go to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians
3. Brother Stephen read chapter
5. We'll look at that also. But
2 Corinthians 3. Look at this. The Spirit of God
through the preaching of the Gospel. God's people are born
again. They're changed. Their natures
are changed. They're brought back to God who
they were enemies of. He said, and you who were enemies
in your mind by wicked works have to be reconciled. How did
He do that? He came and preached peace unto
you. He came and preached this Gospel to you. And look at 2
Corinthians 3. It says in verse 18, we all with
open face, open face, beholding as in a glass, what's a glass? What are you looking at right
now? This Bible. The glory of the
Lord. The glory of the Lord. God who
caused the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in our
heart, to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of
God. Where is He? In the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so when we behold His glory,
the gospel of His glory, the gospel of His Son, the gospel
of His blood, the gospel of reconciliation, we're changed into the same image. You read that? We're changed
into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the
Lord. This new birth thing is plagued by the heresy of the
gospel. Those animals in that ark, how'd they get in that ark? Noah called them. Noah went out
there and chose them, didn't he? They didn't choose Noah. He chose them, right? Noah went
out and said, that lion and that female lion. Didn't he? That
tiger and that female tiger. Didn't he? That zebra and that
female zebra. That monkey, And that's a female
monkey. That turtle and that one. He
chose them all, didn't he? All right? Then what'd he do?
Come. And he walked. You know what
they all did? Followed him. Where? In the garden. A lion won't come when you call
it. Will it? This did. The wild asses won't
come when you call it. One did when Christ called it,
didn't he? And neither will you come, unless He calls you. Alright? They all got in that ark. Lions, lambs, wolves, turtle
doves, natural born enemies. You know what they all did? They
lied down. They're natures. And the lion lay down with the
lamb. The wolf with the lamb. The lion with the turtle dove.
They were friends. There were no bars. There were
no cages. There were no restraints. They
were all free. They all ate the same food. What? Straw. Grass. Lions don't eat straw. They did
in the ark. There was no bloodshed in that
ark. There was no death. in that ark. It's all changed. They're all reconciled. They're
all friends. We're in the ark, in Christ. He's the one that did Noah. Noah
did all that. Reconciled. Christ made peace by the blood
of his cross. Now, when that ark rested, Now the overflowing scourge of
God's wrath came down hard on the planet Earth and wiped it
out. Changed it all. Some most believe
that that's when all the continents were divided. And all these changes
on Earth happened, okay? And the separations and all that.
And that ark rested, Mount Ararat I think it was, huh? All right,
when that ark rested and the water dried up from off the face
of the earth and went to its place where God said, Hitherto
shall ye come, and no further. In a rainbow. That's what Christ
did. He said, I'll never destroy man
by water again. Fire, but not water. Not water. And everything will continue
as it were by the mercy and the goodness of God. Noah and all
those animals got off that ark to a new world. A new world,
as it were, washed. Washed. Try to imagine the peace,
the quiet, the beauty. There was no mud. There was no
mud. Uh-uh. No mud. Uh-uh. Dry ground. Like
Joshua, those that walked over, no mud, no muck, no mire. Uh-uh. Solid rock. Beautiful valleys. Beautiful. Everything changed. Made brand new. And when this
Kingdom of God that's in Christ rests someday, it will make all
things brand new. All things brand new. Our Lord
said, as in the days of Noah, as in the days of Noah, so shall
the coming of the Son of Man be. In closing, I want you to read
with me two passages. I haven't been
very long at all, just 30 minutes. Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21.
Let's look at what all Christ has made new, is making new. Isaiah 65, verse 17. God said,
you have it? Behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered,
nor come into mind. Oh, but be ye glad. Rejoice forever in that which
I created." This new heaven, this new earth that Christ is
making and made is where he dwelleth. Righteousness, no sin, nothing
shall defile it. Peace. Behold, I create Jerusalem a
rejoicing and her people a joy. Sin brings nothing but sadness
and sorrow and pain and suffering and ends up in death. This kingdom
doesn't end. There is no death. And it's joy
unspeakable, full of glory. I will, verse 19 says, I will
rejoice in Jerusalem, my joy and my people. The voice of weeping
shall be no more heard in heaven, nor the voice of crying. Now
look at Revelation 21 and I'll quit. Revelation 21. It's going
to end about as high as you can get. Revelation 21. It really
is, people. Somebody said the other day that
they took a test and they tested positive. I said, well, I could
have spared you a test. I can tell you positively, it's all
going to end wonderful. It's going to end wonderful. They're
all positive. for God's people. I'm positive
because all the promises of God are in Jesus' cry. They're positive. It means yay and amen to the
glory of God where? By us. We're going to shout hallelujah
for every single thing that He has done. Everything. We know
as we've been known. I'm positive. Look at that verse. I John saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, that's what he said there in
Isaiah 65, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. That's the church, God's people,
His kingdom. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven say, Behold, look at this, the tabernacle of God is
with men. He will dwell with them. They
shall be His people and God Himself. Jesus Christ shall be with them,
and their God be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed
away. Christ reconciled There's no more Lucifer, no more
nothing to spoil heaven. Things in earth, the new earth,
the new heaven, no more sin, nothing to defile it ever again. Why? Christ reconciled to God. And He that sat on the throne,
verse 5, said, Behold, I make all things new. The same Christ
who made the first earth is the one who made the second. He said,
Write this down. Right. These words are true in
faith, positive. And He said unto me, it's done.
Don't you like that? It's done. It's over. It's good as done. I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end. And I will give unto
Him that is a thirst. How does this world make you
thirsty for this? Righteousness of the fountain
of the water of life free, that's Christ Himself. He that overcometh,
that's faith, trust, believe in Him, shall inherit all things. And I will be His God, and He
shall be my Son. But the fearful and unbelieving
cast out. Let's trust Him, shall we? Why
not trust Him? It's all good. Christ has reconciled
us to God. We have peace with God. God's
not angry with His people. He's not punishing His people
for anything. He's not taking anything out on us. He took it
all out on Christ. You understand? And everything
that happens to us is 100% for our good and His glory. That's why He said, God can't
lie. Why? Because Christ reconciled
all that. He's reconciled. My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear. He
owns me for His child. I shall no longer fear. Say that
again. I shall no longer fear. Go back and read these verses
again. Reconciliation. Just a big word. It's just another
word for what Christ has done. Salvation. Stand with me. Oh, Lord, thank You for Your
blessed, blessed Book and blessed hope and blood of Christ. Oh, thank You, Lord. Thank You,
thank You, thank You. Thank You that You've given us
this ministry, this gospel of reconciliation. Now that Christ was made sin
for those who do no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Thank You, Lord, for this reconciliation. Christ has restored the Kingdom
to God, to You and Your people. He's broken down this enmity
in Your people. We pray that You would do this.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that men might be reconciled to God.
Others, break down this enmity neighbors, friends, family. Cause them to see their need
of Christ. Come to Him for mercy, for pardon,
forgiveness of sin. Be reconciled to Him. Thank you,
Lord. In Christ's name, Amen.