If you would, turn with me to
2 Corinthians 5, and I'm going to start in verse 17. 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. 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 in him. I want to talk about today, my
title is In This Manner. And I preached a message which
I read a passage and I kind of just read over a part of that
passage. And after hearing it, it struck
me again. I wasn't preaching on that verse particularly to
say, but it made me think of this passage here. And I'll get
to that passage here in a little while. Here in our text, the
main verse I'm going to concentrate on is verse 21. Others have done
this, a message on this passage, and they've done quite a good
job as well. In reading this passage when
I started, verse 19 struck me as well. It says, to wit, or
you could say, because this is what the word means, in this
manner or in that manner, either one. So what is in this manner? Reconciliation. So reconciliation
was done in this manner. It goes on to tell us the manner. But let's step back to verse
18. We see that it is God who hath. We cannot pass over this
word in talking about this, hath. Just looking at this word, we
can see that this is something that is complete. The word hath
is past tense, right? So what has been accomplished?
Reconciliation. So if I'm going to talk about
in this manner, whatever was in this manner has to be spoken
of in the past. How did God do this? By Jesus
Christ, it tells us here. The reconciliation has been accomplished
by Jesus Christ, past tense. God in Jesus Christ is not trying
to accomplish anything. God in Jesus Christ is not trying
to accomplish anything in us. Do you understand what I'm saying?
God is not doing a work on us or in us trying to accomplish
something. He has already accomplished reconciliation,
this passage says. Now one more thing it says here.
And have given us the ministry, that is, attendance as a servant. That means we have been given
by God the job, if you will, of serving him by proclaiming
this reconciliation. We attend to it constantly by
his grace. We are servants unto it. Then
here is this ministry, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Now I just want to say, if anyone
hears this, I don't think anyone here thinks this, but if you
think this word world here means that he's talking about every
individual person ever born, which was or will be born, then
you are wrong. I'm not going into the details
because that's not what I'm here to talk about today, but this
is not the whole world without exception. Read the passage,
you will see the word us throughout it and in other scriptures as
well. Him committing to us this word
of reconciliation, we tell others, because of Christ. Or you can
say on behalf of what he has done. But then it says, be ye
reconciled to God. It tells us here that he reconciled
us to God, but then right here it tells us to be ye reconciled
to God. If he has reconciled us to God,
then why do we have need of being reconciled to God? This is not
even what I wanted to talk about either, but it must be said.
We are the children of wrath, even as others. Ephesians 2.3
says, among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. God has no wrath against us.
That is the ones that he did this reconciliation for. He has
no wrath against us. But we as we are born and with
this flesh have wrath against God. We hate God even as others. But what does this tell us? Be
ye reconciled to God. I cannot do this in and of myself. I can only do this if he has
committed unto me the ministry of reconciliation. If he has,
then we are told, be ye reconciled to God. He reconciled the us
spoken of here in this passage. Here it tells us the us to be,
here it tells the us to be reconciled to God. Lay down your arms and
weapons against God, take sides with God against yourself, as
others have said before. Reconciling that God is holy,
he's righteous, he is just in all he does. But then we have
four. This is the reason we can be
reconciled to God. For he, that is God the Father,
made him, that is God the Son, Jesus Christ, God the Father
made him to be this, and it had to be this way. Why? Because
he knew no sin. He was spotless. It was done
for this reason, that we, that is his people, the us, might
be made. It had to be this way because
we are not righteous. We are the children of wrath,
even as others. There is none righteous, no not
one. But it was done that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Christ. What Christ has
done is reconciled us to God. It is what makes us righteous
before God. Him doing this is the very ministry
committed unto us as servants to uphold. I just go through
all this to make the point clear. It is all because of what took
place with that transaction done with Jesus Christ. I want to
look in more detail in this verse, that is verse 21 of 2 Corinthians
5. The impact of this transaction, if you will. What do we think of when we think
of this passage that God the Father has made him to be sin
for us? So let's look at the following.
What was the impact of him being made sin, that is the effects
on him, and what effect did all that have on us? So what was
the impact of him being made sin? I want to talk about the impact
to him, the cost or the price to him, if you will. But let's
first take a glimpse at his relationship to us, his people. I did a message
some time ago on Christ and his church, and I went to Genesis
3-6. And I want to go back there again.
I want to show the relationship that Christ has with his people.
And we can see it in type in Genesis 3-6. You can turn there
if you want. I'm going to read it just here
out of my notes. Genesis 3, 6. And we read, and when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant
to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her
husband with her and he did eat. We can see in this passage the
fall of man. This was Adam disobeying God
and what he had told him not to do. But we can also see and
type a picture of Christ here in this passage as well. We can
see where Christ willingly took on that which condemns us before
God. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and he took
sin to himself. Just as Adam did knowingly do
this for his bride, he partook of the fruit. Christ also willingly
took upon himself the likeness of our nature and in his own
body our sin. This is what he did for his bride,
the church. As we read in our text, he was
made sin for us. Him knowing no sin, but willingly
took it in his own body. We have another scripture that
gives us a glimpse of the relationship Jesus Christ has with the Father
and with his people, Genesis 39. starting in verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. And whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. These prisoners that were in
the prison No one else, just the prisoners. Joseph was given
these to his charge, is what it says. Christ being given a
people from before the foundation of the world, he stands in their
place. Everything we do, Jesus Christ
is the doer of it because he was made sin for his people. Psalm 69, 33 says, for the Lord
hearth the poor and despises not his prisoners. We have one
more example that I found that I wanna give you. Our Lord doing
all that he did willingly by faith. That faith which began
with him and that faith which is perfected by him. Genesis
22, six through 10, very familiar to everyone. And Abraham took
the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son,
and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both
of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, my father, and he said, here am I, my son,
and he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went
both of them together. And they came to the place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there
and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. We read here, of course,
a real account, having two real human beings here. Both of these
we know from the Old Testament passage that they had faith in
God. Maybe in this account we are not told this specifically,
but we do read in the New Testament by faith. And we read in Hebrews
11, 9, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, and we're
talking about Abraham. as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise. But again in Hebrews 11, 17 through
20, we read, by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up
Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy
seed be called. accounting that God was able
to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received
him in a figure. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. Both of these men had faith. But looking at this as a picture
of Christ being the only begotten of the Father, he willingly,
quietly, did that which his father asked him to do. He was faithful
to do what the Father told him to do. He did all these things
for his bride, the church. He was faithful to do that for
which his bride could not do for herself. What were those
things that happened to him in order to secure this righteousness
for us? For that, turn with me to Isaiah
53. And this should be very fresh
in your minds, because Joe did a message on this. the gospel
in Isaiah. It's a good message. We're going
to go over through some of these same passages. So right now I'm on verse 7 of
Isaiah 53. I want to read verse 7. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before shears is done, so he openeth
not his mouth. Jesus Christ knew this was to
be done and that he had to be the one to do it. He was the
only one who could do it. He had no help. There was none
to help. This he did without opening his
mouth. He did not complain about it.
He did not try to get out of it. He did this willingly to
the full extent. There was no help. I know a lot
of people talk about doing something for Jesus, but we cannot do for
God at all. We are in total need of him doing
for us, Joe, because he has all the power. But as we are born
in Adam, we are totally opposed to God. Isaiah 53 says, he is
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was
despised and we esteemed him not. Even after this had been
accomplished, we did not run to him for mercy. We wanted nothing
to do with him. There is none that seeketh after
God. Not one. This is our Lord and
Savior. This is His love towards us. Even though His own would reject
Him, and He knew they would, He still carried on. This is
His disposition or relationship to us. And I don't know what
the best way to say that is, but can you see the love of God
in what Christ did for His people? So what was the cost to him? Let's look at some of these things
here. I say some because there's more than this. This is just
what God has revealed to me at this time for this message. But
Isaiah 53, 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was up on him. He was wounded. What does this
mean? He was profaned, defiled, polluted
because of us. It says for our transgressions. He was bruised, that is he was
contrited. He was broken down, beat down
physically but also mentally. We read a lot of that in the
Psalms. But why was he broken down? For
our iniquities. None of this because of him,
he knew no sin. Then it says, the chastisement
of our peace, that for which would bring to us peace with
God, that chastisement due us was upon him. Next we can see
it had nothing to do with what you and I would do. Because it
says all of us are gone astray. And all of us, then and now,
turned every one to our own way. We are not seeking God as we
are born in Adam. On him all our iniquities have
been laid. Verses eight and nine. He was
taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death. Because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. And then
verse 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put
him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. Everything do us he took on himself. Him being the Lord from heaven,
He did all this in His people's stead. He was their substitute. So let's see more. In the New
Testament, we read in Galatians 3.13, He was made a curse. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. And we read this in the Old Testament
in Deuteronomy 21 and 23. It says, his body shall not remain
all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him
that day. For he that is hanged is accursed
of God. That thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee for inheritance. He was
forsaken of God the Father. In that time, when there was
no help for him, he had to do this by himself. We read in scripture,
he cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So
he was forsaken of God the Father. There is one more thing that
I wanna show from scripture, and I'm not gonna be able to
say a whole lot about it. But there's one more thing that
shows us the impact on him, if you will. Be turning with me
to Acts 2, verses 29. Acts 2, verses 29. And this is
the verse that I kind of just passed over. Acts 2, verses 29. Acts 2, 29 through 31. Men and brethren, Let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. So the fact that it says his
soul was not left in hell tells me that he was at some point
in hell. I know this sounds kind of strange,
it does to me anyway when I say it, but when we're talking about
God in the face of Jesus Christ and talking about him being in
hell, but that was what the cost was
to the Lord of glory for us. He had to endure that which we
should have endured. He did this without saying a
word. Can you see the love of God there? I cannot say anything about him
being there, that is being in hell. All I can say was is he
was there because that's what it says. But he was not left
there and neither did his flesh see corruptions is what it says.
That is declared unto us as well. We know that he rose from the
grave and that he ascended to the Father's right hand. I think
God above, I will never know some of the things he knew for
me. We're talking about an eternal
God here. So someone might ask, what is
hell? I have to say to them, I don't know exactly, but I can
tell you about the one who conquered it all. This he did on my behalf
and your behalf, if you were in him. So now, because of all
this, because of him, what does that mean for his people? What
effect did all that have on us? We go back to our text for a
minute, 2 Corinthians 5 verses 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. In Jesus Christ, we are made
the righteousness of God. We in Jesus Christ are made righteous. We have life before God because
of Jesus Christ. That which God requires, and
that is righteousness, but not just any righteousness, the righteousness
of God. That is what we are made in Jesus
Christ. This is a righteousness that
exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.
It absolutely and totally exceeds those filthy rags righteousness
that we have done. It is a righteousness that gives
us life before him. Romans 5 21 says, that as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We
also read in Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin is death But
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
So this is a gift given to us by God This is not a gift that
we accept or reject Joe If it were left up to us to accept
or reject his gift, we would always reject it There would
be no acceptance before God if it were up to us. We do not make
a choice to get this gift. It is freely given to us through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, if we are one of his. Verse 17 of 2
Corinthians 2.5 says this, and I guess I got
to turn over there. Chapter 17. Therefore, if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. Through Jesus Christ, we are
given all things freely. We do not ask for them and we
do not work for them. They are freely given to us because
he has purchased us with his own blood. All that for which
he had to go through on our behalf is what it cost him. It is the
work he had to do for us. Romans 8.32 says, he that spared
not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us all things? Jesus Christ is the
head, he is the husband, and we are his body, his breath.
God has given us all things into his hand, have given all things
into his hand, that is Jesus Christ. The hand of the only
begotten son. This says that with him, being
his body, he will give us all things. We are a part of him
because we are his body. It is posed as a question here,
but it is rhetorical. There is no doubt that everything
is given into his hand, and we being his body, we partake of
all things with him. We have in Christ wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, these leading us into eternal
life so that we will always be with him. This is the ministry
which has been committed unto us. That is the ministry of reconciliation. In this manner is that ministry,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Jesus Christ's relationship to
us is one of absolute righteous love. He willingly came and done
that which was needed to reconcile us to God. Isaiah 53 5 says,
but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was up on him and with his stripes,
we are healed. The very stripes which we deserve
was given to him who willingly put himself in that place. Because
of what he did, we are healed. The cost to him was a great price
to pay. He had to die, but he had to
die a curse and was made sin for us to the extent that he
was forsaken of God the Father because of what he was made for
us. This ultimately taking him to hell, but not being left there. He was not left there and neither
did his body see corruption. He did raise from the grave unto
the Father's right hand, saving us to the uttermost. If Christ
was not made a curse for you, and if it was not made sin for
you, and in being made a curse and sin for you, Him then in
time bringing you to Himself in love, causing you, even forcing
you to love Him. If He was not made these things
and if He does not cause you to love Him, what are we told
in 1 Corinthians 16.22? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. If He was not made
those things for you, then there is no hope for you. Your end
will not be good. But if you are one of his, you
will be a servant to this gospel, that ministry of reconciliation,
that work that God has done. If you love God, then here's
what else we read in closing, Hebrews 9, verses 24 through
28. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. When we see Jesus Christ again
with our own eyes, we will see him as he is and there will be
no sin to deal with. What a glorious day that will
be. I thank God that he has committed unto us this ministry. The ministry
which is in this manner was done. God reconciled us to himself
through Jesus Christ.