Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Have you ever
heard people say, when you ask them if they are saved, they
say, well, I fixed that up a long time ago. I took care of that
years ago. And you say, oh, really? They say, yeah, I prayed a prayer.
I walked an aisle. I wouldn't talk to the preacher.
I did this and I did that. But that's not the question you
really ask them, is it? You ask them when the Lord saved
them. And one of the things that the Lord does when he saves us
is he regenerates us. And the scripture clearly declares
from the words of our master himself Ye must be born again. You must be born again. And here in the scripture we
see that we're read that if any man be in Christ, he's a new
creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses
11 to 19, the scripture declares this. Knowing, therefore, the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest
unto God. And I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
that ye may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God. Or whether we be sober, it is
for your cause. And look at this verse here.
Why do we not go out and go crazy after the Lord saves us? Why
do we not go out and sin? Like people falsely accused Paul
that, well, if you're saved by grace, then you can go do whatever
you want. You know, I've never heard a grace preacher ever say
that. And why don't we do that? Why? Well, look at this verse
here. For the love of Christ constraineth us. It's God's love
that constrains us from sin. Could you imagine how bad this
world would be if God didn't restrain sin? We're seeing things go on in
the world right now that we're just like, my goodness. But could
you imagine if he didn't restrain sin? He's restraining sin. Oh, my. And so the love of Christ
constrains us. It restrains us, doesn't it? Now, we don't want to sin against
our Lord, even though we're sinners from the top of our heads to
the bottom of our feet. And that's why we continuously come to Christ,
don't we, and say, Lord, forgive me. I'm such a sinner. It says
here, for the love of Christ constrained us, because we thus
judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. and that
he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose
again." Now, people see these verses here, and they grab that
and see, oh, look, there's universal atonement. Christ died for everyone. No, he didn't. You have to compare
scripture with scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, I lay down my life for the sheep in John chapter 10,
and then further down he's looking at some Pharisees and he says,
you are not my sheep. So he is talking about he died
for all the elect. He died for all his people. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. We don't
live unto ourselves anymore, but we live unto him, don't we?
We seek to give him glory and honor and praise. We know we're
not justified by anything we do, but we seek to live a life
honoring to him. And we fail, and he picks us
back up again, and we desire still to keep following him,
don't we? It's wonderful. That's because
he keeps us by his keeping power. We don't live unto ourselves,
but unto him which died for them. He died for his people, didn't
he? He died for his sheep. And then he rose again. And beloved,
you know, we were crucified with Christ, and we rose with him,
too. He was raised for our justification. It says, wherefore, henceforth,
know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh. Yet now, henceforth, know we
him no more. Look at this now. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God. Look at this. Look at this. Who hath reconciled us to himself. Who's doing the work there? Who's
the one doing the reconciling? He reconciles us. We need to
be reconciled, right? Look what it says there. Who
hath reconciled us to himself. How has he reconciled us, we
who are born dead in trespasses and sins, we who are enemies
in our minds with God, how has he reconciled us to himself?
In and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's done it. Remember what we looked at today? What was the cause of him doing
that? Well, his friendship to us, wasn't it? His love and mercy
and grace which is shed upon us from eternity. And then look
at this, by Jesus Christ. It's so clear right there. It
doesn't say, it doesn't say, in all things are of God who
has reconciled us to himself by the praying of a prayer, by
the walking of an aisle, by the doing any kind of method or formula
that man can devise. And let me tell you, man has
devised some pretty wild things that they think will bring them
to God. But it doesn't say that, does it? It says, he has reconciled
us to himself. Praise his mighty name. Because
we know there's nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to
him. But God has reconciled us, his people, to himself. That's glorious. That's glorious
news. And then look at this, to wit,
that God was in Christ. Remember, he said, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. And the scripture says, all the
fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily. He is God. You know, I once had someone
say, well, you say God in the flesh too much. What? Are you
kidding me? This is my Savior. This is my
God. I can't brag enough that my God
became flesh and dwelt among us. Because we are a people saved
by Jehovah. Well, Jehovah had to become a
man, didn't he? And the word of God became incarnate. And I'll tell you what, if he
didn't come incarnate, none of us would be saved. That's how
important it is to speak about the incarnation of Christ, to
speak that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. incarnate
in the flesh. Let us shout it from the rooftops,
beloved. God incarnate in the flesh has
saved me, saved my eternal soul. Praise his mighty name. Oh, he's
so good to us. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself. Well, we know he didn't reconcile
everybody to himself, did he? But he reconciled his people
to himself. That's what the world there means. Because remember,
outside the Jewish nation, They considered everybody Gentile
dogs. And outside the Roman Empire, I've been finding this out from
reading books on Rome. I love reading books on Rome
and all that. And I found out that even within
the Romans felt the same way, that anyone who wasn't a Roman,
they were just nothing to them. Now, they were good enough to
bring soldiers in as auxiliaries. And eventually, they could get
citizenship. But I'll tell you what, the Romans looked at everybody
else just as nothing. And so did the Jews. We were
Gentile dogs. So the world to them. And I remember
what A.W. Pink said, the world there is
the known world, too, at that time. But that's just God's elect
scattered throughout the known world, Gentiles and Jews. That's his people. Reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
think of this, if God didn't impute trespasses to everyone
in the world, then no one would be in hell, right? So just the fact that people
perish in their sins and go into a Christless eternity tells us
that God only died for his people. He reconciled his people, those
who are in glory with him. And what an incredible privilege Even me. Even me. Included in salvation's plan. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself, and not in Putin or trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So now
the gospel preacher stands up, and God's people, and we proclaim,
be ye reconciled to God. How? How can one, how can a sinner
be reconciled to God? Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said. Remember that Philippian
jailer? What must I do to be saved? Well, if there was ever
a time in the scriptures when somebody could say, do this,
it would have been there, right? But Paul, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God, he says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Well, how do we believe? How
do we, who are dead dog sinners, who don't believe God one minute,
how do we believe God the next second? By the regenerating power
of God the Holy Spirit. And if he's given you an interest
in Christ, flee to him. Run to him. He's the only refuge
for your soul. And I speak from experience.
There's no other refuge for our souls than the Lord Jesus Christ. And you talk about true freedom.
Now, we live in a land free, a free land, don't we? But you
talk about true freedom. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, freedom, wherewith Christ hath made you free. And be not
again entangled with the yoke of bondage. Don't be again entangled
with the yoke of religion. Don't let somebody entangle you
with something saying, you've got to do something. No. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And what
do we do as regenerated, born-again believers? We continue to look
to Christ. Why? Because we're new creatures
in Christ. We're new creatures in Christ
now. We're not what we used to be. Well, people say, well, some
people have this huge experience and other people just believe.
Yeah, but they both believe. They're both trusting in the
Savior. They're both resting in the Savior, right? Both of them. My, oh, my. And have you ever noticed when
you ask a person, as I said earlier about, you know, when the Lord
saved you and they say, well, I prayed a prayer or I did this,
do you ever notice that there's no mention of being born again? It's always about what they've
done. You know why? Because we have a situation in
this world now which is called decisional regeneration. And it's sending people to hell. People say, well, just repeat
this prayer. And I've heard preachers say this. When I was in religion,
I heard preachers say this. And I think back now, and oh,
my gosh. I used to say, bow your head.
No one open your eyes. You always wanted to open your
eyes, right? They'd say, no one open your eyes. But you always
wanted to look up, you know. And they'd say, raise your hand
if you want me to pray for you. Right? And so, you know, you're
keeping your eyes closed, but you want to look. You really
do, right? But you don't want to tell anybody.
Right? And people were supposedly raising their hands. You had
your eyes closed, so you don't know if, you know, well, there's
one. You hear, well, there's one.
There's one. There's one. There's one. And you're thinking,
wow. You know? And then they say, repeat this
prayer after me. Right? Okay? And then they make
this, after they repeat the prayer, they make, to me, the most damaging
statement. They say, now you're on your
way to heaven. And you can be sure about that. But the Lord said, you must be
born again. He didn't say you must pray a
prayer. He said, you must be born again. Turn, if you would,
to John chapter 3. You know in the portion that
everyone quotes, and it's a beautiful portion of scripture, for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do
you know that? And if you continue further in
that chapter, the Lord is still talking to Nicodemus. I never knew that until one day
I was listening to Brother Henry and he said, Lord's talking to
Nicodemus through that whole chapter. And I was like, wow,
he is. He's talking to Nicodemus through
that chapter. And note here in the words of
our Lord that we're gonna look at, there's absolutely no mention
of making a decision or praying a prayer You know why? Because this, what the Lord's
going to talk about here, is a work of the Holy Spirit of
God. This, what he's going to talk
about, is when we become new creatures in Christ. And we who are truly born again,
we'll flee to Christ. And how do we flee to Christ?
Well, because the Lord works in us. I'll tell you. If you have a
concern for your soul, that's a good thing. Because there's
so many people out here that have no concern for their soul
at all. None. If you have a concern for your
soul, that's a good thing. Look what our Lord tells us here.
Now, Nicodemus, he was a ruler in Israel. He was a Pharisee. He was a well-versed man. He
knew the scriptures. Well, he knew them as a natural
man. we find out he's not born again. He's one of the blind leading
the blind. Now, I believe in scripture that the Lord saved
him, because he later on goes and retrieves the body of Christ.
So I believe the Lord did a work for him. But look what he says
here. He's coming to the Lord at night.
He doesn't want anyone to know that he's coming to the Lord.
Now, remember who he's coming to. He's coming to the King of
Glory. And this is a divine appointment.
I'm telling you what, this is as much a divine appointment
as a woman at the well. Every encounter that you read
about in scripture with the Lord or with his preachers preaching
the gospel to someone and the Lord saving them is a divine
appointment, beloved. It's called the time of love,
the time of love. And listen to these words. And
he speaks of regeneration. He speaks that you must be born
again. John chapter 3, verses 3 to 8. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now look at that. What a
statement. Clear, isn't it? Except a man
be born again. It doesn't say, except a man
do something. It's a statement of fact. Accept
the man, be born again. Now Nicodemus is a natural man,
remember? He's read the scriptures, but
he doesn't know the true meaning of them. And yet here he is,
standing before the one who the scriptures testify of. And what
is the one who the scriptures testify going to say to him?
He says, you must be born again. Nicodemus saith unto him, how
can a man be born when he's old? I'm old man, he says, how can
I be born? You see, what's he thinking of?
He's thinking of natural birth, right? He's thinking the Lord's talking
about natural birth. And any of us in our natural
state would have asked the same question. What do you mean, Lord? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born again? So these words here
prove that he's speaking from a natural man's point of view.
He's saying, can I go back into my mother's womb and be born
again? No. And that's not what the Lord's
talking about. And our King's going to make it very clear.
Look at how clear these words are. Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except the man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Water
and the Spirit. Well, the water of the Word and
the Holy Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Now he's telling us very clearly
here that regeneration, is a work of the Holy Spirit of God. Look
at that which is born of the flesh. So natural man, we who
are sinners, can only produce children who are sinners, right? Adam fell, he produced children
who were fallen. We produce children who are fallen. And Nicodemus says, well, I can't
be born again by going into my mom's womb again. And the Lord
says, that's right. But I'm not talking about that.
He's talking about a spiritual rebirth here, beloved. He's talking
about a work of the Holy Spirit of God. And he says here, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say you must be born again. You must be. Now look at that,
must. Now he's told him here twice
now that a man must be born again. And then he says, the wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof. But canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth? So is every
one that's born of the Spirit. So our great king here tells
Nicodemus very clearly that this is not a work of the flesh. So
what does that do? When our Lord is saying this,
what does that do? That destroys anyone's profession
that's based upon anything they say they do or any action they
do, doesn't it? It really does. Have you ever
wondered why people will say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
about you? Have we not done all these things?
Those are religious people. And the Lord says, depart from
me, you cursed, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. That's people who are religious
but not born again. Think of the millions of people
who've made a supposed decision for Christ but aren't born again,
but yet some false preacher told them, well, you're good for heaven
now. What a crime. What a crime. What a crime against a man's
soul. Tell him now you're good. And
I'm not immune from this situation because I once told someone that
the devil cast a vote for you and God cast a vote for you and
now the rest is up to you. And I pray that God will have
my paths crossed with that young man again sometime. So that I
can tell him, that was a lie. I was wrong. Only God can save you. And you
must be born again. It's the work of the Holy Spirit
of God. Our Lord here doesn't tell Nicodemus
what he can do. He doesn't say, well, I can't
save you unless you do something, unless you make a decision for
me. He doesn't say that at all, does he? He says you must be
born again. And this is a work of the Holy
Spirit of God, not the flesh. So if it's not a work of the
flesh, again, then anything that man attempts to do to justify
themselves before God, and I don't care how sincere they were, they're lost. Because if you add, what, a pinprick
of works to grace, it's no longer grace, is it? A little leaven,
what? Leaveneth the whole lot. Right? Little bit of works. Just a little
bit, little bit, little sprinkle. No longer grace. People don't
like to hear that. You know why? Because it offends
their pride. But it's the truth, beloved.
I'm more concerned about your eternal soul than I am about
offending you. I don't seek to offend anyone.
I do not seek to offend anyone. The preaching of the gospel does
that, right? But I'm more concerned for men and women's souls than
to lie to them and tell them, well, you can be saved by something
you do. No, you cannot. Not at all. Neither can I. I stand before you a man saved
by the complete free grace of God in Christ, plus absolutely
nothing I've said or done or nothing I will do. It's all by
the mercy and grace of God. And if it's so for you, rejoice,
beloved. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. Saved by Jehovah. Regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Born again by His Holy
Spirit. And unfortunately, Holy Spirit
regeneration, which the Lord speaks of there in John chapter
three, has been replaced in modern Christianity with making a decision. It's a crime. Because the only way we are reconciled
with God And that's so clear in the scripture we read. Turn
if you would again there, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The only way we are
reconciled with God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's no other way. There's no other way. Not by a decision or a prayer
we say or do, nothing which we do, nothing we can perform would
make us even fit. Not even one little thing make
us fit for salvation. and praise be to God, salvation
is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful
for that, aren't we? Aren't you thankful that your
salvation is not dependent on what you do? Now, in religion, man, they get
you so wound up. I remember, they get you so wound
up. Oh, you got to do all this. And then you're like, oh, man,
I'm such a failure. I lived that. It was horrible. I can rejoice even when I'm down
I can I can rejoice and be picked up again by the fact that the
Lord saved me. By the fact that he is my king.
I'm gonna put an article in a couple weeks in the bulletin I sent
the sister Carolyn and I'll tell you what I got a little down
this week. I'm just like everybody else
I got a little down. And I read that article that I sent you.
It's gonna be in the bulletin in two weeks. And I'll tell you
why. It lifted my soul. And basically
what it said is God's in control of all things, even everything
we go through. It comes from his hand. And we're just to, we're to patiently,
quietly go through those things. It's hard for us, isn't it? It's
hard for us to do that. But we do. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We rejoice in the complete salvation
that we have in Him. It's a finished work, beloved. And this is what the gospel preacher
proclaims. This is what we proclaim. Christ completed a perfect, sinatoning
work on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. And we're proclaiming what Christ
has already done for his people. And God, by his regenerating
power, oh, he regenerates us, gives us faith, because regeneration
must always precede faith, right? We don't believe until we're
regenerated. And then he gives us faith, and we fall in love
with Christ, don't we? Are you in love with Christ?
Oh, he's everything. I don't love him like I should.
No, I fail miserably. I love him. I love him. I didn't love him
before. And then I found out he loved
me before I first loved him. My, oh my. How that makes your
soul rejoice, doesn't it? Oh, it's wonderful. So these
great truths of how Christ is, think of this too, the great
truths of how Christ is the vine and we're the branches, right?
There's all these great truths, all these great illustrations
which show that we must be reconciled to God. And it's only in and
through Christ. And one of the examples is the
vine and the branches, right? He's the vine, and we're the
branches. The only reason we produce fruit is because it comes
up through the vine and to us. See? We're connected to Christ.
He's the head, and we're the body. And anything we do, any
good we do, only comes through Christ. And we don't even know
when we're doing those things. Look at this, though, in verses
17 and 18 of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. Therefore, if any man be in
Christ, key right there, are you in Christ? Do you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? It says there, if any man, and
we know, or woman, be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. And note how clearly these verses bring forth that the new
birth is a work of God and God alone. Look again there at verse
17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's 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. Again, God's reconciled us to
himself. How? By Jesus Christ. And now
we have the ministry of reconciliation. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter three. So Paul, again, and he's writing to born-again,
blood-washed saints. And he pens these words, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And Paul brings this forth again
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And marvel, marvel at
this. In Christ, through electing love,
God the Father has shed his mercy upon us. In Christ, by redeeming
grace, we have a living union with Christ. And in Christ, we
are a new creature, a new creation, all by the work of God. And we
saw that when the Lord said, that which is flesh is flesh,
right? It's a work of God, the Holy
Spirit. Look at this in Colossians 3, verses 10 and 11. And it put on the new man, which
is renewed, in the knowledge after the image of him that created
him. We're renewed. We're new creatures
in Christ. Now, we haven't changed physically,
have we? No. But our desires have changed,
haven't they? Our hope has definitely changed. We hoped in ourselves, now we
hope in Christ. We desire to hear the gospel
when we didn't before. We desire to read the Bible when
we didn't before. We desire to be with the Lord's
people when we didn't before. We desire to hear the gospel
preached and proclaimed. Oh, let it fly. Let it fly. Tell me about my Savior. Look at this, it says, where
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all. Now look at that. There's neither
Greek. Now Greek were well-learned people.
And then Jews. Jews we know was a chosen nation
of God. Circumcision nor uncircumcision,
that's Jew or Gentile. Barbarian. Oh, barbarians were
pretty ruthless folks. I'll tell you what, they were
like, them Gauls, they were barbarians. And then the Scythians, the barbarians
of the barbarians. They would drink blood of the
skulls of their people that they battled against. Well, look at that. Some of them
the Lord saved. Isn't that, wonder of wonders,
if he saved them, If he saved a Scythian, surely he could save
me, and he has. But I'm worse than that Scythian,
probably. Right? That's what every believer says.
And look at this, bond nor free, servant or someone who's not
a servant, a slave or not a slave. But Christ is all. There's the
key. Is Christ all to you? Is he everything to you? And
in all. And note that all things are
passed away. Our old way of life, the old legal righteousness too,
the old way of trying to justify ourselves before God by something
we've done, that's all gone, isn't it? Those garments being
cast aside like filthy rags. And you know what? God has clothed
us. He's taken those filthy rags off us and cast them away, beloved.
And now what are we clothed in? The perfect righteousness of
Christ. Isn't that amazing? And so when
God looks at us, put your name in there, when God looks at Tom
or Vicki or Karen or Travis or Dan or Jim and Barb, he sees
you in Christ now. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't
see our sin because Christ paid for it all. And he looks at us
and sees us clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which
he put on us. You remember the wedding feast,
when they had that wedding feast, and there was one guy there,
and the master said, what's this guy here doing without a wedding
garment? And he wasn't supposed to be
there, was he? And so he was taken and cast out, right? I
found out something last night listening to Norm preach at that
conference. He said, in Eastern customs,
when you went to a wedding, the garment was provided. Oh my. The garment was provided
so you could attend that wedding. Wow. Has the garment been provided,
beloved? Absolutely. The wedding garment
has been provided, and it's the righteousness of Christ. And
it's God, remember God clothed Adam and Eve in those skins?
That was a picture, and that innocent animal had to die, that
innocent lamb died, right? And God clothed them in that
skin? That's just a picture of the Lamb of God who would die,
and we'd be clothed in His spotless, perfect righteousness, beloved. Oh, it's wonderful. So we're
new creatures in Christ. All foolish thoughts about God
are replaced by a God-given understanding. He's given us understanding.
And it's just a little bit what we know, right? But that little
bit is just overwhelming for us, isn't it? See, again, he
reveals to us what he decrees to reveal to us. And we get in
this little morsel, and we're just feasting, aren't we? You ever see an ant? I love watching
ants. I love watching ants, right? And sometimes I like dropping
little pieces of bread there for them. You see an ant, though.
He sees this huge piece, and he's like, oh, man. And he'll
try to carry that piece, right? He'll try to take that morsel
home. Now, it's just a little less, but it's gigantic to him.
And he'll be dragging it along. dragging it along till he gets
to this hole, or a friend will come, right? So another aunt
come, so they're helping him out dragging that thing, you
know? Or like that, when we get a morsel from the Lord, we just
want to take that home, and we just want to feast on that, don't
we? We just want to feast on that little morsel we get from
the Lord. Oh, it's wonderful. And we praise his name for when
he does that. So foolish thoughts about God are now replaced by
great truths about God. We've been given an understanding
about him. And again, even though our knowledge is but scratching
on the surface, we just rejoice. We have those
aha moments, don't we? When we're reading and we're
like, I've never seen that before. That's incredible. Or we hear
something in the message and we go, I never heard that before.
Oh, it's wonderful. And our thoughts about who God
is has changed, hasn't it? Now that we're new creatures,
now that we're regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, our thoughts
about who God is has changed. Now we see him as a sovereign,
majestic God over all. He's no one to be trifled with.
He's no one, and what great mercy in the fact that he saves us.
We don't deserve that. If we got what we deserved, you
may see it many times, we'd be in hell, wouldn't we? But oh,
what mercy. We have a different view of the
Son of God now, who He is. He's our Redeemer. He's our Savior.
We have a different view of who God the Holy Spirit is. Do you
know a natural man is a natural man who never really thought
much about God the Holy Spirit, but He's just as vital in our
salvation as the Father and the Son. They all are vital in our salvation. God the Father chose us in Christ,
right? Christ Jesus the Lord redeemed
us in time and space. And God the Holy Spirit regenerates
us. What would happen if we weren't
regenerated? We wouldn't have any faith. But remember Christ
promised that he'd send the Comforter? That's who he is. And oh, what
comfort he is to us. When he reveals the scriptures
to us, when he reveals Christ, and he won't speak of himself,
here only speak of Christ. And when he reveals Christ to
us, oh my, does it not thrill your soul? Does it not thrill
your soul? And this is all the work of God.
This new creation is all the work of God. He says, behold,
I make all things new. He doesn't say, you sinners,
make yourself new. He says, I make all things new. I do it. I do it. It's a work of God. Look again
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It's a work of God. A new creation
is a work of God, nothing of a flesh. Our Lord says, I make
all things new. And we see the fact of the reconciliation
of the believer in Christ is brought forth in verses, we'll
read verses 18 to 21. This is a fact that we are right,
we are reconciled to God in Christ. It's a fact. And it's not based
on anything you or I do. And that gives us comfort, doesn't
it? Because when we fall, and we will, and we do, We just flee back to him again,
don't we? And he just, he's so merciful,
he's so gracious. I often think of that father
with the prodigal, and that to me is a picture of God the Father.
He just, he runs out to him. Oh my, we're that prodigal, aren't
we? And he says, bring the best robe.
That picture's that wedding robe, the righteousness of Christ,
the best robe. We don't deserve to be clothed
in the best robe, do we? And he closes in the righteousness
of Christ. Look at this one, verses 18 to 21. 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 impeding
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors.
Now, that's not just the preacher. If you're a believer, you're
an ambassador for Christ. What does an ambassador do? Well,
he goes to other countries and tells people about the country,
doesn't he? We speak of going home to glory. Why? To be in the presence of
our king. Now we're ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray ye in Christ's
name, be ye reconciled to God. That's our cry, isn't it? Be
reconciled to God only through Christ. Shed away your works. Cast aside anything you're doing
to gain merit and favor with God. Anything. It'll only take
you to hell. Be reconciled to God only through
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. And that's the word of God that
says that. That's not Wayne Boyd's words.
That's the word of God that says that. It's wonderful. 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. The sins of God's people were
imputed to Christ, who is the impeccable one. Now we need to
remember that. What does it mean that Christ
was impeccable? It means he was incapable of
sinning. He was God. He could never become
sin. He could never be a sinner. The
scripture says that when he offered himself up, he offered himself
up without spot. You remember in the day of atonement,
there was two animals to be offered. You've heard me say this before.
Now the high priest had no idea which animal would be chosen
to be the sacrifice and which animal would be chosen to be
the scapegoat. So a lot was cast and we know from scripture that
the casting of the lot, right, comes about by the Lord. We know
that. It talks about that in Proverbs.
So they would cast a lot and one would be the sacrifice and
one would be the scapegoat. So they would take that sacrifice
and they would lay their hands upon that sacrifice and they
would slit its throat. Did that lamb ever become a sinner? It was perfect. It was spotless. It was still a spotless lamb
offered in the place of those who are offering that sacrifice. And by the laying on of hands
showed imputation. But that lamb was still an innocent
lamb. Perfect. Spotless. When the Lord Jesus Christ had
the sins of his people laid upon him, he was still the sinless,
spotless lamb of God. Perfect, spotless, sinless. And that wrath of God, deserving
for you and I as believers, everything that God had against us, all
that wrath that was due to fall upon us, fell upon Christ, and
it was the wrath of God for all the elect of all the ages. No
wonder he said, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not my will be done, but thy will be
done. What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Christ. He
is the impeccable one. He is God incarnate in the flesh. He's my Savior. Is He yours? If He is, rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice that He's made you a
new creature in Christ. Rejoice that He saved your soul.
Rejoice that He shed His precious blood for you. You've been redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb. That's fuel for our fire, isn't
it? Oh, brings joy to our hearts, beloved. And so we proclaim, as gospel
preachers, Christ, the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God,
died for sinners. And He's able to save to the
uttermost all who come to Him by God, through faith, God-given
faith. Oh, I pray that if you do not
know Him, that this may be your day, your time of love. Maybe
God's appointed it to be your time of love. I don't know. But I know He saved my soul. And I know if he saved me, he
can save whomever he wants. And he does, doesn't he? He does. So this day, this weekend, as
we celebrate the freedom that we have, let us celebrate as
believers the freedom that we have in Christ, the liberty,
the liberty that we have in Christ, all because of what he's done.
Praise his name.