The title of today's message is Reconciled by Blood and Spirit. And let me just give you a few things so that you don't lose sight of the message by the details.

First of all, if you look at Colossians chapter one in verse 21, it says, you that were sometime alienated and enemies. So that's the problem. alienation and enemies. And this gives the reason why it was in your mind by wicked works. So this is our problem and it's a very, very big problem. And we have to continually talk about this. It's always in our minds that there's our sin against God. This is constantly in the minds of God's people.

And so by God's grace, he also teaches us that even though our sin is present with us in our thoughts, our motives, even in our actions, to our shame and to our frustration, like the apostle Paul said, oh, wretched man that I am. It's not casual, it's a problem that goes as deep as our own being. Sin is with us, and for the believer, this recognition of this old nature that's still with us is actually a blessing that is given to us because of the new nature. By the new nature, we recognize our sinfulness. And so that's something. And I want to emphasize that this is the problem here, alienation and enmity with God. It's not a casual, oh, I slipped and messed up. Though it happens that way too. It's a deep, deep rebellion. A rebellion that stems from our inner being.

Jesus said, it's not what goes into a man that defiles a man, it's what comes out of the man. And what comes out of the man is what's in his heart. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So this is a fundamental issue. This is the problem we face, our sin. And I wanna emphasize this because until we have some appreciation for our condition and what it means, then we will not appreciate what God has said about what He has done.

And so in Isaiah 59, it says this. And I want you to think deep about this verse when you consider it. Isaiah 59 and verse one and two, he says this. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities. have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

Don't do it right now, but if you think about the worst thing in your life that you've ever done or thought, and you know something about the depression that sets in when that memory is brought to your mind, And you think it's not just a problem with that one action, that stems from my very, the core of who I am. And you wonder how could I be one of the Lord's people if I have that in me, if I have those motives and those thoughts and those actions. So sin is deep and it's a vile thing. We cannot get rid of our sins. And this is the problem. Not only does it present a separation, bring separation, but if left unfixed, it will result in eternal separation between us and God. So that's the problem. It's in our mind and it's in our work, see? In your mind, by wicked works.

Yet now, and you'll find this repeated throughout the New Testament, this condition, it's true. He says, and I quoted this I think at the Bible study the other night, we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. So that's the problem, our sin. Our sin, my sin. That's the problem, me and my sin. I am the problem and I cannot fix the problem. I can't fix myself. I got myself into this. I fell into the pit by my sin. I cannot get myself out of this pit by my own self. By anything I do, I can't help God get me out. If the Lord gets me out of this, it will be His work and His work alone.

Brad said it. He says the exclusive work of God. It's true. This is the context of reconciliation. Reconciliation means that former friends are now separated because of an offense. And that offense has to be removed. to the satisfaction of the offended party. God is the offended party. We're the offenders. God alone can say whether or not reconciliation is even possible, and if it is, what's required to restore that former friendship.

You remember when Adam and Eve fell and sinned in the garden, what happened? God sent them out of the garden, didn't he? And there was no way back. That was it. and he put a cherubim at the entrance, or whatever that was, of that garden, and he would not allow them back because of sin. Sin separates friends, especially this friend, our God and Creator, He who made us. Our life depends upon His active will and word at all times and power, and we have rebelled against Him. That's sin. And it comes in so many forms. Self-serving lust, self-serving attitude is just idolatry, is putting myself in the place of God on the throne. And hatred and pride, these things are the result of our sin. This attitude that I'm entitled to something or that God is unfair, all these things are evidence of a deep-seated nature of pride against God, wanting to have my own way, even in the face of the revelation of God's goodness. And that's the thing. God is good in every way. So sin is always against what is good. And that makes it worse, doesn't it?

So that sets it up. But that doesn't even really describe the depth of the problem of sin. Because if you look here at Colossians 1, he says in verse 12 that God the Father, give thanks to God the Father who has made us meet to be partakers as we saw in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 5 last week. He has fully fashioned us. He has prepared us. He has performed all that's necessary to make us suitable, fit, meet. Completely ready to be resurrected and given a new body. And that's what the Father has done. And he goes on, he's made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Heirs of God. All that is God's for all of his children. God has made us. God did this. God the Father initiated it and devised the means and performed the work and accepted his own work and tells us what he did. And then with his spirit draws us to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all his work. He makes us fit, suitable to be partakers, inheritors, heirs with the saints in light, the light of the gospel, the light concerning Christ, giving this light in our hearts.

And here's the light, verse 13, who has delivered us. God the Father has delivered us from the power of darkness. Like blindness, we couldn't make ourselves see and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. We were under the rule of wickedness. Now we're placed under the rule of the son of God's love. There's no higher blessing than that, to be under the rule of Christ who is so gracious and compassionate and merciful and gave himself to save sinners. That is a great thing, isn't it?

Now notice this in verse 14, in whom, the son of God's love, we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This is God's work. You did not lay your life down. You did not deserve the son of God. You certainly didn't deserve him to lay his life down. You did not deserve the father to give his son for you. You couldn't motivate God to do one thing, let alone to give himself in blood. And this shows us something so profound, so horrifically profound about the nature of our sin.

The only way our sins could be removed and we could be reconciled is through the blood of God's Son. redemption. He bought us out of sin, out of death, out of the grave, out of hell, out of the bondage of Satan, out of the curse of God's law. Because Christ bore our sins and bore that curse and answered God's law and overcame Satan by his blood. Redemption was from those things and to Not just from, but to heirship or sonship as the heirs of God with Christ. Given all that God gives His Son, He's given that to us in Him. That's redemption. That's liberty. That's being set free from death to life. From alienation to sonship. from being separated to being brought near, so near and dear to God that we are, you cannot be nearer than we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are as near and dear to God as the Son of His love. That's redemption. And it was accomplished by the blood of His Son.

And then in verse 15, it describes Him. This one, the son of God's love, God's son, his dear son, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Firstborn means the preeminent one. Everything is his. He's not only before all things, but he has the preeminence above them all. Verse 16, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, angels and people, devils all things, whether it be governments, all of it was created by Christ for him. That means it's all in subjection to him, and he orders it exactly the way he wants it to be. And he's bringing it all to a head. He says in verse 17, he, Christ, is before all things, and by him all things can... This is the one who redeemed his people by his blood. He's before all things, and by Him all things consist. By His Word, everything in this world consists by the Word and the will of Christ. He is the head of the body, the church, His people, His brethren. The sheep, he's the one who is the beloved, only begotten son of God, and all of his people were made to be conformed to the image of God's dear son. They're his brethren. He's the firstborn, and they are the children of God by adoption and redemption and by birth. And he says here, he's before all things, by him all things consist, and he's the head of the body, the church.

We're alienated. The only way we can come to God is if God appoints one for us who is worthy, who is able, who is willing, who is chosen, and who has the mind of God, who understands what it takes to reconcile his people to God, and who is able to shoulder that obligation himself and fulfill all of God's will to his delight. In bringing us, we need a head. We need someone who can take that place for us and bring us to God. He's the head of the body. The church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. He came. He rose from the dead, he was justified. All of his people are justified in him and they rise in him and he took possession of their inheritance for them as the forerunner and they therefore will be given all that God has determined to give them, as he said in verse 13 and 12 and 13. And then he says here in verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Son, the One who is both God the Son, who is the Creator, who is also the firstborn from the dead, because He took our nature, and in that nature He brought us to God through His death. He put death to death in His own death, and therefore He rose victorious over death. He's the firstborn, all of His people will rise with Him.

And it says, in Him, this One who is both God and man, fully God and fully man, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. All fullness, all that God is, He is. And all that we need as the second and last Adam to bring us to God by His own obedience to fulfill all of our obligations both to justice and for righteousness, He did it. and he did it alone, he's the head. We're just the members of his body, he's the head. He gets all the glory, he performs all the work, God has exalted him, and with him, his people, we're united to the one who is the son of God, who has the preeminence over all things, and therefore, he's gonna put everything in subjection to us, with him.

It says in verse 20, where we are now, and having made peace through the blood of his cross having made. This is a past event. It's a done work, an accomplished work, a finished work. And it was done at the cross when he had by himself purged our sins. Then he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Remember? This took place outside of your personal history. That's why it's secure. It's done. You can't change history. God ordained it, and because God ordained it and promised it, it was done as soon as God willed it. I want you to think about that a little bit more as we go forward.

Think about Abraham. Remember when God spoke to Abraham and it says, and Abraham believed the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. What did God say to him that he believed? He told him how that through the Lord Jesus Christ, he would justify by his blood, heathen, the ungodly. And Abraham saw that what God promised in Christ was as good as already done. He calls those things which be not as though they were. Romans 4 17. And so Abraham believed God's promise as if it were done past. Just as we now, we look at God's word in the gospel and we see what Christ has done to justify his people by his own blood and we say, it's done. The object of our faith and Abraham's faith is identical. The word of God concerning Christ crucified, justifying his people.

And so when we read this here about what the Lord has done to reconcile us, having made peace, he's talking about that, what God promised he would do and did and was as certain as having been accomplished as soon as he spoke it to Abraham, as soon as he spoke it to Adam and Eve. Christ made peace through the blood of his cross. As soon as God willed it, from the foundations of the world, before the foundations of the world, from eternity, Christ was the Lamb slain. And notice this. He made peace. He provided, by His knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many. He understood what was necessary to remove the barrier that we had erected and brought separation and prevented us from fellowship with God and the sword of that cherubim that turned us away, Christ found the way to bring us to God. And not just like it was with Adam and Eve, so much greater. Now as children of God, born by His Spirit, chosen and adopted by the Father, redeemed by the Son. That's reconciliation. That's the peace He made. Peace in heaven. Peace on earth and glory to God in the heavens. Remember what the angel said, peace on earth, goodwill toward men on whom his favor rests. That's what the angels declared, that's what the gospel declares. He made peace through the blood of his cross.

The Bible gives many illustrations of reconciliation. And I, really strive to give you illustrations from the scripture, because they're perfect illustrations. There's always a fault when we give illustrations from our own experience, but these illustrations are God-given.

Here's the problem. I mentioned one, Adam and Eve in the garden, alienated from God, and yet God clothed them in the skin of that animal. And he promised that Christ would crush the head of the serpent. He's speaking about reconciliation. And you remember the story of the prodigal son. He said, Father, give me what is mine and I'm taken off. So his father divided his inheritance and he gave that son and he went out and he wasted his father's living with a riotous living. Wasted his father's all that he had with riotous living. And then God brought him back. Remember? That's reconciliation.

But there's another example I want to take you to. It's in 2 Samuel chapter 14. Because this is another account of reconciliation and maybe not so well known, but it uses words there that I think help us. In 2 Samuel 14, the history was that David had a son named Absalom. Absalom had killed his brother, and he had done it under the justification that his brother had committed a violent crime against Absalom's sister. And so Absalom, determined to kill his brother, he did it, and therefore David had separated Absalom from him.

Absalom and David are alienated by Absalom's sin against God and against David. He sinned against the king and David could not tolerate his own son whom he loved. He couldn't tolerate him to be with him because it would condone, it would accept him even though he was a murderer. And so David faced a very difficult situation, and he kept Absalom at a distance for a long time. Absalom kept begging Joab, David's captain, over the entire host of Israel, and Joab decided he'd go intercede for Absalom to the king. But he knew that he was not in good relationship to David because of many things. And so Joab talked to a woman, a smart, an intelligent, a wise old woman, and he put her up to the task of talking to King David on his behalf. And so that's what 2 Samuel 14 is speaking of.

And it says, without reading all this, I wanna get to the heart of it because I don't wanna take time now to go through all this, it says, The woman is speaking to King David in verse 13. She's speaking again, she's been put up to this by Joab, but really she's pleading with David regarding his son Absalom, who had alienated himself by the sin he committed, the murder of his own brother.

The woman in verse 13 said to King David, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? For the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, and that the king doth not fetch home again is banished. David banished Absalom. Absalom could not come into David's presence. He could not come into Jerusalem. He had banished him. And the people of Israel knew that this was a problem. Here's Absalom over there. Here's David. Their family is divided. We're supposed to have a king ruling over us. His household is divided. This is a problem.

The king's heart was after Absalom, yet he couldn't bring him back. This wise woman She comes in and she brings here the wisdom of God's reconciliation. Notice what she says in verse 14. For we must needs die and are as water, speaking about all the people of Israel because of this irreconciled difference between David and Absalom. It was Absalom's fault. The king was just in keeping him back, but reconciliation needed to be made in order to save the whole kingdom.

How could it be done? Notice, she says, we must needs die. All of God's people must die unless reconciliation is made. It's their sin that reconciled, I mean, that alienated them, our sin, my sin. What I am in my core of my being, that would alienate me between myself and God, separate me.

We must needs die. God's gotta do this, the king's gotta do this. And we are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, neither, notice this, neither does God respect any person. The woman is saying it's, God is not a respecter of persons. You obviously were not a respecter of persons when you alienated your son because of his sin. But notice what she says, yet, yet, doth God devise means that his banished be not expelled from him." Do you see that reconciliation there? This is a God-given illustration of what Christ did. The king, unless he could reconcile his people to himself, all of his people would perish. And though he doesn't respect persons and must judge the guilty and condemn the guilty, yet God devised means whereby his banished would not be expelled from him, but brought back to him again. And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ has done here. This is reconciliation by blood.

Colossians 1, he says, you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who's acting here. in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." Man, that's how far God reconciled us from just alienation because of our sin and our offense. And had he just, in justice, treated us according to what was right, He's God, it's right for Him to keep us at a distance. Yet, if He didn't bring His people back to Himself, they would be forever banished.

God, in His wisdom, according to all of His perfections now, His truth and His justice, His righteousness, found a way in mercy to make peace. at the highest cost, a cost necessary because of the offense of our sins. And there's only one cost that could meet that, to bring reconciliation, the blood of His own Son. And that's what 2 Corinthians 5 was teaching us last week. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. because he imputed to them the righteousness of Christ, those to whom God did not impute trespasses because of the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, they're reconciled to God.

And that righteousness of Christ is His obedience in shedding His blood, offering Himself as a sacrifice, and God accepting that sacrifice and raising Him from the dead so that the resurrection of Christ is the declaration by God the Father of reconciliation made in the blood of His own Son.

When we were enemies, Romans 5.10 says, even when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Yes, sin separates, and we committed it. We deserve to be separated forever. And yet the Lord himself, to keep us from being banished forever, to delight himself before we had sinned, found assurity. who engaged with him and promised at whatever cost to himself, he would bring his children back again. And he did it. He did it. He stood before God's justice and said, take me instead of the lad and let the lad go up free to his father again in peace. And that's what happened here.

So he says it this way. The reconciliation was not just the removal of the offense that we committed, but He would present us by this reconciliation before God the Father, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight, without fault, not a sin like we saw last week.

What is it that God did in this righteousness? He blotted out our transgressions and they are not there. The iniquities of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. The Lord himself has taken them away. Christ, it says in Hebrews chapter nine and verse 26, he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. When he had by himself purged, washed, cleansed us from our sins, the sin that is so deep that nothing can remove it, it goes deeper than the skin. It goes clear to the core of who we are, and yet Christ, by His blood, has washed us from our sins.

What an amazing reconciliation. In the body of His flesh through death, through His death, He redeemed us from death. He took away the cause of separation to present us to God the Father, holy, and to Himself, holy. Unblameable. Unreprovable. Christ did this at the cross, and his resurrection is God's proof of it, the declaration of it.

And then he says in verse 23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.

So what does he say now? There's the blood, and here's the spirit. You see, the work of God for us in Christ removed our sins and washed us in the presence of God. But something else had to be done in order to reconcile us in our minds. And this is what he's talking about here. That thing that God has to do is give us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his accomplished work.

Continuing in the faith means the faith of the gospel. We believe what God has said, like Abraham. Continue in it. Abide, Jesus said. Abide in me. My words abide in you. And you'll ask what you will.

Remember what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5? Reminds you of that. As he's giving this preaching again the gospel to the Corinthians, just like he does throughout the epistles, preaching to the church the gospel again and again and again.

He says this in 2 Corinthians 5, listen to the words, he says, if any man, in verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation. if you're in Christ. Why? Because of the blood. What's the order? The order is Christ died for us and reconciled us to God. And then, then God makes us a new creature in Christ. First the blood, then the spirit comes.

And wherever the blood is shed, that's where the spirit goes. Wherever Christ died for a child, an elect child of God, adopted by God the Father before the foundation of the world, to himself by Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1.5. This is what God did before time. Wherever God has made that choice, He gave His Son to bring that child to Himself again as our surety.

And Christ, in order to fulfill His obligation as our surety and to remove the offense of our sins and bring God's banished back to Him again, laid down His life. He answered all that God required with Himself in sacrifice. He bore our sins as His sins. And then He was sacrificed for our sins. Sacrifice Himself and offering to God for our sins in order to redeem us to God by His blood. That's what Christ did.

It's very important we see this. He's the head in everything pertaining to God. Christ alone can approach God. Only He can be accepted. He has to do everything for us and in our name on our behalf. This is what he did. And so he speaks about this.

We're created as new creatures because Christ died for us. He goes on in 2 Corinthians 5. All things are of God. He did it. We didn't contribute. It was of His initiative, of His design, of His decree, of His work in Christ, of His accepting Christ in His sacrifice and of His declaration of it and giving us His Spirit to understand and to be persuaded of it to give us this life, this new creation. All things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, which is this, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

The gospel we believe is the gospel God gives to us to declare. We trust God, we come to God through the gospel concerning His Son, and we declare to others, this is our salvation, our hope, our life, our all. And we preach this gospel to sinners, not as those who have arrived, who have met the threshold in ourselves, but we preach it as those who have no strength, and God did it all. He met the threshold, He did what He required. All things are of God. He reconciled us. God was in Christ, reconciling the world. Therefore, they're reconciled. They're reconciled. Their sins are not imputed to them. They are in Christ. They died with Him. They, therefore, are justified from sin and they will be given life. as we read in verse 14 last week.

But here he says in verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We speak to one another as God is speaking concerning Christ. In his behalf, he says, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. take this broken body, take this shed blood, by faith to yourself, draw virtue from Christ's garments as the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years, and take from him, give me to drink. Lord, you're the gift of God, give me to drink. And He says, I will give you water that springs up as life eternal. That's what He's saying here.

Continue in the faith, abide in Christ, look to Him, trust Him, for He hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's the righteousness that God imputes to us, what Christ did in being made sin to bear our sins and take them from us. Continue in this, that's what he's saying in verse 23 of Colossians 1. And then we're gonna read on here, just real briefly. He says, in verse 23, don't be removed, don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, who now, I, Paul, rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church. You see, Paul is speaking about a designated, chosen people, the church. Those separated by God the Father, made holy by his choice and holy by Christ's blood. He's speaking to them, he says, I suffer for you. And my sufferings, because all of God's people are united to Christ, are filling up his sufferings in order to bring you to God.

in your mind. He says, where have I, Paul, made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, you heathen, which is Christ in you. The hope of glory.

Where did this, where did this, how did Christ come in us? Because he died for us. He shed his blood. You see, we're reconciled to God by his blood. But in our minds, it's because Christ is in us. And we're created new creatures. We're given faith in him. Faith in his blood. And God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. And when we see, as the publican did, crying out, God be propitious to me the sinner, be merciful to me because of the blood of Christ. And Jesus said, that man went down to his house justified. We look to the blood, we look to Christ, we look to what God required and accepted from him, our surety, our head, in order to bring us to God. He died the just for the unjust to bring us to God.

who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we were healed." You see, because Christ was beaten, we're healed. Because he bore our sins, we're brought to God. And the next verse in 1 Peter 2.25 says, you were a sheep going astray, but now are returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls. That's reconciliation.

First the blood, then the Spirit of God. You see, there's an order. Righteousness, then life. Life, then faith. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's proof of life, and that life is proof of righteousness established by Him before God for you in His shed blood. That's why he always directs us back. If we go in that order, God established our righteousness in the blood of his son. He gave us life with Christ when he raised him from the dead and that life was given to us in us when the word of God was preached to us and by his spirit he gave us life and our souls to believe on Christ. That's the order in which God works.

But in our own experience, we see Christ and we realize from the gospel it's because of life. and that life is because of His righteousness and is Christ in us. Therefore, we have a hope of glory. It's always that you can go either way in this order, but the basis of it all and the work of it all and the glory of it all belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. We were the banished ones. And in His wisdom, He approached God the Father and He says, This is right, this is good. I will be surety for Him. I will bring Him back, or I will bear the blame forever. Once Christ took our sins, He bore them, and they were taken from us, and He put them away. What a gracious God and Father. He has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. If it weren't for Your Word, we would have no basis, no knowledge, and no warrant to come to You. But because of Your Word concerning Christ, we are amazed. We are set back in open awe. open mouth awe and wonder that you would be so good and so gracious as to honor your own name and the salvation and overcome of us by saving us from our sins, our great enemy.

You made your enemy and put away in the blood of your own son to remove our offenses against you and bring us to yourself, not merely as those who were brought back into a state of not being children, but actually said at liberty, the spirit of God given to us to live in us and to make us your own children and to give us all the inheritance that you give to your son.

What a gospel, what a God, what glory, what goodness. Truly it is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to his name, to show forth his love and kindness in the morning and his faithfulness every night. In his name we pray, amen.