I've enjoyed these services so
much. I feel like I just learned a whole lot about Exodus 33.
And I can't wait to get back. I want to bring a message from
that. That cleft in the rock. How did I ever miss it? But I did. Would you turn with
me back to Colossians Chapter 1? I've entitled this message,
What Did Jesus Christ Do? We considered last night who
is Jesus Christ, and tonight we're going to consider what
did Jesus Christ do. In Proverbs chapter 20, verse
11, we read even a child is known by his doings, whether his work
be pure and whether his work be right. You can tell your child, they're
wonderful, I used to do that to Audrey all the time. I said,
you're different from other children. She said, you curse me by saying
that. A child is known not by what you tell them how wonderful
they are, but by giving them something to do and letting them
achieve at it. A child is known by his doings
and the Lord Jesus Christ is certainly known by his doings. I want to read a verse from John
chapter 20. You don't need to turn there.
John chapter 21. John says, And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should
be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written. Oh, to think of the
doings of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in this passage of scripture,
I'm getting ready to read, we see three things that he actually
did. Now let's begin reading in verse
20 and read down through verse 22. And having made peace. through the blood of His cross
by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Now, in those verses of Scripture,
we read three things that the Lord actually did. Number one, He made peace. Number two, He made reconciliation. And number three, he made this
glorious presentation that we're going to consider. But those
are three things he actually did. Now, are those the only
things he did? Of course not. The world itself
couldn't contain all the things he did. But for brevity's sake,
we're just going to consider these three things. And in seeing
these three things that he did, we find out who he is. I want to know Him, don't you?
I want to be like Moses. I want the Lord to know me, know
my name, give me grace. I want to be enabled to have
Him to speak with me as a man speaketh with his friend. I want
that. And the only way I'm going to
know Him is if He makes Himself known. I can't know Him unless
He makes Himself known. who He is, and He's known by
what He did. Now, I've got to read the previous
verses that we looked at last night, because this is what makes
what He did so glorious, who He is. Beginning in verse 15,
here's who He is. He's the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature. He's not a creature,
he's the creator, but he's the one who has the preeminence,
that's the firstborn in all things. Verse 16, For by him were all
things created, that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is
before, he's prior to all things. And by him all things consist,
they're held together. And he is 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, for it please
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. He's the one who made this. He is the one who reconciled
all things to himself. He is the one who makes this
glorious, staggering presentation where he presents us as holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in the very sight of God. Now,
who did he do this for? Who did he make peace for? That's
very important because we see the glory of what he did by seeing
who he did it for. Well, look in verse 21 of our
text, and you, that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." Here's who
he did this for. First of all, people who were
alienated. You know what that word means? It means estranged. Estranged. The relationship is no longer
there. Something that's happened and
you're estranged. It's a terrible thing to be estranged.
You know, when Adam fell, he became estranged from God. He ran from God's presence. He
sought to hide himself. And even when he comes back,
when the Lord brings him back, he's still estranged. He doesn't
say, I'm sorry, would you forgive me? No, he blamed God for what
took place. He said, the woman that you gave
me, She gave me the fruit, and I did eat. And in reality, this
is all your fault. There was an estrangement. There
was no love for God. Estrangement. Alienated. Scripture
actually says in verse 21, enemies in your mind. Enemies. Folks who hated God. Estranged from Him. Wanted to
have nothing to do with Him. Enemies. So it says, I'm not God's enemy.
Well, nobody's enemy to the God that you control and manipulate. You put your back pocket and
get him to come out any time you want him to and help you
when you want him to and then you can put him away. Nobody's mad at that
God. But the God enthroned. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Himself. The One
who holds all men's destiny in His hands and you have no control
over it and you can't take it. That's the God folks get mad
at. These are the people he reconciled.
Enemies in their life and their wicked works proved it. These
are the people that he reconciled. Now if you don't believe this
about yourself, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But I've got to say this. The
person I've just described is the only person he reconciles.
If you're not like that, he won't reconcile you. When the Bible gives a description
of man like this, alienated, the enemies in your mind by wicked
works, go to the cross. That's where you see this. You
might not see the truth about yourself by looking within, but
you look to the cross and that's God's valuation of you and me. How we're treated is so. That's what happens when men
are left to themselves. What did this glorious person
do to these people that were enemies, alienated, estranged? Well, I love what verse 20 says,
having made peace. Having made peace. Have you made your peace with
God? No. Not at all. He made my peace
with God. And this is something He actually
did. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross. Christ nailed to a cross, and His precious blood flowing
from His veins. That is the most God-like thing
God ever did. He made this. When our Lord was nailed to that
cross, I wish I could talk about it
the way we talk about Him, whom, what, I wish I could talk about
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way the cross ought to be
spoken of. But I know this, with Him being
nailed to that cross, He accomplished the full revelation of who God
is. The only way you'll know God
is through the cross. There in the cross, I see the
holiness of God. I see the sovereignty of God.
I see the justice of God. I see the love of God. I see
the wisdom of God. How He's made a way to be just
and justify the ungodly. All of God's character is made
known through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
why I say the cross is the most God-like thing God ever did.
The cross gives us the true character of man. The cross tells us who
God is. Christ nailed to a cross. Why was He there? It says He
made peace through the blood of His cross. Why was He there? Turn with me for a moment to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. He was there because of sin. That's the only reason for death.
Sin. And I think it's so glorious
that the Lord caused the sun to quit shining at this time. Nobody can see. Can you imagine
what that must have been like? No one could see. All you could
hear was what was said. But I believe the Lord turned
the lights out at that time. to let us know that there's just
so much we'll never see and never understand. There's so much of
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ that we cannot possibly
comprehend. This was a transaction between
the Father and the Son, and in a very real way, you and I will
shut out at this time. We could not see what was taking
place. Now, God could, but you and I
can't. I know the Bible gives us some
information as to what was taking place. So look here in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. That's what was going on on the
cross, reconciliation. and had given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, to wit, or namely, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself." How? Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Now, you know, every bad thing
that you can think about yourself is true. And it's actually worse. That's
why I've got to remember any time somebody says something
bad about me, I become so righteously indignant and so on. I've got
to remember if the truth were known, what they said wasn't
bad enough. You good about yourself? If so, but here's our hope. Here's
our hope. All that stuff is true, but God
did not impute it to me. He didn't impute it to me. Well,
what happened to it? Well, let's go on reading. He's
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. This is what
the preaching of the gospel is. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ did be
ye reconciled to God for he hath made him Now, I want you to notice
the next two words, to be, are in italics, aren't they? You
know what that means? The translators put them there,
and they weren't in the original. So, read it this way. For he
hath made him see it. Now, what all that means, I tremble
to even try to describe. All the hell of sin, he was made
to bear in his own body on the tree. And if you want to know
what sin is, there he is. There it is. Now, did he sin
in his person? No. No, he never sinned when
he was made sin. He never sinned. He never committed
a sin. But this is even worse. He was
made to be the thing itself. Now, do I understand that? No. Don't even have a clue. And the
lights were out at this time to let us know. You see, the
blood was not so much, Christ wasn't so much shedding His blood
for me and you, He was shedding His blood for God. He was making
a way for God to be just and be able to embrace somebody like
me or you. Now, this is the word of reconciliation that we're
called upon to preach. And what is so amazing, that
verse of Scripture which says, as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name. God beseeching the sinner? He does. This is another one
of the multitude of things that I can't really understand, but
I believe. God beseeches the sinner. You
be reconciled to God. Put down your arms. And you know,
the only way me and you will ever be reconciled to God is
when we see He's completely reconciled to us. And when you see that,
if you think there's even a shade of something wrong, you won't
be reconciled to Him. You'll stand off. You won't stand
off in unbelief at all. He hath made him sin. Don't try to soften that. Don't
try to explain it away, see it in its gruesome reality. This
is what God thinks of sin. But oh, the glory of this verse,
that we might be made the very righteousness of God. Now, here's the believer's confidence. I want to say this carefully.
I want to say this reverently. That every believer can say this.
You're looking at it. You're a believer. You are the
righteousness of God. Now, I've got some confidence.
I can come into God's presence having the very righteousness
of God as my personal righteousness. Now, that's what was going on
on the cross. That's how He made peace through
the blood of His cross. Romans chapter 4 verse 24 says
he was delivered for our offenses and he was raised again for or
because of our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. That's not talking about the
feeling of peace. I love the feeling of peace. I'd like to
bottle it up and have it all the time because I can't stand
the opposite. I don't always have the feeling of peace, but
this peace is always there because this is the peace of God. He's
at peace with me. He doesn't have a reason to be
mad. Because Christ Jesus the Lord has put away sin. Now once in the end of the world
has He appeared to put away sin. That sin was on Him. It can't
be two places at once. If it was on Him, it's not on
me anymore. He put it away and it's gone. It's separated. Now that is what
makes peace. He made peace. through the blood of His cross.
Now, you know what that means? That means there's nothing for
me and you to do. That's what that means. There's
nothing for me. Give me something to do! Now,
it's done. He made peace. Look back in our text in Colossians
1. having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were before
time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath He reconciled. Now, He made peace, number one. He reconciled, he made reconciliation. Now what is reconciliation? It
means to change from a state of enmity to a state of friendship. That's reconciliation. Someone,
we'll try to think of it in human terms, someone that you were
once close to does something that alienates your affection. We've all experienced that. Our
affections are now alienated. You're no longer in a state of
friendship. You're estranged. Oh, it's a
horrible feeling, isn't it? Estranged. Or perhaps you've
done something to someone and it's offended them. And they've
been hurt by what you have done. And they feel estranged towards
you. That closeness is no longer there. There's been hurt. And you have
alienated them. Now, isn't it a blessing when
people at odds become reconciled? I guess the best way to describe
it is forgiveness. That one who has been offensive
expresses true remorse. and sorrow for what they've done.
They come unsolicited and say, please forgive me. I'm sorry. I want our relationship restored.
And you know, there's something in the heart that will respond
to that. I receive your forgiveness. It's all over. Forget it. But
reconciliation is beautiful. But you know, in this reconciliation
we're talking about, with the Lord where He reconciled us. It's a different, it's different
in a sense. It's a one-sided reconciliation. I've already talked about Adam.
You remember when Adam fell, he left God's presence and he
had no desire to come back. He didn't say, he sure said,
Oh, forgive me for doing this. I was so wrong. But no, he actually
blames God for what took place. He said, the woman that you gave
me, she gave me, and I did it. There was no sorrow expressed
there. There was a solemn admission. Yeah, I did it, but it's your
fault. There was no seeking reconciliation on his part. Now, when someone
gives an insincere apology, it's worse than no apology at all,
isn't it? I mean, you've experienced that. I mean, an insincere apology
just irritates you. That's all it does. It doesn't
bring any kind of reconciliation. Well, the Lord had no sincere
apology from Adam, did He? Not at all. But he reconciles
him anyway through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He reconciled those who were
alienated, estranged, enemies in their mind by wicked works. Turn with me to Romans chapter
5, verse 10. For if when we were enemies We were reconciled to God. How? By the death of His Son. Now when did this reconciliation
take place? Was it when we said I'm sorry? No. This complete reconciliation
took place in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ
died, God was fully reconciled. And He is right now. Complete
reconciliation by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
reason for that reconciliation is also found in Romans chapter
5, verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died to the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. You know, if a guy is real straight-laced
and and moral and righteous and looks down his nose at everybody
and just holds everybody to their feet to the fire. Is anybody
going to die for that guy? No, he's a jerk. Nobody cares anything
about somebody like that. They're not going to die for
that person. I wouldn't let him die, you know. But then it says, yet for adventure
for a good man, a merciful man, a man who's good to people, who's
gracious. Folks might die for him. They
might die for him. But God commended His love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Now why did
He do it? Because He loved us. Because He loved us. Why? I don't
know, but He did. And this isn't about God's love. Understand this. The hardest
thing I had to try to get hold of was the fact that God actually
loves me. that he actually loves me, because, you know, people
say, God loves unconditional love. There's no such thing as
unconditional love. Nobody can love somebody unconditionally. There's got to be something there
to love. God loves me as I am in Christ. In Christ, there's... He's altogether
lovely to the Father. And if I'm in Christ, I'm altogether
lovely to the Father. And God sent His Son because
He loved me. Because He loved me. That's the
reason behind all this reconciliation that took place. We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. Now turn back to Colossians 1.
And having made peace, that's what He did. He actually made
peace. God doesn't have a reason to be mad. No reason. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself
by Him I say. whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now, this is not talking about
a future presentation. You see, this presentation was
made when our Lord ascended back to glory and said, Behold, I
am the children that thou hast given me. Now, I want you to
think about this description of every believer. This is what
he did, what only he could do. Now that word holy, I don't reckon
any of us much understands what it means, but I know this, holiness
is immutable. If you have holiness, you can't
lose it. It comes from the nature of God. You know, when Adam was in the
garden, he wasn't holy, he was innocent. He had an upright nature,
but he didn't have a holy nature because a holy nature cannot
fall. But a believer now has a holy
nature. A nature that cannot sin. Born of the Spirit of God. A new nature. That's the nature
John's speaking of in 1 John 3 when he speaks of that nature
that cannot sin. Because his seed, the seed of
God, remains in him. A holy nature. Now, only he could make someone
who's completely what I am, holy. That's what he did. That shows
the power. He made every believer holy. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. That word sanctified
means made holy. We are sanctified once for all. Perfectly completed. Never to
be repeated. sanctified once for all through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. He made us holy and presented
us as such to His Father. Not only did He make us holy,
He made us unblameable, without blemish, perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. Unblameable and unapprovable.
Nothing to accuse us of. Nothing to accuse me of. You
know, people talk about a judgment of a believer's sins or works
and so on, like they're going to get some kind of high reward
or low reward, of course. What sin? There is no sin. There's nothing but holiness.
Perfect, unblameable, holy, unapprovable. And listen to this phrase, in
His sight. Now, that's so important. You
know, God sees things as they really are. And if he sees you
as holy and unblameable and unreprovable, there's only one reason, because
you are, in fact, holy, unblameable and unreprovable in the very
sight of God. Now, that's what he did. That's
what he did. Well, where do I fit in all this? Give me something. Well, let's
go on reading. And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, You continue in the faith, grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel."
What is the only evidence that Christ has done anything for
me? I persevere. Then I continue. and that I'm
not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Now, what is the
hope of the gospel? I can tell you in no uncertain
terms that the only hope I have is that Jesus Christ dies for
me. That is the only hope I have. I don't have any hope by my preaching,
or my life, or my character, or my conduct, or the things
that I do, or the things that I intend to do. If you tell me
that my salvation is in any way dependent on something in me,
I have no hope. The only hope I have is that
Christ died for me. You're one of the reasons why
I despise, in my heart, I despise the doctrine of universal redemption,
that Christ died for all men without exception. And some of
those men will be in hell. That takes away the only hope
I have. The only hope I have is that Christ died for me. Who is He to condemn me? It's
Christ that day rather than it's freezing
in. Now, by the grace of God, I'm
not going to be moved from that hope. It really is the only hope
I have. And you know, this is one of
the glorious things about the gospel. You don't have anything
better than that. There's nothing for me to move
to. What's better than that? What's better than having Christ
die for you? What's better than having His righteousness as your
own personal righteousness before God? News of what? I love what the Lord said after
he watched those people leave in John chapter 6. He said, Will
you also go away? You know, the Lord doesn't have
any unwilling disciples. The door's open. Will you also go
away? I love Peter's answer. Where
would we go? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. These words that these people
found harsh sayings, we find them to be words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. And I love what the Lord said
to them. He said, have I not chosen you? Well, I mean, he
said it because I chose you to say it. And one of you, speaking
of Judas, I know he didn't do it because he's a devil. What
did Christ do? Well, He made peace. He reconciled us to Himself. I mean, there's complete reconciliation. There's nothing you need to worry
about God being mad at you. There's nothing you need to do.
Oh, everybody says, do this. There's nothing to do. Complete
reconciliation. And you know what she'll do if
you believe that? If you really believe that, you'll be reconciled
to Him. Completely. I love that. Let's go back to Romans 5. Let
me finish right here. Verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled. We should be saved by His life. I love His life being my life
before God, don't you? He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. His life, His perfect life is
my life before God, no wonder God's reconciled to me. What
you got to be mad at? There's nothing there. Let's
go on reading, verse 11. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the reconciliation is the word. I know that translators tell
them that the word is actually If you've got a marginal reading
in your Bible, that's the way it reads. Now, receive what He did. Join God and receive it. You know, it almost sounds too
good to be true, but receive it. It means you take it. You take it. He gives you something,
and you receive it. You don't receive it, he never
gave it. He never offers something and you reject it. He gives you something, you receive
it. Receive the complete reconciliation. A reconciled God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ.