Well, good morning, everyone.
It is a privilege to be here with you. I've looked forward
to this ever since John called me, and hopefully that we can
say something here today that will give you comfort, will strengthen
your heart, and uplift you. We know that if you hear my voice
alone, you will profit nothing. But if God is pleased to speak
to your heart through the preaching of the gospel, then you can live
with a heart rejoicing God. And this is our hope this morning. Turn with me back to where Brother
Frank read to you. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we're
going to start in verse 18. When Frank announced his text
this morning for his lesson, my heart dropped a little bit. I said, uh-oh. But hopefully this will tie in. I know it will because it is
the Word of God. And God's Word is consistent
from Genesis through Revelation. It speaks of the same things.
It speaks of Christ and Him crucified. And that's what we want to look
at for a little while this morning. in verse 18. All things, all
things, this is the title of the lesson, all things are of
God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has
given unto us the ministry to teach and to preach this thing
of reconciliation. How that we can be made one with
God. How that God is in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. Look back up to verse 17. Therefore,
all things are of God. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. This thing of being in Christ
is of God. All things are of God. In John
chapter 1 and verse 12, it says, But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. This thing of faith is of God.
This thing of looking to Christ is of God. And everything that
we look at in this thing of the realm of justification and satisfaction
is of God. Temporal things. You look around
this building. Who built this? Well, you say,
well, a man down here took these sticks and nailed them together.
Oh, no, no. God built this place. Who gave
it to you? God gave you this place. It was
His will. It was His purpose for you to
be right here this very day. God had purposed this before
the foundation of the world. He said, well, all these things
work together. All these things, all these situations
that we came through and went through. No, no, no. That was
the means that God bringing you here. All things are of God. And we, the people of God, we
have a new name. A name written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. We have a new heart that God
has placed within us. We have a new nature. A new nature
that He has created within us. A nature that desires the things
of God. And we have new principles. This
new nature has new principles. And we have a new family. A family
that is dwelt at the throne of God. The family that we've been
joined into. We are heirs and join heirs with
Jesus Christ. All of this is by the power and
the grace of God. All things are of God. When we
understand Scripture rightly, we can truly understand it. We
can truly say, surely, surely all things are of God. Back years
ago, back in the middle 70s, I guess it was, 76, 77, somewhere
in that area, we had an old man by the name of White Nelson,
a pastor. of a free will Baptist church
in Dangas, right where we're at right now. This man, after
I began to understand some things, this man was the first man that
I ever heard preach the gospel. I knew nothing about it. He could
have been speaking Greek and I could have understood it just
as well. I never knew anything about the gospel, but yet we
was in this thing of free willism. We was in this free will organization. And this old man, the last several years of his
life was bedfast. And he would stay at home, and
he began to listen to Henry on TV back in the mid-70s. And he called us together not
long before he died, and he told us, he said, that's the only
man that I know of on TV that's preaching the gospel. And this
old man, I've often wondered, I've often thought about what
he said. Some of the notes I took and
some of the notes my wife took. He declared the sovereignty of
God. He declared the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He declared everything that now
I understand to be the gospel. And he made this statement. He
made this statement. in attempting to teach us. He said, God has two wheels. And when he said that, I said,
surely he don't know what he's talking about. And he said, let
me explain this. He said, there is a permissive
wheel that God allows things to happen, and there is a directive
wheel. The directive will is that will
which He says, let there be light, and there is light. He said His
permissive will, we find that in Acts chapter 2 and verse 22.
It says, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, a man approved to God among you by miracles and wonders
and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as yourselves
also know. Him. being delivered, God allowed
these evil men to take His only begotten Son. Him being delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Now, I
understand that. I understand what he's talking
about. He was the only man in the whole congregation that knew
anything about the gospel. We sat there for years and heard
him preach and knew nothing about it. But God, all things are of
God. He was working to bring us into
an understanding. That light that shined us out
of darkness, has shined into our hearts to give us the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now I know.
What the old blind man said, all I know is I was blind, but
now I see. All things are of God. All things
are of God. From creation to glorification,
God rules and God reigns. Daniel says in Daniel chapter
4 and verse 35, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of the heavens and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him what
dost thou. Our God is in control, and he
doeth according to his own will, when he wills, where he wills,
and how he wills. All things are of God. Isaiah
said in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 12, who has measured the
waters in the hall of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust in the earth, and measured the mountains
in a scale, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the
Spirit of the Lord? Or who, being his counsel, taught
him? With whom took he counsel? And who instructed him and taught
him in the paths of judgment? and taught him knowledge, and
showed to him the way of understanding. Behold, a nation are as a drop
of a bucket, and are counted as a small dust of a balance.
Behold, he taketh but ours as a very little thing. David said,
My God is in the heaven, and he does whatsoever he wills. And he will do all things. He
will do all things. according to His own will and
according to His own purpose concerning me. He will direct
me. He will lead me, guide me, and
protect me. And He will see me all the way
through. Who has reconciled? Why will
He do this? Who has reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ? God, can you get a hold of that?
God has reconciled me unto himself. God has brought me into life and light
of the gospel to himself. God has reconciled me. Oh, what
a statement. By my good works, By my doing,
by my being? No, no. He has reconciled me
unto himself by Jesus Christ the Lord. Me who was once dead
and trespassing of sin, me who was once an enemy in mind, thought,
word and deed to God's presence, to God's holy nature, to God's
absolute justice, me who was once vile, wretched, sinful,
by nature and by choice, and now declared to be not only a
friend of God, but a son of God. How can it be? It's no wonder
the old songwriter, when he wrote, how can it be, how can it be
that God should love a soul like me? He knew something about the
sinfulness of himself. He knew something about the sinfulness
of this sin nature that we are wrapped up in. If by the grace
of God we can read these scriptures and we can put my name there,
he has reconciled me unto himself by Jesus Christ. It becomes this
thing of a personal reconciliation, a personal thing that God has
done for me and in me. God has separated us from our
God. The Scripture tells us that our sins have separated us from
our God. God's holy law has been broken.
God's holy justice has been damaged and broken and cast underfoot. And God has drew his sword of
justice ready to plunge it into our hearts. ready to seek justice
on His holy behalf. Just as you remember the story
of Abraham and Isaac going up into the mountain. Abraham and
Isaac was going there to offer a sacrifice unto God. And Isaac
asked his father, he said, Father, here is the wood and here is
the fire, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham
said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. This is that which we need to
understand. It is by Christ Jesus the Lord,
by taking my place before the justice bar of God. God has appointed
His Son to be mediator of this thing of reconciliation. How
are we reconciled to God? How can a holy God be reconciled
to a dead, trespassing sinner? In 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5 it
says, For there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. And on over in the book of Romans,
Romans chapter 3 and verse 25, it says, for whom God set forth. This is how he can be just and
justify the ungodly. It is by God reconciling the
world unto himself. Romans 3 and verse 25, whom God
has set forth to be a propitiation. through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forebearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Here it is. Here it
is, this is how that God can be just and justify one such
as I am. Only in the beloved, only in
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, only by the shed
blood of Jesus Christ the Lord can God be satisfied, can His
holy justice be appeased. It is by His life that He lived
here on this earth. He came, what was it, Scripture
says, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone who seeth me and believeth in me should
have everlasting life. By his life, he lived here some
thirty-three years as a man, a man, clothed in flesh like
unto myself, except without sin. And he lived a perfect, holy
life before the all-seeing eye of God. And there he died. Why? Why is this man hanging
there between heaven and earth? Why is this man there on the
cross? He did no wrong. There was no guile found in his
mouth. There was no sin in him. Oh, but there was sin on him.
Sin was imputed to him. And this is the way that God can
be just and justify the ungodly. And He has given us the ministry
of reconciliation. He has given us the words. He
has given us the understanding. He has given us the theme of
reconciliation. The Gospel we preach, the Scripture
we read in this book, the Scripture that goes from Genesis through
Revelation declares this thing of reconciliation, that God reconciles
sinners unto Himself. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, it
says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And it's
possible for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruments
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect. Does that mean perfect in his
flesh? No. That means that he may be mature, that he may be
well-equipped, that he may have the understanding and that he
has the words to tell the people thoroughly furnished. unto all
good works, equipped, given unto Him, and instructed to Him. We find in this book the ministry
of reconciliation that tells us that peace and eternal life
is in Christ Jesus the Lord. And God sent forth His ministers
to preach, to teach, and to tell all who will listen that there
is life for a look at the crucified one. There is mercy to be found
in Jesus Christ the Lord. In Romans 10, verse 13, it says,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And Paul anticipates what men
will say. He says, How then shall they
call on him of whom they not believe? And how shall they believe
in him they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How can men hear the gospel except
someone tell them about it? What was it that Enoch said?
When Peter joined himself unto his carriage, he said, Understandeth
what thou readest? He said, How can I accept someone
to show me? How can I accept someone to tell
me? How can I accept it be revealed
to me what these scriptures say? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about someone else? Tell me, tell me what this means. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 8, it says,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partakers of the affliction
of the gospel according to his power, who has saved us. This
is the gospel. He who has saved us and washed
us by the regeneration, washed us in the blood of Christ, cleansed
us from head to toe, inside and out, and called us. He who has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest. How is this
manifested unto us? How do I know that Christ died
for me before the foundation of the world? How do I know that
Christ stands as a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world? Except someone tell me. except someone show me that is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who
has abolished death and brought in life and immortality to light
through the gospel. Paul says, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher and a minister unto the Gentiles. All things are of God. The ministry
of reconciliation is of God and not of man. Verse 19. To wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, but hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. This word to wit, I looked it
up, it simply means that is to say, That is to say that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. It says, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And on farther down in John chapter 1, in verse 14, it says, And
the Word, that Word that was with God, and that Word that
was God, that Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. And we
beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. God took upon Himself flesh. Explain that. I dare not. And
in that flesh, He offered Himself to Himself there on the cross. He offered the sacrifice of God
to God. And He offered Himself as a substitute,
a ransom for sin. How can that be? How can God,
who is holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens, how can God be made sin? I don't know. I have no
understanding about that. But the Scripture says that He
was. And God speaks as The Scriptures declare, God tells things exactly
as they are. You and I have a tendency to
tell things as we want them to be. Or to see things as we would
like them to be. But God speaks and He tells things
exactly as they are. And when He said He was made
flesh and dwelt among us, He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. When He said He was made sin, He was made sin. To the
same degree that when he says, I am made righteous, I am made
righteous. I can't explain it. I know it
in my heart. I have somewhat of an understanding
in my head. But in order to explain it, I
cannot. It takes the Spirit of God to
reveal unto you these things. And until He reveals this unto
you, you will sit dead and trespass on sin. God in His wisdom and His power
did not charge me with sin. There is therefore now, right
now, while I am yet in this flesh, there is therefore right now
no condemnation. No condemnation because of sin. Why? Because He has taken it
away. My sins were laid on Him. My
sins were imputed to Him to what degree? I cannot understand. But I know it is to the same
degree that His righteousness is imputed to me. And in the
all-seeing eye of God, God says, the soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. And when God looked upon His
Son there hanging on the tree with my sins and your sins, if
you be a child of God, laying upon Him, hanging upon Him, clinging
to Him, the justice went where the just penalty demanded. The
soul that sinneth, it must surely die. And God drawed His sword
of justice and plunged it into the heart of His dear Son. And
there He died. Oh, but we don't stand there
any longer. We're not there any longer. To the same degree, God
looking upon me. I have no sin. Christ has taken
them away. There is no sin on me. There
is no sin in me. I cannot be charged with sin.
Therefore, God takes the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He wraps me in that righteousness. He wraps me from head to toe,
from inside and out, and there He declares me to be holy, holy,
holy. Just as holy as His dear Son. In Isaiah 53, verse 4, it says,
Surely, explain that. Explain how God can put the sins
of His elect upon another. Isaiah explained it for us. Surely
He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded. Why was He there on the tree?
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Does that mean
everyone in the world? No. That means the people of
God, those people that God has purposed to save before the foundation
of the world. He works these things out. All
things are of God. He works them out that they may
look to Christ by faith and say, Behold the Lamb of God who taketh
away the sin of the world. Look unto Him and be ye saved. Isaiah went on to say in verse
6, it says, Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned
every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. How can that be? How can God
take my iniquity and lay it upon another? Because who this one
was, this same Jesus which you have seen, go up into heaven.
He shall come again in like manner to receive you unto himself,
that where he is, there you may be also. Isaiah went on to say
in verse 11, He, God, shall see of the travail of his soul, and
God shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. I will divide him a portion with
the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the strong, because
he has poured out his soul unto death." Here it is. Here it is. God, in human flesh, pouring
out his soul unto death, taking my sins upon himself, and burying
them there on the tree to the point that God says, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. Their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more. I have cast them behind
my back, never to bring them before me again. They are cast
into the sea of forgetfulness, one writer said, never to be
emerged again. For he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sins of many, and he made intercession
for the transgressors. As God hanged there on the cross
in the person of His Son, He bore the sins of every one
of His elect. And by Him living, He lived this
holy life. He lived before God spotless. He lived as God Himself. Explain
that? How can you? How can you? Only
the Spirit of God can reveal these things to you. All things
are of God in revealing Christ Jesus the Lord unto your heart.
And there he died. How can God die on the cross
and still be alive in heaven? I don't know. I just don't know.
For me to say I understand this and know any more about it than
what I can tell you would be foolishness. But he died. The Scripture says he died. What's
that mean? He died. And he died under the
weight of sin and under the just penalty for sin. Him having no
sin of his own, but yet made sin. And he was made sin on the
behalf of every one of his elect. And God sees. God's justice looks
down. God's wrath looks down. And He
sees the travail. I don't even know what that word
means when it comes to the travail of God. How that His agonizing
soul, how that His Spirit within Him groaned, and how that He
was made sin. to the point that it entered
into his very soul. He sees, God sees the prevail
of his soul, and he says, I'm satisfied. That's enough. That's
enough. He died under that weight and
penalty of sin, and God said, that's all I can demand. That's
all my justice demands. And there he was placed in that
tomb for three days and three nights. Oh, but death had no
power over him. Death had no reigning power over
him. On the third day, he arose victorious over death held on
the grave. And when he arose, he ascended
into the right hand of the throne of God. And he sat down. He sat
down. His work of redemption accomplished. And he sits there now making
intercessions for me. For me. One old writer said, if Christ
died for all the sins of all men,
then all men will be saved. But if He died for some of the
sins of all men, then no one will be saved. But if He died
for all the sins of some men, those men, Those women, those
elect, will be eternally saved. And that's exactly what He did.
He died for every one of my sins, and my sins are gone. They're
gone. This is the sum of the gospel. Two words, substitution
and satisfaction. Christ is my substitute, and
God is satisfied with Him. Now, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name be you reconciled to God.
The true ministers of God are called of God, they are equipped
of God, they are sent of God, and they are preserved by God. And they preach, they teach this
Gospel. They are ambassadors of Christ. And when they speak, led by the
Spirit of God, it is as if God Himself speaks. If you hear only
an audible voice, if you hear only my words, it only can go
to the head. It cannot go to the heart. It
takes the Spirit of God to apply the words unto the heart. I can
speak to your head as far as I can speak. Oh, but if God be
pleased to open up your heart, to break your heart over this
thing of sin and place within you this new nature, this new
heart, this new desire, this new creation that He has created
within us, then and only then can you say, I see, I see, I
see. Those who preach the gospel,
they speak for the glory of God. It is my desire. When John called
me early part of the week and asked me would I come down and
speak, I said, oh, it would be a privilege, an honor to come
and speak. But the most fearful thing that
we face when we stand before men and women is that we might
honor and glorify our God, that God may be uplifted, that His
name may be praised and His name may be honored and glorified.
If we do nothing short of that or anything short of that, we
are a failure. We must, this must be our first
goal, that we may glorify God. And as we glorify God, He will
send it forth unto His people, and it will comfort them, it
will edify them, it will uplift them, and it will strengthen
them by His own power. Not words of righteousness or
works of righteousness that I have done, but according to His own
pleasure, according to His own purpose. He sends forth His Word
unto His sheep. Verse 21, For He has made Him to be sin
for us who know no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. God has made Christ to be sin.
What can we say about that? Nothing. It says everything right
there that we need to know. This is God's work. All things
are of God. I have no idea how this happened.
I only know that there was a transaction between God the Father and God
the Son, and God laid on Him the iniquity of every one of
His elect. How this came to pass, I don't
know. God does. These are the workings
of God. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined into our heart to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. I understand it. I know it. I
believe it. But how it happened, I have no
idea. But yet, he was made sin. My
sins was imputed to him to the point that he became sin. And
one writer said with reverence, and we dare not say this without
reverence unto God, there hanging on the cross, Christ became the
greatest sinner this world has ever known. And God dealt with
him as such. He punished sin where sin was
found. And there he died. under the
wrath and penalty of God against sin, against me. In Galatians
3, verse 13, it says, Christ has 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 in Hebrews 9, verse 28, it
says, 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." All that Christ did, everything, from
the time that he was with God and was God, everything, from
his life that he came into this world, and even through the life
that he lived while he was here, unto his death, unto his resurrection,
unto his ascension, and as he is sitting at the right hand
of God, he did. that I might be made the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
45 and verse 42, Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. In the Lord do I have this righteousness. In the Lord do I have strength. Within myself, I'm weak and frail
and sinful. But in Christ, oh, in Christ,
we can stand and glorify our God and say, look, look, look. Just as John said, behold, stand
with amazement. There He is. Behold the Lamb
of God. Look unto Him and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. And
as he stood there, and as he hung there, and now as he's sitting
at the right hand of God making intercessions on my behalf, I am complete. I am complete. I am completely justified. I
am completely righteous. I am completely edified. And one day I shall be completely
glorified in and by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
all things are of God, who has reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself. and has committed unto us the
word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ's sake. As though Christ did beseech
you by us, we pray that you be reconciled to God for He, for
God has made Him to be sin for us, for us. Him who knew no sin
that we who only knew sin might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. I thank you for your attention.
I hope this was helpful.