If you'll turn in your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We'll
start in 17. Verse 17. It's a beautiful song, Ruth.
2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray, you in Christ's stead, Be reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the title of the message
tonight is Be Reconciled to God. First, we need to know what reconciliation
is. Reconciliation is a restoring
to favor, a restoring to fellowship, peace between enemies. Atonement made. Here, God doesn't
think like we think and God doesn't do things like we do. Here, the
offended which is God, made total reconciliation accomplished by providing His own atonement,
the Lord Jesus Christ, for our offenses. And all we do is keep offending. And He did it in a substitute. Because there's no way we could
have done it. So why did God reconcile us to
himself in Christ Jesus? Well, to really understand it,
we need to go back where I love to go. And that's in the beginning. The covenant of grace. You just
can't get around it. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, our triune God who is one. God the Father
chose a people in Christ Jesus, His Son. He chose a people to show His grace, His love,
His mercy to make His own. He sanctified them. sanctified them, put them apart,
separated them to himself for his own personal use. Christ accepted full responsibility
for all those that God chose in him. The Father trusted him as our
surety Christ is the holy one, the faithful, the righteous,
the just one, the only one qualified to do what he did. He's willing,
as our kinsman redeemer, he has to be willing and he has to be
able. He's willing and he's able. Volunteered to be our substitute,
our representative head. I had to call him the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. God chose his atonement
before he created. He chose a people and he chose an atonement, a reconciliation,
a propitiation to appease his holy justice that was offended. or would be
offended. God's purpose, He purposed this. He purposed the reconciliation
of His elect before the world was. Why Christ? As we said, He's the only one.
The only one who met all the requirements that a holy God
required for your salvation. He's the only one. The just and
the justifier. God demands for reconciliation,
a perfect obedience, a perfect righteousness. A lamb without
spot and without blemish. The lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Remember that because it is very
important. Before there was a sinner, God
provided himself a lamb, a sacrifice, an atonement for sin to appease
his holy justice that we offended. But not at the expense of his
justice. God created, he created man in
his own image. Called him Adam. Created him
upright. He communed with him and he provided
everything for Adam. Even a helpmate, my mother Eve. But before he even made Eve,
God commanded, he gave a commandment to Adam. In Genesis 2, 16, the Lord God
commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou
eatest thereof, Thou shalt surely die. And yet, Satan deceived Eve. But she didn't send all of her
descendants to hell, did she? The commandment of God was given
to the man Adam. And when Adam took a bite of
that apple, He loved the creation more than
he loved the Creator. When he took that one bite of
that apple, that God told him not to, that one sin, God, justice, was offended. And he was in Adam. We are in
Adam. We were in him. Our flesh, our
fleshly nature come from Adam. We have that saying, shake your
fist in God's face, tell him, I won't have you, I'll be God. I'll be wiser than you. We became
enemies to God in enmity with God. He rightly, justly is offended. We sinned in Adam. We fell in
him. And when we're born, we're born
in sin. And that's all we do. That's
all we do. We're bound by Satan. We're drawn
by our own lust. Because it says when When I'm tempted, when you're
tempted of God, you don't say you're tempted of God because
God does not tempt man with sin, to sin. He does not say it, to
sin. And he doesn't, you can't tempt
God with sin. You, by your own lust and your
love for sin, God leaves you alone. That's what you're going
to choose by your nature. Just like your, our great-great
daddy, whatever you want to call him, our first Adam. We're just
like him. We're all condemned already. Even those that God chose in
Christ in the beginning were born of Adam, of his seed, right? We are. Our fleshly nature. Praise God he did chose a people,
right? We are guilty of offending the
holy justice of God in the wages of sin. God says it's death. There must be an atonement made to be righteous, to be just before
God, after you have offended and sinned against Him. That's
serious. I mean, that's as serious as
you can get. And all we do is sin. So, sinners, what can we do? What does Christ say? Christ
told us, without me, you can do nothing. That's exactly what
we can do. Nothing without Him. We stand guilty. You can do nothing. All we do is sin and all we do
is offend. Even in our best efforts that
we think is good because we have no righteousness. The righteousness
that we possess is filthy rags before God. He
doesn't accept it. We sinned against him. God says
so. Our works are evil. Even the
plowing it says of the wicked is sin and it's an abomination
to God. Even the plowing. Anything man
does with his own hands, apart from God, apart from Christ,
God finds abominable. We're guilty. We're without God and we're without
Christ and we're without hope. Enemies against God. And sin will not go unpunished.
God said he would not let sin go unpunished. God demands that we believe on
his son. God demands justice satisfied. God demands atonement to be made. God demands a spotless lamb without
blemish. God demands a perfect obedience. A perfect righteousness. that
you and I do not have, nor can we attain. And saying I'm sorry
and getting down on your knees and crying and begging God to
forgive you, don't do it. There's nothing in you. Flesh
cannot please God. Then the law was added. And the
law exposed your sin. So you want to adhere to God's
law, you want to obey it? Obey to what the children of
Israel said. You give us a law, you tell Moses,
you go down and give us a law and we'll do whatever he says. No, no, no, no, no, no, right?
No, the law was not made for a righteous man. The law exposes
you sin and it says you're guilty before God. Guilty. All the law does is condemn you
and say that you're guilty before God We have broken God's holy law
and we're guilty so a wretched man Who can deliver you from
this body of death? You remember in the beginning? Told you it was important you
remember in the beginning God chose a people in Christ, and he provided his own lamb,
his own atonement, his own reconciliation for the sins that those people
would commit in Adam and in themselves. Well, praise God. Isn't that
wonderful? There's hope. There is hope. There is hope. We don't know
who God's elect are. God does. He's already chosen. And we offended Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, the propitiation. Because without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. No forgiveness of sins therefore
God sent his son Galatians 1 4 says But when the fullness of time
was come God sent forth his son Made of a woman made under the
law To redeem them that were under the law He provided His lamb. God chose
people in Christ before the world was. And there is hope for God's chosen
elect. And this is all God. This is
all His work. All of His purpose. That last
Adam. He made him our surety. He's our substitute. He's our
representative head. Right? By one man's disobedience,
that first Adam, many were made sinners. We've all made sinners. So by the one obedience of that
one shall many be made righteous. Look at what God has done for
us. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. You turn over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Very familiar passage,
but so beautiful. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised, crushed for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. He made peace between God and
man, this God, man, Jesus Christ. And with his stripes we are healed.
Oh, we are like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord has laid on him. the iniquity of
us all, all of his chosen. We, he was oppressed and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shears was
done, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living for the transgressions of my people, God says, was he
stricken. And he was made his grave with
the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done
no violence. He knew no sin. Neither was any
deceit in his mouth through all that suffering on the cross. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, crush him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." Oh, we were chosen
in him. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." This is
about Christ getting in God, getting his glory. He shall see
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. That propitiation. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. Look what he's done for us. And he was numbered with the
transgressors. And he bare the sin of all that
God gave him and made intercession for the transgressors. He prayed
for us while he was suffering on that cross. Let's look a little closer at
our text here. How did God reconcile you to
himself in Christ? Can't read it enough He made
What'd he do and as the brother said last last week? There's
no explaining this What a God thing to do I mean
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 and You can't explain
it. There's there's But well, we
believe it and we praise God for it on the cross at calvary
the lord jesus christ our substitute And remember he's holy he's just
Sinless blameless that spotless pure lamb Before god chosen of
god He is God's son. He is God. He is God. The only begotten
of the Father. There on the cross, God took
what belonged to us. What do we have? What do we have? Sin! That's all we are. That's
all we know. We loved it. We love it now. But He took what belonged to
us. Not only you, but all of your brothers
and sisters. Every one that God chose in Him
and gave to Him. He took every one of their sins. And all that guilt. How did it
crush Him? It crushed Him with guilt of
sin. That shame, what'd he say? Hated, he despised the shame,
but for that joy, he went to the cross. All the punishment
that you and I and every one of God's elect deserve and have
earned was put on Him. God made Christ
to be sin for us, who knew no sin. He never sinned. Under all that suffering and
all that pain and punishment, not only the physical, but so
much more, He who knew no sin, God manifests Himself in flesh. lower than the angels he created
all of us he created everything and he came in the form of a
man a sinful in the likeness of a sinful man yet he knew no
sin he was born under the law just like we are tempted just
like we are and he took away our sins because God took what
was Christ. His perfect obedience that He
brought in, His perfect righteousness that only He could bring. God took that. Not only that, but all the grace. Grace and
truth come by Jesus Christ. The only way to God, the Father
is through the Son. Grace and truth come through
Jesus Christ And all the blessings and the promises that God gave
him God made them ours in him In
him our life is hid in him Read it again for he hath made him
to be sin for us and who knew no sin, that we might be made."
That's a promise of God, the righteousness of God in Him to
every believer, everyone who believes on His Son, all of His
elect. That's mercy. That's love. There's no greater love. Oh,
the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He came to redeem
God's elect. The shepherd, the great shepherd,
laid down his life for the sheep. He put our sins away. The only one who could. He cried, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He made him to be sin. And God
poured out His wrath on him. We read, it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He was delivered for our offenses. That's why he was there. To save
his elect. To redeem them. To take away
their sins. God plunged the sword of justice
into him and that precious that precious atoning blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness of sin. He shed His blood, poured from
His side. And while He suffered, He prayed
for us. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. And He
still intercedes for us. He still prays for us. We don't
know how to pray. We don't know what to pray. But
He forever intercedes for us. And when He said it is finished,
He alone accomplished all that the Father had given Him to do. He fulfilled the law. He became a curse, because
curse is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He became a curse
for us. He fulfilled the law, put an
end to the law, made it holy, made it honorable, made it just.
It was already holy, he made it honorable. And he who is life gave up the
ghost. And he died. And as Ruth sang, we died in
him. Because remember, he's our surety. God did that in eternity before
the world was. He made him that surety. He chose
us in him. And he trusted him to be our
surety. Because God loved us from the beginning. He never
stopped loving us. God doesn't change. He doesn't
lie. He chose you in His Son. He loves you. He never stopped
loving you. Look what He's done for you. God in Christ reconciling, and
you know better, you know better, it's not the whole world. God
didn't die for everybody. If that was the case, I wouldn't
say He hated Esau. There's you one. That's all you
need to know. He hated one. One of them ain't going to heaven.
He didn't die for everybody. He wouldn't shed His precious
blood for anybody. He did it for those that God
gave Him in the beginning. Those are the ones He made Him
a surety of and a substitute. and our federal representative
head. And he was buried, and we were
buried in him. And according to the scripture,
which are all about him, he arose the third day victorious over
Satan, sin, death, all his enemies. So he made his footstool. And
because he lives, our life is hid in him. He was raised again
for our justification. the just and the justifier of
all the elect. He was seen of many. He was seen
of the disciples. And he told them, it's expedient
that I go. And he ascended back into heaven. To the Father. And to the Holy of Holies. Because
he's going to send a comforter. One like me. It's God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit. We got one God. Three distinct
offices, persons. However, I'm sure any way I say
it is wrong. Because who can describe that?
Three distinct persons in one Godhead. And God says, in Christ
is all the Godhead bodily. He's going to send a Comforter. And the high priest, after the
order of Melchizedek, which is Lord Jesus Christ, when he ascended
up to heaven as our high priest, he offered himself, that lamb
slain before the foundation of the world that God had already
purposed for his atonement, already chosen to be his atonement, our
propitiation, our reconciliation, offered himself to the Father. His body, His blood, His atoning
blood, precious blood, the sacrifice for atonement for the sins of
all that God gave Him. The only sacrifice God would
ever accept to appease, to satisfy His holy justice that we offended. While we were still sinners,
while we're still offending. God is satisfied with His Son. And He can now look upon us. Because He's made peace. Because
He's put away our sins. He's imputed His righteousness
to us. By grace, you're saved through
that faith that God gives you to believe on Him. And that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. Not of works. Well, no better
than that. There's nothing that we can do
to please God. God pleased Himself in His Son. substitute that reconciliation
that atonement accomplished by Christ alone His one-time atoning
sacrifice of himself his blood paid the ransom For ourselves He paid the price he Met all
the requirements that God required for you to have salvation. And
your salvation is Jesus Christ. Now God's judgment embraces our
salvation. God will not let sin go unpunished. And the punishment for sin is
death. Christ died for his elect. He paid the price with his blood
to reconcile you to God, to himself. Now God can look on us as that
beautiful song that Ruth sang in him. God looks at you and his son. That blood washed
you. Took away those sins. Only he
could do it. And those robes of righteousness
that he puts on you. Remember the prodigal son. Get the robes, get the best robes.
Put them on him. He sees His Son. He has made us acceptable and
perfect before God in Him. 1 John 4, Verse 10, herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation, that sin-taking-away-substitute-sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We can now
love God in Christ. Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through the faith in His blood
to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. through the forbearance of God.
To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be the just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God has reconciled us to himself
in Christ Jesus. We're no longer enemies of God.
We're the friends of God. But that's not all. Think in
verse 20. All right, don't let me lose my place
here. Verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. Telling us to be reconciled to
God. How do we do that? Again God Christ Jesus said without
me you can do nothing This is all of God because verse 17 says
Yeah, therefore if any man Be in Christ. He is a new creature
Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become
new Any man being Christ you are a new creature. You are a
new creation God didn't take your flesh Now he made a new creature in Born-again Made you a new creature
in Christ Jesus and When God predestinated us to
be adopted children of God. Unlike Earth, you know, when
we adopt someone, we give them our name. He gives
us our name. We're called the righteousness of God. He is the
righteousness of God. And He calls us the righteousness
of God. He also makes us partakers of
His divine nature. He gives us His nature. He predestined us to be conformed
to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. He got His nature. Yeah, we still drag that old
flesh around. It's there. It ain't going away
till God kills it. Praise God, he's going to on
his day. It's going to be gone. We ain't
going to have to worry about it. Yeah, we're sin. We do nothing but
sin. But it doesn't have dominion
over us now. So we're under grace. We're under God's grace. Grace
and truth came by. That substitute, that propitiation,
that reconciliation, that atonement. Jesus Christ, his son. You see? Isn't that great? A new creature while we're still
here. You are now under grace, Romans
6, 3. Now turn there. Let's turn real quick to Romans.
Chapter 6 verse 3 Romans chapter 6 verse 3 and
we'll read down to to 14. Okay No, you know That so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ Were baptized into his
death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death
and And like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also shall walk in the newness of
life, or new creatures, if ye in Christ. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also in
the likeness of his resurrection Knowing this that our old man
is crucified with him That the body of sin might be destroyed
That henceforth we should not serve sin. Now. No, we're not
like we're going to be But God has already purposed it it's
as good as done Christ has accomplished it is done We're just waiting
aren't we? We're hoping we can't wait. We're
hoping we're looking for that. Hope and that He is gonna make
us what He has promised. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. Isn't that beautiful? Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead doth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, look at here, likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin, unto
sin, but alive unto God. Now there he is, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
Now we know we're hopeless, we're nothing without him. Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God. Be reconciled as those that are
alive from the dead And your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God For sin shall not have dominion over you Thank God look
what he's done for ye are not under the law You're under grace You are under the grace of God. He does not impute your sins
to you because Christ Redeemed you Christ paid for all your
sins He either did or he didn't you believe it or he don't you
can believe it or not. He did You're believing it don't
make it so God saying it makes it so Brothers and sisters if
he put if he chose you in his son and and he sanctified you in him
and he sent him to die for you on that cross don't take it in
vain God himself in Christ reconciling you unto himself he died on that
cross he suffered everything that you and I that we could
never do It would have took an eternity and we would have never
done it. He did that for all of His elect. He shed His blood to atone for
your sins. For forgiveness of sins. To appease
the holy justice of God that we offended. The God that we
have sinned against. And how did He do it? 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. Alright. Now, you have Christ in you. You are in Him. You have the
promises of God in Christ. You have the gift of the Holy
Spirit That is a gift that God gives all of his elect all his
that believe on him his Holy Spirit in you you are now partaker
of that divine nature you have Christ nature the spirit you
are taught of God and The just shall live by faith,
that faith that He gives you. You are not your own. When you
are bought with His blood, He ransomed you. He paid for you. You're His. Don't matter if you
like it or not, you're gonna scream and cry and shout about
it, but He's gonna bring you down. He's gonna show you. You're His. He put you in Christ.
He chose you in Christ Jesus. You will. You're not your own. You are sanctified by God. That Holy Spirit seals that. It's like a king taking that
seal. You're mine. And nobody's gonna
break that seal. Nobody can take you out of his
hand. Once you're in there, you ain't going nowhere. Look what
he done. From eternity. Done purposed
it. Purposed it in eternity God said God did What God does
he does forever? All the scriptures were written
telling of Jesus the Messiah that would come in the flesh
and accomplish it Accomplish all that God had purposed
him to do to save his chosen elect. He accomplished it. It's done. It's finished. And
when it pleases God, when it pleases God, He reveals it to
you. Makes it known. And only He can
do that. Only He can do that. But just shall live by faith.
You're not your own. You're sanctified by God for
his own personal pleasure and use He is holy he has made you holy
in him Verse 18 And all things are of God who has reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ and had given unto us the ministry
of reconciliation He's put his seal on you and
you are under grace He's made you free from your sin In Christ
Jesus Free to serve he's made you free
to serve the Living God we just read about that Because he's given us that liberty
that freedom He has delivered us from our sins. He has delivered
us from Satan, from death, the fear of death, from all his enemies, and all
his enemies are your enemies, and you were his enemy. He's
freed you from yourself. God has ordained your footsteps
Psalms 37 23 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord and he delighteth in his way Ephesians 2 10 for we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto Good works. There's that dirty word that
everybody know that we we know that's not our works. I What
did it say? We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. We're under grace unto good works. Not your filthy works. Not your
abominations. No, this is what God has said
that He has ordained you to walk in. You're His. The Spirit of
God is in you teaching you. Teaching you all things. All
things necessary for your salvation. He's teaching you about Christ. He keeps pointing back to Christ.
He gives you that faith. The faith looks to Christ. He's
our object of our faith. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith. He is our faith. We look to Him. That faith, the just live by
faith, He justified you. He made you righteous before
God by His sacrifice, His blood atoning. He cleansed you. You're in Him. You got his nature. He's teaching you. What's he
teaching you? He said he was gonna conform
you. He predestinated you to be conformed to the image of
his son. Be like Christ. Not be Christ,
but be like him. You imitate him. He's your father. He's your big brother. He's your
Savior. He's your Redeemer. He's your
Lord. He's your Master. He's your Kinsman
and Redeemer. We could go on and on, all in
all. There ain't nothing that He ain't
that's good. It's all of God in Christ. So He's appointed you unto good
works. God accepts your works in Christ. Not on y'all, not
your works. No, He accepts what He has ordained
for you to do in Christ. And what are we here for? What are we here for? We're gonna be like Him, Christ. What did Christ do? What did
He do for you? What did God do for you in Christ?
Comfort you. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people. We comfort each other. We're
supposed to love each other. We can't do that. I can't do
that. Matter of fact, the more God shows me, the more sinful
I see I am, the more vile and horrible I am. I can't do nothing
apart from God. I can't. But in Him, we have
His nature. God loved you for the foundation
of the world. Chose you in His Son. predestinated
you to be conformed to His image. You have Christ in you, the hope
of glory. God's given you His Spirit. The
Holy Spirit has sealed you. He's sealed you, protects you,
preserves you, keeps you. Yes, that's all we do is sin.
We're still in His flesh. We have Christ in us and we're
in Him. We are to do what? To love one
another. I'm more guilty than anybody
for not doing that. But in Christ, you can do it. Go to the throne. Go to Him. We live by faith that He's given
us in Him. Ask and ye shall receive. Pray,
but ye pray in vain. You don't waver. What are we
praying for? What should we pray for? What
are we here for? To serve one another, to love
one another. Everything that we've just talked
about here. Tell what God has done for you
in Christ. You want to see God glorified
you want to see the son of God? Magnified you want to see him
lifted up? God put him above all gave him
a name above all He's sitting on his throne and he's ruling
and he's raining and resting because his works done But he's
our mediator he's our intercessor and He's doing it all for us. He
always has. He always will. Until our faith
becomes sight. And then we're just going to
be like Him. We're going to know Him as we're known. That's the
hope that He gave us. He gave us faith. Right? He gave us hope. Right? And charity. Love. And He said
without love, you don't have any other two. Faith without
love ain't nothing. Hope without love, love to God. And we read that. Not that we
loved Him. Because we didn't. We hated Him. But that He loved
us first. It was a propitiation. So we are here to serve our God. To do His will. In Christ! Not your works. No, no, no, no,
no, no. That ain't what we're talking
about. No, it's just like it's water.
Okay? Take a drink of this water. Billy's going to take a drink
of water. Now, lost man, Billy took a drink of water.
But you and I know, don't we? We know better. Took a lot to
get that glass of water here tonight. And me here at this
time. But you know God purposed that.
He purposed everything that went into making that. And for it
being here, He created me. He purposed me to be here and
to drink that water. Not only that, He gave me the
ability. He gave me the thirst for that
water. Gave me the ability and the strength
and the know-how to put it to my lips and take a drink of it
And he's the one it'll either make it He determines what it's
gonna be right it's gonna be good for me or bad I don't take any glory for drinking
that drink of water It's not mine He who glory is letting
glory in the Lord God purposed your salvation from
eternity, you to be reconciled to himself. First Corinthians 121, for after
that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. God doesn't need anybody, but
that's the way He purposed it. And when He puts you in Christ
and makes a new creature in you, He accepts your works. Not your works, the works that
He has ordained you to do in Christ. It's all of God. It's all God's Word. It's all
God's elect. It's God who sends the messengers.
It's God's message. It's His grace, it's His glory. And He uses, it pleased Him to
use one, Brother Crabtree, I think, has said this before, is one
poor vow sinner telling another poor vow sinner about our great
God and Savior. It is God speaking through you. So how can you be reconciled
to God? By faith that he gives you believing on his son Believing
that what he said and what God what Christ has accomplished
Is is true it's enough. It's what God requires for your
salvation you rest in Christ finished works Under grace under
God's grace. It is God that made you able
to believe by faith. I He chose you he draws you to
him He gave you faith and spiritual life so that you could understand
the things of God. He's spirit. He's not flesh Christ
is God man But he never ceased being God He gave you spiritual
life to understand spiritual things and he gives us that faith
and hope and that love in him And he saved you to the other
most Because He is salvation. He's
the only way to the Father. And God will not share His or
give His glory to another. The Holy Spirit working in you
to do of His will in good pleasure. Now he God Almighty the omnipotent
sovereign God by his free sovereign grace in Christ Jesus has Reconciled
you to himself made you a new creature in Christ give you the
gift of his Holy Spirit You're taught by God He has made him
unto us Wisdom Sanctification Righteousness and redemption
Glory in the Lord And he's given us the ministry of reconciliation He has taught us and revealed
it to us right here in the scriptures He is committed Unto us his elect
his church. The church is the body the bride
of Christ Christ is our head and We can do nothing without him.
Christ is our head and God has entrusted the church, his elect,
because he's put his word in us. It's written on our hearts
and on our minds, that covenant of grace with his word of reconciliation,
the gospel of God. He has made us ambassadors, it
says, for Christ. We are representatives of the
King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is not our home. Israel is not a holy place on
this earth. The Jews, God cast them off. We are the true Jews, the real
Jews. Our home is the real Jerusalem,
the real Israel. It's Christ. It's heaven. We are His people. Predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son and adopted children of God. So preach this
word. It's in you. If He's revealed
it to you, then go tell. Go tell what God has done for
you, what Christ has done for you. When God sends His messenger
with His message, it's not that vile creature standing in front
of you that's doing anything other than being an instrument.
If it's not God speaking through that person, then it's not of
God. It's just vain babble. As though God did beseech you
by us, God speaking through us. And what a blessing and a privilege
and an honor that is that we go in the authority of God sent
by him with his word. Brethren believe Jesus Christ
trust him and adore him bow down to him and submit yourself to
serve the living God the one who loved you and Gave his life
for you You owe him You can't ever repay it You're owned by God and he uses
you for his own will and good pleasure and that is He's still
saving his elect. They're still out there. Your
brothers and sisters are out there. They need what? They need to hear the word of
God. They need to hear the hope that's
in you. Study to make yourself approved,
right? So that you can give someone,
tell them about the hope that's in you. What is that hope? It's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's your only hope. Your only
hope is Christ. We preach Christ crucified. And God makes us willing and
able in him, by his grace, through his Holy Spirit. I'm gonna wrap
this up. Only God can reveal himself to
a lost sinner. And he does it through his son,
Jesus Christ. And he does it by sending Preachers
to preach His Word. And only God can. Only God can
reveal Himself. We are recipients. That's all
we are, is recipients. We do nothing. We contribute
nothing. We add anything or take anything
away from it. It's not a God. It's all of God. It's all of Christ. It's all
that faith that he gives us in him. For he has made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He did it all for us, for all
for his glory. And in His appointed time, beloved,
He reveals it. He reveals Christ in you, the
hope of glory. When it pleases God to everyone
that He chose in His Son, He will reveal Himself to them. He will bring them into His light
out of their darkness. And you'll be their salvation. He has brought us peace with
our Father. We look to God, and look what He's done for us in
His Son. We look at Christ because our
faith looks to Him. That witness, that Holy Spirit
that is in us, witnesses with our spirit, and tells us about
our Savior, Jesus Christ, and what He has accomplished for
us. And this is all so outside of us, it's impossible. It's
impossible for man, but it's not impossible for God. He loved
us and He gave Hisself for us that we might be made the children
of God in Him. So what do you do? You shout
it from the rooftops. You study. You don't forsake
the gathering of yourselves. like so many of us have before.
It's no good. You've got to be around God's
people. You've got to be around His Word. God sends His messengers and
He sends His message through them and that's how He does it.
And we should listen. We should come ready, eager to
listen. He has reconciled us to Himself in Christ Jesus and
we are made to be His friends. who were once enemies. He has
restored us to himself in Christ. So he that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. It is Christ who died. It's Christ who rose again. And he reigns on his throne. And you can go to him. He will
sucker you. He will help you in your time
of need, because we can't do it. Now by faith in Jesus Christ
and by the grace of God, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. May God get his glory. Amen.