If you will, take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Colossians chapter 1. And if you like, you can also
put a marker in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We'll be looking at
these two texts this morning, the first in Colossians 1 and
the second in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And my subject is reconciliation. Reconciliation, reconciled to
God. To reconcile, the dictionary
says, means to settle or resolve a dispute. There's a difference between
our way of thinking, the sinner's way of thinking, and God and
His Word. There's a dispute. Something
needs to be settled. It means to come into compliance
or agreement. It means to establish a relationship. It means to make compatible or
consistent. Reconciliation. Believers are
men and women who have been reconciled to God. What does it mean to
be a believer? It means to be reconciled to
God. And we're reconciled not only
to God, which is a work done for us, that's what I read to
you here, and you. who were enemies, you were foreigners,
you were enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you unblameable, unreprovable in his sight, fully justified
before God. That's a work done for us, but
reconciliation is also a work done in us. In us, we got to
be brought into agreement with God. We have to be made consistent
with God's gospel. We're reconciled to God and then
he reconciles us to our reconciliation. So let's look at these two things
and see if the Lord will open up these things give us some
understanding of what he's doing in this world and what we're
doing in this world. We're not getting any better.
We're not getting any more righteous, so why are we here? God, he's
made us unblameable and unreprovable. If God can find no fault in the
believer, then why is he still here? Why don't he just, he's
fully able, he's fully justified, why don't God just take him into
glory? Because God's doing some work. He's still accomplishing
some things in this world and he's made us a part of it. So here's the first part of this
glorious work of God, the work done for us. And this, we need
to understand this. If you're here and you don't
really understand what I'm talking about, you really need to listen
to what I'm saying. This is vital, this is important. You're not gonna be saved until
you come to know this and believe this. Colossians 1.20, having
made peace through the blood of his cross. How was peace made
with God? Well, we made our decision We
decided we were gonna, we've determined, we've thought it
all over and we've determined we're gonna live from now until
we die. No, that's not how peace is made.
No, sir. No, sir. Having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him, now watch this, to reconcile
all things, not just the sinner, But to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, there's things in heaven has to be resolved. God's
in heaven, he's offended. He's offended. We're on earth
and under his curse. There's a reconciliation that
has to take place. And you, he said, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, still practicing
false religion, anti-Christ religion, free will religion, whatever
name you want to put on it. Enemies in your mind by wicked
works. Yet now hath he reconciled. How'd he do it? In the body of
his flesh through death. That's how he did it. There's
only one way to God, and that is by the blood. He said, without
the shedding of blood is no remission. Your sins are not forgiven except
through the blood of Christ, through the death of Christ.
Leviticus 1711, he said, for the life of the flesh is in the
blood. And I've given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. And I'm told by intellectuals
that it's not the blood, that the blood was just an evidence
of the life that was given. If it wasn't the blood, he wouldn't
talk so much about the blood. It is the blood. The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And I've given it to you upon
the altar. Only one way to God, and that's
through the blood of Christ. To be reconciled to God, one's
sins must be paid for. They have to be paid for. Every
sin, every foolish thought, And we're all together sin. All has to be paid for. And we
don't have anything with which to pay. What are you gonna pay?
What are you gonna offer God? Huh? You got nothing to offer
God? You got nothing? Well, I gave
my heart to the Lord. He don't want it. He don't want it. He gives his
people a new heart. He don't want that old thing.
The heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? You can't even know the depth
of the potential of your heart. Sin is the issue between God
and men. Sin entered and death passed. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. And there can be no peace with
God apart from redemption. And the sinner has nothing with
which to redeem himself. You got nothing to offer. He
can't come to God and say, well, Lord, if you do this, I'll, no,
you don't have anything to give him. You don't have anything
to trade. You can't barter with God because you don't have anything
to barter with. The sinner has nothing to give. Nothing of value to redeem himself. Altogether become unprofitable. No value. His good intentions
are not sufficient. His empty promises are not enough. Even the dedication of his life
to the ministry will buy him nothing from God except judgment. Redemption demands infinite perfection. Infinite perfection. God is perfect. His attributes are called his
perfections. When I'm talking about the grace
of God, I'm talking about his perfection, the love of God,
his perfection. And perfect justice requires
a perfect redemption. In Hebrews 9, 7 through 8, we're
told something of the typical high priest and the typical blood. And he said the Holy Ghost is
signifying. And the reason why these sacrifices
continued and the reason the priesthood continued is because
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while
that first tabernacle was still standing. And of those typical
sacrifices, it's written way back in Leviticus 22, 21, these
are typical, these are the types, these are the pictures of what
will be demanded, of what will be used. And he goes in Leviticus
22, 21, and he said, whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace
offering to the Lord, that's what we're talking about, being
reconciled, a peace offering. Whosoever offers the sacrifice
of peace offerings unto the Lord, it shall be perfect to be accepted. What's demanded? Perfection. Perfection. Hebrews 9-11. But Christ being come a high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.
but through his own flesh and blood, through his own body.
And neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. We had nothing to do with it.
Nothing to do with it. Jesus Christ did this by himself. And now it says over here in
Hebrews chapter one, who by himself purged us from our sin. By himself. We didn't have anything to it.
We didn't add anything to it. Eternal redemption is that redemption
purposed by God and for which creation come to be. That's what
I just read to you in Colossians one. Eternal redemption is that
redemption regarded when Adam sinned and yet God allowed all
things to continue. In Colossians 117 it says, Christ
is before all things and by him all things consist. And that
word consist means it has a continuance. The reason this world continued
on when Adam sinned was because of that eternal redemption, purpose,
purpose by God. and which would be purchased
by Christ at his death. Eternal redemption is what our
Lord bought at Calvary, fulfilling all that was purposed of God
in it, and paying for all sins, past, present, and future, all
sins, and will and has secured for us a future without sin,
without sin. By way of His blood-bought redemption,
God has declared Himself righteous in the remission of our sins. And so He justified us freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And all
those whom He gave to His Son in divine election, all those
He chose and put in Christ, All those he predestinated to the
adoption of children in him, he made accepted in the blood. They're accepted in him. They're
not accepted because they feel accepted. They're not accepted
because somebody said they're accepted. They're accepted in
the blood. He bought the right for them
to be there. In fact, here's how it reads.
They were made accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The reason we're accepted
is because we don't have any more sin. Our sins have been
paid for. They've been put under the blood. And all of this. He says, according
to the riches of his grace, in Ephesians 1, three through seven. But there's more. All those redeemed
in Christ are justified before God. They stand just before God. If you're here this morning and
you're a believer, you're standing just before God. Justified. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Let them hurl their accusations
all they want to. God says, I'm just. In Christ. I'm just before God. Who's he that condemneth? Christ
that died. Huh? Now if all these things were
accomplished for God's elect, why do we preach? What's the
point? What's preaching all about? What's
that got to do with anything? If all God's elect have been
redeemed, been accepted, eternal redemption has been purchased
and obtained. It's in his hand. And he's seated
at the right hand of God and we're seated in him. Then why am I up here this morning
preaching? Huh? Several reasons. First of all,
because preaching is the means God has ordained to reveal your
election. You've got no other way to know
your election. You can talk all you want to about the election
of God, but it's one thing to say, I believe in election. It's
another thing to say, I'm elect. I guarantee you, the second is
a whole lot harder to say than the first. It's easy to read
a book and be convinced of God's election. God's election is what
this book teaches. But there's only one way for
you to know yours, and that's for the gospel to come. If the
gospel don't come to you, you're not his elect. He said, you believe
not because you're not my sheep. That's what he told those Pharisees.
Their whole life, they believed they were God's elect. Their
whole life, they believed every Jew born of Abraham was God's
elect. But they found out it just wasn't
so. And they finally just told him out of frustration, if thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. I told you plainly. But you believe
not, because you're not of my sheep. Those Jews bowed up. that the church at Antioch condemned
Paul and Silas for even being there and said this and said
that. He said, seeing you have judged
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, he said, lo, I turn to
the Gentiles. And he read them that scripture
that talked about the Gentiles. And boy, they said, we like that.
We like that. and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Oh, you got that backwards, preacher.
Everybody believe. No, I ain't got it backwards.
That's exactly what it says. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Believed. bound to give thanks always to
you. Boy, I tell you, you read the
first part of 2 Thessalonians chapter two, and you see what
this spirit of Antichrist, the Antichrist religion is doing
and has been doing for thousands of years, and what it's doing
in our day just dwarfs what it did back then. And you read that
and how men are being swept away by deceit and lies and all of
these things and there's so many, so many these signs and wonders
are so great that men are being swept away in multitudes after. And because they would not receive
the love of the truth that they might be saved. They would not. He said he caused them, he sent
them strong delusion to believe a lie. He allowed Satan first
hand, first hand with his anti-Christ religion to just swamp them. Suck them in. Convince them of
a lie and be damned for it. But Paul said, I'm thankful to
God for you, brother. I'm thankful to God for you.
I'm thankful always to God for you,
brethren, beloved to the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel.
How do you know your election? He calls us by his gospel. Is there some other way to have
it? No, you won't find it anywhere
in here. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? Ministers by whom you believed,
even as God hath given to every man. Isn't that what it says
over in 1 Corinthians chapter three? That's the only way you know
your election, Larry. God gonna arrange for you to
be in a place, God's preacher's gonna come to that place, and
he's gonna preach to you. Now, if you can find something
else in there, I'd like to read it, because I've looked, and
it ain't in there. The world, in the wisdom of God,
now listen to this, it's 1 Corinthians chapter one, I think verse 19
or 20, somewhere right along in there. He said, in the wisdom
of God, The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. In the wisdom of God,
this whole world don't know God. But it pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. How's he gonna
do it? Through the preaching of the
gospel. But the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them
that are perishing. It's absolute foolishness. Oh,
you know what you're talking about. I know he uses that most
of the time. I quit counting the old writers
that say that. That's why I don't read them
anymore. I know he uses that most of the
time. I know that that's really important,
but, no, there ain't no but. That's how God saves sinners.
Read it. Read it in His Word. His Word
shed a lot of light on them commentaries. I'm telling you. Go to His Word. See what He says. And then here's the second thing.
This is the means God has chosen. That's why I preach. And secondly,
because it's God's commission to His preachers to go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what
God commands us to do. In the past two, well, it ain't
even two months, in the past six weeks, I've been 9,500 miles.
That's more than I've ever driven in my lifetime.
I've been 9,500 miles preaching the gospel. I didn't call up
and promote myself. I didn't say, you know, if you
really want to hear a good preacher, you need to let me come. No,
I didn't do that. I didn't do anything. I just
sat home and my phone rang. Could you come up here and preach
for us? Yes, sir, I can. Went up to New Jersey and come
back home, went to Kingsport, and then went to Rocky Mount,
Virginia, and then went to Montana, and then come home, went to Danville,
Kentucky. 9,500 miles preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel. Because that's what God told
me to do. And it's not me. It's this church. If it weren't for this church,
I wouldn't have got a call. I wouldn't be up there preaching.
This is an extension of it. We're the pillar and ground of
the truth. That's what his local churches are. That's why they're
here. And then he'll send them a preacher. And his main purpose
of being here is to preach to you and to feed you, which I
pray God I'm doing and have done and hope to do, as long as he
gives me strength to do it. But when he opens that door,
that's why this place is here. And as long as you can, I'm going
to continue to do it. And I'll go and preach wherever
that is, if the Lord gives me strength to do it. That's what
we do, because that's His commission. That's what we're told to do.
And then thirdly, I do these things, and this brings me to
the second part of my subject this morning, reconciliation.
All of God's elect shall be reconciled to God's reconciliation. That's what preaching is. I'm
not trying to get folks to reform their lives. If God saves you,
your life will get in order. I guarantee it. I'm not preaching to men trying
to reconcile their marriages. I don't know if your marriage
could be reconciled. I don't know. You might hate
each other. I don't know. But I know this. If Christ gets
in your heart, you'll love one another. You'll love one another. Those irreconcilable differences,
they'll be put aside. They'll be put aside. We're reconciled to God's reconciliation. That's what preaching is about. The dispute is going to be settled
and resolved. We're going to come into compliance
with the Lord. We're going to be made compatible
and consistent with His reconciliation. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Let me see if I can show you
this. Why does that preacher get up
here every Sunday and tell us about our sins? We already know
we're sinners. You don't half know what kind
of sinner you are. I keep harping on it till I die
and you still won't know half what kind of sinner you are.
Or half what kind of God he is. But I tell you why I get up here
every Sunday. To reconcile you to his reconciliation. That's why. 2 Corinthians chapter
5 is a wonderful chapter. It's written to the church concerning
her reconciliation to God. And he tells us in verse 18,
2 Corinthians 5, 18. All things are of God who hath,
this is a work already accomplished. That's the work I've spent the
whole first part of this message telling you about. Who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. Now let me make a few comments
before I go on. Men have twisted this ministry
of reconciliation into all sorts of things. They start out with
outward reform, Long hair, short hair, dresses or pants, jewelry
or no jewelry, makeup or no makeup, quit smoking, quit drinking,
do this, do that, touch not, taste not, analog. That's not
what reconciliation is about. All of these things they call
drawing near to the Lord. The Jews did all these things,
and they were never brought nigh unto the Lord. Never. They did
all these things. They talk about devotion, dedicate,
rededicate. Paul said, you think you got
some confidence in the flesh? I more. I more. I circumcised on the eighth day.
Took him down to the temple. publicly circumcised him as the
male children were commanded to be. He said, you couldn't hold a
candle to me. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm of the tribe
of Benjamin. Touching the law, I'm a Pharisee
concerning zeal. I held men's coats while they
stoned people to death. I went down and sought papers
to persecute the church. Convinced all the while he was
doing God a favor. And touching the righteousness
which is of the law, he said, I'm blameless. We couldn't hold
a candle to him. But when God brought him to see
his Savior, he carried all his prized possessions, all his confidence
in the flesh, and he threw it on the dung heap. Reconciliation is not your accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior, it's you bowing to Him as your
personal Lord. Salvation by faith is God coming
to you by His Spirit and His gospel and reconciling you to
His reconciliation. That's what it is. All things
are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now watch
this, to wit, that is namely. To wit means you're about to
describe something as precise as it can be described. To wit,
here's the ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. That's what we're preaching.
It's all in Christ. All in Christ. And he committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. And don't let that word world
bother you. All God's elect are in the world.
And apart from their election and God's purpose redemption
of his elect, the rest of the world wouldn't even have a being All creation's waiting for the
adoption, the redemption of our bodies. It's waiting for the
calling out of God's elect. There's no reason for creation
or the rest of the world. And God's elect are a cross-section
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation under heaven. And the apostles often used it
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost because of Jewish
prejudice They thought anybody and everybody that's not a Jew
is a sinner. They're a sinner. Why does he
eat Republicans and sinners? All they were were Gentiles,
but they were dogs in the eyes of the Jews. And realizing where
God's elect are and who they are, Holy Spirit blessed those
men and they used that word world. They'd never used that word before.
That was a word never included in their lingo, but they use it now, boy,
they used it. God so loved the world, gave
his only begotten son. God was in Christ, reconciling
even heathen idolaters, rank and moral rebels and ignorant
savages, not charging their trespasses unto them. Regardless of their
past or present, regardless of their depravity and inability,
regardless of their standing in the world, they were reconciled
by God or reconciled to God's reconciliation. That's why When
we profess faith, we do it in baptism. You know what baptism
does? It confesses God's reconciliation. Now what it does, we're buried
with him in baptism, raised with him. When he died, he died for
our sins. He was buried. When he was raised
again, he was raised for our justification. And baptism is
just confessing I've been reconciled to God's reconciliation, that's
what it is. Raised us up together, made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. We're brought to
see that he's just and justifier. Just and justifier. And the heart
of faith is to see Christ our Redeemer. And every office, including
His Lordship, has to do with His redemption. Thou hast given Him power over
all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given Him. That's what that Lordship's all
about. He was God from all eternity. God didn't make Him God. God
made Him Lord. Our ministry is not to be a community
counselor or to reside over public meetings and social gatherings.
Our ministry is the ministry of reconciliation. We're not
left to our own discretion as to how this is done. You see,
God was in Christ reconciling. That's how man's reconciled.
And Christ had nothing to do with him. But he goes even further. 2 Corinthians 5.20, now then,
we're ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us. God's got something to say to
you. How you gonna hear it? He's gonna send you an ambassador. You'll hear him or go to hell,
one or the other. We're ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you by us. That means to urgently
implore or to earnestly request. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you and Christ did, be ye reconciled to God. And my friend, if you won't be
reconciled to God by way of this reconciliation in Christ, there
remaineth for you no more sacrifice for sins. Just a certain fearful
looking for judgment and fiery indignation. If you won't be
reconciled to this, if you won't say Christ is all in all, without
him I'm a goner. If you won't bow to that, there's
nothing else for you. Nothing else for you. He that
believeth not the sun shall not see light, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. The ministry's not telling folks
how to reform their lives or how to fix their problems. The
ministry is to preach the reconciliation of God in Christ and to hope
for God to reconcile him to his reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5.21, now here's
the basis of it. Here's the basis of that reconciliation. For he, that is God, hath made
him, that is Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I'm told that
that doctrinaire is not critical. Not critical. He said it's the
basis of reconciling men to his reconciliation. That's what he's
talking about all through this chapter. And he uses the word
here at the beginning for, that means it's the basis. Here's
the reason, here's the basis. Turn with me to Proverbs 17 and
I'll wind this up. There's no other way to reconcile
sinners to God except through the substitution of Christ. No
other way. He's our representative. He's
our substitute. God put us in an everlasting
union to him. We're one with him. And he says over here in Proverbs
chapter 17, verse 15, he that justifieth the wicked. Well,
ain't that what we were? He that justifies the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both, are abomination
to the Lord. Jesus Christ, our head and representative,
was justly condemned and righteously crucified on the cross. Don't
ever look at his death as an unjust death. God was righteous
when he put his son to death. How can that be? It says right
here he knew no sin. How can that be? God hath made
him to be sin for us. But how? By an eternal union. Whereby we're made one with him. And that's absolutely all the
light we have about it. But it shouldn't be enough. When God killed his son, He killed
me. When he was pouring his wrath
out on him, he was pouring it out on me. How can that be? I don't know. Do you? I don't
know. But let me ask you just a few
things and I'll quit. How did God create everything
that is out of nothing? Do you understand that? Huh? How can God Eternal God
become a man and die on the cross. I don't know. Do you believe
it? I do. How can Christ be made
sin? I don't know. I don't know. But
it says here he was. And it says here in Proverbs
why he was. And God poured his wrath out
on him. He was pouring it out on every one of his elect He
poured it out without reserve. He justly put him to death. He
saw the travail of his soul and he was satisfied. Reconciled
to his reconciliation. Well, I believe a lot, but I
don't believe that. You haven't been reconciled. That's the problem. You haven't
been reconciled. To be reconciled, to be reconciled
to his reconciliation. You're gonna look at it exactly
as he sets it forth in the scripture, exactly as God testifies of it,
and you're gonna say amen. Amen. God did what was right. Huh? That's what it is. Oh, we won't explain everything.
We won't cross the T's and dot the I's. Try to explain somebody regeneration
sometime. I don't understand it, I just
know it's so. Just know it's so. I believe it because it's
the testimony of God and so will you if he ever reconciles you
to his reconciliation. You'll say amen. Amen. God did what he purposed to do. And I'll tell you something else.
You're not understanding it completely is why we stand in awe and worship
Him. If we understood everything He
do, why would we worship Him? We know as much as He does. No. No, I stand in awe before Him
who has accomplished all these things and just gave us the light
that we have. What an amazing light it is. Oh, my soul. May God give us
the ability to believe these things. Thank you.