You and I have been studying
now for the last few weeks in the book of Genesis. We looked
last week at this chapter, and I want to look at it again one more time
this morning and glean some things here from it. And I want to entitle
the message this morning, Separation and Reconciliation. I want us
to see this before we leave this particular chapter. Separation
and Reconciliation. I would say that probably this is one of the most important
chapters in all the scriptures. For it's here that we're told
where sin entered. Sin never entered by the devil.
or any angelic creature, but we're told here that sin entered
by this man, by Adam. And that it only entered through
his permission, through his willful disobedience, by one man's disobedience. And we're told here the consequence
of that act of disobedience. In the day that you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. And the effects of disobedience,
the effects of sin, was twofold. There was a twofold death. One
was delayed, that was physical death. Adam never died physically
the day that he ate of this tree. He lived 930 years and he died
physically. But there was another death and
that is a spiritual death. And that death he died immediately. Dead in trespasses and sins. Now if you ask me this morning
to explain what it is to be dead spiritually. And if I had only
one word to use to define spiritual death, it would be this one word,
separation. We see that immediately when
Adam and Eve had sinned, they had this attitude that settled
in their hearts to hide from the Lord. Immediately they that
had entered into sweet communion with their Creator, enjoyed Him
immensely, loved Him, delighted in His voice, you suddenly see
the attitude of their hearts change. They could not wait to
escape His presence. We're told here in this chapter
that they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. And
you get the feeling as you read through this chapter. You get
this sense that this separation had come. Even in the last verses
there that Brother Glenn read to us, we're told of this separation. This chapter ends with a Lord
sending man out of this happy place. Separated from this beautiful
garden where everything was pleasant to the eyes and good for the
flesh and the soul of a man. And we're told there also in
verse 24 of this separation that finally man was driven out. He was driven out. The separation. That's what it means to be spiritually
dead. Then lost God. They'd lost the
life of God. They'd lost love. They'd lost
everything that was good. They'd lost it. Separated from
everything that was good and holy. And you know, there's many
ways that you and I can say that death physical and death spiritual
relates one to another. But there is some ways in which
it does not relate to physical death. When you go down to the
mortuary and you view someone that's dead physically, they
lay there and they're tested and their brain is dead. They
have no thoughts anymore. They cannot participate in the
things of this world. They're spiritually dead. But
you know, it's not that way to be spiritually dead. It would
be better if it was. But oh, when spiritual death
come, all that was good was taken away, but it was replaced with
all that's evil. The carnal mind is separated
from God, but it's not dead towards God. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. It has thoughts of God, but they're
not right thoughts. They're not good thoughts. They're
not holy thoughts. They're sinful thoughts. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. And the Lord Jesus Christ
said Himself about those who are dead in trespasses and sin. He said, this is the condemnation,
that life is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light. He doesn't love good. He doesn't
love God. He doesn't love the gospel of
the Son of God. But he loves darkness. He loves
himself. He loves this world. He loves
his independence from God. He loves his sin. Yes, it would
be better if we could say spiritual death meant that men have no
thoughts towards God at all. But it's not so, is it? They
have thoughts, but it's sinful thoughts. It's not submission,
but it's rebellion. We see this separation here that
the Lord drove man from this garden. And if fallen man was
to ever have fellowship, if he was to ever enter again into
the presence of God and be friends with Him, and commune with Him,
then something was going to have to take place. There must be
reconciliation. Separation had come. If two friends
are at odds, if a man and his wife have fallen out and they're
separated, and they're reconciled one with another, then they must
sit down and talk. They must find out what their
problem is. If it be a simple apology, if
it be a promise of amending one's life, whatever it is, if reconciliation
takes place, these two parties must be brought back together
and sit down and talk it out. And as serious as it is for friends
to be divided and a husband and a wife to be divided, This case
between God and fallen sinners is much more serious than that.
The consequences of not being reconciled is much more serious
than that. The danger of not being reconciled
is not a temporal danger, but it's an eternal danger. You and
I are born into this world, brothers and sisters. We're born dead
in trespasses and sin. We're born already ruined in
sin. And if we live and we die as
we're born, then we will be forever, for eternally separated from
our God. We'll hear those words, depart
from me you cursed, depart from me. Ain't that awful to hear? That's more serious than a man
and his wife. That's more serious than friends
being reconciled. Reconciliation must take place
between God and the sinner. If it does not, then we will
forever be separated from our God and Creator. And I can't
think of a worse thing to do. I can't think of a greater hell
than to be separated from God for all eternity. That in itself
is hell. What is involved in reconciliation
between God and the sinner? That's what I want to dwell upon
a few minutes this morning. And I want to look at two aspects
of reconciliation. First of all, I want to look
at that reconciliation which must take place outside of us. That reconciliation that must
take place apart from us. Not anything that we do, but
something that is done on our behalf. That's the first aspect
of reconciliation. And let me say this about this
aspect of reconciliation. You may sit down and try to talk
with God. You may tell God that you're
sorry. You may apologize. You may make Him promises to
mend your life. But that cannot reconcile you
to God. This first act of reconciliation
must take place outside of us. It must be done by somebody else
on our behalf. And then the second aspect I
want to look at of this reconciliation is something that takes place
in us. A heart reconciliation to God. Now look at this with me this
morning. I call your attention this morning again to the verse
that Brother Glenn read to us in chapter 3 and verse 21. In Genesis chapter 3 and look
here in verse 21. This is an amazing thing and
it's the first time that we see anything about a sacrifice offered
for sin. Here's where God gave us the
pattern. Here's where God gave the way
of reconciliation. And it was by blood of these
innocent victims. Did you notice that? Unto Adam
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin, and He
clothed them. They stood there in the fig leaves
that they had sowed for themselves, but that didn't make reconciliation. It wasn't by their obedience
that they were to be reconciled to God. It wasn't any merit that
they had, any works that they could do. But before they could
be reconciled to God, something had to be done on their behalf,
and God had to do it. They never even thought of doing
this, neither could they have done it. The amazing thing, brothers
and sisters, about reconciliation, nobody can do it but God. Nobody
can do it. We got ourselves into this mess.
We separated from God by our own wills, but I tell you, there's
nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God. That's the
work of God Himself. So He kills these animals, these
innocent animals. And he takes the garment from
these victims and he clothes these two transgressors. He did
this right before their eyes. And why did he do that? To teach
them and to teach us that the way of reconciliation is by sacrifice. It's by the blood of an innocent
victim. Now I want you to take your Bibles
and turn to two or three places. Over in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles
chapter 29. And I want you to look here in
verse 21, 2 Chronicles. Throughout the Old Testament,
2 Chronicles chapter 49, throughout the Old Testament, all God's
people brought a sacrifice. You see it immediately when Abel
was born. Adam and Eve's second son, he
brought a sacrifice. Abraham brought a sacrifice.
Noah brought a sacrifice. And here in Chronicles chapter
29, the children of Israel had sinned grievously against the
Lord. Hezekiah was their king. And
he said, we must be reconciled to God. His judgment is upon
us. We've shut up the house of the
Lord. We've not been offering the sacrifices He requires. So
we said we must be reconciled to God. And here's the way they
went about this. Now look here at verse 21. 2 Chronicles chapter 29 verse
21. And they brought seven bullocks. Now seven, seven you know in
the scriptures and I don't. know very much about the numerology
of the scriptures, but I know this about seven, his perfection.
It means perfection. When you see seven, it's perfection.
And look at this. He brought seven bullocks, seven
rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats for a sin offering for
the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded
the priests to some errand to offer them on the altar of the
Lord. So they killed the bullocks,
and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the
altar. Likewise, when they had killed
the rams, he sprinkled the blood upon the altar, and they killed
also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar, and
they brought forth the he-goats for the sin offering before the
king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them."
Now we know what that means, don't we? That was the transfer
of sins. That's what God commanded Aaron
to do, to lay his hand upon the head of the sacrifice, and he
said, by this act, You're transferring the sins of the children of Israel
upon the head of that innocent victim. They always remembered
to do that. Because that was substitution.
Taking our sins from us and putting them upon the head of an innocent
victim. In verse 24. And the priest killed
them. And look at this. And they made
reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to make an atonement
for all Israel. See that? See how reconciliation
is made? By a victim shedding its blood,
giving up its life. Really, there's two aspects of
this. As long as sin stands between us and God, there is no reconciliation. God cannot draw near to us, He's
too holy. We cannot draw near to Him, we're
too sinful. Before reconciliation can be
made, that which caused the division, that which caused the separation,
to begin with, must be taken out of the way. And how is it
taken out of the way? By blood of an innocent victim. by sin atonement. If you take
that which brought separation out of the way, then the way
back to God is made blank. You can approach Him to God and
God can approach Him to us. But reconciliation can only be
made through man atonement. Sin must be suffered for. Sin
must be put away. The justice of God requires it. Now look here at another place.
Look over here in the New Testament. Look in the New Testament, Romans
chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5. You and
I read about these innocent victims in the Old Testament and how
they placed their hands upon the head of those victims and
shed their blood and took it into the altar and into the sanctuary
and the holy place and sprinkled it on the blood of that altar,
the mercy seat, and God forgave their iniquity. But these were
only pictures. These were only types, these
were shadows. When we come to the New Testament,
we see what all those pictures and shadows and types represented. Back there we're told that God
killed the victim and that's the way reconciliation was made.
How is reconciliation actually made? Not just a type, not just
a picture, but how is it actually made? How did God reconcile fallen
sinners to himself? Well, here we find it in Romans
chapter 5. Look at this. Look here beginning
here in verse 6. And when, for when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, Preadventure, perhaps for a good man, some
would even dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Now look
in verse 10. For if, when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. There it is. There it is. When we were enemies, you say,
Bruce, I've never been an enemy of God, and I'm not one now.
And so, if that's your attitude, you need to reconcile, either.
Because when Jesus Christ lifted up his voice on Calvary's tree
and said, it's finished, he reconciled his enemies to God. Not his friends,
his enemies. If you and I will not take our
place as sinners, we will not have a part with this redeemed
Savior. Now that's so. He made reconciliation upon the
cross of Calvary. Now this is the aspect of reconciliation
you and I must be settled on. We must drive this down here
and be settled upon this. I mean, when we talk about reconciliation,
the first aspect of it, it's something that takes place outside
of us. It's something that someone else
did before you and I were ever born. We never thought of it. We could not have done it. Jesus
Christ, the dear and blessed Son of God, did it Himself at
a great cost Himself. Sweat mixed with His blood, groanings
and crimes, stripes on His back to the white of His bones appeared.
He was separated from God Himself. Why? That you and I who deserve
to be separated for eternity, might be reconciled to God. Now we've got to be settled on
this. We've got to understand this. We've got to believe this. If you're wrong here, dear soul,
if you're wrong here, then you'll be wrong forever. You'll be wrong
forever. The work's been done. Redemption
has been obtained. Sin has been suffered for. Sin
has been put away. Reconciliation has been made
2,000 years ago on the cross of Calvary. Now nail that down
there in your heart and get a hold of that. Take that home and think
about it. Take that home and think about
it. The covenant of words has been
broken. I mean, paradise is lost. If
you could find that place, you couldn't get in there. There's
angels there, holy angels with these swords, and you can't get
back in there. If you could say, well, I'll
get back in there and I'll do better. I'll do better than my
first father did. You can't get back in there.
It's finished. Sin has entered. You and I are
dead in trespasses and sin. Now we must be reconciled. And
thank God it's accomplished. It's accomplished. That's what
we have here in Genesis chapter 3. God gave us a beautiful picture
of reconciliation. But here's another aspect of
reconciliation. Turn your Bibles again, back
over here to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. The second aspect of reconciliation
is this. It's something that takes place
within us. It's a change of heart towards
God. It's a change of attitude towards
God. As I was reading this passage,
and let me explain it to you like this. Let me explain to
you what I mean. As I was reading this passage
just yesterday and the day before, I thought what a gracious thing
it was here, in verse 21, with the Lord Himself condescending,
come so near to this couple that He could touch them, and that
He could Put these garments of these victims on these two, Adam
and Eve, these two people. To fit them, to suit them. You
have your clothes fitted, Clarence. Tailor made. There the living
God was fitting their garments. He didn't just throw the garments
away, He fed it over, He clothed them. And I thought what condescending
grace, what love that was for Him to condescend to do that.
And they just stood there and let Him do it. But you say, Bruce,
that's passive. They had nothing to do in that.
I know they had nothing to do in that. But you consider this
whole chapter. You consider the whole chapter.
You consider where they were at the beginning, and then where
they were at the end when God clothed them. That was a great
change for them. And let me explain it this way.
They weren't clothed with skins at the first. You remember how
they were clothed? They clothed themselves. They
sewed these silly fig leaves together, I guess thinking because
their nakedness was hid one from another, it was hid from God.
How ignorant they were immediately. No, they didn't have these garments
on to begin with. They had sewed their own fig
leaves together. At first they weren't near enough
for the Lord to clothe them. They were hiding from the presence
of the Lord behind those trees. At first they weren't willing
to submit to Him. They weren't willing to own their
guilt. They played this blame game. The woman that you gave
me. It's your fault, Adam said. If
you hadn't gave it to me, she said it's the devil's fault.
They were trying to pass the buck on to somebody else. And
then the Lord God did this, and we see it here in this chapter.
He rendered this awful judgment while they stood there and listened.
They stood there and heard what he said. and pronounced their
judgments, rendered the verdict, and told them, all of them, that
they were guilty together, and all of them would suffer for
it, the woman, the man, and that servant. They were so overcome,
they were so overwhelmed, they were so brought to the end of
their selves that their excuses stopped. When the Lord began
to speak and to judge, what did they say then? They said nothing.
At first they tried to cover their own shame. At first they
tried to argue and make excuses. But they were brought to the
end of their selves until their mouths were stopped and they
said nothing. They submitted to the Lord and
their human merit, that is their clothing, their covering, was
stripped away and with full consent, listen to me now, with their
full consent, they stood there before the Lord willing to be
clothed by His garments. Now I see a great change come
over them. Did you? You look at them where they started
from, hiding, trying to fold their own chain, making excuses,
and now what's happened to them? Here they stand dumbfounded.
Here they stand guilty and accepting their guilt. And here they stand
willing to be saved God's way. What am I saying? In reconciliation, We answer this call. Did you
notice that there in verse 9, the last part of verse 9? Adam, where art thou? That's where it begins. That's
where it began with me. That's where it began with some
of you here this morning. Here's where it begins. Here's
where the change begins when God speaks, when He calls. That's where the thing begins
to change. Adam, word, art, vow. Now listen
to me this morning. Don't think this was something
that took place 6,000 years ago. You know, don't say, Bruce, this
has got nothing. Man, this happened 6,000 years ago. Tell me something
about right now. We shouldn't think that this
took place 6,000 years ago. Time is nothing with God anyway. You and I were right there, brothers
and sisters, when this took place. We were right there in our Father
and in our Mother when this took place. You were there and I were
there. It's just like we did it ourselves. And when the Lord came, He came
to you and He came to me. And He says to you and He says
to me, where are you? Where are you? That's a question
you're going to have to answer this morning. That's a question
I'm going to have to answer this morning. Where are you? I'm going to run and hide. Not
if you ever reconcile again, you're going to run and hide.
When you hear His voice, you're going to have to come out. You're
going to have to come out into the presence of God. You're going
to have to do business with the Living Lord. You're going to
have to begin to speak with Him, and talk with Him, and listen
to Him, and submit to His judgment, submit to His rule, and submit
to His righteousness. You're going to have to do it.
I'm saying in this aspect of reconciliation, you and I are
not passive. There's a work going on in the
heart. A man owns his guilt. A man quits making his excuses.
He quits blaming everybody else. He comes out of his indifference.
He comes out of his hiding places. And he begins to seek the Lord.
He begins to repent. He begins to cry, Lord, have
mercy upon me. You've got to come out of that
bunker. You've got to come out and throw the weapons of warfare
down and raise up that white flag and say to the Lord, I ain't
going to fight against you anymore. The warfare of my heart is finished. It's over with. I've been your
enemy all my life. I surrender all. All to Jesus,
I surrender. Now brothers and sisters, that's
what it means to be reconciled to God. It means you're tired
of sin. You're tired of being God's enemy.
You're tired of making excuses. And you come and you bow your
soul, you bow your heart to the authority and the salvation that's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you do it lovingly. You do
it with her. It's an amazing thing, Annie.
You take a man, like Brother Glenn told us this morning, That's
not willing to be saved. And that's what you see in our
first friends. They weren't willing to be reconciled. They didn't
know anything about it until God called. And oh, how their
hearts and conscience were stirred. They were so afraid, but they
were brought out. And they began to tremble. But
they come and did business with the Lord and they wound up being
willing and submissive. Clothed men. Clothed men. I was talking with my neighbor,
he's an old World War II veteran. My next door neighbor. And he
was telling me about, he was guarding, he was guarding one
of the prison camps here in America. And there was a German officer,
he was a doctor, that had been captured and he was here in one
of the prison camps. And my neighbor got acquainted
with him and asked him what happened and everything and how he got
captured. And he said, he said, this is
my experience. He said, I heard about what a
good country America was. I was a German soldier serving
under Hitler, he said, and I heard about what a good country America
was. And he said, I come to despise Hitler and his oppressive regime. I come to hate my own country,
he said. And he said, I vowed in my heart that if I ever saw
any American soldiers, I'd throw down my weapon and get down at
their feet and surrender. And he said, when I come to that
conclusion in my heart, I begin to watch. He said, if I run upon
a Russian soldier, he said, I was afraid to surrender to him. They
killed a lot. But he said, I kept my eyes open
for some American soldiers. And he said, the minute I saw
them, I threw down my gun and laid down at their feet and said,
I surrender. I surrender. That's the way it
is, brothers and sisters, being reconciled to the war. The battle's
over with. You're sent to sin. You're finished
with it. And you get down at His feet and say, Oh Lord, clothe
me. Oh Lord, wash me. I'll fight
you no longer. I'll fight you no longer. Now
that's what it means. If it's not a heart reconciliation. If it's not a willing reconciliation. If you don't value this above
everything, then my conclusion would be, you just don't know
anything about this. You've never been brought there
to the end of yourself. If you ever are, oh, you'll value
this. It'll be the most precious thing
in your life. It will. It will. What were they reconciled
to? Redeeming grace. Redeeming grace. That's what they were reconciled
to. Before, they wanted to clothe themselves. That was good enough.
But oh, the Lord says, you're going to have to stand here,
watch me kill these victims, and submit to be clothed. And
you know what they said? Clothed. Clothed. Clothed. Well, it's wonderful, ain't it?
Let me give you three quick things and I'll let you go. Three quick
things that brought about their willingness to be reconciled
to God. Three things that brought about
their willingness to be reconciled to God. And the first one is
here and I referred to it is in verse 9. Why did they become
willing? Well, You see here in this verse
9, the Lord God called unto them. Called unto them. Who are they? You know what they
eventually come to see in this. God was not willing to leave
them where they were. God was not willing that they
should live and die in their sins. They saw that eventually. Oh, at first it scared them to
death. But eventually they saw how much He must care for us. We hid from Him, but what does
He do? He comes seeking us. He comes
calling on us. Where are you? When we were unwilling
to face the danger we were in, He comes to make us face it.
He forces us by grace to face it. Where are you? Oh brothers
and sisters, ain't this one thing looking back upon your unconverted
life? Ain't this one thing even today
that has a tendency to break your heart and make your will
so pliable when you remember that He came to you when you
were dead in trespasses and sin and refused to let you die? He
had no obligations to you. He owed you nothing but judgment. Instead, what does He do? Clarence, where are you? Glenn,
where are you? He awakens us. He deals with
us. Oh, the goodness of God. The
goodness of God. Aren't you thankful for effectual
calling? Aren't you thankful this is not of the will of man,
but of the will of God? Oh, what did God have to do to
let these two die in their sins? Nothing. Nothing. Just leave them alone. They were
dead already, and they would have died physically. He didn't
have to come here and pronounce the judgment. They were already
guilty. Why does He come here? To save
them. To call them out, and to give
them life. Oh, thank God that He's not like
this. He keeps on calling, Adam, where art thou? And number two
was this, here in verse 15, they heard this promise, this promise, that God would send His Son,
the Messiah, the seed of the woman, to undo the evil that
they have done to themselves, and that the devil have helped
them to do. This had to give them hope, didn't it? Had to
give them hope. They didn't know what was going
to come next. For all they knew, it was destruction for them.
They had no idea what the Lord was going to do to them. He brought
them to face their guilt, and they stood there trembling, and
they probably thought no doubt. Boy, then that's what we heard.
That's what we heard. Take them away. Send them to
tell me. But instead, what do they hear? A promise. I'm going to send one to undo
what you've done to yourself. Oh, here's the promise. Oh, no doubt they understood
so little of it. They understood enough of it
that gave them some hope. He gave them hope. All is not
lost, they thought. God is for us. God is on our
side. We've ruined ourselves, but He's
not left us without hope. He's given us a promise. Somebody
is coming to bruise that serpent's head and to put away our sins. To deliver us from our enemies. Don't you find when your heart
is cold, and when your heart is so hard, boy, when you can lay hold of
a precious promise, a gracious promise. Don't it just hinder
your heart? Don't it make your will so pliable sometimes? Turn over here in John chapter
6 with me right quick, and I'll close here in just a minute.
One or two more things. One or two more things. I was sitting
in my study yesterday, and you would think a man sitting
in his study, reading his Bible, surrounded by a bunch of religious
books, wouldn't have any problems. But I tell you, sometimes you
get so down, don't you? You just get so down, and you
see the hardness of your own heart, and you see yourself more
fit to be down than to be saved. I feel more fit to go to hell
than to heaven. And then a precious promise.
A precious promise. And I was sitting there yesterday,
thanking the book of scriptures, and I thought of these promises.
Right here in verse 54 of John chapter 6. And I began to read
them and I thought, my, my. There's 8 promises here in these
few little verses. And look at them. Look in verse
54. John chapter 6, verse 54. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and dranketh my blood, my broken flesh, my
redeeming blood, hath eternal life." What a promise! He hath
it! He hath it! He's not waiting! He has it! And here's another
one. I will raise him up at the last
day. Who's afraid of death? I ain't
afraid of death. Are you? Not when I'm eating
of his flesh and drinking of his blood. Not when this precious
promise comes to my soul in its power. Here's another one, verse
55. My flesh is meat indeed. Yes it is. And here's another
one. And my blood is drink indeed. And look at verse 56. He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me. There's another. Do you eat his
flesh and drink his blood? Is it your strength? Does his
blood satisfy the thirst of your soul? Then you abide in him.
There's no doubt about it. That's the promise. And I abide
in him. You're in him and he's in you.
Now look at this one. Verse 57, As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by eating me. We have a life, but sure,
we can't die. We're eating of the real tree
of life. We're drinking of real living
water. People, I think, if you could tell somebody that you
found the fountain of youth, I tell you, you could be a rich
man overnight. We found a fountain you can drink from and never
die. Well, there is such a fountain. There is such a bread. There
is such a table you can sit down at, and if you can eat at that
table, you'll live forever. That's the table that Christ
has provided. His own body and His own blood. This is the bread
which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat man
and are dead. He that eateth of this bread,
he shall live. He shall live forever. Forever. That's the promise.
Don't you find when these promises come to your soul, it don't matter
how dark your understanding is, how hard your heart is, how cold
your affections are. Oh, it just warms your soul,
doesn't it? That's what our first father
and mother felt. When God gave him a promise, I'm sending my
son. He's going to undo, he's going to restore everything.
Oh, their souls. Their wills become so pliable.
They said, well, if that's so, then you just go ahead and go
with me. I ain't going to fight against you anymore. Save me,
Lord, save me. One last thing, one last thing.
Back over here in our text. Genesis verse 21. I tell you what, you turn to
2 Corinthians chapter 5, and I'll close with this. Verse 21 there in Genesis 3,
that I just read to you a minute ago. For the Lord killed these victims. Can you
imagine how they felt about that? I mean, you know He did it right
before their eyes. You just know that He did that.
He was going to teach them the price that it took for reconciliation. And we know He must have done
it because they called angels to bring the sacrifice. Can you imagine how they felt
as they saw the Lord Himself? And I don't know if He had taken
some kind of a human form, that they could see. He sometimes
did that in the Old Testament. But he slaughtered these animals. Blood was running out of their
throats. And he skinned those animals
right before their eyes. And tucked those clothes and
made them garments. Can you imagine how they felt?
Here is this innocent victim. And they had to die because of
what I've done. They weren't cursed. It wasn't
their fault. But they had to die to pay for
my sin. To provide me a cloth. Don't
you imagine that just humbled their hearts. It made their will
so plain. You know what's going to bring
about reconciliation. If you're here this morning and
you're lost, you know probably what's going to help bring about
your reconciliation to God. You're going to see the cost
it took. You're going to see the awful cost it took to reconcile
you. And when you do, it's going to
break your heart. It's going to leave you sobbing in your
soul. Now look here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Look here in verse
18. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
18. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. And he's given unto us
the ministry, the gospel of reconciliation. That's what we preach. I'm just
preaching it to you this morning. This is the ministry of reconciliation.
Separation. Reconciliation. That is to say
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 didn't beseech
you. Listen to that. You know what
that word means? And we've been sovereign grace.
It's difficult to say this. You know what that word means?
To beg you. To plead with you. To reason
with you. Here God is condescending again. Just like He did to our first
parents. And God outneared them. and clothed them, touched them,
felled up them, and they felled them and filled up them. What
condescending love. And here we see it again. God
begs you by us. What am I this morning? Why am
I standing here preaching to you? It's God speaking, beseeching
you. Why? We pray you in Christ's
name. As though Christ were standing
here. Be you reconciled to God. Don't fight against him anymore.
You can't win. You gonna fight against your
maker? With a posture? Strive against one who has it
on the wheel? Will the creature strive with
his maker? You can't win. Throw up the white flag. Give
it up. Lay down at his feet. On what grounds? Look in verse
21. For God hath made Christ to be sinned for Christ. There
it is. You know what it took to reconcile
us? Look to the cross. Look to Calvary. That's what
it took. And so, if that won't break your
heart, you've got a devil. That's for sure. That's for sure. God hath made Christ to be seen
in some mysterious way. He whom you know seen, that you
and I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Separation, oh, how sad. But reconciliation, oh, how glorious. Let us pray.