Open your Bibles, please. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul says, beginning with verse
14, I'm constrained. In my life, I'm constrained in
what I do by the love of Christ. And he said, I no longer live
unto myself, but I live for Him. And I no longer make fleshly
judgments, but spiritual judgments. Even though I've known Christ
in the flesh, not anymore. I know Him now spiritually. And then it says in verse 17,
or verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things are become new. And now in verse 18 to our
text. And all things, how much? How many things? All things are
of God. who is the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, all in between. All things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself. He did it through his
Son, the Lord Jesus. By Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry, given to Paul and the apostles, his preachers,
the ministry of reconciliation. And this is it. that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing, not
charging their trespasses and sins 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, it is as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. And this
is the ground of reconciliation. For God has made him to be sin
for us, substitution. That one who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Substitution. He took our sins. He gives us
his righteousness. That's substitution. Let's look
at one other place. Look at the book of Colossians
chapter one. Colossians chapter one. Verse 20, and having Christ,
and having made peace through the blood of His cross, reconciliation,
peace, by Him, to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him,
I say, whether they be things in earth, things in heaven, and
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, Yet now, after you reconcile, all things are of God. Reconcile
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel, which you have heard, which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven. And where have I fallen? I have
made a minister." Reconciliation. That's the title of my message
this morning. Reconciliation. Now, the Apostle
Paul tells us that he was an ambassador for the Lord Jesus
Christ. As all of God's preachers are,
And they are men with a calling, men on a mission, and men with
a message. The ambassador of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're called of God. They're sent of God on a mission
with a message. One message. There's only one
message. And their authority and their message is not their
own. Not at all. Not in the least.
They're ambassadors. That means they speak for another.
They speak the message given to them to speak. They don't
make up their own message. They don't make up their own
words. The ambassadors of the United States around the world,
they're not free to make up their own message, but they present
the message that our country gives them to give to other countries.
The ambassador of Jesus Christ can't make up his own message,
not if he's truly an ambassador of Christ. He's called of God
unto the gospel, separated unto the gospel. And he's on a mission. God sent him on a mission with
a message. And that's the message of reconciliation,
the message of Christ, the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They can tell sinners God was
in Christ, reconciling the world in Himself, not charging their
sins to them, but charging them to His own Son. Now you may go
free. Now you have a grounds for reconciliation. Now God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Be ye reconciled to God. We pray
you. We beseech you. In Christ's stead,
be you reconciled to God. Be you reconciled to God. In
Christ's stead, these ambassadors stand and proclaim their divine
message. It is as though Paul said, God
did beseech you by us. So God talking. It's as if God
were talking to you. We beseech you. Be you reconciled
unto God. A message of reconciliation.
We beseech you. We urge you. We pray you in Christ's
stead be ye reconciled to God. You need to be reconciled to
God. You need to be reconciled to
God. Now let's look at some questions and try to answer them briefly
this morning. as briefly as I can, but this is a tremendous subject. Number one, number one, what
is this message of reconciliation? What is it? Number two, what
does the word reconciliation mean? And number three, so important,
have you and I been reconciled to God? Now, have we been reconciled
to the true and living God, the God of this book? Now, the word
reconciliation presupposes a form of peace, a form of friendship,
that we were once friends with God. And that's true. Back in Adam we stood. God's
delight. God looked at Adam and said,
very good, not just good, but very good. And then something
happened. The human race stood in Adam
once perfect, stood in Adam once very good, stood in Adam once
as the Almighty's delight. He delighted in them. He took
pleasure in them. And then sin came and separated
between us and our God. That's what sin does. It separates
between us and our God. He cannot have fellowship with
sin. He cannot. He will not. And it cannot be
any means clear. He can't clear a sinner. Sin
has to be paid for. Because God is just, He always
will be just, and He cannot overlook sin. It must be paid for. Sin came into the world, separated
between us and God. Something rose up between us,
this thing called sin. And now we are not the friends
of God anymore. Not by nature. Not by birth.
We're born into this world enemies of God. Enemies in our mind,
enemies in our heart, enemies in our will. Born into the world
that way. That's why we need to be reconciled
unto God. Because we're born enemies. We're
children of wrath like everybody else, Paul said. Children of
God's wrath. Born under God's wrath. The wrath
of God abides upon us. Everything's not alright anymore.
The situation now is desperate. We're under the wrath of God.
We need to be reconciled to God. And that's what the message is
this morning. The Bible said man is estranged from God, alienated
from the God of the Bible, alienated from his Creator and his Benefactor
and his Judge and the only Savior. Alienated from God. Sin did that. There he is. In man, every man
by nature, enmity, hostility toward the God of this book.
I know people grow up today, the little kids grow up in the
Sunday school and smile, God loves you and God loves everybody
and you're a friend of God and all these saints. That's foolishness.
That's foolishness. God is angry with the wicked
every day. We're born wicked. We're children
of wrath, just like everybody else in the world. I don't care
if you're born in Africa, Australia, wherever you're born. South America. Children of wrath. Alienated
from God. Enemies in your mind. We all
have gods, but not the God of the Bible. The Bible says concerning
the heathen, David's been looking at that in Romans chapter 1,
that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Neither were they thankful. God
just let them go. Gave them over to reprobation
and all form of uncleanness. Not the friends of God. Look at a couple passages. Romans chapter 5, if you will.
Turn back there right quick. Romans chapter 5. Talking to these saints, Paul
says, when we were yet without strength, without spiritual strength. Do you know why that is? Because
we were spiritually dead. That man has no strength. Without
strength. When we were yet without strength,
in due time, Christ died for, this is us. The ungodly. The ungodly. You know, a woman
was singing a song, Amazing Grace, the other day, and she changed
that term, a wretch like me, changed it into a sinner like
me. Puts her nothing in the world as bad as a sinner. That's what
makes us wretched. But she's made her feel better
to say, sinner like me, instead of a wretch like me. But I'll
tell you, we're ungodly sinners, wretched in God's sight, without
strength. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 10, we were enemies, reconciled
to God, we were enemies, and justified through His resurrection. Romans 8, verse 5. This is what we all are by nature. We're ungodly. We're without
strength. We're dead in trespasses and
in sins. We're enemies of God. They that
are after the flesh, they're mindful. What are they concerned
about, mindful of? Things of the flesh. Natural,
temporal, things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit,
they are mindful of the things of the Spirit of God. To be carnally
minded, that is the fleshly, natural mind. To be carnally
minded is death. Death! But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. We set our affections by the
Spirit and grace of God on things above. Christ, who is our life. Because the natural mind, carnal
mind, is enmity against God. I don't understand that fully,
and consequently I can't explain it, but I believe it. I know
it. I experience it. Enmity. We are
not just at enmity for the thing which causes enmity, then we
might remove it. But we are. We are. In our existence,
we are enmity against God. Enmity in our minds against the
God of the Bible. The God who gives us life. We're
enemies. We're ungodly. We're in rebellion
against God. Therefore, they that are in the
flesh, they cannot please God, not in any way, form, or fashion.
I don't care if they give their bodies to be burned. I don't
care how much they sacrifice. They cannot please God in any
way. Whatever they do is like sanding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. They cannot please God. Cannot! In the world full of
people that go about in religion in the name of Jesus, doing all
their things, going through their rituals and ceremonies, and all
their praise to the Lord, they cannot do a thing to please God.
Not one single solitary thing. because they're dead in trespasses
and in sins. We are in desperate need then
of reconciliation. We are in desperate need to be
reconciled unto God. We need to have peace and harmony
once again between us and God. We need for God to look at us
once again and take delight in us and not build up His wrath
against us. The wrath of God abideth on the
unbeliever. We're children of wrath by nature. We need that cause of wrath removed. And that cause of wrath is sin.
If we could get rid of that sin, then we might become friends
of God. If we could get rid of that sin, we would be the friends
of God. And that's exactly what we need.
And that's called reconciliation. And this is a personal matter,
an individual matter. Your mom can't do it for you.
The preacher can't do it for you. The church can't do it for
you. The Pope can't do it for you. Between you and God. Between
you and God. Be ye reconciled unto God. I
beseech you. I pray you. I beg you in Christ's
name. Be ye reconciled unto God. Oh, by nature you're an enemy
of God. And though men join hand in hand,
they can't stand against God. You don't want to be His enemy.
Be ye reconciled unto God. It has nothing to do, this reconciliation
cannot be done by proxy. It has nothing to do with infants
and imbeciles. It has nothing to do with sprinklings
and baptisms. It has nothing to do with rituals
and ceremonies. It's a spiritual thing. It's
a matter between a sinner and a holy God. in the gospel of
Christ. Be ye reconciled to God. Reconciled
to God. It is absolutely, this reconciliation
is absolutely foreign to so-called modern evangelism. They don't
understand. They do anything and everything
to get them in and win them over and keep them in. But if a man
is reconciled to God through the gospel, he'll come in and
he'll stay in. And he'll be so thankful to be
there. So thankful to be there. Be like Paul. He said, I'm a
new creature now. The love of Christ constrains
me. I no longer live for myself, but for God. I no longer judge
matters fleshly, but I judge them after the Spirit of God.
He's a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. This modern so-called evangelism,
repeat a prayer, talked into some kind of decision, That's
no more than free will, human works, religion. That's all it
is. That's all it ever has been and all it ever will be. Reconciliation
has to do with me, my mind, my heart, my will. Reconciliation
unto God. Reconcile, when I'm talking about
reconciliation, I'm talking about reconciliation to the person
of God, the providence of God, and the Word of God. The sovereign grace of God in
Christ. Every man and woman who is reconciled
to God will be submissive to God's Holy Word. They that are
of God hear God's Word. That's what it says. My sheep
hear my voice and they won't follow anybody else. They follow
God. They hear God's Word. They're
submissive to the Word of God. They're submissive to anything
that says about God Himself. Hardly anything I ever read or
say about God that I understand, but boy, I sure believe it. You
can't talk me out of it. Try you and God. Eternal God. Unchangeable God. Omniscient
God. Omnipotent God. I don't understand
those things. But I sure do believe them, because
that's what makes Him God. That's what makes Him God. God's
given me faith. And we believe according to the
Scriptures anything it says about us. Anything it says about us is
ungodly. I know a fellow one time that
was talking to this religious fellow. He was talking about
being a sinner. Yeah, I'm a sinner. Everybody
is sinners. What about you? Are you ungodly? No, I'm not
ungodly. The Bible says you are. The Bible
said, in the sight of God, you're like an open wound and bruises
and putrefying sores. You're just a mess for the maggots.
You're death! And I pray one day all of you
learn to see it. If you don't, you'll never be
saved. Never be saved. Reconciliation is the soul reconciled
unto God in friendship, peace, agreement, harmony. I read this book and I take God's
side against me. I read this book and I believe
what he says about himself. I read this book and I believe
what he says about sovereign grace, that his son has all power
in heaven, all power in earth, all power over all flesh in order
to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. I said,
that's all right. The question goes out from one
end of earth to the other. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? And I said, yes, Lord, it's lawful. It's lawful. If God were pleased to close
the door of grace this morning, and one day will, it may be this
morning, and send all the rest of the human race to hell, those
who didn't know God, how would you feel about that? Even so, Father, so it seemed
good in your sight. Everything He does is holy and
just and good. Holy and just and good. We don't know much about holiness
and not very much about justice and hardly anything about good.
But God is good. Just another name for God, good.
Sovereign goodness. I'll have mercy on whom I will.
I'll have compassion on whom I will. Enmity and hostility
in reconciliation to God. Enemy and hostility is cast down
and agreement between God and man established. God's people
agree with him. They're not fighting God. They've
not only cast down the weapons of their warfare against God,
they've cast them away. Cast them away. Now between them
and God in Christ Jesus the Gospel, there is friendship and peace
and harmony. And they say this is not a ceasefire,
it's the establishment of peace in our hearts. Not just a ceasefire,
peace established in our hearts. We've thrown away our weapons.
We're not at enmity against God anymore. The battle's over. It's finished. That song you
sing sometimes, it's finished. It's finished. The battle is
over. It's not just a peace treaty,
peace established in our hearts with the God of the Bible, who
he is, what he says, and what he does. All he is and all he does. And let me give you three or
four things to think about. Are we reconciled to the God
of the Bible, the God of this book? The only true God there
is, true and living God. That He is so great, there is
none to compare Him to, none to be His equal. He is God alone. God alone. Let me make this statement
first. He rules over all things in absolute,
sovereign serenity. And I mean by that, He rules
over everything in this universe. And nothing ever disturbs him
or upsets him or gets out of control. Perfect serenity. He's in charge. Daniel 4.35, He doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants
of this earth, and none can stay his hand or question what he
does. The king's heart, every king's heart is in his almighty
hand and he turns it wherever he pleases. That's the God of
this book. In the context of all the things
that happened to Job, he said he has a one man who can turn
him and whatever his soul desires, that's what he does. And if that
were not so, he would not be God. whatever his soul desires. That's what he does. And that
can only be said of one being in all the universe, God. He
does what he pleases. Always what he pleases. An old
heathen came to David and said, why do the heathens say, where
now is your God? He said, my God's in the heavens.
If I may paraphrase, that's where he's always been. And he does
what he pleases. Up there, down here in the sea,
all these places. That's my God. He does what He
pleases. Are we reconciled to that God?
That whatever He does is alright. You know, I may speak of it tonight
a little bit. Back in the Old Testament. Israel. Israel. So often disobedient, rebellious. God will give them over. Let
the enemies come in and take over. Let the enemies rule over
them. Bring them into subjection. Bring them into subjection. Little old Samuel, when he was
young, got a message from God. And it was a message against
Eli the prophet. And Eli said, what did God tell
you? He said, I'd rather not say. He told me what God said. God said, you didn't constrain
your sons and he's going to kill them. And Eli said, it's the Lord.
Let him do what seems to him good. God killed his son, Eli fell
and broke his neck, and they took the Ark of the Covenant
to the land of the Philistines. And that's good. We live in a day when religion
is abundant, but God doesn't receive much reverence, and God's
given us over to every kind of evil and idolatrous thought.
Men in government don't want to read the name of God on any
of the buildings. They don't want to be reminded
that we came forth as a godly nation. None of these things.
And God just let them go. And that's all right. It breaks my heart, but it's
all right. We deserve a lot worse than that.
And I think it's coming. And that's all right. That's
all right. He does what he wills, does as
he pleases with his own, in judgment and in mercy. That's all right. He has mercy upon whom he wills.
It pleased him to pass by the fallen angels and save some of
Adam's fallen race. No Savior provided for the angels. No hope forever for the angels. became to us. He chose Abraham out of an idolatrous
home, an idolatrous family, idolatrous country, and left the rest of
them to themselves. Abraham, that's the only name
he called. The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham when he was yet in Ur of Chaldeas and said,
follow me. Abraham took off. I read someplace where God chose
Isaac and let Ishmael go. That's all right. I read someplace where God chose
Jacob and let Esau go. And that's all right. I read some place where God chose
a little old, little old, little bitty old nation called Israel.
All the Gentile nations go. Just let them go. Acts 17, at
the time of this ignorance, God just winked at it, just let them
go. He never gave His word. He never
gave His worship. He never gave His promises to
any nation but one. That's Israel. A type of the
church. Type of the church. He saves
whom he pleases with a perfect and absolute freedom because
he's not obliged to save anybody. He's not obligated to anybody. He doesn't save anybody out of
personal need. Maybe that's a freedom I can't
even understand. I can't even enter into it, but
it's so. God's free. The only free will in all of
the world. We're all constrained and restrained
and influenced, but not God. Not our God. Not our God. He is without obligation, without
constraint and need. Are we reconciled to such a God
as this? I am. I am. Because I can't forget what I
am. My sin is ever before me. And I well remember where he
found me and when he began dealing with my soul. And I rebelled against it. I didn't want to think about
how bad I was. I'd much rather think about David,
how good I was. But there's no goodness in us.
And God kept on working. Once he put his almighty hand
on a sinner, he never takes it off. He saves him, brings him
all the way home. What a God we have. And I remember,
and I think well, how he could have left me to myself, my own
will. My own will. And I'm thankful
he didn't. And I repeat, He could close
the door of grace this very hour and send all of the lost human
race, every country of a nation, every city of a hamlet, every
cottage, every shack, send them to hell. And they'd be holy and just and
good. And I wouldn't want to argue
with God about that. Thirdly, men by nature are hell-bent,
hell-bound, hell-deserving, and helpless in and of themselves. Hell-bent, hell-bound, hell-deserving,
and helpless in and of themselves. The Bible says concerning this
human race, every thought, imagination of the heart is evil, continually
evil. The heart is deceitful, the mind
is enmity against God, and the will is in bondage to sin. Bondage to sin. We need eyes and ears and understandings. We need a new heart. And God
does all this in the covenant of salvation. He said, I'll give
them a new heart. I'll give my eyes to see and
ears to hear. They're right below in their
minds and their hearts. I'll be their God. They'll be
my people. Glad He decided that. My life, my soul, my destiny
is in the hands of God. Not these hands. The hands of
God. The invisible, almighty hands
of the God of this book. That's what it says. And I'm
so glad it's there. There was a man one time named
David Brainerd. He was supposed to marry, engaged
to marry, the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the man whom God used
in the Great Awakening in America. And he got something like TB,
and he lay in Edwards' home till he died. But he was an evangelist
to the American Indians in New England. And there was a time when he
didn't know God. He knew a lot about religion, but he found
out he didn't know God. And he found out some things
about God. He read in this book that God demands of us absolute
perfection. To keep this book, keep this
law from our hearts. Absolute perfection. And he knew
he couldn't do it. And he got mad at God. for demanding
something of him that he couldn't do. And he kept reading. And he found out that God requires
faith from sinners who can't keep the law of faith. Believe
God. And he couldn't produce it. And
he was mad at God. And it came to his mind and his
heart that God Either give it or withhold it. And he was mad
at God. Mad at God. God could give it
or withhold it. He was shut up to God. And this is his words, I got
mad at God. However, somehow, in the amazing
providence by the free grace of God, He got a little glimpse
of the substitute. That what God required of him,
the substitute did it for him. And he wasn't mad at God anymore.
He was such a faithful servant of God. Such a faithful servant
of God. By the free grace of God, he
became reconciled to God. He wasn't mad anymore. He's so
happy to know him. He saw the Lord Jesus as his
substitute. He saw in Christ full, free justification
through faith in Christ, faith in his name. And his heart was
reconciled to the God of the Bible. The Bible said, He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Oh, what a
gift. What a sacrifice. Spared not
his own son. but delivered him up to be a
man, to be made of no reputation, to suffer the contradiction of
sinners against himself all of his life, and finally to be crucified on
the cross under the infinite wrath of a holy God. He spared
him not, but delivered him up for us all. I like that message. God is holy and just. Sin deserves
judgment. And every sin and disobedience
shall receive a just recompense of reward. What is the just death? The just recompense of reward?
The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, death. But who died? Christ died and
I live. He gave his son. I can stand and rejoice in so
many things in the scriptures that I understand. I rejoiced
over and over in that old leopard that came. When the leopard came
to a crowd, he was supposed to put his hands up to his mouth
and cry, unclean, unclean, stay away from me, I'm unclean. But
this leopard, he ran right through that crowd, bumping into them,
rubbing shoulders with them, and bowed down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. all of his leprosy, incurable
disease, humanly speaking. And then he raised up his face and he said, Lord, he worships. He raised up his face and he
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord
said, I will. You don't owe me anything. You
don't have to. But if you will, you can make
me clean." He said, I will. Oh, what a good story. I beg
of you this morning in Christ's head, be you reconciled to God. God was reconciled to His people
on that cross. He was in Christ, not charging
their sins to them, but charging their sins to his son. And now
he's given us the ministry of reconciliation. And what is it? God made his own son to be sin
for us. That one who knew no sin. That
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. David mentioned this morning
the religious ignorance. People going about to establish
their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God which is in Christ Jesus. For Christ Himself is the end of the law
for righteousness to every believer. I stand before God just as guilty
as a sinner can be in myself, but I trust Christ and Him alone. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, and according as it is written,
he that glorieth. Let him glory in the Lord. All
things are of God. May God bless these words with
every heart, mine and yours.