It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I've entitled this message,
The Ministry of Reconciliation. And what I want to do is preach
to you in such a way as at least I'm going to imagine in my mind
that you've never heard the gospel before. And I want you to hear
As if you've never heard the gospel before and you're very
interested in what's being said because you want to know what
the gospel is. The ministry of reconciliation. Would you please listen carefully
and attentively. Now, Paul says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, verse 18, and all things are of God. Now, here's
where we begin with God. Not with your needs or my needs. Not with who we are, but with
who He is. All things are of God. All things in the physical creation,
He created the universe. All things in providence, that's
everything that happens in time, He is in control of. And He's
the first cause behind everything. And most especially are all things
of God in salvation. Jonah said salvation is of the
Lord. David said the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. And all things are of God. Now he goes on to say in verse
18, all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ and hath committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now, notice it says he hath reconciled
us. It does not say he will if. It's something that's already
been accomplished. He hath reconciled us to himself. Now, we have to ask the question,
who does Paul mean by the us when he says he hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ? Who is the us? If I would say
There's been a very large inheritance given for us. I would not mean
all people, I would be talking about my three sisters. We're
the us. Who is the us? Well, everyone
he's reconciled. All of God's elect. All who believe. The same us that Paul spoke of
when he said in Romans 8.31, if God be for us, who can be
against us? This is the us that he's speaking
of. who hath reconciled us to himself."
Now, what's this word reconcile mean? It means to take people
who are at enmity with one another and make them friends. To change from enmity to friendship. Now, according to the Scripture,
the natural man, that's me and you, that's the way we're born
into this world, we're born at enmity against God. Romans chapter
8 verse 7 says, for the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, the way
we're born into this world, is enmity against God. It doesn't
merely say it's at enmity against God, but it says it's enmity
itself against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. Now, enmity, somebody says, well,
I've never felt enmity towards God. And I understand people
saying that. I believe most people think they
either love God or at least have neutral feelings toward Him.
But the enmity usually is never seen until they hear the truth.
When they hear the truth concerning who God is. What he accomplished,
where he is now. When they hear the truth concerning
his sovereignty, how he's the first cause behind everything
and controls every event. When they hear the truth concerning
salvation, how it's all a work of grace and God is discriminating
in salvation. Yes, you heard the word right.
Who maketh thee to differ from another? If you are saved, God
has done something for you that he didn't do for somebody else.
God is discriminating in that sense. He elected some. He didn't
elect others. Christ died for some. He didn't
die for others. God the Holy Spirit calls some.
He doesn't call others. And somebody says, that's not
fair. I won't worship a God like that. And that's where the enmity,
the natural enmity with God is seen. Now, how did men become
enemies of God? The Scripture says that. How
did we get into that state? Well, when Adam fell, our first
father in the garden, when he fell, he died spiritually and
he became an enemy of God. At one time he loved God, now
he ran and hid from His presence. He didn't say, I'm sorry. He
didn't seek reconciliation. He ran from the presence of God,
no longer loving and relishing His presence. And when the Lord
came to him, he blamed the Lord for his fall. He said, the woman
that you gave me, She gave me of the fruit, and I did eat,
implying that it's the Lord's fault, and if He wouldn't have
given her this woman, this never would have taken place in the
first place. So he became dead in sins. Now, that doesn't mean
he was physically dead, but he lost his love for God, his relish
for the presence of God. And what he did, he did as a
representative. By one man's disobedience, this
one act of Adam, the many were made sinners, so we inherited. His evil nature. We're born into
this world at enmity against God. Now, the message of reconciliation
is that enmity is changed to friendship. All things are of
God who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation. We don't reconcile ourselves
to God. Here's the good news of the gospel. He reconciles
us. Let me read a passage of scripture
from Colossians chapter 1 beginning in verse 20. It says regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ and having made peace through the blood
of His cross by Him to reconcile, there's the word, all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
or aforetime alienated, and enemies, there's the word, enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the
body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. Now there's how reconciliation
takes place. God removed the reason for anger
by the death of His Son. My sin became His sin. God punished Him for it. My sin
is washed away, wiped out, blotted out, cancelled, disannulled,
and God does not have a reason to be angry with me. Now, he
would, apart from Christ. I'm the enemy, not him. I'm the
problem, not him. But he has reconciled his elect
to himself by taking away his reason for anger. In Romans chapter
5, verse 10, we read, for if when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son. When were we reconciled? When Christ died, when Christ
died, all of God's reason for anger has been removed and He
is reconciled. And He reconciled us completely
to Himself. There's absolutely no reason
for anger. And then Paul says He's committed
to us this ministry, this word of reconciliation. In verse 19,
he says, to wit, or namely, here's what it is, the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ. God was in Christ. You know, the Lord said, He that
hath seen Me has seen the Father. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. Christ is the second Person of
the Blessed Trinity. And he's God's Christ, God's
prophet, God's priest, and God's king. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now, what
is meant by the world? Who are meant by the world when
it says to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself." Now, is this the same world for which our Lord
refused to pray in John 17, verse 9, when He said, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which You've given Me,
for they are Thine? Is this the world that John told
us not to love? And if we love the world, the
love of the Father is not in us. Is this the world of which
James said, whosoever will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God? Is this the world he's speaking
of? Well, you know that's not the case. The world is those
people of whom He did not impute their sin to them. Read it again,
to which God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Now, whoever He didn't impute
their trespasses to them, that is who He means by the world.
It's really the same world of John 3, 16, God so loved the
world. that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." Christ is called, in 1 John 4, 14, the
Savior of the world. And I'm so thankful for that.
Now, this word, world, is a very wide word. I love this word. Very wide word, but it has some
limitations. And what is the limitation of
this word? It's limited to whosoever God did not impute their sin
to them. Now, this non-imputation of sin,
can you imagine? I want you to think about all
the guilty, sinful things that you've done or I've done. Wouldn't
you count it a great blessing if you found out that God didn't
charge you with it? He didn't impute it to you. Now,
this is the very heart and soul of the gospel. He reconciled
the world by not charging them with their sins. I want to read
a passage of Scripture from Romans chapter 4, beginning in verse
6. Paul says, Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Now, we read
of an imputation and a non-imputation. We read of the imputation of
righteousness and the non-imputation of sin. Now, how does that work?
My sin, the sins I've committed, and I don't even know what 99%
of them are. But their sin upon sin upon sin, the sins that I've
committed, were not imputed to me. God did not charge me with
them. He did not hold me as guilty
or responsible for them, because He lifted them up on me, off
of me, and gave them to His Son. And the righteousness of His
Son is imputed to me. That is how a sinner can be clean
and righteous before God. By the non-imputation of their
sin, Christ caring it for them, and Him taking His righteousness
and imputing it to me. Now, having been reconciled to
God through this imputation, He's committed to us the word
of reconciliation. Now, here's what it is. Verse
20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. We come as an ambassador
of Christ. We have nothing to do with the
content of this message, just like an ambassador doesn't make
his own comment his own content to what he's saying, he represents
the country. He gives their thoughts and their
wishes and their desires and what they have to say. He doesn't
give his own words. We then, as ambassadors of Christ,
bringing his word, not ours, not trying to change it, not
trying to soften it, not trying to make it more appealing to
the flesh, we simply bring his word. But that doesn't mean we
present this message in a cold and unfeeling way. I want you
to believe the gospel. I want you to be saved by the
grace of God. I want you to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want you to be saved by His
grace. That's my desire for you. Now,
look what he says. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now, once again, who's
he speaking to when he says this? Now then, we are ambassadors
of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you,
in Christ's name, be you reconciled to God. Well, I'll tell you this.
He's speaking to everybody who will hear. He's speaking to whosoever. If this fits you, if this is
what you need, it is to you. Thank God for that. God says,
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. God says, come, let us reason
together, though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white
as snow. The Lord said, if any man thirsts,
if any man thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Somebody says,
well, what if I'm not one of the elect? You don't need to
worry about that. All you need to do is hear the Gospel. The
Lord said, come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Now, he's able to give rest,
and he's willing to give rest. Aren't you thankful for that?
As a matter of fact, he is more willing to have mercy on you
than you are to receive it. This is who this message is to,
that Paul is preaching to. We, then, as ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, you be reconciled to God. He's reconciled, you be reconciled. Drop your arms. Drop your enmity
with God. How's all that? Well, here's
what this basically means. Quit being God's judge. Quit criticizing Him for the
way He saves. Don't be His enemy. Bow to Him
and know that whatever He does is just and right and holy and
true. bow to his way of saving and
be thankful for his way of saving by grace. You know, the natural
man, when they hear the gospel, I've already touched on this,
but they become angry. They say it's not fair. It's not fair
for God to save one and not save another. It's not fair for God
to elect one and not elect another. It's not fair for Christ to not
die for all men with that exception. That's just not fair. God's not
treating us right when he does that. Now, wait a minute. Understand
this. If salvation were left in your
hand, you'd say, well, if I was God, I'd save everybody. If salvation
were left in your hands or my hands, the only people that would
be saved would be us. That's it. If salvation were
left in your hands, the only person that would be saved would
be you. Because, listen real carefully,
I may sin against you once and you'll forgive me. I may sit
against you twice, and you'll forgive me. I may sit against
you three times, and you start getting upset. But at some point,
you'd say, I've had it. I won't have anything to do with
that person any longer. Let him go. God continually forgives
by His grace. Now that is the blessedness of
God. Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled. Don't be angry
at His way of salvation. Give thanks for it. Whatever
He does is right. Trust Him. Trust Him. He is more
willing to save by His grace than you are to receive it. You
be reconciled to God and quit sitting in judgment on God. And
look at His grand argument for reconciliation. He says in verse
20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did
beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
you be reconciled to God. Don't be his judge. Don't be
his critic. Don't be angry at his way of
saving. And here's the grand argument.
Verse 21, and this is... I don't suppose there's a more
important verse of Scripture in all of God's Word than this.
Look in verse 21, 4. He hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, there are three Persons
mentioned in this verse of Scripture. He, Him, and Us. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us. The He is God the Father, and
He is not the God portrayed by the corrupt Christianity of our
day. Now, let me tell you three things
that you and I must know concerning Him. God is sovereign. That means He has a will, He
has the power to make His will come to pass, and He always does
make His will come to pass. To say God is sovereign is to
say that God is God. He is in absolute control. He's the first cause behind everything. That means everybody is in His
hands. Your destiny is not in your hands,
it's in His hands. He's God. Somebody says, what
about free will? There's no such thing as free
will. God is sovereign over all things. He is the absolute sovereign. A belief in free will is a denial
of His sovereignty. God is sovereign. Now, we do
what we want to. There's no question about that.
It's not that we're forced to do anything. We do what we want
to, but God is sovereign over all that. How He is, I don't
know, but He is. He's in absolute control. Secondly,
God is just. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. If you have any sin on you at
all, if I have any sin on me at all, God can't bring me into
heaven. He must send me to hell because
He's absolutely just. He will not let sin go unpunished. That's who He is. Justice and
judgment are the habitation of thy throne. And God is gracious. He delights in mercy toward sinners. Now, think of those three things.
God is sovereign. God is absolutely, inflexibly
just. He will not let any sin go unpunished. Yet, He's gracious and He delights
in mercy toward sinners. That's who the He is. For He
hath made Him to be sin for us. The Him is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Whatever you can say to the Father,
you say of Him. Because He said, He that has
seen Me has seen the Father. Isaiah said concerning Him, in
Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, His name should be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God. the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He's God the Son, and notice
it's He's called Him who know no sin. Christ Jesus came into
this world and lived 33 years without sin. He was tempted in
all points, like as we are, yet without sin. He knew no sin. You know, he said, regarding
Satan, the prince of this world hath come and found nothing in
me. He couldn't find anything for which he could grip and tempt
me to sin. He couldn't do it. Now, think
how easily Satan could turn me and you inside out. Oh, there's
so much for him to grab hold of. But with the Lord Jesus Christ,
he knew no sin. He obeyed God's law perfectly. Now, read what it says. For he
hath made him to be sin. who knew no sin. Now, if you
have a King James Version, which I think is the best translation,
where it says, for he hath made him to be sinned, the to be is
in italics. That means it was placed there
by the translators and it's not really in the original. It would
more accurately read, for he hath made him sin. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now, I've heard
people soften this. They said, well, God made him
to be an offering for sin. To say He made him sin, why,
that would make the sacrifice stained or spoiled or no good. Christ has to be sinless. Well,
of course, Christ does have to be sinless, but the Scripture
says, He made him sin. Now, if it means He made him
a sin offering, then the only fair way to read this is, for
He hath made him to be a sin offering, who knew no sin offering,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You can't do that. It says He made him sin. For us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, what all
this means, we will never know. But the language stands, He was
made sin. My sin became His sin. He experienced everything about
sin, with the exception of the commission of it. He experienced
all the shame, the guilt, the humiliation, the abandonment,
the forsaking. His father didn't say, son, I
know you didn't do this, but I'm going to treat you as if
you did. No, he became guilty before his
father and his father turned his back on him. I love what
the songwriter said. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. And just as truly as He was made
sin for us, this scripture says that we're made the very righteousness
of God in Him. Now, you're looking at someone
right now, and this is said of every believer, I am the very
righteousness of God. Somebody says, how could you
say something like that? Because that's what the Bible
says. He was truly made sin. All that means, I don't know,
but He was truly made sin. And just as truly as He was made
sin and took my sin and made Him His own, He takes His righteousness
and makes it mine. So I'm the very righteousness
of God. And this is where our boldness
before God comes from. I'm the very righteousness of
God. This is the heritage of every single believer. Now, somebody
may be thinking, how can I know if he did this for me? How can
I know I'm one of the elect? How can I know that Christ died
for me? How can I know that I've been
born again? Well, I can answer those questions for you. Acts
13, 48 says, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Do you believe you were ordained to eternal life? How can I know
if Christ died for me? Romans 5, 6 says, for when we
were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Are you without strength? Without
spiritual strength? Ungodly? Then you can conclude
that Christ died for you because that's who He died for. He said,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Paul
said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am the chief. How can I know if I've been born
again? Well, John 1, 12 and 13 says, to as many as received
Him. To them gave He the right to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on His name, which were born. not of
blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man,
but of God. Well, what do these people who were born of God do? They believe on His name. They
believe the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only name
that will bring them into heaven. Now, this is the ministry of
reconciliation. We have this message on CD and
DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper, praying
God will be pleased to make it plain to you. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.