2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. Thank you, Jordan, my dear friend. 2 Corinthians 5 and 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are
passed away, and behold, All things are become new, and all
things are of God. All things of this new creature,
everything that pertains to him, is of God, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of 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 did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's behalf, be ye reconciled to God. For God hath made Christ to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, I want to get started on
this message this morning, and I'll finish it up in the afternoon
services. But we're talking here, and the
Apostle Paul is speaking of the ministry of reconciliation, and
he's speaking here about the ambassadors for Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ. If you're a new creature, then
God has reconciled you to Himself by the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you're in the body of Christ, you're in the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, then you have a ministry. The church, this local church,
has a ministry of reconciliation. Every local church has that ministry. If we don't have the ministry
of reconciliation, then we're probably not a church. The Apostle
Paul wasn't speaking only to preachers when he said, from
you sounded out the Word of God. What Word was that? It was the
Word of reconciliation. And our Lord was talking to the
whole church when He said this, You are the light of the world. And Paul said, You shine as lights
in the world. How did they shine as lights?
Well, he went ahead to say, holding forth the Word of Life. That's the way we shine in this
world as a church. We hold forth this Word of Reconciliation,
the Gospel. But we can particularly ascribe
this ministry here to those whom God has saved, and He's called
them, and He's equipped them to preach publicly. His ministers
of the gospel. There are men in the church that
God calls. He teaches them. He puts them
in the position of the pastors and teachers and evangelists,
and they in particular have this ministry of reconciliation. They are indeed ambassadors for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God, if He had chosen, He
could have did this. He could have chosen to speak
to men audibly Himself. He could have chosen to come
overhead in a cloud, or He could have spoken to men through a
pillar of fire Himself and taught them Himself with an audible
voice the ministry of reconciliation. But if the Lord appeared in a
cloud to us, or He spoke out of a pillar of fire, Wouldn't
that scare us to death? We'd say probably with those
of old, let not God speak with us lest we die. The Lord could
have did that, but He's not been pleased to do that. So what has
He done? He reconciles poor sinners to
Himself, and then when He's did that, He sends them out. As the poor sinners that they
are, having been reconciled, having been forgiven, He sends
them out to those who haven't been forgiven to preach this
gospel unto them. And who better to do it? But
those who have experienced this themselves. Reconciliation. In the Bible, God's holy word,
we have the word of reconciliation. As you read through the Bible,
one of the things you'll notice, it's approached in different
angles, it's said in different words and phrases, but we have
these phrases in the Bible, this whole aspect of reconciliation
written down in word. Now let me tell you what I'm
talking about. Did you ever read that verse that says, Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thought,
Let him return unto the Lord, and he'll have mercy upon him,
unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon." What is that but the
word of reconciliation? Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow. Though they be as wool, though
they be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. That's the word of
reconciliation. We find it all through the Scripture. But the Lord Jesus, and please
understand me when I say this, the Lord Jesus has determined
in His own soul that the word written down is not sufficient. So what does He do? He calls
these poor men that He has reconciled to Himself, and He establishes
this office in the church. And what is this office? It's
a ministry to open the word and expound it and proclaim this
message of reconciliation to this lost and dying world. A ministry that he has set up
in his church. So Paul, the ambassador, can
say to the Corinthians, I have espoused you to one husband that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And he can
say also in Christ, I have begotten you through the gospel. Look at the authority. Look at
the honor that God bestows upon ambassadors that they actually
win people. They actually beget people through
the ministration of this word. Listen to how important this
administration is, this office is. Paul said, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without an ambassador? See the importance of these ambassadors. God doesn't speak through an
audible voice. He has it written down in His
Word, the ministry of reconciliation, but He's not even content with
that. But He calls these ambassadors to expound this Word, to proclaim
this Word, that peace has been made with God. And these preachers
are called ambassadors. Ambassadors. We have an embassy
set up. We've heard lately about an embassy
and our ambassadors being killed in our embassy. This isn't an
embassy. And in this embassy, this office
has been set up as a pastor. And how important that office
is, because it proclaims to this world that reconciliation has
been made. And what's the nature of this
office? Well, it's a ministry of reconciliation. He says here
in the last portion of verse 19, He hath committed unto us
the ministry, the word of reconciliation. And then the last part of verse
20, Be you reconciled to God. So these ambassadors go out to
a rebellious world and they proclaim this word of reconciliation to
every rebellious, fallen heart and set forth to them the terms
and conditions upon which reconciliation has been made with God, and they
tell sinners to pile up their weapons at Jesus' feet and make
their peace with God." Reconciliation has been made. And then in verse
20, it tells us the honor and the dignity and the responsibility
that has been placed upon these men who hold this office. Now look at this. This is absolutely
amazing. In verse 20, now then we are
ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. God is speaking by us. What an honor and what a responsibility
that is. And he went on to say, we pray
you in Christ's stead. We're here in Christ's behalf. I know the Pope claims that.
But he's not a vicar of Christ. And we're not vicars of Christ.
But we are here in Christ's stead. Jesus Christ in His humanity
is in heaven. He's not here in His humanity. So he has his ambassadors to
proclaim on his behalf. If he were here this morning,
he would say no more than what his ambassadors say. And what
does his ambassador say? That reconciliation has been
made, therefore be ye reconciled to God. And what he says is,
he that hears you, he hears me. And he that despises you, he
despises me. And verse 20 also tells us something
else, and this is amazing also. It tells us the disposition. It tells us the temperament,
the temper, the frame of mind by which these ambassadors speak
on the behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, even on the behalf of
God. What attitude do we have as ambassadors? What's our disposition towards
people? Look what he says here again in verse 20. As though God did beseech you
by us. Now look at this. God is beseeching
you by us. Here's the whole attitude of
the ambassador. It's the attitude that God Himself
has. God is entreating you God is
inviting you, God is urging you, God is imploring you by us. What a humble and sweet and condescending
attitude the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus must manifest, because
as they do, they're manifesting the very attitude of God Himself. What is God's attitude towards
the sick? one of beseeching Him, one of
urging Him. Brothers and sisters, don't you
find that amazing that the sovereign God of heaven that is in need
of nothing or anybody, that has lived all eternity full and free
without us and could live an eternity to come without us,
now is presented to us as one who is beseeching, one who is
urging, men to hear this gospel of reconciliation? And that must
be the attitude of the ambassadors because God is doing it by them,
by us. And then he goes on to say in
the last part of that verse 20, we pray you in Christ's stead. We pray you as though Christ
was praying you, as though Christ Himself was pleading with you. We pray you on Christ's behalf. Look in chapter 10 of this book. Look in chapter 10 in verse 1. I tell you, all of us probably
remember the gracious attitude of the Son of God when He was
here in His humanity. Sometimes I find it amazing when
He went out over that hillside and overlooked the city of Jerusalem. He stands there, the Creator
in our humanity, and tears begin to flow from His eyes. And He
begins to sob until He is weeping. And He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how often would I have gathered by people, your children, under
My wings, and you would not. I find that absolutely amazing.
If that was just a little puny Jesus, then I would think nothing
of that. But here is the sovereign Lord,
and He weeps, as He said, how oft I would. And here Paul says
His ambassadors are praying you in His stead. We pray you in His stead. Brothers and sisters, I am as
aware as anybody that there is a time to threaten sinners. with
the wrath of God. There is a time to preach being
under the curse of God's law. There is a time to preach the
terrors of the Lord. I am aware of all of that. But
when we come to this ministry of reconciliation, there is a
time also on the behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ to praise sinners,
to urge sinners, to compel sinners, to come to Christ. to pile up
their weapons and be reconciled to Him. And when we do this with
meekness and gentleness and longsuffering to man, we are just demonstrating
the whole attitude of Christ who has called us to be ambassadors. Look what Paul says about the
Lord Jesus in chapter 10. Look in verse 1. Now I, Paul,
beg you, I implore you, I pray you, I beseech you, by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ." Now, that's amazing to me. The meekness
and gentleness of Christ. The same Christ who said, a bruised
reed will I not break, and smoking flax will I not quench. The same
Christ who says, come unto me, All ye that labour and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me. Learn what I am in my very heart
of hearts. I'll open my heart to you, and
you can know me. What is it, Lord, you want us
to know about you? That I am meek and lowly in my
heart. I'm mild. I'm gentle. So Paul said, we as ambassadors,
we pray, people, with the meekness and gentleness of Christ Himself,
be ye reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus stood and cried,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Dear old Horatious
Bonar picked up on that verse, and he wrote a song, and it said,
I heard the voice of Jesus say, Behold, I freely give the living
water, thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live. Did Bonar
hear the voice of Jesus? Not audibly, but he heard his
voice through his ambassadors, and he recognized it was the
voice of Christ. praying Him, beseeching Him in
the place of Christ, come and stoop down and drink these living
waters, thirsty one, and live. Now, why is it necessary for
Christ to woo sinners through Himself with such condescending
language as this? I beseech you. by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ. Why is that so necessary? Let
me explain it to you this way. If you've never read the stories
of the Jewish wars by Josephus, it's a very good book. I recommend
that you read sometimes the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Josephus
was there. He was the Jewish historian.
And he wrote down what happened in that battle. Titus, the Roman
general, had came against Jerusalem, had besieged it, but he couldn't
take it. He was loath to destroy that
place. He wanted to leave it intact.
He didn't want to kill the Jewish people. But they would not surrender. The place was full of people
and they refused to surrender. And one of the reasons they refused
to surrender is because they were fearful that Titus would
kill them. And indeed, his soldiers did
kill some of them. The Jews, before they went out
to surrender, would swallow their gold. They would fill their bellies
with their gold. And when they went out and Titus
released them, then they would go out and pass the gold through
their bowels. The Roman soldiers found out
about this and began to rip some of them up and steal their gold
from their stomachs. And Titus severely chastened
his soldiers for doing that. But these Jews were so afraid
to surrender to Titus, afraid that they would be killed. He sent one word after another. I'll free you. I'll forgive you
of your rebellion. I'll set you free. Just come
out and surrender. Lay down your arms. But they
wouldn't surrender. Those who finally did, He commanded
them to stand out in front of the wall and proclaim to those,
we're safe. Give yourself up. We're safe. Here's the trouble, brothers
and sisters, with poor sinners. Sometimes they are afraid to
give themselves up to the Lord to be saved by Him. They're afraid
they'll be destroyed if they come and acknowledge their offense
to Him. They begin to see that they're
sinners against God, and they're afraid to come and surrender
to Him. There were those in the Old Testament,
they despaired of salvation. The old prophet went to them
and said, why don't you turn to the Lord? And they said, there's
no hope for us. And the old prophet said, why
do you think there's no hope for us? They said, because we've
loved strangers. We've been these idolaters. We've
loved strangers. We've lusted after them. And
now there's no hope. So after our lovers we will go. We're afraid to turn to the Lord.
So here you find the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ gently
and kindly beseeching sinners to give themselves up to Him
to be saved. Because they're afraid. They're
afraid. And that's the work of the devil,
ain't it? That's the work of the devil. This is the way that
he kept some of those Pharisees and scribes from coming to the
Lord. They looked upon the Lord Jesus
as merely a judge to accuse them before the Father. They said,
all God's done, if He sent you at all, is just to judge us and
find fault with us. And the Lord said, I'm sorry,
but that's not my mission. That's not why I've came. I've
not come to accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuses
you, and that's Moses. But I've not come to destroy
the world. I've not come to condemn the
world. It's already condemned. I've come to save. I've come
to reconcile. But because men don't believe
that, and because many are afraid to believe that, what do we have
to do? We have to beseech men. We have
to tell them of the gentleness and the kindness of the Son of
God. Let me read a passage. Hold your
text and look with me over in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 right
quickly. This is the way Paul wrote to Titus about this very
thing. Look in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and
look in verse 24. Look at this. Here is an ambassador
and here is the very attitude that he is supposed to have.
Look at it in verse 24, 2 Timothy chapter 2. The servant of the
Lord, the ambassadors of Christ, they must not strive. That word
means fight. Don't be out here fighting with
people. Don't be out here arguing with people and your fist raised
up in the air. Don't be out here quarreling.
The servant of the Lord must not strive, but look at this,
but be gentle. Ain't that a Christ-like attitude? Was he not gentle? A bruised
reed will I not break? Smoking flax will I not quench? He must be gentle unto all, apt
to teach. He has to be patient. Why? Look in verse 25. In meekness instructing those,
look at this, that oppose them They are against their own salvation. If they can, they're going to
hold out in the city of destruction until finally they're destroyed.
So you've got to be patient. You've got to be meek. You've
got this message. And it's a message of reconciliation. And you must have the same attitude
that your Master does. meekness and gentleness. You
don't want to do anything that would turn men against your Master.
If you've got a mean and hateful attitude, they'll suppose your
Master has a mean and hateful attitude. And they'll say, I
can't surrender to Him. If God, for adventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and look at this,
that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. who are taken captive by Him
at His will. Look at the attitude of His ambassadors. They preach the truth. They won't
compromise. They dare not compromise. They're
here in Christ's stead. But boy, they do it in gentleness.
They preach the truth in love. Don't we need this? Don't we
need this? How many of us, boy, we've gotten
people's face, haven't we? Oh, my goodness, you think your
pastor's never done that? Well, you don't know your pastor.
And you know something? I can count many of the times
I've done that, and I can't find one single time that I faithfully
represented Christ with that attitude. I did no good. It does no good. It does no good
in meekness like the master. Look back at my text right quickly,
Chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians. Our Lord takes the very same
approach that Titus took when he took those who were before
captives and put them there next to the wall and said, look, I'm
safe. Titus didn't kill me. He set me free. Come on out. Come on out. This is the very
same approach that the Lord Jesus takes Himself. See if it ain't.
Look here in verse 18 first. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. And what's the very next
thing He does to reconcile sinners? He gives to them the ministry
of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation. The Lord takes the same approach
as Titus did. He called sinners. He reveals
to them His mercy and forgiveness and peace. He sets them at liberty. And they turn right back to others
who are still in the city of destruction. What a living example. What a living example. He says
there in verse 18, those that He has reconciled, He gives the
ministry of reconciliation to. In verse 19, look what else He
does. When God reconciles a man to
Himself, who does He reconcile? Look in verse 19, "...to wit
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." He reconciles
men. He puts them outside the wall
of the city of destruction. And they say, look guys, it's
well. It's fine. Come on out. Look at me. That's
one of the things that encourages others to come, is it not? How
many of you have told me? I know Clarence has told me so
many times that Donnie Bell was such a witness to him. And others have said, I listened
to that man. I watched that man. I saw how
he loved the Lord. I saw what the Lord had done
for him. And it encouraged me to come. That's one of the ways
the Lord uses, just like Titus. Here's something else to encourage
men, the rebels, to throw down their arms and come to Christ.
Look who He's reconciled to Himself. The world. The world. Now, don't be confused with this
word world. It don't mean everybody without exception, but it means
not just the Jews. It don't mean any particular
nation, but the nations of the world. Who has God reconciled
to Himself? He's got Russians? I got a letter
the other day from Lance Heller, and he sent me a newsletter.
He said they're in New Guinea. They're in those tribes. They've
got so many different tribes they can't even learn all their
languages. And they hate each other. He said if it wasn't the
government sending soldiers in there, they'd kill each other.
They absolutely hate each other. Some of the roughest terrain
in the world, New Guinea. And there he had on that newsletter
a whole group of these people. They're in the worship service.
They couldn't hardly get them all in the picture. And they
had their arms around each other, loving each other, over there
in that God-forsaken place, as it were, and God has reconciled
those people unto Himself. That ought to encourage people
to come. It's not just the Jews. It's the nations of the world.
You go down and we get a letter sometime from Cody. And it's
the same thing with him. You go down there, Cody Grubin,
Walter, and all these Mayan Indians that were before enemies of God,
and now they've been reconciled. You go over to Africa, and Jean-Claude
Souillot just got back from Africa, and he was telling me what the
Lord's doing there. And he said the places are full of men that
the Lord has converted, forgiven their sins. Oh, this ought to encourage men
to come. Look at these remote places of the world, men who
were formerly God's enemies. Now they can say that they found
a friend in the Lord Jesus that sticks closer than a brother.
And they've experienced this peace with God, a reconciling
God. Paul said the Jews are trying
to lay claim on this. But he said, no, no, no. God
has reconciled the world unto Himself. This is what has motivated
countless numbers of missionaries to leave their homeland and their
families and go off into some foreign country to preach this
Gospel, this word of reconciliation. Because they know that God has
reconciled the world unto Himself. And Paul gives something else
here in the last portion of 19. And this is a wonderful thing. The last portion of 19. Look
at this. Not only does he reconcile the
world unto himself, men from all over the world, but look
what happens when he calls them to his gospel. Not imputing their
trespasses unto them. Oh, here's something that's encouraging.
Not imputing, not counting, not charging. their trespasses against
them. Boy, David knew something about
this, didn't he? Brother Larry mentioned it in
Sunday school class about when he had committed adultery and
murder. Boy, he knew something then about
forgiveness, didn't he? He said in Romans chapter 4,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed
are those whose transgressions are covered, whose sins are forgiven. Oh, that's what comes. That's
what comes with reconciliation. It's forgiveness. Forgiveness. Blessed is the man. Every reconciled
sinner can stand outside the walls of this city that's appointed
to destruction and say, look at me. Look at me. You say this to your lost friends
that are still in the city. Look at me. I was where you are
now. I was a rebel against the King
of Heaven. I had taken up arms against Him. I had fought against
Him. My crimes against Heaven were
great. But look at me. Now I stand here
forgiven of all my trespasses. Be you. Reconcile to God. This is the ministry of reconciliation. The ambassadors have this message. And he said, therefore, in verse
19, the last portion, I and have committed unto us, we who are
farmer enemies, he's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And brothers and sisters, who
better to commit it to than those who were former enemies. But in conclusion, let me say
this, because I want to finish this tonight. This word of reconciliation
not only extends to those who are yet alienated and enemies
in their mind by wicked words, but it extends also to those
who are at this moment Reconcile to God. The ministry of reconciliation
is to the saved as well as to the lost. He said in verse 20,
we pray you, be ye reconciled to Christ. Who is he speaking
to? But the children of God. How can you explain this? Weren't
they already believers? Weren't they already reconciled?
Yes, they were. Then what's his meaning of imploring
them to be reconciled to God? Well, let me ask you a question.
Are we always at peace with God in our own minds? Are we? Let each man ask himself that
question. Have we learned that in whatsoever
state to be content? Do we complain of God's providence? Do we sometime murmur at His
dispensations and His provisions? What's our attitude when God's
will crosses ours? We have need, too, of this word
of reconciliation. We're reconciled to Christ as
our High Priest, are we not? Then be reconciled to Christ
as our King and our God. Conform in all things to His
will and His good pleasure. When His will crosses yours,
then bow and say, Father, not my will, but Your will be done. Be reconciled to God. If we are reconciled to God,
then let us seek, by the grace of God, to be reconciled to all
the ways of God, reconciled to all the things of God, to the
Word of God, and to the people of God. Be ye reconciled. If God is completely reconciled
to us in Christ, then let us seek in our minds to be completely
Reconcile to Him. If there are no obstacles between
God and our souls, because Jesus has removed all obstacles, then
let no obstacles remain between our souls and God. Be ye reconciled to God. If there is nothing to hinder
God from coming to us in a way of peace to our hearts, then
let nothing hinder our hearts from going to Him in a way of
peace. Are you ever hindered from doing
that? Is your peace ever disturbed? Could it be that you are not
reconciled to Him in all things? If God is not troubled with us,
but is completely at peace, then let us not be troubled with Him. If He's not at odds with us,
then let us not be at odds with Him. Am I not talking to somebody
that knows what I'm saying? Is there not a need to be told
us, be reconciled to God? Be completely reconciled to God. In all His ways, in all His promises,
in all His providences, be ye reconciled to God. Has the rod
of God been put upon your back? Then kiss the hand that holds
that rod. Because the hand that holds that
rod is the hands of a reconciled Father. Are you tried sore? Are you afflicted? Are you walking
in darkness in your mind? Are you persecuted? Are you cast
down in your soul? Then consider this. None of this
disturbs God's peace towards you. Don't you often think that? God
is mad at me. God is angry with me. God is
punishing me. I've got in this terrible dispensation
and disposition, and look what's happening to me. These circumstances. God's rod is upon me. He's mad
at me. He's not at peace with me. No,
brothers and sisters. If God is reconciling you, He
has completely reconciled you. His reconciliation, as we'll
see tonight, is not dependent upon you. It's all in Christ. God is not angry. God is not
punishing. He's at peace. Therefore, be
at peace with Him. If His peace towards you is not
disturbed, then don't let your peace with Him be disturbed. If God has reconciled you to
Himself by Jesus Christ, then let your mind and let your heart,
let your thoughts, let your bodies, and let all your ways be reconciled
to God. If God is at peace with you,
then be at peace with God. If His thoughts are towards you,
then let your thoughts be towards Him. in peace. be ye reconciled to God. Psalms
37, look in verse 1, fret not yourself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for
they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green
earth. Look at this. Trust in the Lord.
Instead of fretting, trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land
and verily you shall be fed." Isn't that an aspect of reconciliation? Bruce, you tell me to be reconciled
to God. How am I to do that? Start this way, dear child of
God. Trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. Instead
of fretting, trust. Look in verse 4. "...Delight
thyself also in the Lord, And he will give thee the desire
of your heart. Delight. That's another aspect. Delight. Verse 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass. Commit your ways unto this reconciled
God. Look in verse 7. Rest in the
Lord. Rest in him. And wait patiently for Him. Fret not yourself because of
Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who brings
wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger. What are you angry about? What are you angry about? What
are you mad about? What are you so upset about?
I think I'd be half ashamed of myself if some of you slipped
up on the outside of my house sometime and heard me hollering
and screaming and carrying on. What's my pastor so angry about? Do you know who I could be angry
about? Do you know who I could be angry at and not even realize
it? My God. Maybe I need to be reconciled
to God. I'm mad because it snowed. Who
sent the snow? I'm angry because of a certain
aspect of God's providence? Whose providence is it? It may
be that I'm angry at God and don't even know it. So what does
Paul say? Be ye reconciled to God. And since he's reconciled to
you, and since he's gentle, and since he's meek and lowly, Cease
from anger. Trust. Rest. Commit. To your reconciled Father. Let's
pray.