But she says God created him
holy, upright. He had fellowship and conversed
with God. He had no need of reconciliation,
no need of redemption, no need of salvation, because there was
no sin and consequently no wrath upon him. But then he failed. And he joined
up with Satan, God's enemy. And God turned him out, out of
his presence, out of his garden, out of his fellowship. And the
anger and wrath of God was turned on his creature. But man's wrath was turned against
God too. He daily rebelled against God. Every imagination of his heart
was evil continually. He tried to do away with God.
The fool said in his heart, no God for me. They got together, as Barnard
said, and tried to gang up on God. And God, by the mouth of
his servant David, said, Why do the heathen rage? And the
people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ." Against the Lord and against his Christ. We will not have this man reign
over us. And God was angry with man. His holiness and his justice
and his power is at war with man. But then the scripture uses this
phrase often, but God, but God. But God is plenteous in mercy. but God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love. David said in Psalm 130, Lord,
if thou should mark iniquity, who would stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mightest be feared, and worshipped,
and glorified. And God will. He will punish
sin. He will deal in justice and righteousness
with all men, but he will glorify himself in
full redemption. He will be merciful. He will be gracious
to some. He said that to Moses when Moses
said, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory, your greater
glory, your true glory, that which glorifies you the most.
Show it to me." And the Lord said, all right, I'll have my,
I'll cause my goodness to pass before you. And I will name the
name of the Lord. I will reveal the name of the
Lord. And I will be merciful. I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. And
I will be gracious. I will punish sin. I will visit
the iniquity of the fathers upon the third and fourth generation.
But I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. And I will
be gracious. to whom I will be gracious. And
there is a way, and only one, by which God can be gracious
to the guilty and merciful to the miserable. And one of the
clearest expositions is found in 2 Corinthians 5. One of the
clearest, one of the clearest statements on reconciliation
and salvation, redemption, is found here in 2 Corinthians 5,
beginning with verse 18. Now, let's read it slowly and
carefully, as if we've never seen it before. Verse 18, And all things are
of God. all things are of God. In Him,
everything lives and moves and has its origination, has its
continuation. It consists and is held together
and motivated and moved. He's the first cause of all things.
All things are of God. All things are of God. Himself, by Himself. The first
cause. Who hath reconciled us to Himself? We who were enemies. You that
were enemies hath He now reconciled. He reconciled us to Him. He's the one that put away the
enmity and put away the wrath. He's the one All things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, by the
Lord Jesus Christ, by his own Son. And there is none other
name under heaven, none other name under heaven, given among
men, whereby we may be reconciled, and must be reconciled, and saved. None other name. all things being
of God, who hath reconciled the enemy, pardoned the enemy, shown
mercy to the enemy, put an end to the war, reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ," now watch it, "...and hath given
to us," put in our hands, this ministry, this gospel ministry
message, good news, of that reconciliation. He hath devised it, he hath purposed
it, he hath purchased it, he hath accomplished it, and he
hath announced it, and he hath given us the message to believe
and to preach and to proclaim. And he said, go into all the
world and preach this message of reconciliation. He that believeth
this message of reconciliation that God hath accomplished by
Jesus Christ and is baptized shall be saved. And he that believes
not this message shall be damned. It's just that plain. It's just
that plain. And then the next verse, he just
says it again, a little plainer, a little clearer, a little more
distinct, and he begins to wit, which means specifically, namely,
this is what I'm saying, specifically, namely. That is to say, God was
in Christ. God didn't just send him, God
was in Christ. God himself is Christ. Christ is God. The Word himself was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, his
unspeakable, unsearchable glory in the face of that man. Christ Jesus, whose name is Emmanuel,
meaning God with us. Great is the mystery of Godliness. Without debate, without argument,
God was manifested in the flesh. God was in Christ. That's the
reason Christ said, well, if you've seen me, you've seen God.
How sayest thou then, show us the Father? God was in Christ doing the reconciling
himself unto himself, reconciling the world. God was doing it,
reconciling the world unto himself. Take the time to turn with me
to Revelation 5. You must turn over there, Revelation
5, and see what you probably have never seen before. Revelation 5, 9, and they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seal thereof. For thou was slain,
and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every
country, and tongue, and people, and nation. He didn't redeem
every He redeemed a people out of every
kindred, tongue, nation, and people. You know what it says? So when he says God was in Christ
reconciling the world, he's not talking about reconciling every
son of Adam. He's talking about reconciling
a people out of every nation and tongue. and people unto heaven, and making them kings and priests,
and they'll reign on this earth. Namely, specifically, that's
what we're saying, in this reconciled by Christ to which God was in
Christ. So it can't fail. What God doeth,
it'll be forever. Nothing can be added to it or
taken from it. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world. That means everybody, first you
know it doesn't, it means the people out of every country. God is calling out of every nation
of people for his name. And look at the next line, and
he hath committed unto us, he hath put in us this word of reconciliation,
this gospel message. For verse 20 says, we are ambassadors
for Christ. We're the ambassadors of Christ
and for Christ, for Christ's sake, as though God did beseech
you by us, as though God was speaking directly to you through
us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Christ, the war. It takes two
to make a war, and that's what we had. We had a war with God.
The kings and rulers of this world gathered themselves together
against God and against His Christ. Pontius Pilate heralded the people
of Israel and the Gentiles against God and against His Christ. And
God was angry. War both ways. And God sent his son. God in Christ reconciled us to
him. And God's not angry. He loves
us in Christ. He's reconciled us in Christ. He's removed the enmity, the
cause of wrath. God loves us in Christ, his people,
out of every kindred and people and tongue and nation. He loves
us. We're still angry with Him. God loved me before I was born,
but I didn't love Him before I was born. God loved me when
I didn't know Him. God loved you when you didn't
know Him, and you hated Him. So Christ reconciled us to God,
and the Holy Spirit comes and does the work of grace and mercy
regeneration and begetting and a new birth and reconciles God
to us. He's not angry because of Christ
and we're not angry because we're new creatures in Christ. You
didn't do it. He did it. I've had people write
me quite often. I know they don't know what to
say and what to say. I've always been a Christian.
I can't remember when I didn't love God? That's not so. I can remember when I didn't
love this God, the God of the Bible. Well, here it is again
in verse 21. Listen, Paul, back there in verse 18, he said,
"...and all things are of God which reconcile us." Then he
said, secondly, nameless, specifically, this is what I'm saying, in verse
21, it says, "...for He, the Father of mercies," All things
are of God. This is His work, His prayer.
For He, God the Father, hath made Him. Made Him. I thought about the number of
times that word is used in reference to Christ. He was made flesh. The word was made flesh by the
design of God, by the appointment of God, by the will of God. He
was made. He wasn't an accident. He was
made flesh. A body hast thou prepared me.
That in that body I might do thy will. He was made flesh. He was made of the seed of David. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the law. God made him to be sin for us. That's right. He made him to
be sin for us. He laid our sins on Christ. Christ was made sin. Transference
of guilt. Just like when the priests of
the Old Testament laid their hands on the tithe and confessed
the sins of Israel. That was just in picture because
there's nothing that Lamb could do about their sins. And there's
no way that they could put their sins anywhere but on themselves.
But God can. And He literally made Christ
to be sinned for us. Literally took our sins from
us and laid them on Him. He, God the Father, made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be, and this
is something only God can do, that we might be made what we're
not. He was made what He wasn't. In essence, in holiness, He's
God, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was made
sin. And in the same way, Almighty
God, by His power that made us, that we might be made the very
righteousness of God, the very holiness of God. We don't make
ourselves. We're His creation. Back there
in verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation.
He's a new creation. We can discover. God creates.
We can find God creates out of nothing. He made us a new creature
in Christ and old things are passed away and all things become
new. Now, back in the Old Testament,
all of this is pictured. This reconciliation goes back
to the very time when God announced to Adam that he would send a
reconciler. And there are several things
in the Old Testament. When we're preaching, we'll return
to Isaiah chapter 8. We need to always bear this in
mind. Always bear this in mind. Verse
20 of Isaiah 8. To the law. To the law. To the writings of Moses. What
does that mean? Go to the law. Go to the writings
of Moses. Go to the prophets. Go to the
Old Testament. To the law. To the testimony. to the Old Testament Scriptures,
to when the fathers, when God spoke to the fathers with the
prophets, go back there, be sure you're on the right track. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Holy men of God's fakers,
they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Go back to the Lord, to the testimony,
to the Scriptures. For if we don't speak, if we
speak not according to this Word, The Old Testament. We're heading
in the wrong direction. We're preaching the wrong message.
There's no truth. There's no light. There's no dawning. There's no
answer. We've got to get back there.
So when we read here Paul writing in 2 Corinthians, all these things
that we've been reading, let's go back to the law, to the testimony. Now, what does it say back there?
Well, it says the first thing. It's got to be a priest. If man's
going to be reconciled to God, if sin's going to be put away,
if we're going to have some kind of hope of eternal life, it's
got to be a priest. And he tells about it here in
Hebrews. Hebrews brings the Old Testament to us clearly. In Hebrews 5, It talks about
these priests back there. It says, for every high priest,
every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God. In these, reconciliation, salvation, redemption, acceptance, forgiveness,
peace, eternal life, things pertaining to God. that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sin, who can have compassion on the
ignorant, on them that are out of the way, for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity, this priest. And by reason hereof
he oughtest for the people, so for himself to offer for sins. And no man takes this honor upon
himself, unto himself, but he that is called of God." He had
to be a priest, a high priest. to represent us to God, things
pertaining to God, all these things we're talking about. But
he can't be one that man chose, he's one God chose. In like manner,
Christ is our priest. Let's look at Hebrews 3. Go back
a little. Hebrews 3. Wherefore brethren,
holy brethren now, by grace, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our perfection, Christ
Jesus. We have a priest, our priest
just like that priest of old, representing us in things pertaining
to God, everything pertaining to God. Not one of our choice,
one of God's choice, Christ Jesus. Turn to Hebrews 4, listen to
this. Verse 14, "...seeing then we have a great high priest."
We do have a high priest. He's passed into the heavens.
He's descended and ascended, and none can ascend that didn't
descend. He's Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. We have a high priest. God chose
him. And then Paul said, "...having
a high priest." Let us come boldly. See down here in verse 16. Therefore, let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain, I will have
mercy. I will be gracious. That we may
obtain this mercy and this grace that God has for somebody. I will be merciful. They don't
deserve it. I'm not obligated to them. But
I will be merciful." But you've got to have a priest of God's
own choosing, and we have a high presence. Oh, there were priests
back there after the order of Abraham, but this priest, he
said in verse 6, listen, Hebrews 5 verse 6, and he saith also
in another place, I am the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Verse 21 of Hebrews 7, look at
this. Those priests were made without
an oath, but our priest with an oath by him that said unto
him, the Lord swear and will not change your priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Oh, what a priest we have. Those
priests were just men. Our priest is a God man. Those
priests were many by reason of death. He's one who never dies. Those priests were changeable.
He hath an unchanging priesthood. Things change. Change and decay
in all around me I see, but there's one place and one person who
never changes. His Word and His incarnate Word. Those priests offered animal
blood. Those priests served on the earth.
Look at Hebrews 9, verse 24, Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands, which is a figure of the truth, but
into heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us. So
we have a priest, forever unchangeable, whoever lives, appointed by God. But secondly, Not only must there
be a priest, according to the Old Testament, there must be
a sacrifice. There must be blood. Look at
Hebrews 9. You've got it open there before
you. Verse 6, Hebrews 9. Now, when
these things were thus ordained, when these types were in effect
and these examples held court, these priests went all ways into
the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood." Not without blood. There is a priest, but not without
blood. We have a priest, but not without
blood. Hebrews 8, go back and look at
Hebrews 8, verse 1. Now, the things which we have
spoken, The Old Testament, this is a psalm. We have a high priest. He's set on the right hand of
the throne of the majesty in the heavens. He's a minister
of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not
a man. Every Old Testament high priest is ordained to offer gifts
and sacrifices of blood. Wherefore, it's of necessity
that this man, our priest, have some what to offer. What does
he have? Christ was our priest, Christ
was our altar, Christ is our sacrifice. And he sacrificed and offered
himself in his human nature. Isaiah 53.10 said he made his
soul. He had a soul. He made his soul
an offering for sin. He said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. He made his body an offering
for sin, like the body of the lamb and the blood of the lamb.
He bare our sins in his body. He made his soul an offering
for sin and his body We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, Hebrews
7, and this wraps it all up together. Verse 27, Hebrews 7. Verse 26 says, Such a high priest
became us, whose holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens, who need it not daily as those
high priests to offer sacrifices, first for his own sin, then for
the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself." Every priest must have a sacrifice,
not without blood. Our high priest, there's nothing
that he can bring. No candle to burn, no incense
to sprinkle, no animal to sacrifice, no himself. Bearing our sins in his body,
he made his body and soul and offered for sin. He said, by himself he purged
our sins. And what's this? Now listen,
there's got to be a priest. That's this whole way God saved
sinners. He pictured it, typified it,
Christ fulfilled it. There must be a priest. Not without blood. His blood. But thirdly, it's offered to
God. You remember that we read back
there where the priest was ordained for men in things pertaining
to God. The Old Testament sacrifices,
the blood was offered to God before God. To offer a sacrifice
to another is idolatry. So when Christ came, representing
us in things pertaining to God, turn back to Hebrews 2.17. Listen. Hebrews 2, 17, "...Wherefore,
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God." In things pertaining to God. It's the law
of God which must be honored. Things pertaining to God. It's
the righteousness of God which must be fulfilled. things pertaining
to God. It's the justice of God that
must be satisfied. It's the requirements and commandments
of God that must be met. It's the holiness of God which
must be satisfied. It's the wrath of God which must
be put away. It's the sentence of God against
our sins, so Christ... Now let's look at Hebrews 9. This is what I'm trying to say,
and you can read it better than you can say it. Hebrews 9, verse 13, you
have it, "...if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes
of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of
the flesh, if that did in those days put away or hold back the
wrath of God until Christ came, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God." The priest, the sacrifice to God. Christ didn't die to win our
sympathy. Christ didn't die to set an example. Christ didn't die because he
couldn't prevent it. Christ was an offering foreseen
to God. He reconciled us to God. He pacified
or pleased the Father. That's right. Now the last thing,
for whom did Christ offer himself a sacrifice? Not for his own sins. Look at
Hebrews 7. Not for his own sins. For it
says in Hebrews 7, 26, For such a high priest became us, whose
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. Who needed not daily as those
high priests to offer sacrifice first for his own sins. No, he
didn't have it, he said. Or secondly, it wasn't for the
fallen angels. Because back there in Hebrews
2, it says deliberately, Hebrews 2, 16, he took not on him the
nature of angels. He took not on him the nature
of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. And then thirdly,
For whom did Christ offer himself a sacrifice? It wasn't for his
own sins, it wasn't for the fallen angels, it wasn't for those who
do not believe. It wasn't for people who perish
in unbelief. Let me read you another scripture
that just, if you read it carefully, it just says something special.
John 8. Turn to John 8 a moment. John chapter 8. Now, you and I are believers,
and we're not going to die in our sins. Why aren't we going
to die in our sins? Christ paid for our sins. We
don't have any sins. Our sins are put away. It says,
"...he laid on him the iniquity of us all, and by his stripes
we are healed." But now look at John 8, verse 24. "...I said therefore unto you
that ye shall die in your sins." If you believe not that I am
He, you'll die in your sins. If you believe I am He, you don't
have any sins, because I put them away. You're clean. But
if you believe not that I am He, you still have sins. How
can they die in their sins if He paid for their sins and put
them away? He said you still have. If you believe on Christ,
you don't have any sins. They're gone. Separated from
you as far as the east is from the west. Cast into the depths
of the sea. Remembered no more. Our sins
are gone by the blood of Calvary. But to these people, they said,
if you don't believe that I'm here, you'll die in your sin. You still got them. You're watering
in them. They're on you. They're between
you and God. They separated you from God. Your sins have separated
you from God. If you don't have your sins,
you're not separated. That's right. Isn't that clear? For whom did he die? Well, he
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep.
He said in John 17, Thou hast given me power over all flesh. that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." He died for the sheep. He died
for as many as the Father hath given him. For whom did he die? He died for the church. Husbands,
love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. That's pretty clear. He died
for the church. And then he died for his son.
One other scripture, and I'll close. Hebrews 2. He died for
his children. Hebrews 2, verse 10. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
to glory. in bringing many sons to glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both he that sanctified,
that's Christ, and they who are sanctified, that's the sons,
are all of one, of God the Father, for which cause he's not ashamed
to call them brethren, they're begotten of the same Father.
He's the only begotten son in the respect that he's a son,
but we're also born of God. He's not ashamed to call you
his brother, because you are. You're a son of God, your children.
Read on. He said, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me out of every kindred, tribe,
people, and nation. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil. For whom did Christ
die? His sheep, as many as the Father
gave him, his church, those who believe, and his children. And
this question was put to a preacher friend of mine recently. Well, if you do not believe that
Christ died for all men, how can you honestly invite men to
Christ? My reply is, I don't invite men
to Christ. I don't invite men to Christ.
A king does not invite men to repent and believe. He commands
them. Men are commanded to believe.
They don't have a choice. They don't have an alternative. God commands us to believe. God
commands us to repent. God commands us. Christ said,
this is my commandment that you love one another. Kiss the son, he said, lest he
be angry. Kiss the son, that's a command. Not an invitation. It's a command. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
invite the man to take up his bed and walk. He commanded him
to. He said, arise, take up your bed and walk. The man with the
wizard hand, he didn't invite him to stick out. He said, reach
out your hand, and he did. Lazarus, if you're so disposed and find
it in your heart to do what I'd like for you to do, and it won't
be too much of a bother, and you won't lose too many of your
friends, would you come out of the grave? That doesn't sound
like a king. And our gospel goes forth as
a proclamation, not an invitation, as a declaration, not a pacification
of rebels. God says repent and believe the
gospel. Isn't that true, Susan? That
is so. This invitation business is something
we've invented, not something God taught us. He commands you to repent. He
commanded all men everywhere to repent. That's what we ought to do. And
that's what we will do if He, by grace, works in our hearts.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. That's
a command. That's a command. in the armed forces. That's one
of the first things we learned when we went in the armed forces.
You obey orders. That's the only way you can hold
anything together, is to obey orders. Obedient. If you're not obedient, they'll
shoot you. They'll court-martial you. Obedience. Obey the gospel. All right, let's sing a hymn,
Brother Mike. 228, my faith has found a resting
place.