Now let's turn back to 2 Corinthians
5, if you will. Right off in verse 18, and this
is where I want to begin the message. I don't have the time
this morning to try to deal with the whole chapter. I'm not going
to make that effort. But beginning with verse 18,
Paul right off declares three monumental truths. And these
things need to be settled in our hearts once for all. It's
like Paul said over in the book of Timothy, 1 or 2 Timothy, this
is without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness.
It's a settled matter that's without debate or controversy
or argument. But we're all of the same mind
and in one agreement on this three things. Number one, verse
18, all things are of God. All things are of God. Now, I
would like you to turn to 1 Samuel 2, and let's look at Hannah's
prayer. 1 Samuel 2. I'm saying that all things, this
is what she's saying, all things, life and death, and I'm talking
about physical life, physical death, spiritual life, spiritual
death, sickness and health, poverty and riches, success and failure. Salvation and condemnation, all
things are of God. Rain or shine, cold or hot, summer
or winter, all things are of God. All things. This will, if
you can ever get a hold of this, it'll do what tranquilizers can't
do. It'll ease your pain and settle
your nerves. All things are of God. Talking
to me too. In 1 Samuel 2, Hannah prayed,
chapter 2, verse 1, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord. For there is none beside thee,
neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more, so exceeding
proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed. And the bowels of the mighty
men are broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired themselves out for bread, and
they that were hungry ceased. And the barren hath borne seven,
and she that hath many children is wax feeble. The Lord killeth,
the Lord maketh alive. God bringeth down to the grave,
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and the
Lord maketh rich. He bringeth low, he lifteth up.
He raiseth the poor out of the dust. He lifteth the beggar from
the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit
the throne of Glover, for the pillars of the earth are the
Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them." You believe that?
I believe that. And that's what Paul is saying
at the beginning of our text here, all things of God. He worketh
all things. I'm not talking about all great
things or all big things, but all things. He worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. He doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. That's the reason all things work together for
good to them that love God, who are called according to his purpose,
because, Bob, all things are of God. All things are of God, and I
take that to the falling of a sparrow. Our Lord said, consider the sparrows,
they're not worth a whole lot, but not one of them falls to
the ground without your Father. He numbers the hairs of your
head. All things are of God. You've got to have all things
are of God or be a practical atheist. You've got no choice.
You've got to worship and believe and adore and reverence our Almighty,
Sovereign, Omnipotent, Unchangeable, Immutable God, or no God at all. No middle ground. Second great
thing, monumental truth, he sets forth here in verse 18, all things
are of God, secondly, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ. Not by baptism. not by works,
not by law, by Christ. He hath reconciled us. He hath
brought us into agreement with himself. He hath received us
on one foundation, on one condition, that's we're in Christ. That's
it. He hath received us, reconciled
us. He hath joined us together. Our
Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. You can try to figure out ways
to get all the Mohammeds in heaven, and the Buddhists in heaven,
and the Confucius in heaven, and the cults and sects of our
day in heaven, and you're wasting your time. Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by him. And he says he's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by him. He hath reconciled
us. He hath received us. He hath
brought us into peace with him by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the third monumental truth
which overwhelms me As I was sitting yesterday looking at
this, it overwhelms me. It says, and he hath committed
to us this ministry of reconciliation. All things are of God. In this
thing of the design of redemption, the creation of the world, the
altering of the world, the continuation of the world, life as he put
it on our planet in the form of a man created in his image.
And that man's fall and departure from truth and from God, his
rebellion, and all of the types and shadows and pictures and
prophets and tabernacle and life and death and bloodshedding and
so forth, and all that's transpired and taken place up to this time
and that which will take place in the future, and the eternal
song of the redeemed and the eternal wail of the damned, all
things are of God, all of it, in his eternal wisdom and judgment
and purpose. All things are of God, and he
hath been pleased to reconcile us out of Adam's fallen race. He hath been pleased to receive
us to himself and make us a part of his kingdom of truth and light
and life and glory and of his dear Son and hath translated
us from this darkness in which we were born and made us a part
of his kingdom of light. And he had committed this precious
ministry of reconciliation, this overwhelming, valuable treasure,
he hath entrusted it in the hands of M.E.N. men, believe it or
not. God hath entrusted this sacred
treasure, this holy treasure, this invaluable, unspeakable
treasure in the hands of men. That's shocking. But it's true. It's true. He
hath entrusted us. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. Let
me show you something. 1 Thessalonians 2. It overwhelmed
Paul too. He said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. And here in 1 Thessalonians 2,
he says here in verse 3, our exhortation was not of deceit,
nor of uncleanness, nor of guile. In guile, but as we were allowed
of God to be put in trust with the gospel. You know, I don't
know if there's someone here that's got some, well, I'll tell
you a treasure. I'll tell you. One time Carolee
and Lloyd Bush were going out of town. They had, I don't remember
which child it was, maybe it was Brent or Brian, I don't remember
which. Doris and I were living over in the White House. They
were going somewhere and they brought by our house That little
baby, how old was he? Four months old? And hand him
to Doris and I and said, he's yours to keep for us till we
come back. That's trust, isn't it? And we'd like to start not giving
back. She wishes I hadn't. But anyway,
that's trust. That's what I'm talking about,
trust. And Almighty God has wrapped up and taken all of this gift
of his grace and love and mercy in Christ. And Charlie had given
it to me and you to preach it. Now you think about that. And
that's what he said. He had given to us this. He said,
you go into all the world and preach the gospel. It pleased
God with the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I
know there are true preachers and false preachers. There are
a few true preachers and a whole lot of false preachers. I know
it. And Romans 10 says this, Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call? In him
of whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear? Without
a preacher. What a sacred trust. Well, what's
the summary of this gospel? And here's the next thing that
these three things lead into. All things of God. If you can't
start there, just Just stay there, you can start there, no use going
any further. You're getting too much trouble if you've got some
things of God and some things of me, and you've got some things
God doesn't have control over, and so forth. You've got real
trouble when you get out here in the important things. But
you start there. And God hath reconciled us to
himself through Christ, by Christ, in Christ. And God hath given
to us this ministry of reconciliation. Now what is it? To wit, namely,
that is, this is what it is. that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. That's our ministry. That's our
ministry. Not to reform Rome, but to preach
the gospel of Rome. That's our ministry. That's your
message. That's your ministry of reconciliation.
That's where the mercy is. It says, look at it, that to
wit, that God was in Christ. God, oh my God, the Eternal Father,
the God of whom all things are. See what? God of whom all things
are predestined, purposed, planned, and promised. That God was in
Christ. If you can come to know Christ,
if you can look to Christ, if you can understand to some extent
the person and work and ministry of Christ, you can get a hold
of this God business, because He was in Christ, reconciling
the world. That's where the grace is. God
was in Christ. That's where the work is done.
God was in Christ. That's where salvation is won.
God was in Christ. God was in Christ. Now, here
are seven brief conclusions. First of all, God in Christ is
at peace. I want you to remember these
seven things. I'll give them briefly and to the point. God
in Christ. This is our ministry of reconciliation.
In Christ, God is at peace. Now, contrary to what most pulpits
declare, And I heard it again this morning. The holy God of
heaven is not in love with sin and sinners.
Now, that's just so. That's just so. The holy God
of heaven is not in love with sin and sinners. Our God is a
God of righteousness and judgment and truth. And our rebellion
and our sin was a declaration of war against God, and we're
at war with God. And God is angry with the wicked.
God is at war with this world. God is angry with God, hateth
all workers of iniquity. That's what Scripture said. He
that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him.
Before we came to faith in Christ, we were children of what? Of
wrath, even as others. And that's demonstrated in the
garden, in God's choice creation, created in his own image, man,
God made man and God put him out, put him out. It's demonstrated
in the flood. The flood wasn't an act of love,
it was an act of wrath and judgment. It's not an act of love, it's
not an act of love when you When a man is sentenced to electric
chair and they pull the switch, that's not an act of love, that's
an act of justice and judgment and wrath against his rebellion. It's demonstrated in the plains
of Sodom when God rained fire down upon the homosexuals and
perverts of Sodom and destroyed them. That's not an act of love.
It's not God in love, it's God in judgment and wrath. And that's what you see at Calvary.
That's not an act of love at Calvary in the justice of it. He spared not his son. It was
an act of wrath on our sins. Our sins were laid on Christ,
therefore the wrath of God fell on Christ. But in Christ, God announced
his peace. Turn to Luke chapter 2. Let me
show you this quickly, Luke chapter 2. I'm saying God outside of
Christ is a consuming fire. God is angry. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Well, now, if
He's all love and compassion and tenderness, nothing fearful
about it. Knowing the terror of the Lord. I read that to you.
We persuade men. Terror. Eye-boggling, knee-knocking,
Cold sweat, hair standing on end, terror. That's what I'm
talking about of the Lord. God's wrath. In Luke chapter
2, the angels came down and said in verse 10, the angels said
unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people unto you as borne this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace." I thought,
is it peace all the time? Oh, no. No. Roar. War. Anger. Wrath. Judgment. But in Christ,
peace. God in Christ is the God of peace. That's so. May the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep. Secondly, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. Well, have we had peace?
No, sir. No. No, we haven't had peace. Secondly, God in Christ promises
all things. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians
1, verse 20, God in Christ promises. Now, my friends, 2 Corinthians
1, our God considered only in His holiness, only in His righteousness
and justice and truth, is a revenging God, a threatening God, and a
God of pure justice and judgment. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right, but in Christ We have the promises of joy and life. Listen to 2 Corinthians 1.20.
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen,
unto the glory of God by us. That's where they are. They're
in Christ. In Christ, our surety, sacrifice,
and Savior, God promises life, not death, blessings, not cursing. God promises You know why promises
in Christ and why these promises are sure and amen? Because Christ
has fulfilled the condition of the promises. God said, do this
and live. You know what he said? He did
it. It's done. It's done. And Abraham believed
that God could do all that he promised. Thirdly, God in Christ
sits on a throne of grace. Now let me say this. Martin Luther
said this one time. He said, I want nothing to do
with an absolute God. Nothing. You don't either. You
want to deal with God, Jehovah, the Savior, in Christ. That's
the only way you want to do it. See, God has a threefold throne.
Now jot this down in your mind. This is true. There's a threefold
throne. That's true. First, he has a
throne of glory and holiness. Isaiah said, I saw him sitting
on a throne, high and lifted up. And the heavenly beings said,
holy, holy, holy, and covered their faces. Isn't that correct? God is, he sits on a throne of
holiness. And that throne of glory and
holiness is so bright and awesome, it dazzles the eyes even of the
heavenly creatures. God is holy. Got that? All right. Secondly, God's throne is a throne
of judgment and justice. He sits on a throne of justice,
clothed in the black robes of justice. I visualize the Supreme
Court. They wear those black, sober
robes. And over in England, where they
wear those funny hairdos Those black robes, but those robes
speak of justice and vengeance and authority. And the most favored
of men have trembled when thinking of God and his justice, for one
of the writers said, Lord, if you should mark iniquity, O Lord,
who shall stand? Pure justice, just a single justice. There's no jury there, it's just
God. throne of holiness, justice,
thank God he sits on a throne of grace in Christ. You talk about the importance
of Christ. He said in Hebrews 4, seeing we have a great high
priest, let us come boldly, but let us, with all our sins and
iniquities, come boldly with liberty to the throne of grace,
grace in throne, to obtain mercy. I'm a little reluctant to go
into the presence of God. Let me give you a little illustration.
I don't know this is true, but they tell it. When Abraham Lincoln
was the President of the United States, the President of the United States'
most powerful office in the world, of course, in the land. And he
was held in esteem and respect and so forth. And they tell me
there was a soldier sitting out on the White House grounds who
wanted desperately to see Mr. Lincoln, and of course couldn't
get in. He couldn't get in to see the
President of the United States. But there was a little boy out
there playing in the yard named Tad Lincoln, and he came walking
up to this soldier and got into conversation with him, asked
him why he was there, what he was doing there, and he was a
pitiful man and not dressed very nice and so forth. He told his
story to that lad how he wanted to see Mr. Lincoln. and not knowing
who the lad was. He said, you want to see Mr.
Lincoln? He said, well, I'll take you to see him. And he took
the soldier by the hand. He walked up the steps with him.
The guards came to attention, you know, and Tad Lincoln walked
by. He walked up the stairs and down
the car door. Two soldiers standing outside
Mr. Lincoln's office, and they snapped to attention. Little
boy opened the door and walked in, holding the soldier by the
hand. He said, Dad, this man wants to see you. And I'll tell
you this, if you want in the presence of the Lord God of glory,
you take the hand of Christ. You take the hand of Christ.
He'll walk you right into his presence. Don't come any other
way. You get shot. You won't even get on the lawn,
let alone up the steps. It's in Christ. God in Christ
sits on the throne of grace. Fourthly, God in Christ identifies
himself with us. Now watch this, if God were pleased,
and I thought about this, if God were pleased to tolerate
me, just leave me alone, just let me exist, that'd be mercy.
Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Or even if God was
pleased to visit among us in all His robes of glory, just
walk in a parade down the street and let us see a little bit of
His glory, that'd be mercy. But God has actually, in Christ,
become one with us, numbered with the transgressors. I mean,
actually, he said, I in them and thou in me. He took our nature. The Word was made flesh. What an honor! This is an honor
even the angels don't know anything about. For he took not on himself
the nature of angels. God actually became bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh in Christ. You think about that. Listen to me. God was pleased
in Christ to identify himself with us, not just to tolerate
us, not just even to let us get a glimpse of his glory, but actually
to put his glory in a human body. That's what he did. And I'll
go one step further. Turn to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54,
you say you can't get any more personal, intimate. No, yes,
you can do. Yes, you can, Isaiah 54. Yes, you can. The Lord God in
Christ married us. He assumed all my debts, gave
me His name, took me to Himself. Listen, in Isaiah 54, 5, the
Lord thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is his name,
our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth. Shall it be that he is my husband?" Married, gave me his name. And
the two shall be what? One. That's the identification,
that's the intimacy and the closeness of a believer's relationship
with God. He ain't no stranger, Charles. I'm married to him. I bear his name, he has assumed
all my debts, all the responsibility, and he has given me all he has. I'm an heir of his eternal and
unspeakable glory." You think about it. Son of God, married to him too. Any relationship you can name,
humanly speaking, I have spiritually in Christ with God. spoke to
Abraham as a friend. Brother, he's not ashamed to
call him brethren. Child, child of God, our Father,
and maker, thy maker is thy husband. In the fifth place, God in Christ
pardons all our sins. Colossians 1, turn over there
for a moment. Colossians 1, verse 12, listen
to this. Now, none of us deny our sins.
I don't deny my sins of choice and practice. I don't deny my
S-I-N in Adam. I don't deny the rags of my righteousness. They're filthy rags in God's
sight. But, listen, Colossians 1-12, giving thanks unto the
Father who hath made us meet, that word is sufficient, sufficient,
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, He hath translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son, the Son of His love, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. My sins are pardoned, my sins
are forgiven, in Christ they are forgotten." Now you say that's
just too much to believe. Well, turn to Romans 7, no, Romans
4. Romans 4. It's not too much to
believe either if God is true. And God is true. It says in Romans
4, verse 7, Blessed, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are what? Forgiven. Whose sins are what?
Covered. Blessed is a man to whom God
will not charge one sin. All right, in the sixth place.
God in Christ entreats sinners to come to Him. In Christ. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water." Hebrews 7.25, he's able to say to the uttermost,
them that come to God by him. Matthew 11.28, coming to me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Oh,
everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters. Christ said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Look back at
the text in 2 Corinthians 4, just a moment. 2 Corinthians
5. Look back at this text a minute. Now, he had said, all things
are of God, and God hath reconciled us to himself. The war is over.
Christ has made peace through Jesus Christ. He'd given us this
ministry of reconciliation. And he says down here in verse
20, Now then, as an ambassador for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us, I pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. What's that mean? That means
just this. that there's war between heaven and earth. We started
the war. We declared war on God. We shook
our fist at God and said, we'll not have this man reign over
us. We declared war. And because of our sins and filth
and guilt, God is angry. God's wrath and judgment and
justice is upon us. We have violated his holy law.
We violated his righteousness, his commandment, and God is angry. God is angry. The Lord Jesus
Christ came down here in the flesh and satisfied that law
of God. He walked in righteousness and
holiness and truth. He didn't come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill it. And he went to the cross and
he took all of the wrath and judgment of God against our sins
and paid for it. Now, God announces peace in Christ. His throne toward us is the throne
of grace. He is at peace with us. Christ
has reconciled us to God. God is reconciled. God is not
angry. God is at peace with all who
are in Christ. You follow me? God is at peace
with all. Even when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the church, God
was at peace with him because he is in Christ by purpose and
plan. And God declares the end from
the beginning, what it says on our board out there, from ancient
times of things that are not yet done. But Saul of Tarsus
wasn't at peace with God. He wasn't reconciled toward God.
God was reconciled, but he's still angry. And maybe somebody
here this very morning, that you're an object of God's love,
you're one of God's elect, you're chosen in Christ, Christ has
reconciled you to God. And what Paul is saying is, you
be reconciled to God. God is reconciled. It's a one-sided
war now. You declare war on heaven, but
I tell you this, if you want his own, you lay down your shotgun.
You lay down your sword. And one of these days, by his
spirit, through his word, you'll be reconciled to God. And that's
what faith is. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Without faith it's impossible
for man to be saved. That's just so, it has to be.
In other words, when two people, here's what it's done, when two
people stand before the preacher, he turns to the man, says, will
you take so-and-so to be your lawful wedded wife, have him
to hold this day forth and so on? He says, I do. I don't make
a marriage. Well, I pronounce you husband.
Whoa, wait a minute, you got another question there. He's
willing, is she willing? She can stop the whole thing.
Then you turn to her and say, will you take this man whom you
hold by the right hand? Everybody's quiet. I do. Now it's done, see? And God said,
I do in Christ. God received us in Christ, but
I tell you this, we're going to be wooed and won to willingly
receive him. That's so. That's just so. All
right, last of all, and I'll quit. God in Christ will crown
all believers. Everyone, we're going to be crowned
someday in Ephesians chapter 2. He tells us what we were,
tells us what God did, tells us what we are now, tells us
what we're going to be. In Ephesians 2.1, listen, what
we were. You hath equipped them who were
dead. Ephesians 2.1. And you hath equipped them who
were dead in trespasses and sin. Verse 2. Wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the pie of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. among whom every one of us, all,
we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
we were by nature the children of wrath, just like everybody
else. But God, now here's what God did, but God, who is rich
in mercy, and that's where mercy starts, that's the source of,
it don't start with you, it starts with God. For his great love,
wherewith he loved us, we didn't love him, he loved us, we love
him because he loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses
and sin, dead in sin, God quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you're saved. Now, and He hath raised us up
together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ,
what are we going to be? That in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Brethren, I tell you, I'm going
to preach it, the Lord willing, as long as God gives me breath.
When my breath's gone, I'll try to write it. But our ministry
of reconciliation is, God was in Christ, reconciling the world
and himself. That's where it's done, that's
where it's accomplished, that's where it transpires, that's where
it's settled, that's where it's sealed, that's where it's delivered,
in Christ. And that's the reason, in glory,
every voice throughout God's kingdom is going to say, unto
him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
to him be the glory both now and forever. And when we come to see that,
other things just, I don't know, they have their place, but their
place is a whole lot beneath this place, his place, preeminence,
a whole lot beneath it. They fall in line, but they fall
in line behind the one who marches in the head.