Thank you, what a blessing. Let
us turn to 2 Corinthians, the book of 2 Corinthians, and we're
going to look at chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Starting at verse 8, and we're
going to skip a few verses, but to get the general context, starting
with verse 8. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. Wherefore we labor that whether
present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done. whether
it be good or bad, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men, but we are made manifest unto God and I trust are also
made manifest in your consciences. Verse 14, for the love of Christ
constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all,
then we're all dead. and that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. For henceforth know we
no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature, old things are passed away, Behold, all
things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, to wit 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 stead be reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." A wonderful passage of scripture. I look at three
motivations here that kept Paul on the path of loving obedience
to the Lord and his calling in life. And I believe these three
things would motivate us as well. First of all, Paul was compelled
by a coming day. We see this in 5, 8 through 11.
The coming judgment motivated Paul to be faithful in his calling.
First of all, Paul wanted to hear, well done, my good and
faithful servant. In verse 9, the word is approved
of him that we may be accepted. Where he says, wherefore we labor
that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. When
he says present or absent, he's referring to in the body or out
of the bodies. laboring that he would be approved
unto God, approved at the judgment seat of Christ or approved in
the ministerial work that he has. And every one of us has
a ministry that God has given us. And so I think the attitude
in the long run of Paul and of all of us should be what our
Lord revealed in Luke 17, 10 when it comes to service. for
the Lord, and that is, so likewise, when ye shall have done all those
things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants,
for we have done that which was our duty to do. Every Christian should feel a
sense of duty as a faithful steward to do what God has given him
to do. Paul said a dispensation of the
gospel is committed unto him or a stewardship he was talking
about of the gospel. is committed unto him. And so
the first thing of a steward is to be found faithful, to be
found faithful to God. Another face of judgment that
we look at here, King James puts it, the terror of the Lord. This
can be rendered the fear of the Lord. I believe principally this
is a reverential fear, not wanting to displease our loving Father
and seeing we have wasted much time that the Lord has given
us and many many opportunities to be faithful. The Apostle Peter
also refers to this in 1 Peter chapter 1. You can turn there
if you want to. 1 Peter chapter 1 and in verse 17. Where he says in verse 17, And if you
call on the Father, who without respective person judges, according
to every man's work, past the time of your sojourning." Look
at that word, your sojourning here in fear. For as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and without spot. You know, we're just sojourners
here, aren't we? We're just pilgrims in this land, bought with a precious
price beyond compare. We should allow this to motivate
us to look to our home and to look to our Lord's approval of
what he's given us to do. And the thought of other men
facing the judgment of God, that's another thought here, the thought
of other men facing the possibly lost men facing the judgment
of God. Now that would be terror, wouldn't
it? But Paul says this when he refers to that. Paul wanted to
be innocent of the blood of all men. And I think that's something
we ought to strive to do. Be innocent of the blood of all
men, he said in Acts 20, 26. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. So Paul strove He felt that he
owed every man a clear presentation of the gospel. I think there's
a danger among those in our own theological camp to sit back
and to not be concerned for the preaching and the testifying
of the gospel of the grace of God. There was no greater believer
in sovereign grace than Paul the Apostle. And so what did
he call himself? Paul said, I'm a debtor. I'm
a debtor to both Jews and Greeks. Romans 1, 14 through 16, he says,
I'm a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to
the wise and the unwise. So as much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you there in Rome also. For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek." And the final analysis, we're called to be obedient to
the Great Commission. All of us are called to be obedient
to the Great Commission. And so everyone should testify
of the gospel. For the Lord will cross the path
of his sheep one day with the gospel message, with the preaching
of the gospel. And so we preach and so everyone
should testify. And why do I say that? In Matthew
28, 18 through 20, and you know this passage by memory, the Lord
came, Jesus came and spake unto them, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. All power, right? Go ye therefore,
because of that power, go ye therefore, teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to obey or to observe all things that
I have commanded you. That would include this same
command. He's commanding them and he says, teach them, you
know, to obey everything that I've commanded you. And lo, he
says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. And
so Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.10, he says, therefore, I endure
all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the
salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And
Paul did. Paul suffered, didn't he? Paul
suffered. It would be useless to go into the accounts of Paul's
suffering, and we all know how much Paul suffered. And he did
that with the, with the thought in mind that he endured that
so that the elect would receive the gospel. And Henry Mahan said,
being confident that there shall be a great and terrible judgment
of the Lord, and he was commenting on this passage, by the way,
he says, before which all men must appear, Hebrews 9, 27, and
he said, the Lord Jesus himself being the judge at which all
men shall give an account for all that they have thought, said,
and done in the flesh, we persuade men to venture on Christ and
believe on him to the saving of their souls. Salvation is
only by Christ who is both able and willing to save the chief
of sinners, end quote. One thing we must remember is
the Lord has ordained means to save his sheep. And that means
is the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And that's why it's
called the power of God. To the called, it's the power
of God. To those that Paul preached to,
to the Greeks, was foolishness, right? To the Jews, they needed
a sign. But to those that are called
by God, it is the power of God. It's the power of God. God calls
them out of darkness to his marvelous light. The Lord ordained, that
means was the preaching of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1. William
Carey had said this, We must not be contented with praying
without exerting ourselves in the use of means for the obtaining
of those things that we pray for. You see, the means is the
preaching of the gospel. We're to pray and we're to go.
To pray and to go. And so Paul was compelled by
the coming judgment, by that approaching day of judgment. And so now Paul introduces a
concern that is repeated in many of his letters. And look in 5,
12 and 13. 5, verse 12 and 13. He says, For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you an occasion to glory on our behalf.
that you may have somewhat to answer them with glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. It is for your cause. Paul wanted
the Corinthians to have an answer to those who were critical of
Paul's ministry and especially of his person. It was important
to him because if his readers sided with his critics, those
of false works-based religion, or if the Corinthians were persuaded
to believe them and going away to their camp, Paul knew what
that would mean in light of coming judgment. And just like us today,
we're unwilling to lose our brothers to the apostates and the false
teachers. John said, they went out from
us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. So Paul had a sincere
and a very tender relationship with the Corinthian church. The
book of Acts says that in Acts 18, that he taught them for a
year and a half in that city. And then in an unspecified time,
he stayed with them, stayed on. We don't know how much time that
was after that year and a half period, but you could look at
the tenderness of Paul's testimony towards the Corinthians and think
of his concern that he wouldn't lose them to slick teachers of
the false gospel, you see. And look at that in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 13. This is a very tender, this really
impresses me, a very tender passage. 1 Corinthians 4, 13 through verse
16. He says, being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the
world and the offscouring of all things into this day. I write
not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, look
at that word, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors
in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you. through the gospel. Oh, what
tenderness he speaks of here. Wherefore, I beseech you, be
followers of me. Paul wanted his followers to
be able to answer those who glory in works based religion and not
in a sincere God given faith that changes the heart. Paul
was always wrought with slanderers, right, including Festus, the
chief slanderer when he stood before Festus. And Festus said,
much learning doth make thee mad. You know, and so that was
just, you know, a part of what Paul received in criticism. Paul
was willing to be defamed and to suffer slander and to be called
crazy in his zeal to build up the church. He said, it is for
your cause, in this verse here, he says, it is for your cause,
verse 13, wherefore, if we be beside ourselves, it is to God. Or whether we be sober, it is
for your cause. It's for your cause that we suffer.
Not only was Paul compelled by the coming judgment and the influence
of false teachers upon the brethren in light of that coming day,
but secondly, he was constrained by the love of Christ, and that's
in 5.14-17. Let's read 14 and 15. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we're
all dead, or all died. is in some of your translations.
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose
again. He was constrained by the love
of Christ. The word constrained means to
be forced, to force someone to follow a particular course of
action. And what was it that was forcing
Paul? The love of Christ. What a wonderful topic to be
able to delve into. That love that our Lord demonstrated
throughout His earthly life of obedience and His perfect righteousness
that He established, it was all for His people. It was motivated
by His eternal love. That love caused Him to become
our surety in covenant engagements. That love caused Him to veil
His glory and to make Himself of no reputation and take upon
the form of a servant. and then of a man and then of
a sufferer and then of a vicarious atonement to die in my place
as a criminal to pay for my crimes that I had done. He who had no
sin, he who knew no sin. As the hymn says, was it for
crimes that I had done? He groaned upon the tree. Amazing
pity, grace unknown and love beyond degree. I like what John
Bunyan writes of Christian in the palace, beautiful in Pilgrim's
Progress as the host. explained to Christian speaking
of the Lord. He said, there were some of them
of that household that said they had been and spoke with him since
he did die on the cross. And they have attested that they
had it from his own lips that he is such a lover of poor pilgrims
that the like is not to be found from the east to the west. They
moreover gave an instance of what they affirmed and that was
he had stripped himself of his glory and that he might do this
for the poor and that they heard him say and affirm that he would
not dwell in Mount Zion alone. Isn't that true? They said, moreover,
that he had made many pilgrims princes, though by nature they
were beggars born, and their origin had been in the dunghill."
This love was also the love of the Father, wasn't it? This love
of Christ, the Son was the love of His Father, who chose us in
Him before the foundation of the world, in Ephesians 1. This
Calvary love was the love of the Holy Spirit who calls us
out of darkness to his marvelous light. as 1 Peter says in chapter
2. He called us out of darkness
into marvelous light. And John 3 also explains that, the calling
of the Holy Spirit, the being born again of the Spirit. Hebrews
2 is such a great chapter on redeeming love, the love of the
Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Holy Ghost. Look
at Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 11. And this is just this is
such a lovely passage of scripture, such a wonderful passage of scripture.
So so so clear on on on election and and his love. He says, for
both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Oh, this is, this just touches your heart, doesn't it? Saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
church while I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my
trust in him. And again, behold, I and the
children, which God has given unto me, given me. He would not dwell in Zion alone,
as Bunyan wrote, but he loved his church, his children, and
he gave himself for us. And back to the text, Paul says,
because we thus judge in verse 14, he says, because we thus
judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. Paul begins
to calculate that love, motivates Paul to calculate the effect
of the transaction of the purchase possession. And he says that
if one died for all, then we're all dead. Think about that. He
bought us out of such great of a death, spiritual death, as
Steve talked about this morning, spiritual death, one where our
sins had cut us off from God. and dead in trespasses and sins,
dead under the law and debtors, debtors under that law, under
that curse of judgment, dead under and controlled by Satan's
blindness, keeping us, keeping us from hearing the gospel, you
know, making us deaf to hearing the gospel of Christ. Steve said
this morning, dead, disobedient, and depraved. And that's good.
That's us, dead, disobedient, and depraved. Not one spark of
goodness, not any, what some people have called an island
of righteousness within myself to reach out to God, nothing
in my soul. Depraved means that there's,
you know, you're not as bad as you could be, but there's nothing
in you that's good. There's nothing, there's no part,
there's no iota that's good in you. Another truth of this passage
here, not only were we dead, but one of this passages, if
one died for all, then these all died, they all died in him. And that's what most of these
translations will say. And that's the sense here. If
one died for all, these all died, they all died in him. This is
a wonderful testimony. to the power and the scope of
the atonement to save. For one thing, it is particular
to save all those for whom it was intended to save. They all
died in him. All those he came to save were
given to him by his father in that covenant of grace, his children.
Not every person that ever lived in the world because obviously
all those who live in this world have not died in him, but the
redeemed have. The redeemed have. John 17 too,
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And he
said in John 17, I think it's verse nine. He says, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world. I pray
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them which shall believe on me
through their word. through their word. In John chapter
10, John chapter 10, verse 15, he says, as the father knoweth
me, even so I know the father, I lay my life down for the sheep
and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. them also
I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd." This is the love that constrained
Paul. The love that caused Christ to
seek his sheep. The love that was a seeking love. He left the 99 in the fold to
seek the other sheep. They were not of that Jewish
fold at that time, right? He went to sheep to seek the
other sheep as well. It was a providing love. It caused
him to provide our greatest needs. What were they? Our greatest
needs were peace with God. Our greatest need was a justifying
righteousness that we could not possibly produce, to be taken
out of the wrath of God. You know, that was our greatest
needs, peace with God. Paul goes on to see the results
of our death in him. What is the results of our death
in Christ? We're risen to a new life. And
that's referring to that mystical union that we have, that our
pastor refers to many times, that mystical union that we have
in Christ. We're united with Christ in his
death. When he died, we died. When he
arose, we arose to walk in newness of life. And it's in verse 15,
look at verse 15. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. It's the same thought
that Paul had in Colossians chapter three. I think Colossians chapter
three has to be the best commentator on this verse, Paul himself. Colossians chapter three, verse
one. If you then be risen with Christ, look what he's talking
about, the union that we have with Christ. If you be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above and not on the things of this earth. For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."
We're dead men walking. We're united with Christ in his
death. and buried with Christ, raised
again to walk in newness, and seated in the heavenly places
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says. And so when Christ
our life shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory. In verse 16, he says, Wherefore
henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him
no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. It should be our motivation as
new creatures, risen from a spiritual death and united with Christ
in death and in new resurrection life to live for him. to live
for Him. We worship a risen, living Savior. Also, we don't regard any man
after the flesh, but as a new creature in Christ Jesus. We
don't regard the old man who is corrupt. We look at every
man as a new creature. We don't think of the dead man
that he's carried around with him. We think of that new creature
in Christ Jesus that we're dealing with, that new creature. We're
going to lay that old man in the grave. And so we saw that
we're compelled by a coming judgment. We saw that Paul and us are constrained
by the love of Christ, that we're dead with him, that we're risen
to walk in newness of life. And so number three, We are commissioned
as ambassadors with a message, and that's verse 18 through 20. All things are of God, who has
reconciled us to himself by Christ, hath given us the ministry of
reconciliation, to which God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto him, and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation, has committed
that unto us. Look at verse 20. Now, then you
are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by
us. We pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God, be reconciled
to God. An ambassador is not free to
say whatever he wants to say. He's commissioned to say what
the one who commissioned him wants to say. And it starts with
a command, be reconciled to God. That's the command the sinner
hears when God blesses him to realize his hopeless condition.
The Spirit of God causes him to labor under that burden of
sins, doesn't he? The Lord mentioned that in Matthew
11, 28. where he said, you who labor under heavy laden, you
know, because he was referring to rest unto their souls, right? He come unto me, oh, you who
labor under heavy laden. It was laboring under that soul,
a labor of knowing he was a sinner. And he said, I'll give you rest
from that. And so that's when he calls us out of darkness.
So be reconciled to God is what it starts with. It's the command
that the sinner hears when God blesses him to realize his condition.
The Spirit of God calls him to labor that shows him that he's
a sinner with a carnal mind and that he's enmity with God, he's
an enemy of God, he needs reconciliation. God has reconciled Jews and Gentiles
to himself, not imputing their sins to him by the surety of
their salvation, the surety of the covenant, and the mediator
and the propitiation that made that reconciliation. Christ's
surety took the responsibility to pay all that we owed and to
personally bring us to God. And 1 Peter 3.18 is a great verse
on this. He says, For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
or made alive by the Spirit. Them I must bring, he said, them
I must bring, that there would be one foal and one shepherd. Christ is surety. Now Christ
as mediator made peace and broke down that dividing wall that
kept us separated from God. He took the penalty that our
sins deserved. He took the curse of the law.
God's justice was satisfied, and he made peace with God, and
he was our mediator. And Christ, our propitiation,
a propitiation is a sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God
against us. And also, it's a place of mercy. Going from that word that Paul
used there in Romans chapter three, it's also a place of mercy. It's a mercy seat. You know,
that Israelite had mercy when the blood was poured out at the
base of the mercy seat. Christ is our propitiation where
God was satisfied. and we find mercy, and we find
mercy. Paul closes this with a great
exchange, and it's in verse 21, our sin for his perfect righteousness. Look what he says, for he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Oh, what a wonderful
verse. The great exchange, the great exchange This explains
verse 19 and says, how are we reconciled? Look at verse 19,
to what God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. And it's committed unto us the
word of reconciliation. How does this explain it? Because
it says how it's done. How are we reconciled? Our sins
were laid upon the sinless substitute and his perfect righteousness
was imputed to us. Our sins imputed to him, his
righteousness imputed to me. Now we're accounted righteous
in Christ. We're sinners and yet we're righteous,
as Martin Luther said. We're sinners simultaneously
and we're also righteous. in Christ because we're accounted
righteous in Christ. I like what David, or what Paul
actually quotes David in this, in Romans 4, 6, he said, even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed or happy
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Oh, wow. That is that is great. And it's when you see versus
also now we're talking about this, a verse in the Bible that
is complete. It's a complete verse, a complete
presentation of the gospel in one verse where he used to open
it up and it just expands. That would be 521. That would
be 521. And I like First Peter 224 to
comment on this. The Bible comments on other scripture. One scripture comments on another
one. First Peter 224, who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live
unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." You
see, Peter's thinking of that Isaiah 53, by whose stripes you
were healed, and he's quoting that to his readers. So let us go out in newness of
life, bearing this message as ambassadors, because we're compelled
by the coming judgment. We're constrained by the love
of Christ and we're commissioned, we're commissioned as ambassadors
to carry this message, be reconciled to God because of the work of
Christ in our place, the work of Him, our surety, the work
of Him, our mediator, and the work of Christ, our propitiation. Thank you. Lord bless. Thank you beyond that.