Be Reconciled To God!

”Be Reconciled to God!” ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

Introduction: Jesus Christ is the Christian’s only source of righteousness and forgiveness and acceptance with God. This is what the Lord’s Supper causes us to reflect upon, and this is what I want you to see in this morning’s message. In Christ, and in Christ alone, we have been reconciled to God through the blood of His cross. What is reconciliation? What does it mean to be reconciled? Have you ever been at odds with someone else? Have you children here ever had a close friend that you argued with, and because of your argument you weren’t friends anymore, at least for a little while? You may have even found yourself for a time not liking that person. But later you and your friend made up. You apologized to him, or he apologized to you, and you were friends again. If you know what I’m talking about, then you have an example of what reconciliation is. For some reason you were at odds with someone, and then you were made friends again. You were able to work through the problem to a solution that both of you were happy with. Well the Bible tells us that we all were at one time at odds with God. Perhaps some of us here this morning still are. When we came into the world, we were the enemies of God, and He, therefore, was our enemy. We were fighting with God, and He was fighting with us. If this state of affairs, which was the result of the Fall, would have continued without God’s intervening, then all of mankind would have been lost. But the Bible tells us that God did intervene. He did not let all of mankind perish in their hatred of Him, but He sent His Son into the world that He might reconcile us to Himself. He sent Christ to remove the source of the enmity, the sin that separated man from God. And as we contemplate this work of Christ in this text as we prepare ourselves to come to the Lord’s Table, I want you to see that, Christ has opened the only way of reconciliation with the Father by the offering up of Himself on the cross.

I.

First, I Want to Remind You of the Problem that Separates God and Man: Namely, the Fact that M a n Is at War with God. A. Perhaps We Didn’t Think of Our Relationship with God Prior to Coming to Christ in These Terms, But It Is True, We Came into the World the Enemies of God. 1 . The Fall of man was an act of rebellion against the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. a. Adam, faced with a decision to obey His Creator and Lord, or to listen to the serpent, chose the way of rebel 1ion. b. He threw off the yoke of his merciful Lord, which was light and easy, and put on the yoke of bondage to sin. 2.

And even though the Lord had mercy on Adam and Eve in redeeming them back to Himself, yet all of his children were born steeled in rebellion against their Creator. a. Adam turned his whole race against God.

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B.

b. His sin affected all of his children. c. He represented us in his first sin, but when the Lord saved him, he represented only himself. And Because of This, We Are Either Now, or Have Been at One Time, at War with God. 1 . If you are outside of Christ this morning, the Lord says that you are at war with Him now, and He with you. a. You are on opposing sides, even as America and the Allied forces were opposed to Germany and the Axis forces during World War II. b. There is no peace for you with God. c. Whether you are young or old or middle aged, there is no peace between you and God if you are outside of Christ. d. Yes, God is good to all of His creatures--He gives to all life and breath and every good thing--, but you must not mistake that goodness for His love and acceptance. God is good to all of His enemies, a characteristic, by the way, that you are to imitate. e. There is yet a fiery retribution for you who continue to fight and rebel against the righteous commandments of the Lord. 2.

But for those who come to Him in faith and repentance, there is peace with God. a. This is possible only because of the reconciliation which God provided in Christ. b. Paul said, ”FOR IF WHILE WE WERE ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, MUCH MORE, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, WE SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE” (Rom. 5:1 0 ) . c. When you come to the Lord, by trusting in His Son, Christ Jesus and turning away from your sins, then you enter into peace with God. Again Paul writes, ”THEREFORE HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST” (5:1 ).

And This Leads Us to Heart of This Passage This Morning, Namely, the Work of Christ Which Makes this Reconciliation Possible, Which to the Christian is that Truth Which Is Most Precious to His Soul. A. From this Passage, We Learn that the Source of This Reconciliation Is God. ”NOW ALL THESE THINGS ARE FROM GOD” (v. 18a). 1 . You could not have reconciled yourself to God, for your heart was full of nothing but hatred for Him. a. You know that as long as your heart is inclined away from something, that it will never choose it. (i) You children know that unless you want something, you’ll never ask for it. (ii) If you don’t like broccoli, or spinach, or pickles, you will never ask your parents to give you some. (iii) If you are at odds with someone because they have wronged you and you have not forgiven them, then you won’t want to play with them,

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or to go to a place where you know that you' 11 see them.

Even so, because we are wicked and God is holy, we have a natural resistance to Him in our heart. We would never come to Him. c. This resistance is much stronger than we think. We may think we know and love a god of our own making, but we would be repulsed by the idea of the Sovereign biblical God who is the moral judge of the universe and who will hold all men accountable on that great day.

b.

2.

B.

But because of the love of God, He made a way of peace possible. a. This is the whole point of the Bible with regard to the salvation of man. b . John says, "IN THIS IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON TO BE THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS" ( I John 4:lO). c. And so what man cannot do for himself, God does for him through His Son, Christ Jesus. d. God is the One who takes the first step and moves towards us.

God Reconciled Us to Himself Through Christ. 1 . Though we hated God, He brought us to Himself through 18b, 19a). His Son (w. a. Paul says, "NOW ALL THESE THINGS ARE FROM GOD, WHO RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF THROUGH CHRIST" (v. 18b). (i) Remember, reconciliation is the removal of the enmity or hatred between two parties who were at variance with each other. (ii) The past tense is used here because everything that needed to be done to effect our reconciliation was done through Christ nearly 2000 years ago. (iii) Christ effectively brought us back to God. b.

In the work of Christ, God reconciled all of His people from every nation to Himself. (i) "GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF" (v. 19a). (ii) Paul says that it was in Christ that this peace was accomplished and that His work was not only for Israel, but for those from every nation, tribe, tongue, and kindred, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.

2. At the cross, all of our sins were laid upon Christ (w. 19b, 21a). a. Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, took upon Himself our guilt. (i) "HE MADE HIM WHO KNEW NO SIN TO BE SIN ON OUR BEHALF" (v. 21a). (ii) Christ personally had never committed even one act of sin. (iii) Peter says of Him, "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS

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ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH” ( 1 Peter 2:22). (iv) This One who was absolutely pure and unblemished had the guilt of His people laid upon Him. (v) And He bore that punishment that was meant for us. (vi) Christ, as it were, was cast into the fiery furnace of the wrath of God, and endured such torments, that even the thought of them caused Him to sweat great drops of blood on that cold Judean night in which He was betrayed. (vii) On that night, He cried out in great anguish of soul, ”MY FATHER, IF THIS CANNOT PASS AWAY UNLESS I DRINK IT, THY WILL BE DONE” (Matt. 26:42). (viii) And so Christ drank down that cup of God’s wrath even to its dregs, so that you who trust in Him might have life. b.

3.

The sins that His children now commit are not reckoned to their account. (i) Paul says that God has reconciled us to Himself, ”NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST THEM” (v. 19b). (ii) There aren’t too many things that we do in life that we don’t want to take credit for. (iii) But here is one thing we would gladly give the credit away for, namely the guilt of our sins. (iv) When one who is in Christ sins, his guilt is not imputed to himself, but to Christ. (v) It is like buying things on credit, but having the bill go to someone else. Someone else pays the debt. (vi) Our sins amount to immeasurable guilt in God’s eyes, but Christ pays the debt for us. (vii) We do not on that account sin all we can because of God’s grace. Rather, out of love, out of a changed heart, we turn from those things which God hates, and do deeds of righteousness, knowing that when we fail and sin, Christ paid for it all already.

But, not only is our sin imputed to Him, His righteousness is imputed to us. ”HE MADE HIM WHO WEW NO SIN TO BE SIN ON OUR BEHALF, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF Gon IN HIM” (v. 21b). a. Christ takes away our sins, but that is not enough to make us righteous and acceptable to God. b. He also gives to us by imputation, the righteousness of Christ. (i) That which Christ earned in H i s perfect obedience to the Law is imputed to us. (ii) It is like having someone else work and earn vast amounts of money which are all transferred into our bank account. (iii) I didn’t do the work, but the money is in my account and so it is mine. (iv) Even so, when you trust in Christ, your sin is removed, and H i s perfect righteousness is credited to your account.

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(v) You stand before Him free from all guilt, and looked upon as one who has kept all of His holy requirements according to the Law of God, perfectly. (vi) This is the essence of justification. (vii) And having now been justified by faith in Christ, you are entitled to heaven and to all of its benefits, in this life and the life to come.

III.

Lastly, I Want You to See that Christ Has Entrusted this Message of Reconciliation to His Officers, and to Carefully Weigh the Command that Christ Gives to You this Morning through His Officer: Be Reconciled to God! A. God Not Only Provided This Reconciliation, He also Appointed Apostles and Preachers as Ambassadors to Proclaim It. 1 . Christ has appointed men to stand in His place as His official representatives (v. 20). ”THEREFORE WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD WERE ENTREATING THROUGH US; WE BEG YOU ON BEHALF OF CHRIST, BE RECONCILED TO GOD.” a. An ambassador is a messenger who brings the message of his sovereign Lord. b. But he not only carries the message of his Lord, he also comes invested with his Lord’s authority. c. Likewise, Christ has appointed ambassadors who bear His message. (i) In the Old Testament, they were the prophets. (ii) In the New Testament, they were the apostles, prophets and ministers. (iii) Today, they are His ministers who expound to you the Word of Christ. d. A minister stands in Christ’s stead, on His behalf, as His appointed messenger, therefore the words which he speaks are to be heeded. A preacher of he Gospel is a man who is beset with weakness, like all of God’s people. He is not infa lible, but the message that he proclaims is. And because he is speaking the words of our Lord, they are to be carefully listened to. You must learn to separate your feelings from the minister as an individual, and listen to him as you would to Christ. You must give the messenger of Christ a conscionable hearing. Charles Hodge wrote, ”As they speak in Christ’s name and by His authority; as He hath ordained the ministry and calls men by His Spirit into the sacred office, the rejection of their message is the rejection of Christ, and any injury done unto them as ministers is done unto Him” ( 2 Corinthians 522). You must pay attention to the words that I am speaking, not because I am speaking them, my words in and of themselves are worthless.

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But because I stand before you at Christ’s appointment to deliver to you His declared will for your life, you must listen. You must listen carefully and attentively, and do what it is that Christ commands with all that is within you to do it with. It is the one who labors hard at his employment, who studies hard in his education, who trains hard to win, that excels all the rest. The most worthwhile things in life do not come through feeble efforts, but through diligence. The sermon, in as much as it reflects the biblical revelation, is the very Word of Christ. And so listen carefully, for it is your Lord’s words that I proclaim, even as Jesus said to His apostles, ”THE ONE WHO LISTENS TO YOU LISTENS TO ME, m n THE ONE WHO REJECTS YOU REJECTS ME; m n HE WHO REJECTS ME REJECTS THE ONE WHO SENT ME” (Luke 10: 16). 2.

B.

The message that His officers proclaim is the message of reconciliation. a. He has given to them the ministry of reconciliation (v. 18c). b. And the precise message that is to be proclaimed (v. 19c), namely, ”BE RECONCILED TO GOD” (v. 20c). (i) God has done everything in Christ that is needed for man to be reconciled to Himself through Christ . (ii) And so now He heralds through His messengers that all men everywhere should repent of their sins and believe the Gospel.

God Commands You This Morning to Be Reconciled to Him. 1 . This command is to you who are outside of Christ to enter into that relationship of peace with God. a. God offers you full forgiveness and perfect righteousness in Christ this morning. b. God exhorts you to be reconciled to Him. It is His command; it is His call; it is open to all, ”Whosoever will let Him come to the water and drink.” (i) ”AND THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE SAY, ’COME.’ AND LET THE ONE WHO HEARS SAY, ’COME.’ AND LET THE ONE WHO IS THIRSTY COME; LET THE ONE WHO WISHES TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE WITHOUT COST” (Rev. 22: 17). (ii) This invitation is open to all of you, no one is excluded. (iii) If you are outside of Christ, the only one that is holding you back is yourself. Come to Him, cry out for His mercy, for He is merciful in mercy to all who call upon Him in truth. c. Be reconciled to God!

b.

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2.

But this is also a command to you in the covenant community to be reconciled to God if you have fallen into any sin. a. You should always be examining your hearts to make your calling and election sure. b. But especially as you come to the Lord’s Supper this morning, it is important that you examine your hearts to see if you are cherishing any unconfessed sin. C. This Supper is for you, it is for your nourishment. d. But you must come to the Lord in humble repentance for your sins, and trust in Christ. e. You have an Advocate with the Father, who is constantly keeping you reconciled with Him. f. But it is those who are continually confessing their sins who are continually being cleansed by Him. As you prepare to come to the table this morning, g. examine your heart, confess your sins to Him, and be reconciled to God. Amen.