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Good morning, everyone. It's
good to see each one. We're thankful to be here this
morning. We are thankful and excited to
declare to you the Word of God today. If you will turn with
me, take your copy of God's Word and turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The section of text we will endeavor
to look at this morning is verses 18 through 21. So let's read
that together. 2 Corinthians 5. beginning in
verse 18. Now all these things are from
God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God were making an
appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled
to God. He made him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness
of God in him. Having now, over the past couple
of years, worked our way verse by verse through several of the
Apostle Paul's letters, It's clear to see that at the very
foundation of the apostle's faith, Paul believed that God Yahweh,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Paul believed
He was and is everything. And so he lived out his God-given
faith, by declaring to everyone, everywhere he went, the gospel
of his God, which is, as I've repeated hundreds of times, Christ
is everything. And he must be everything to
you, or he is nothing. And you might be wondering why
I keep repeating that phrase. Well, loved ones, I do so because
if this is not the foundation of your faith, if Christ is not
truly everything to you, you will soon find out just how hopeless
and helpless you are without Him. You will soon find out just
how everything He truly is. So is Christ Jesus everything
to you? To you. personally. Is Christ Jesus the
Christ of the Bible, of course? Is He everything to you? Is He really your one and only
hope of acceptance before God Yahweh, your Creator and your
Judge? Not your religion and Jesus,
and not even Jesus and your religion, but Jesus, the Christ of this
book, It is Him, plus nothing, Him, minus nothing, or He indeed
will be nothing to you. It is as just as He said, Jesus
Himself in Matthew chapter seven, if He is not everything to you,
He will say to you on the day of judgment, depart from me,
I do not know you. So is he truly everything to
you? Well, he is everything, and he
must be everything to you, to me, to all of us. And the thing
is, that is not just some religious jargon. That is not just some
religious mumbo-jumbo. That's not just something that
a preacher is supposed to say. No, there is a very specific
and logical reason that Christ is everything and that He must
be everything to all of us. As I've told this before, God
is logical. His logic is high logic, but
He is logical. So there is a very specific reason
why Christ is everything and He must be everything to you.
Actually, we just read it. Christ Jesus is everything and
He must be everything to us for, by, and because of reconciliation. Actually, before we get to or
as we come to the doctrine of reconciliation this morning in
our passage. We've already seen several times
in this letter the vulnerability of the Apostle Paul. Remember,
Paul is writing this letter to a church that had previously
been all but convinced that he was really a hypocrite, full
of selfish pride and arrogancy. But the way that Paul wrote and
the way that the Holy Spirit led him to write this letter
in a very open and vulnerable way should have clearly showed
them and us that Paul was not a hypocrite. He was not full
of selfish pride. The reality of the Apostle Paul
is that he had no other ulterior motive in his life and ministry
than simply to love God, to serve God, and to declare his gospel. Christ was everything to the
Apostle Paul. Case in point, in the previous
verses here in chapter 5, Paul has revealed to them and to us
some astounding things and mysterious things, mysterious truths about
our present lives and even our eternal futures. And he has done
so in a very... I mean, he even used the words,
I know. We know. He's done so in a very
matter-of-fact way. Even here in chapter 5, He even
defended Himself to this church in a way His accusers could have
well said, See, we told you. Look how prideful, look how boastful
He is. But now here in verse 18, even
before His enemies can get their accusations against Him out of
their mouth, He says, Now all of these things, are from God. Basically, I know I may sound
like I know something. I may even sound like I'm boasting
and bragging, commending myself, but that's not true. I know nothing. I am nothing. God is everything. All that I know, all that I am
is by the grace of God. God Yahweh, He has done it all. And for the next four verses,
He's going to declare to them and to us what God Yahweh has
done, what God Yahweh has given, what God is doing, and what God
will do, all because of His grace. Namely, in, by, and because of
His grace of reconciliation. So, let me ask us, what do you
know about reconciliation? Do you know the whys of reconciliation? Do you know the hows of reconciliation? Do you know the absolute necessity
of reconciliation? Do you know the only means of
reconciliation? And if you do, do you know about
reconciliation personally? Do you know about reconciliation
experientially? Have you been reconciled? And if so, are others learning
about it, about reconciliation from you? So as I ask you all of those
questions, I would imagine in all of those, there is room for
growth in every one of us, right? the hows, the whys, the necessity,
the only means, and personal, experiential reconciliation,
not to mention others learning about it from us. So, may the Holy Spirit give
us ears to hear and minds to understand. May He help us to
understand the wonderful grace, to see and understand the wonderful
grace of God in reconciliation. So first, let's all learn more
about the miracle of reconciliation in verse 18. Notice, now all
of these things are from God. Paul is saying, all the things
I just told you, they are true. They are not fantasy. They are
not me boasting in myself. They are true and they are all
from God Himself. They are all from His grace.
Notice how he continues here. All these things are from God.
who reconciled us..." We know who He's speaking to here. He's
speaking to a congregation of believers. So the us here is
believers. "...He has reconciled believers
to Himself through Christ." All these things are from God who
has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. I wonder if we
all realize just how miraculous this statement is, that God has
reconciled us to himself through Christ. Let me illustrate it like this,
and I'm sure I've used this illustration before, but in the beginning,
there was God Yahweh and his creation. Before he created,
there was only him and his triune, eternal being. So, as He created,
there was God, Yahweh, and there was His creation, including His
crowning work of creation, mankind, human beings. He created everything
else for them. And God and mankind, they were
like this. They were in communion. They
were in fellowship. They were in oneness. It's described
in Genesis, the opening chapters of Genesis, by Adam walked in
the cool of the day with God. They were in communion and fellowship
with one another. But then the tempter came to
mankind, and he brought with him distrust. suspicion of God. Hath God really said that? That's
not really what he means, Eve. Well, he knows something that
you don't know. And in that distrust, he brought
rebellion. And sin entered upon mankind. And what was once together, sin
broke apart. Sin broke apart Sin brought separation. Sin brought alienation. Sin brought a breach of hostility. Sin brought wrath. Sin brought
war between God and man. Between God the Creator and His
crowning work of creation that He created for His own glory.
And instead of glory now, because of sin there was war. And this
breach here, this gap, as far as man was concerned and is concerned,
is totally irrecoverable because of who God is and because of
the state of sinful man because sin came upon men. All men, for
all have sinned. Because of who God is and because
of the sinfulness of man, this gap, this breach, this war, this
hostility between God and man, as far as man is concerned, is
totally irrecoverable. Not only are we not able to recover
ourselves, but we are also not, naturally, we are not willing
to do so. We're not. This same apostle
put it like this in his letter to the Rome church in chapter
8 verse 7. Listen, because the mind is set
on the flesh, he's talking about the natural mind of man, the
mind that all of us are born into this world with, that mind
is hostile towards God. Some of you may have it as at
enmity against God. For it does not subject itself,
that natural mind, you and me in our natural born condition,
we do not subject ourselves to the law of God. For that mind,
it is not even able to do so." You remember that Jesus said,
no man can come to Me. Not no man may come to Me. No
man can. No man is able to come to Me
unless the Father draw him. So, with that mind, we are in
hostility towards God, at war with God, and we are not able
or willing to do anything about that. And so, verse 8 says, those
who are in the flesh, in that natural mind, cannot please God. In that natural mind, you cannot
please, it doesn't matter how religious you are, how pious
you are, you cannot please Him. Even your works of religion,
even your works of piety, even your works that would be deemed
as good works, do not please God. In that natural mindset. They cannot please God. So, can
we all hear, can we all feel the desperation of the human
plight in that verse? I hope you can. Because the reality
of that, Paul states it in another way in Ephesians chapter 2, we
are all naturally dead to God in this state. dead to Him, in
our natural mindset, in our natural state, left to ourselves. We
are dead to God. We are at war with God. God's
wrath abides upon us, Jesus says in John chapter 3. But God, but God who is rich in mercy,
but God who is rich in grace and love, but God who is the
God of salvation. Paul tells us here in verse 18
that He has reconciled. Okay, so here we are, but Paul
tells us God has reconciled. You watch me, okay? This is where
we are, but this is what has happened. This is God. This is us. God has reconciled. God has brought us together again. God has bridged the gap. God has mended the breach. God has ended the war, and He
has reconciled us, us fallen, sinful, unworthy, unable human
beings. Notice in the text, in verse
18, He has reconciled us, not to religion, He has reconciled
us out, what? To Himself. He has reconciled
us to Himself. But why did He do this? Why did
He seek to reconcile us? Well, what does Paul say? All
these things are from God. So what does that mean? God sought
to reconcile us. The why is He sought to reconcile
us because of His grace. He sought to reconcile us by
His free favor alone. Alone. His grace. All these things
are from God. That's why. His grace. And how
did He do this? You see it? See it? Through Christ. Through Christ and what? What does it say? God has reconciled
us to himself through Christ and what? Nothing. Through Christ and nothing. Remember, if Christ is not everything,
He is nothing. He has reconciled us to Himself
through Christ. That's how He has done it. But
why is this the case? Why or how did God reconcile
His people to Himself through Christ? Why was it necessary
for Jesus to be involved? And how was He involved? Well,
notice verse 19. Most translations begin, namely,
or that is, which gets our attention that there is about to be a reiteration
of what he just previously said. So notice the reiteration here. Actually, notice the marvel of
God's gracious miracle of reconciliation. Namely, verse 19, that is, that
God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting
their trespasses against them. So let's break this verse down
a little here. Notice three things just quickly.
Notice the position in this verse. Notice the people in this verse.
Notice the purpose in this verse. So God, in His mercy and grace,
has set out to reconcile an irreconcilable people. But He, He Himself, He
has accomplished this work in verse 18, Paul says, through
Christ, through Christ Jesus. And notice here in verse 19,
in this reiteration, He gives a little more detail. He says
here that God has accomplished His work of reconciliation in
Christ. In Christ. So God has reconciled
sinners through Christ by giving these reconciled ones a new position,
and that position is in Christ. In Christ. In other words, God
has given them, these reconciled ones, a position of oneness with
Christ, in Christ. If I could say it like this,
when God thinks of them, He thinks of them in Christ, through Christ. When God deals with them, He
deals with them in, by, and because of Christ. According to Romans
8 and verse 39, this apostle writes, He even sets His sovereign,
saving, eternal love on them in Christ. So what this means
is, just as these people were once, in Adam, fallen and dead
to God, even to the point of eternal separation and condemnation,
that's the reason all of us are natural born. enemies of God, because we have
all fallen in Adam. David said that he was conceived
in sin, that he meant from his birth he was sinful, from even
his conception he was sinful, because the death of Adam had
fallen upon him, the death of Adam had fallen upon us. So just
as these same people were once in Adam, dead to God, even to
the point of eternal separation and condemnation, now, By God's
gracious, reconciling deliverance, He has placed them in Christ
Jesus, His Son, unto eternal life and salvation. In Christ. See the position? So we see the
position of reconciliation in Christ Jesus. Then notice the
people of reconciliation. Who are the people that God has
graciously chosen to reconcile through Christ by giving them
a new position in Christ Jesus, His Son? Look at verse 19. That
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. So the people of God's reconciliation,
Paul calls them the world here. And I know this word world here
might cause confusion in some and consternation in others,
but there's no need for either, because Paul defines who these
people, who this world is, right here in the next phrase. God's
reconciliation, in, by, and because of Christ, listen, is not merely
an offer. It produces real results in its
recipients. What is the result? Do you see
it? Still in verse 19. What's the result of this reconciliation? God does not count or account
or charge their trespasses, their sins, against them. Okay? So this world here that Paul
speaks of, let me ask this. Is he speaking of people without
exception? In other words, when he uses
the word world here, when he says God has reconciled the world
to himself in Christ, by Christ, is he speaking of everyone, every
single person, in every single place, in every single time,
in every single age? Is that the world that he's speaking
of here? That's what a lot of people think
of when they see this English word world. But just think through
this. Think through this. If the result
of this reconciliation is that he does not charge this world
with their sins. So, God no longer charges human
beings, any human being, with sin. If this world is every single
human being and every single age and every single place, then
that means Paul's saying that God no longer charges human beings,
any human being, with sin. Is that true? Has God boarded
up the doors of hell? When Jesus warned people about
the judgment of hell because of their sinful unrepentance,
was He just bluffing? The book of Revelation, the end
of it, when sin and death and sinners are cast into the lake
of fire, is that not true? And if that's not true, can we
trust any of the Bible? You see how an incorrect interpretation
I have a lizard catcher here before it goes up somebody's
pant leg. You see how an incorrect interpretation
makes confusion out of the whole Bible. It's just a small lizard. Y'all
just don't scream very loud. So, This world here that Paul
is speaking of cannot be everyone, every single person in every
single place in every single time. I assure you Jesus was
not bluffing when he warned over and over and over and over about
the torments of hell where the fire is not quenched and the
worm does not die. He was not. So when Paul speaks
of the world, he can't mean people without exception. Because there
are sinners in hell right now who are paying right now for
their sin. There are. Matter of fact, as
I mentioned in John 3, Jesus in His own ministry, In the time
of His own life, He said that in your sin and unbelief, the
wrath of God abides presently upon you. If that's every single
person, in every single place, in every single time, then there
is no wrath of God. Because God is no longer charging
people with sin. No. Isn't it much more likely that
this Jew, this Jewish man, writing to a predominantly Gentile church
when he speaks of God reconciling us, this Jew and Gentiles together,
that this world, when he uses this word world, he means the
world that he is referring to is people without distinction.
People without discrimination. Or as we see in Revelation 7,
at the consummation of it all, it is a people from every nation
and every family and every language. A people of the whole world.
A people from every age and from every place. These are the world,
these are the people, the recipients of God's gracious gift of reconciliation
in Christ Jesus. And speaking of God not charging
the trespasses of these people against them, We can see the
position of reconciliation in Christ. We can see the people
of God's reconciliation. And with just a little bit of
thought, we can understand what He means here. And we can see
this world of people without distinction, Jew and Gentile,
bonded, free, male and female. And we can't, also, we can't
miss the purpose of God's reconciliation. The purpose of God placing His
people in Christ Jesus. Do you see the purpose? We're
still in verse 19. What's the purpose? Not counting
their trespasses against them. Not counting their trespasses
against them. Y'all don't worry about that
little lizard, he'll be fine. For sure, for sure, don't let it
distract you from what's been said in God's word here. This
is so important, y'all. What's the purpose of God's reconciliation? Not counting their trespasses
against them. So our God, God Yahweh, He is
a good judge. He is not an abominable judge
who justifies the wicked, nor does he condemn the righteous.
He is a good judge. He is inherently good. He is
righteous, and he is absolutely just. So how is it that he can,
and he absolutely does, to justify or declare as if we never sinned
sinful human beings like us. Matter of fact, know this, this
is exactly what he does to reconcile us to himself. Again, in his
letter to the Rome church, this apostle writes in chapter 5,
verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace. The warfare of our sin is gone. The rebellion of our sin is gone. This piece he's talking about
is reconciled. Reconciliation. We have reconciliation
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, having been
justified, having been declared, just as if we never sinned, We
have peace. We have reconciliation with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, how does God remain to be
good, even God Himself, and at the same time justify, reconcile
sinners? Or as Paul puts it, not counting
their trespasses against Him. How does He do that? How does
He not count their trespasses against them? On what basis can
God be just and yet not charge us sinners with sin? That's the
question. On what basis can God be just
and not charge us sinners with sin? Do you know? You need to know. You need to
know, listen to the Apostle Peter on the same subject. For Christ
also died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God, that He might reconcile
us, having been put to death in the flesh. but made alive
in the Spirit." Did you hear that? For Christ also died for
sins. Listen to the writer of Hebrews
in chapter 9, verse 26. But He, Christ Jesus, He has
appeared once for all, once for all times, at the culmination
of the ages, listen, to do away with sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. just as people are destined to
die once and after that to face the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed
once to take away the sins of many, and He will appear a second
time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who
are waiting for Him." By the way, those who are waiting for
Him are these ones that He has taken away their death, their
sin, and removed their death by His death. And then, just
look down here at verse 21. He, being God the Father, made
Him, Christ Jesus, who knew no sin. God made Him to be sin on
our behalf. God made the sinless Christ,
the sinless Jesus, the impeccable Jesus. He knew no sin. But God, in this grace of reconciliation, so that
God might be just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus,
God made, excuse me, God made the sinless one to be sin on
our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. You've heard me say many times
that the absolute only way that any of us can have any hope of
acceptance, peace, oneness with the sinless, just, holiness Himself
is absolute perfection. And how many of us are perfect? Let me just answer that for you.
Not one single one of us. There is none righteous not one
single one. There is none good, not one single
one. We have all sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. But yet for any of us to have
acceptance before God, even right now this moment, you must be
perfect. absolutely perfect, absolutely
sinless, absolutely righteous, absolutely good. And none of us are. But how many of us today have
a perfect Savior who loves us and gave Himself up for us as
a God-ordained, grace-given sacrifice, appeasement, satisfaction, of
our wretched sinfulness. And how many of us here today
are trusting fully, trusting alone, trusting only in the perfect
righteousness, the meritorious merit of Jesus Christ? How many
of us here today are trusting only and alone in the person
and the work of your risen Savior? None of us are perfect. You need
to know that you're not perfect. You do not meet God's standard. You yourself, if you stand before
God, if I stand before God, there will be one word for us. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty. But I have a Savior who is not
guilty. I have a Savior who is righteous.
and whose righteousness God has imputed to me to reconcile me
to Himself. And if that's you as well, if
that's you, if you have that Savior, that perfect risen Savior
today, if you are trusting alone in Him, in His merit, in His
righteousness, in His work, if you are trusting alone in Him,
rejoice. Rejoice, Saint of God, for you
are a recipient of the free grace of God. And He has reconciled
you to Himself through Christ Jesus, His Son. He has given
you a new position in Christ. And you are one of this world
that Paul speaks of here. And though your sins are like
scarlet, in, by, and because of Christ Jesus, through faith
in Him, God has removed your sin with all of its enmity, with
all of its condemnation, and God has justly justified you
before Him in peace and oneness and freedom and rest and joy
unspeakable and full of glory. This is the miracle. This is
the marvel of the miracle of God's reconciliation. And by the way, speaking of miracles
of God, has it occurred to anyone else that God is speaking of
this miracle of reconciliation to us in all three of our services? I want to tell you something.
The message I preached this morning, which was what? About this. I prepared for that
weeks ago with no clue of where I would be on this day here.
Not even a thought of it. God is watching, though, to perform
His work. In our Exodus study, He's actually
showing us the picture of His purpose and careful watchfulness,
His desire and absolute precision to bring about peace and oneness
and fellowship in a word, reconciliation with His people, with us. We
picked back up our Psalm study this past Wednesday night, and
the very last thing we saw in Psalm 11, without any regard
of this message today, I hadn't prepared for this message then,
but the last thing we saw was, because of the Gospel, which
is because of reconciliation, because of oneness with God,
no evil, No matter how great can ultimately overcome us, even
in times of the greatest of all evils, God's people, we can rejoice
in the Gospel. We can rest in the Gospel because
saints being reconciled by God through Christ. Understand, we will. If you are
reconciled today, where you sit, By God's grace, through Christ
Jesus, if He has given you a new position in Christ Jesus, you
will fully and finally and forever be spiritually and even physically
reconciled. Matter of fact, we noted Wednesday
night, just as sure as Christ Jesus is alive this moment, and
He is, Just as surely as He is, all that God has planned and
purposed and purchased will be fully realized. Saints, God has been whispering
the sweetness of His grace of reconciliation to us in all of
our services. I didn't plan any of it. How great is our God, Eligro. How he must surely love us. You know, it won't be but just
a little while, I will have been pastoring for 30 years. And I've
preached in a lot of different ways over those 30 years. Preaching
as I do now, verse by verse through books of the Bible. When God puts these things together,
you gotta listen. We need to pay attention. God
is speaking to us. This is how he speaks to his
people through his word. And he's speaking. Can you all hear how much he
loves us? He's whispering to us about the glory of His reconciliation. What He has done to have fellowship
with you, Saint. What He has done so that He could
draw you near to Himself and hold you in His arms as a father
holds a child. What He has done, the trouble,
if I could use that word, the trouble He has went to. so that He could be near to you
and you could be near to Him. That's what He's been talking
to us about in all three of our services. How He must love us. How He must want to encourage
us. How He must want our hearts to
be drawn out to Him. How He must be drawing our hearts
out to Him with these cords of love. What a miracle. All of this is. What a miracle. So can we all see the how, the
why, the absolute necessity, the only means of reconciliation? Can we all see it here in God's
Word? Can you hear God speaking of the wonder of His grace of
reconciliation here? That's what He's doing. He's
speaking in the power of His Holy Spirit through this Apostle.
Can you hear Him too? Can you hear Him? Is it marvelous in your eyes,
as they said in Psalm 118, that God would love you, though
you wage war against Him? Yet with cords of love, He broke
down the separation between you and Him. with cords of love.
He ended the war. He crossed the gap. He mended the breach. He did
it. He did it. He purposed it. He
brought it to pass. He watched carefully every minute
detail in saving your wretched soul. Because you would be saved. You were His. You've always been
His. He set His love upon you and
set out to save you from yourself. Can you hear the wonder of His
grace of reconciliation? Are you reconciled? You must be. You must be. There's no other way for you
to find acceptance with your creator. Apart from this reconciliation,
the only thing that awaits you is eternal separation and the
torments of hell forever. Are you reconciled? Are you reconciled
to God through His Son, Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ your
Savior? Do you have hope, faith in Him
alone to save you from your... Maybe you need to understand
that you're lost and undone before God. Oh, I don't really believe
it. You will. You will. I guarantee you, if you were
lost, you might push back and pull the truth down, suppress
it, just as God says in Romans chapter 1. Let's suppress the
truth in unrighteousness. Ah, that ain't religious. I ain't
listening to that preacher. I'm just here because I gotta
be. I'll be glad when this is over. You won't be glad when
it's over. You won't be. Are you reconciled? You must be reconciled to God.
There's no other way. This is not about religion. This
is not something a preacher has to say. This is fact. Fact of
God. This is what God has done so
that sinner and he can be joined back together. Reconciled. Are you reconciled? You must
be. You must be. Believe in Christ
Jesus. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved is what the scripture says. That saved
means reconciled. You must be reconciled to God
through faith in Christ Jesus. Through the person and the work
of Jesus Christ alone. Alone are you reconciled. I don't know. You need to know
right now. The only breath that any single
one of us here is guaranteed is the one we just had. And if
we have not another breath, know when you leave this world in
death, you will either be with the Lord because you've been
reconciled to Him, or you will be forever separated from Him.
That way. You need to know right now, this
moment. The vast majority of people who
die every single day in this world did not set out that morning
to die. Are you reconciled? Be reconciled. Believe God's Word and believe
in the provision of His Son to save you from your sins. Believe
and you will be reconciled. through faith in Christ Jesus.
You must be reconciled. Be reconciled to God. Don't wait another moment. Don't
push it down and hold it off. Today, believe. Today is the
day of salvation. Today may be the only day you
have. Are you reconciled? Not religious. Reconciled. Are you reconciled to God? Be reconciled. Well, we're out of time. And if you're paying attention,
I'm sure you have realized that we're not anywhere near through
with this text of Scripture. Maybe you've noticed here, this
miracle, this marvel of reconciliation, it includes a ministry and a
message as well. And this ministry and this message
is so important to us now, so important to us today, I don't
want to rush through it. So we will look forward to that
next time. But until then, I do want to
give you a little homework. I want to give you something
to think, something to ponder about. Do the believers here
today know that you have been reconciled through Christ Jesus
to God Yahweh? If you have been reconciled to
God by His grace through the person and the work of His Son,
and if you have been justified through God-given faith in Christ, And in the righteousness of Christ,
you have been made fit for heaven. And if God Himself is longing
for us to be with Him, do you realize that He is? Let me say
that again. God longs for His people to be
with Him. The Psalms tell us that precious
in the sight of Yahweh is the death of His saints. Precious,
of very high value. He longs, He wants us with Him. It's why He's reconciled us.
It's why He's justified us and reconciled us. That's why He
has us. So that we can be with Him. So
saints, since all of this is absolutely true, Here's your
homework. Why are you still here? Why are you still here? Why doesn't
God just save us and take us home? He's reconciled us. He wants
us to be with Him. So once He saves us, why doesn't
He just take us home? Why are you still here, Saint? Do you know? The Bible does. The Bible that God does. God
does, and He tells us exactly why. He tells us exactly why,
Saint of God, you're still here. He tells us exactly why he doesn't
just save us and take us home. He tells us exactly why. You
wanna know? You wanna know why? Come next Sunday morning and
then we'll learn about it together. Until then, rejoice. in the great grace, God's great
grace of reconciliation in, by, and because of Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the God of salvation. Rejoice in His willingness and
in His ability to save, to reconcile all those that come to Him through
faith in Christ Jesus, His Son. Rejoice, reconciled ones. There is so much to rejoice about. There is so much more to rejoice
about, Reconciled Ones, than there is to grouse about, than
to worry about, than to fret over, than to gossip about. Rejoice in God's glorious gift
of reconciliation. He chose you to be with Him and
performed every single detail to accomplish that. Rejoice in
Him.
Reconciled!
Series 2 Corinthians
Are you reconciled to God?
| Sermon ID | 1023221736563102 |
| Duration | 51:16 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 |
| Language | English |
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