I appreciated Casey's sermon last week. He was in Mark chapter 15, and we've been in Mark leading up to, and finally got to last week, the crucifixion of Christ. And his sermon actually ended in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And we'll get to there a little bit later here this morning. But in 2 Corinthians, where he ended there, We saw the idea of reconciliation, this idea of reconciliation, the fact that through his death, that through Christ's death on the cross, he provided the way for us to be reconciled to God, the only way to be reconciled to God. I always like to start with a question, maybe to get our minds churning. The gear's going a little bit. The question I want to start with this morning is a personal question that I want you to ask yourself. Am I reconciled to God? I want you to ask yourself that question this morning. Are you reconciled to God? That's an important question. It's a question of critical. in every sense of that word, critical. It's a question of critical eternal significance. In other words, where you go when you die, whether you go to heaven or whether you go to hell, depends on whether or not you are reconciled to God. You must be reconciled to God. Are you reconciled to God this morning? the simplified list of possible answers to that question. If we just kind of boil it down, probably the simplified list would be yes, no, or I don't know. Maybe there's something else I didn't think of there. But answering with that last one, I don't know, it could mean if you say, well, I don't know, it could mean that you don't know because you're not quite sure what that word even means. And I have no doubt that there are some here today that don't know what that word means. The reason I, well, the reason I'm pretty sure about that is because I did a small poll. Very small sample size. Sample size was six. And 50% of the sample did not know what the word reconcile means. They answered that question. I just asked them to define, no prodding, no context, no, you know, What does reconcile mean? Define reconcile. And three of the answers were, I don't know. And that was, I think, an honest answer. I don't think it was that they just didn't want to think. They just didn't know. And that's fine. And so before we talk about reconciliation, let's quickly just go through a basic meaning of what that word actually means. So in our culture, typically, When we use that word reconcile, typically it's used in two different ways. Typically it's used either in financial terms or in terms of a relationship, okay? So for example, let's talk about the first one first. In terms of finances, we say something is reconciled if the numbers come out correctly. My mom used to work at a bank, and at the end of the day, in order to, make sure the cash was reconciled, they would take the value of the cash they started with at the beginning of the day, they would add the deposit slips, subtract the withdrawal slips, and if the cash was truly reconciled, the actual cash on hand at the end of the day would match that total that they came up with, OK? I think I got in general, I think I got the idea there. I don't know if that was exactly right but that's the basic concept. If they didn't get it right, they stayed and worked until they got the problem figured out. I remember that happening a few times as a kid. There was a problem somewhere. They needed to fix it. It needed to be accurate. It needed to be precise. It needed to be true. It needed to be correct. It needed to be made right, reconciled. The same is true when you balance a checkbook. You want the checkbook to be reconciled. You want it to be correct. Myra does our checkbook, and sometimes there's a problem. And when she figures it out, there's almost a shout of glee. Oh, I figured it out. It's reconciled. She gets excited about that. The same is true if it's not reconciled. There's a frown and consternation. And it's a big deal if it's not reconciled. It's got to be correct. That's not insignificant. The financial piece of this definition is not insignificant to what we're talking about, but it's not the main thing here. What we'll look at here is really in terms of relationships. So what does it mean to reconcile in terms of relationships? Because if our relationship with God is not reconciled, if we're not reconciled to God, we end up in hell. It's that simple. We must be reconciled to God. So in terms of relationships, the idea is you take two people who are angry at one another, they're having a dispute, they're hostile to one another, and you bring them back into harmony, back into a friendly relationship. You take a broken relationship and you fix it. Two people who are not unified, you unify them. Reconciliation, there's unity between them. That's reconciliation in a relationship. Silly example here, but pretty basic. I've seen a video of this once or twice. The video had two little boys in it. They were about two years old. I think they may have been twins. I'm not sure. And they were sitting at the breakfast table. in their pajamas, on the stools, kind of up against the counter. They were sharing a cup of hot chocolate. And a great dispute arose over who was going to take the last sip of hot chocolate. And it was a big disagreement, a big argument. And in the middle of that dispute, One of the twins, in an act of utter defiance, gets off of his stool, and he moves it about three feet away from the other. They had been right next to each other. He moves it away. What was he saying? It was a gesture of disunity. It was a symbol of, I want nothing to do with you at this time. I'm so upset at you over this hot chocolate. The other twin, who had remained where he was, looked around, kind of concerned. He saw an apple, a random apple with one bite taken out of it, I don't know, sitting on the counter. And he shoves it over to the other twin as some sort of peace offering. And that twin shoved it away. He wasn't interested in an apple with a single bite taken out of it. He was still upset. He was not reconciled. The apple did not reconcile things. Eventually, shortly after, in a frenzy of unintelligible toddler words, they somehow start to resolve their differences. They share some laughs. And they become reconciled. They're laughing together. They're enjoying one another again. They're friendly towards one another. That's a silly example. But the idea there was that there was disunity. The issue is resolved. There is reconciliation. That's reconciliation in terms of a relationship. I share those stories only to make sure we kind of start young and old here, kind of start from the same point with a basic understanding of that word reconciliation or reconcile. So back to the original question that we started with. Are you reconciled to God? Why is that? This is important here. Why is that important? Why does that matter? Why should you listen to what God says here in the passage that we'll get to? Why should you listen to this this morning? Here's why I think you should listen to what God says about reconciliation. Specifically, we're going to talk about reconciliation in regard to our salvation, not reconciliation between brothers or sisters, reconciliation between us and God. That's important for believers because it helps us, first of all, it helps us understand more our salvation. It helps us understand the richness of our salvation. Well, why do I care about the richness of my salvation? Because it should cause us to be thankful. It should cause us to have a thankful heart, a heart filled with thankfulness, a heart that gives praise to God. That should be the result of understanding the richness of our salvation. Should also cause us to be humble in regard to our salvation. Because we understand, when we understand the richness of it, we understand that we had no hope without Christ. No hope. It's all of God. Another reason why you should listen, if you're not saved, if you're not reconciled to God, then what God says about reconciliation should cause you to see your need. What we'll look at today, if you're not saved, it should cause you to see your need of salvation, your desperate need. And it should cause you to call out to God, seeking forgiveness, seeking peace with God, Because unless you are reconciled to God, you will spend eternity in hell. Now, I mentioned we're going to talk about reconciliation in regard to our salvation. Reconciliation is one of a few key concepts throughout scripture that describe and help us understand that richness that I mentioned, the depth of our salvation that we have in Christ. So when we talk about reconciliation, just to kind of maybe separate what some other important concepts are, to separate those off. They're important, just as important, but I want to kind of distinguish where reconciliation is here, okay? So I don't want us to get confused with where we go here real quick, but reconciliation, when we think of our Salvation, reconciliation, justification, redemption, forgiveness, adoption, all of those things are important aspects of our salvation. They are all true under the broader umbrella of salvation. But we're going to talk specifically this morning about reconciliation. Justification, just real quick, it's the basic concept that because of our sin, we stood before God as guilty sinners. But we are instead declared righteous because of Christ's righteousness given to us. That's justification. His righteousness imputed to us, given to us. Redemption is the basic idea that we stood before God as a slave. We were slaves to sin, slaves to the world, But we are granted freedom in redemption. The basic idea of redemption is that we're bought out of slavery through the sacrificial atoning death of Christ. That's how we were purchased. Forgiveness, the sinner stood before God as a debtor, unable to make payment for sin. But Christ's work on the cross paid the debt. And it paid the debt that we owed, and that debt is now canceled. completely okay, a lot of times we think of forgiveness as God just ignoring sin or just Letting it pass by that's not what God did in forgiving in regard to salvation If you're saved your sin was paid for understand that Christ paid the full price of your sin But reconciliation reconciliation is this the sinner stood before God and as His enemy, but God made peace through the death of Christ on the cross and restored us to a right relationship to Him. As we look at the passage here, for those of you that use outlines to stay awake, here's the general thing here. We're going to start looking at verse 21 here. The first thing we'll look at, if you're taking notes, is our need for reconciliation, our need for reconciliation. Then we'll look at the means of reconciliation or how it actually is possible that we can be reconciled. We'll look at the purpose of reconciliation, the evidence of reconciliation, and then finally, we'll look at our response to reconciliation. What should we do about it? Kind of the so what. So let's read here, starting in verse 21. It says, and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. Going back to, if we're kind of taking this in context here, going back a few verses, Leading up to kind of starting in verse 15, especially I suppose you'd go back to verse 9, but really back to 15 Paul is talking about the preeminence of Christ what that word preeminence means is the superiority how he's so far above Everything and everyone else. Okay. Paul is talking about the preeminence of Christ because he knows that some false teachers are around The church in Kalash in Colossi Colossi and He knows that they're at risk. He knows that they're at risk at being led astray from some people who have Gnostic beliefs, who don't think that Christ is really God. They question the deity of Christ. And so he goes into this explanation about the preeminence of Christ. And he ends that section in verse 20 by saying, and through him, through Christ, to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, Through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." In other words, he says that in the end, all things, in the end, the very end, all things will be reconciled. All things will be made right is what he's saying here. God is going to, through Christ, in the end, make all things right. one day be an end to all sin. That's part of making all things right. There will be a day that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That will happen. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. The curse of sin will be no more. Now, he's not suggesting in verse 20, what he's not suggesting is that all people will be saved. He's not talking about universalism in verse 20. What he's saying is that all things will be made right in the end by God. Christ is the answer. Big picture. Big picture. He's the answer to the universal problem of sin and the curse. And then Paul takes a turn from that idea and he applies it directly to his readers here. He pivots from 20, and he points directly at the people at the church there and says, here's how this idea of reconciliation applies to you. And as we read it, if you're a believer in Christ, if you are saved, the you that's in this passage is you. It applies to you. And that's how we should read it. He starts out in verse 1 and says, and although you were formerly these things. We'll go through this list here. Before you were reconciled to God, you were these things. Everyone who is a believer, they were, you were, I was these things. If you were not, let me be clear, If you are not saved, if you are not reconciled to God, the list that we're going through here explains what you are right now. These all apply to us in some way. The first one, you were alienated. You were alienated, it says. What does that mean? It means estranged. from God, estranged from God, cut off from God, separated, completely separated from God. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12, here's what it says. You can turn there if you'd like. Ephesians 2 verse 12 Paul reminds the Ephesians remember that you were at that time separate from Christ Excluded from the people of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise having no hope and without God in the world No, hope if you're not reconciled to God You have no hope that's his point But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were previously far away have been brought. You have been brought near by the blood of Christ. If you are in Christ today, being alienated from God, having no hope, if you are in Christ, describe your previous condition. If you are not in Christ today, those verses actually describe your current condition. If you are not reconciled, you are currently, right now, separated from God, cut off from God without any hope or ability to fix that condition on your own. You cannot fix your condition on your own. You must be reconciled to God. We are told, additionally in verse 21, we're told that Before we were reconciled, we were actually hostile in mind. Another way to say that is we were hateful to God. There was enmity between us and God. We were his enemies. That's what it means. We were his enemies. Romans 8, 5 through 8, it says, for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is what? It's hostile toward God. That describes our previous condition. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8, 5-8. If you've been reconciled to God, being hostile to God describes your previous condition. That describes your previous condition. If you've not been reconciled to God, than you are his enemy. That's what it's saying. You're hateful towards him. You're at enmity with God. If you're not reconciled, you face certain judgment as an enemy of God. Be reconciled to God. And it says in verse 21 also that we were engaged in evil deeds. In other words, we loved our sin more than we loved God. At the end of the day, that's what it means. We loved our sin more than we loved God. It wasn't necessarily that we were ignorant of God. Maybe we knew of God. Maybe we even knew the gospel. But we loved our sin more than we loved God. And we suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. We suppressed it in our minds and followed hard after our fleshly desires. John 3, verses 19 through 20, it says, this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light. For their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. If you have been reconciled to God, loving our sin, loving your sin and hating the light, that explains your previous condition. If you are not reconciled to God right now, one way that you know that is that you love your sin more than you love God. You have no desire. You'd rather obey your sin rather than obey God. If that describes you, then you need to repent of your sin. You must be reconciled to God. Now Paul explains this through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God tells us how it is that we're reconciled. How it is that we're reconciled. So the next section here, starting in verse 22, explains the means of reconciliation. In other words, how we are reconciled. How is that even possible to be reconciled to a holy God? In verse 22, he starts out after describing the previous condition of his readers, he says, yet, or but, or however, he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death. How are we reconciled? He has reconciled you in his fleshly body through death. When Christ suffered and died on the cross, it was substitutionary. When we say substitutionary, what do we mean? We mean He did it in your place as a substitute. That's what it means. It means He did it for you. A bit of a side note here, I don't want to spend a lot of time, but when we look back, and we'll see it here in another verse, when we talk about the blood of the cross, or the blood of Christ, that is synonymous with the atoning death of Christ. If we think of the blood of Christ in some mystical, weird way, then we can get down heretical paths fairly quickly. We don't want to go there. The blood of Christ is synonymous with the death of Christ. Blood represented sacrificial death. That's the basic concept there. Romans 5, 9 through 10. If you want to turn there, it's kind of a lengthy section. Go ahead and turn there if you would. I'm actually going to start in verse 6. Romans 5 starting in verse 6 says, for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, for the unreconciled. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. through Christ. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, there it is, through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. What is the means of our reconciliation? In other words, how did God do it? It's through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. Where should you look if you are not reconciled? Where should you look if you're not reconciled and you desire to be reconciled to God? Look to Christ. Trust in His work on the cross for you. Look to Christ. Stop trusting in yourself. Stop trusting kids. Stop trusting in the faith that your parents have. Their faith cannot save you. Your parents' faith cannot save you, children. It must be your faith. Stop trusting in anything other than the cross and the work done by Christ on the cross. Stop trusting in the idea that surely it'll just all turn out okay in the end. Surely it will. Trust in Christ. Trust in Christ alone. Seek mercy. Seek forgiveness. That's only available through Christ. That's the only place that it's found. Casey alluded to this a little bit last week. How does all that work? When we think about the work on the cross that Christ did, the sacrifice, the payment that was made, that's deep. It's really deep. And we probably can't, this side of heaven, really plumb the depths of what all happens in the court of heaven. But we can trust it because God says it's true. Another place we can go in Colossians that I do think helps us understand a little bit more, if you turn over a page or two to Colossians chapter 2, one of my favorite passages. Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 through 14, says, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Now in verse 14 there, where he talks about this certificate of debt, what is this certificate of debt that he's talking about? It's what we would have to pay God It's everything, it's all of our sins and what we owe, and we have no way whatsoever to pay for it. We are completely helpless to pay for and take care of to remove the certificate of debt. We have no way. No acts of righteousness, nothing we can say, nothing we can do to make sufficient payment to God. We cannot pay it. We are completely and utterly incapable of reconciling our account. We cannot reconcile our account. However, what's it say? This is the good part. However, it says in verse 14, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Think about what that means. He took it away. And he nailed it to the cross. What does that mean that it was nailed to the cross, that that certificate of debt was nailed to the cross? God is gracious here and painting us a picture to help us, I think, understand a little better reconciliation and forgiveness. During Roman times when criminals were crucified, the crimes they committed were oftentimes placed on the cross so that everyone would know exactly why they were hanging there dying. This is why they're on the cross. This is the crime that they're paying for. What's the point? God is painting us a picture here to help us understand how the death of Christ on the cross provides forgiveness and reconciliation. When Christ hung on the cross, providing the way for God to reconcile people to himself, it's as if, believer, it's as if your sins were nailed to the cross. They were paid for. Those sins are why Jesus hung there on the cross. It was to pay for those sins. And you think about the sins of all, all the sins that were paid for on the cross. It's an amazing thought to me to consider everything that was paid for on the cross. All of the certificates of debt that were paid for. And it's paid for. It says it's now taken out of the way. We're no longer liable. We no longer owe it. Last Sunday, Casey ended his sermon on the crucifixion by reading 2 Corinthians 5. I just want to read that again here. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. This is starting in verse 17. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Verse 18 says, 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 he 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. And here he explains as succinctly as possible how that was possible. He says, he made him, God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We see specifically that God made him, made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we could be counted righteous, so that we could stand before a holy God. What that means is he took our place. It was substitutionary. He paid for the crimes that you committed, that I committed. Moving on here, we see at the end of verse 22 the purpose of reconciliation. What is the purpose? Ultimately, what's the purpose of reconciliation? Why does it need to happen? The end of verse 22, chapter 1 in Colossians, It says, in order to, this is the purpose, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. In order to present you before him. In other words, in order to stand before God in this way, in order to stand before God in this way, what is the requirement? How must you stand before God? The first thing it says here is holy. Separated from sin. Completely separated from sin. Set apart to God. Are we perfectly holy in practice? Of course not. We sin. I sin every day. But we are. Here's the point. Here's what reconciliation does. the substitutionary death of Christ does. Here's the point of verse 21 in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians. We are seen as righteous, as holy, as perfect before God, not because of our works, but because of the work of Christ. We've been given His righteousness. It's been imputed to us. Is there room there for boasting? No. You can't boast there. We didn't make ourselves holy at all is from God. If we're going to boast, we boast in Christ. Blameless is the next word. We stand before God as blameless. That means without blemish, stain, or defect. Again, all because of the work of Christ. It says that we stand before God as beyond reproach. That goes beyond blameless. Not only do we have no blemish, or stain, or defect, but no one can even bring a single charge against us. Romans 8, 33, who will bring a charge against God's elect? The implied answer is no one. God is the one who justifies. Because of the reconciliation given to us through the sacrificial death of Christ, that's how we appear before God, holy, blameless, beyond reproach. If you appear before God in any other way, listen, If you appear before God in any other way, you stand condemned. You must appear before God wholly blameless and beyond reproach, not because of what you've done, but because of what Christ has done. You must be reconciled to God. Next thing, the evidence of our salvation. Verse 23 says, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister." And we see throughout the New Testament the warnings given to those who profess Christ, yet are not truly born again. There's warnings throughout the whole New Testament. Can we have assurance of salvation? Yes. Are there warnings, though? Yes. Matthew 7.22 through 23 reminds us of a sobering fact. Jesus speaking said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Again, in John chapter 6, after hearing some hard teachings from Jesus, the people that had started following him after he had fed the thousands Many of them went away. They didn't continue following Jesus. They were not walking with him anymore, it says. One mark of a genuine Christian that we see here in Colossians, one mark that we see is that they will continue in their faith. Now, what does that not mean? It doesn't mean that we somehow preserve ourselves. That's not what it says. Continuing in the faith does not somehow preserve your salvation. It's simply evidence. That's it. Continuing in the faith is evidence of true saving faith. True reconciliation means that we will continue in the faith. It doesn't mean we don't sin. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. Only that we continue. That's what it says. So what do we do with this? Our response. Our response to reconciliation. How should we respond? Hopefully, I've made it clear that if you are not reconciled to God, please understand your need. You are in great need if you're not reconciled to God. If you are not reconciled to God, you stand condemned. You are hostile to God. Here's what we've said so far. You stand condemned. You're hostile to God. You are loving your sin more than you're loving Christ. If you are not reconciled to God, you have a certificate of debt that you are responsible for paying for, but you have no way whatsoever to pay for it. You must be born again. You must be given new life. You must be forgiven. You must be reconciled to God. If that's you, repent. Ask God to forgive you. Seek his mercy. Look to what Christ did. Look to what Christ did on the cross and trust in him alone. If you have been reconciled to God, it's hard for me to understand how we can't look at stuff like this and just be overwhelmed with thankfulness. I think that's an appropriate response. If you have been reconciled to God, if we look at the things we formerly were, the condition that we were in, and the standing we have before God now, we must be thankful. It must cause us to thank God, to praise God. It should cause our love of God to increase when we consider how much it costs. We've been talking about that. Casey's been talking about that, how much it costs. If you have been reconciled, you also now have the ministry of reconciliation that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5. You have the ministry of reconciliation. You know how to tell people how to be reconciled to God. You've been reconciled to God. Tell others how they can be reconciled to God. We need to explain to people the good news of how God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that they might become the righteousness of God in Him. You need to be able to explain that, to give an answer for that.