1/17/21 - The Great Salvation / RECONCILIATION PT 1

Loved with love which knows no measure, loved with love which knows no measure, save the Father's love to Thee. Blessed Lord, our hearts would treasure all the Father's thoughts of Thee. All Thy glory we shall know. Amen.

Good morning. God bless you. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? My God, now Father, once again it's our privilege to come before Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Word of God. May Your Spirit have liberty to teach us and move our spirits, our hearts to obedience to Thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

So we're continuing on our pathway with the great salvation, that scripture or that statement that we find in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3: "the great salvation." We have a great salvation because we have a great Savior. And we talked about how God has found us in our need and has responded to that in this great salvation.

And so we saw first off, we were guilty, so we needed forgiveness, and God brought forgiveness through Christ. And now we're to forgive others. We were condemned, and so God brought justification through Christ. And now our responsibility is not to judge others. We were slaves to sin, so we need to be redeemed, set free through Christ. And since God has done that for us, we're to be servants to God.

And today what we'd like to talk about is our need, and this is a great need we have: we're enemies of God. Enemies of God. How has God responded to that? Incredibly, reconciliation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!

You know, we all are all familiar with what the events of the Garden of Eden and Adam's sin, but what happened there in his sin is that he lost confidence in God. In fact, that was before Eve ever ate of the fruit. The tempter, the liar, had placed in her heart that seed of doubt regarding God's goodness and that God was for her, and thought that she could go outside of God and listen to the devil and find something better than what God was offering because she didn't trust God. It was a small seed, but it's grown in the hearts of men to where we do not trust God. Even as Christians, we see it's very difficult. We, you know, confess our faith in the Lord Jesus and believe in God as our Father, and yet in circumstances of life, we find it's very difficult to put our full and absolute and complete trust in Him.

Well, without Christ, men have allowed that distrust of God to grow and to grow into a real contempt of Him, looking upon God as an enemy, as one that is to be withstood. And that is what the Bible tells us the condition that we're in. Not that God is our enemy; God does not need to be reconciled to us. We need to be reconciled to Him. The first thing that God did after Adam and Eve sinned, He killed animals and made a covering for them through those animal skins. So God does not need to be reconciled to us, but we need to be reconciled to Him.

If we just might look at a few scriptures, beginning in Romans, Romans chapter 1. Romans 1, we have this statement that is most incredible. There's a long list of sins here, ugly things, dark things we don't need to go into, but in verse 30 it says, "we're backbiters and haters of God." So toward men we turn upon our fellow men as backbiters, and then we're also haters of God.

Now I want to make this point very clear. You, I'm sure if you're without Christ, and even if you're a Christian, never felt that you hated God. This is not a matter of feeling; this is a matter of truth. Only the Holy Spirit can show us the contempt that we have for God. Now we may espouse as being unsaved that we believe in God, whether we go to church, we may pray to Him, but when His will is pressed upon us, we, without Christ, or in a lawless condition, we will not submit. As First John 3 tells us, "lawlessness is sin." We will not submit to God nor His authority.

And when the Lord Jesus came into this world and God pressed His authority upon the Lord through the Lord Jesus, being the light of the world, that light shined in the darkness and the darkness withstood that light. The Bible tells us in John chapter 3 that light is, "this is the condemnation, light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light." Men did not love God. You and I did not love God.

Now it's one thing to be convicted of our sins, and all of us, even unsaved people, know that they've sinned and that sin is wrong. But to be convicted of something far deeper: a hatred toward God, an animosity toward God. Well, where was this seen as at no other place? At the cross of Calvary.

I'd just like to turn to see what our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 15. In John chapter 15, and verse 23: "He that hateth Me hateth My Father." "If I had not done among them the works which none of the other man did, they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father." Verse 25: "But this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'"

Here is the Lord Jesus, the only perfect man that ever lived. He came into the world, this is reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation. He came into the world to win the hearts of men back to Himself. That was God's desire from the beginning. God has always desired that men should be with Him, that He would dwell with them and them with Him. But that because of sin and because of this animosity within the hearts of men, this enmity that we have toward God, God worked in the most marvelous way, and His own Son came into the world to win our hearts back through all the works that He did, works of mercy and kindness, and the words that He spoke like no other man spoke. They had to say that He had done all things well.

Yes, our Lord Jesus, He came to win the hearts of people. But where do we find that God is for us as at no other place, that God has no enmity toward us, only love? Turn to Romans chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5, and we'll begin in verse 8: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We're still in our sin, still with enmity in our hearts toward God, though we didn't know it, didn't realize it. Christ died for us. God commends His love toward us. God demonstrates His love toward us. Never doubt God's love for you. Look to the cross of Calvary. There's the demonstration of God's love.

Much more than verse 9: "being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." We don't have to fear the wrath of God to come upon this world. Verse 10, listen: "For if, when we were enemies," for if when we were enemies, we, Paul talking to this Roman church, these believers, in the past they were enemies. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God," how? "by the death of His Son." You see, it's through the death of Christ, the very Son of God. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. It's through the death of the Son of God that we see God's love and our hearts are won over, moved from enmity, and we repent of it, not only of our sins, but the darkness within our souls opposing God's will in our lives, and we trust Christ. Hallelujah! And we find that we love Him, no longer enemies, we love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. Hallelujah! Yes, how wonderful.

And so it says in verse 10: "If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." That goes on to the intercession of our Lord Jesus, that we've been reconciled, and now with Christ in the glory, He's keeping us in that love within our hearts for God, that the Lord stirs by the Holy Spirit. May it increase and increase. May we never be like the Revelation chapter 3, chapter 2, the church of Ephesus, who had left their first love. May the Holy Spirit even now kindle within my heart and your heart that love for Christ because He first loved us.

But enemies, turn if you would, just to continue to see that the Word of God makes this point unequivocally in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 19. Colossians 1:19: "For it pleased the Godhead that in Him, in Christ, should all fullness dwell." All the fullness of the Godhead, all that God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in Christ, in the man Christ Jesus. Hallelujah! Verse 20: "And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him, by Christ, to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."

Now notice, it doesn't say things under the earth. If you happen to be without Christ today, you have not been reconciled to God, and you will not be until you receive Christ and that reconciliation that is in Him. The devil and all the fallen angels, there is no reconciliation for them. Their hearts will never turn back to God.

And in verse 21: "And you, that were sometime," listen to this, "that you were before time alienated, separated, and enemies in your mind." Look at that, "alienated from God." You know what Ephesians chapter 2 tells us? "But when we were far off, far off." I want to just look at that scripture, verse 13, chapter 2 of Ephesians, and verse 13: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

How far off were we? How far off were you and I from God, that we were alienated in our minds by wicked works, that we refused His authority in our lives, that we didn't, we're not lovers of God? How many people, listen, go to church in churches and they think that they're right with God, and they're alienated from God through wicked works in their own lives? And their religion itself is the greatest evidence that they're alienated from God, separated from Him. How can that be? Because they're professing, just like the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, confessing a relationship with God, and they have none. They have never come to Christ. They have never received this reconciliation. They have never admitted their sin and godliness, godlessness outside of Christ. Their religion becomes their sin. Oh God, keep us from that.

Verse 20, back in Colossians 1:20: "And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether there be things on earth, or things in heaven." "And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now," and notice that, "wicked words." What does enmity toward God lead to? Wicked works. Wicked works. You say, "Well, I never did wicked works. I was always better than other people." Oh, your pride, your arrogance, your self-righteousness, all those things that you did are contemptuous in God's sight. Yes, all those things that you trusted in that, that meant to you that you were a good person, better than other people, your righteousness were like filthy rags in God's sight. Your righteous acts were like filthy rags. And look at that, that word "filthy rags." It's used and translated in other places as a woman's menstrual garment. So you can just imagine the filth and the stench of a self-righteous person's so-called good works in the sight of God. God have mercy upon us as we call out to Him in the name of Jesus and we become reconciled. Praise the Lord! Forgiven, justified, redeemed, and reconciled. Yes, amen.

So we have been reconciled. He hath reconciled us. Okay, yet now hath He reconciled us. He has won our hearts. This is so wonderful. God has won the hardened heart of those that opposed Him, just like the Apostle Paul. You know, Saul of Tarsus, God won his heart, and the one that opposed Him now lived the rest of his life to honor and glorify the Lord. May it be for us the same.

Verse 22: "He has reconciled us in the body of His flesh through death." He had to become a man. He had to become a man. He had to take our place, and the very wrath of God came upon Him, not just for the things that we've done, our sins, but because what we are: sinners that were at enmity with God, alienated and enemies of Him. And so He says here that through death to present you, listen, "holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." Where does reconciliation, reconciliation bring us? Into the very presence of God, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Why? Reconciliation is for the satisfaction of God's heart, for the satisfaction of God's heart.

See, it's one thing to remove the enmity from our hearts. It's another thing to place within us a love within our hearts for Him. That is what eternity is, where we shall live in the fullness of the glory of God, loving Him, but more than that, He loving us. Amazing grace, amazing grace indeed.

I would like to look in Luke chapter 15. Luke 15 is such an incredible statement of this reconciliation. It's beautiful because it shows us the Godhead: the Lord Jesus first is a shepherd, the Holy Spirit as the woman searching for that lost coin, and then the Father receiving His son back to Him. I'd just like to bring out a few things. I know it's very familiar to all of us, but in chapter 15 of Luke, verse 4: "Which of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" This is God seeking us that we might be reconciled to Him. That, see, His heart's not against us. He's the one seeking us. The Bible says in Romans 3, "there's no one that seeketh after God, no one that seeketh, seeketh after God, no one, no one." Okay, so don't think you're the exception. No one seeketh after God. No sinner does, that's the point. But He seeks after us.

"And until He finds it," verse 5: "And when He hath found it, He layeth it on His shoulder, rejoicing." Now this is the point of reconciliation. It's for the joy of the shepherd. It's for the joy of the Savior. Hallelujah! That you and I can bring joy to His heart. What love He has for us! And so it says, "And when He cometh home, He calleth together His friends and neighbors, saying unto them, 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my lost sheep, my sheep which was lost.'"

Now notice, where does He bring that lost sheep? Does He take him back to the 99? Does He put him back in that, in that pen? No, listen what it says: "And when He cometh home, He brought that sheep home." You see, to be reconciled is not to be brought back into that same relationship of innocence that Adam and Eve had in the Garden with God before they sinned. No, this is something far, far more incredible. It's to be placed in Christ with a new relationship with God, with something that is so noble and so supreme, that is so full of grace. It's unimaginable, really. He brought the sheep home. Hallelujah!

And so the woman, she seeks diligently for her lost coin, and she will not stop until she finds it. And so God, the Holy Spirit, where'd He find us? He's searching in this world, in this dark world, and all the filth of it, searching for us and brings conviction to our hearts that we need God, and we feel that unrest. Didn't you feel that unrest when you were unsaved? Oh, I felt that unrest. That was a work of the Holy Spirit. We were of value to Him, just like that silver coin. And silver, of course, speaks of redemption. In verse 8 it says, "she seeks diligently until she finds it." You see, the energies of God don't give up. Don't give up if you've got a loved one you're praying for, a friend, someone outside of Christ. Don't give up. God doesn't. Continue to pray, continue to present the Gospel as God would lead you.

And so in verse 11, we come to the father and his two sons. It's an incredible thing that this one younger son, he wanted to see the world. He wanted to experience things that weren't available, he didn't think, in his father's house, the things that appealed to the flesh. His father let him go. Listen, God does not force you to love Him. Reconciliation is about God winning your heart to Himself, winning your heart as He's won our hearts to Him if we've been reconciled. So the son went away, and you know the tragedies that came into his life, living in a carnal way in the far country, until finally he was destitute and he's all alone, and he got a job feeding pigs, and he wanted to, he longed to eat what the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. No mercy there in the far country.

Maybe you're in the far country now. Listen, there's only one thing you can do: be reconciled to God. Come back to Him. Find in Jesus Christ the answer for all of the needs of your soul. Let the love of God fill your heart and then respond in love to Him. Live your life for Christ. Praise the Lord!

So the son comes home. Was he ever surprised? He came back and expected that his father would be upset and would make him just as one of the hired servants. But the father, oh, the father loved his son so much. He loves you so much today. He loves every sinner in the world today. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Oh, hallelujah!

And so in verse 20, the prodigal comes home: "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off," listen, God's eye is upon you. When you were without Christ, or if you're without Christ now, God's eye is upon you. He's waiting. He's waiting for you to be reconciled to Him. "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him." He saw him because he'd been waiting and watching for him. "And he had compassion on him, and ran." God ran. He runs to you the moment that you turn to Him in real faith toward the Lord Jesus. "He fell on his neck, and kissed him." And the son begins to make his confession, but it's not about our confession, it's not about our repentance, though that is vital and necessary. It's about the love of God, the love of God in God's heart, desiring to win our hearts and to reconcile us back to Himself.

So what does God do? Remember, confidence was lost in God at the Garden of Eden. Listen what the father does immediately. He says, verse 22: "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.'" You know, think about that. The servants knew where the best robe was. That's the robe of righteousness. I tell you today, if you're a believer and you've been reconciled to God, then that robe of righteousness, that is what you want to bring to the world, to offer to the world, to declare to the world that there's a robe of righteousness available to them in Christ. Hallelujah!

And so the prodigal now, he's robed. I mean, he is dressed with a robe of righteousness, no longer in the ugliness of the clothing of the far country. "And they began to be merry." They began to be merry. This is the joy in God's heart. We didn't read it, but it said there was joy in the shepherd's heart. Remember, he came home rejoicing with his lost sheep. The woman, when she found her lost coin, she was rejoicing. And the father, when his son comes home, it's rejoicing. And it never ends. It's a party that never ends. "They began to be merry." You see, it's the joy of God's heart. All the time that his son was away, there was an empty place at the table. His chair was empty. And perhaps you're without Christ, then there's an empty chair at God's table for you. Won't you come home? Won't you allow Him to reconcile you to Himself through Christ, that He might fill your heart with the love of God? Don't be like the prodigal son and stay away so long. Come home now.

And what about the other son? He was a prodigal son too, though he stayed home. He trusted in his religion. He judged his brother. He didn't care that his brother's chair was empty. Oh, may God give us grace, all of us that have received reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might desire to see souls reconciled to Him.

And just in closing, in Second Corinthians chapter 5. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18: "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." May it be in our hearts to see every soul that we come in contact with reconciled to God, to seek to present Christ lifted up on the cross of Calvary, there the demonstration of God's love for them, that they might allow that love to transform their hearts, to take away the enmity within their minds and in their hearts, and to receive Christ, and in receiving Him, receive God's love. May it be so in Jesus' name.

Father, oh God, we thank Thee, all of us that have received reconciliation in Christ. We thank Thee that You have filled our hearts with love for Him. May it grow, may it grow and grow and grow. And may we be faithful to carry that message of reconciliation to others, that they might know that God loves them in the midst of their enmity against Him, that they can trust Him. They must trust Him. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.