Will you join me by taking your Bibles and turning to Second Corinthians chapter five. In the providence of God, we have now arrived at verses 18 through 20, that we will examine this morning, under the heading, "Reconciling the World to God through Christ." Before I read the passage, perhaps I can frame it this way--given the skyrocketing violence in our country through the domestic terrorists, foolishly described as protesters, we see more and more people arming themselves out of fear that the government is going to be unable to protect them, maybe not even unable but unwilling to protect them. And so gun and ammo sales, if you've read anything in the news, you see that it's just skyrocketing. Many of the ammunition manufacturers say they're as much as three years behind; it's just amazing to see what's happening. But dear friends, may I say to you, and please hear this, we face a far greater danger than what we see burning down our cities, and in our government. And that danger is Satan and his minions that basically fuel all of this. For "our struggle," the apostle Paul says, "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And from the outset, I want to remind you that my responsibility before God, and therefore unto you, is to equip you, not entertain you. My responsibility is to prepare you and to train you, not to boost your self-esteem, or in any way rouse you to social and political change. That has nothing to do with the gospel. That has nothing to do with the plan of redemption and our great commission. I am called to frankly help you put on the whole armor of God, right? And learn how to wield the "sword of the Spirit," which is the word of God, as Paul tells us. Second Corinthians 10, beginning of verse three, he says this, "For though we walk in the flesh"-- in other words, that we have human limitations--"we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." And our divinely powerful weaponry, as we see in that passage and others, is the word and prayer by the power of the Spirit. He goes on to say, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Dear friends, our ultimate mission is evangelism; to preach the gospel that men and women, boys and girls will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. So we must understand what the gospel truly is. And unfortunately, we live in a day and age where the gospel has been so distorted, it bears little resemblance, in many churches, to the New Testament gospel that Jesus and the apostles preached. Many people today, many Christians, do battle in the flesh, not in the Spirit, and they wield a plastic sword against a formidable enemy with weak arms. We must do better. And by God's grace, we will. The subtitle of Shepherds Fire, which is the ministry that I have to pastors and church leaders, is this, "proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ." For indeed, they are unsearchable, right? They are unfathomable when we contemplate them. Paul said in Ephesians, three eight, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ." Oh, dear friends, I trust that you share that kind of awe, that kind of enthusiasm. In fact, Job said in Job five, verse nine, "Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders, without number." And indeed, when we look and see all that God has done, in creation and so forth, the things are wondrous, they're unsearchable.

But perhaps the most unsearchable miracle of all, is the miracle of reconciliation, whereby he breathed life into the spiritual cadavers, gave us the ability to see the horror of our sin, the glory of the cross, and he saved us by his grace and made us new creatures in Christ, that we might one day enter into the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. And this is the theme of our text this morning. In Second Corinthians, chapter five, beginning of verse 18, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the apostle Paul 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."

Dear friends, herein is the glorious good news of the gospel news that is so desperately needed in a world where it seems like all we hear is bad news, right? It gets to a point where you don't even want to turn on the news, because it's so depressing. But here, the inspired apostle reveals how God has a plan, and he has a purpose in redemption, and how we have a high calling to preach this gospel of reconciliation. And you might want to ask yourself from the outset of our time together this morning, what is my highest calling in life? Is this indeed the priority and the passion of my life? Or does it come up way down on the list, if at all. Paul said in Romans one, verse 15," I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who were in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." And similarly, in First Corinthians one, verse 17, we read, "For Christ did not send me to baptize," Paul says, "but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who were being saved it is the power of God." Sadly, down through the course of redemptive history, ever since the church was established at Pentecost, we have seen Christian people, churches, that are ashamed of the gospel, the gospel of reconciliation, and therefore they ignore, for example, Paul's testimony in First Corinthians 1:22, where he went on to say, "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness." You would think that he would have caught on to pragmatism; my goodness, quit preaching that if people think it's so foolish. No, no, no, no, this is what I'm going to preach. And here's why, "but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Now, the truth of what God has really done to reconcile sinners to himself, is indeed horribly offensive to fallen man. In fact, our text this morning, as you will see, will either hardened hearts or soften hearts. People will either resent what the Word of God has to say or they will cherish it, one or the other. They will either argue against it or they will accept it by faith. But for the apostle Paul, the truths that are contained herein were the very fuel that caused his heart to burn with passion to preach the gospel; a fuel that could not be extinguished, even by the most severe forms of persecution, and death. And the same can be said of countless millions who have been reconciled to God. They are about the business of the ministry of reconciliation.

I was thinking about this--the great reformers of the Protestant Reformation, which happened around 1517 through about 1648 or so, taught the true gospel. And in order to do that, they used five basic theological principles, called the Five Solas, Latin phrases or slogans, and you can see them around our worship center here: Sola Gratia, by grace alone, Sola Christus, through Christ alone, Sola Fide, by faith alone, Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone, and Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone. And we see these great doctrinal distinctives in our text this morning, where God's great work of reconciliation is described; a reconciliation, catch this, that occurred on the cross. Here, we see how that barrier was removed between sinful man and a holy God. That barrier being the guilt of our sin and the punishment of God's wrath. He bore our sins in his body, and accomplished peace. Paul speaks of this in Romans five, verse 10. He says, "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. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

Now, as we examine our text this morning, I want to use these five Solas as headings and you will see them emerge from the text as we go through it. First of all, I want you to notice Solo Gratia--reconciliation is by grace alone. Notice verse 18, at the very beginning he says, "Now all these things are from God." Well, what "things" is he referring to? Well, what we read in verses 14 through 17, just prior to this text, he's speaking, he's referring to the divine work of regeneration that occurs at conversion when a believer is raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, having died and been resurrected with Christ and made a new creature in Christ. He's referring to that magnanimous, unmerited love of Christ that changed his perception, his identity and his character; the glorious reality that Christ came to this earth, not only to pay the penalty for my sin and your sin, but also to establish an intimate living, eternal union with us, whereby we are in Him, and He is in us. So he says, "Now, all these things are from God." By implication, you had nothing to do with that.

Think about this, all things of our new creation. We contributed nothing to it, because frankly, we had nothing to contribute to it. Moreover, we were incapable of making any spiritual contribution, because we were spiritually dead. Well, then, how can a man or a woman respond to the gospel invitation? Well, the point is, he can't, she can't, unless the Spirit of God, through the power of regeneration breathes spiritual life into that corpse, because all things are from God. In the miracle of regeneration, God causes the sinner to see the horror of the sin, to see what Christ has done and to believe in utter desperation by the power of the Spirit. He causes us to voluntarily submit to the gospel invitation. May I ask you, dear friend, why did you respond positively to the gospel invitation when you heard it, when your friends and family members did not? Why was that? Was it because you were smarter than they were? Was it because you were a more spiritual person than they were? Folks, if that were the case, you would have reason to boast and you could not say with Paul, "Now all these things are from God." You would have to say now all these things are basically from God but I also made my contribution to. Because after all, grace merely facilitated my salvation, but it was not absolutely necessary for it. Grace only made salvation possible. But it was up to me to exercise my free will to believe so I took the initiative in my salvation, not God.

By the way, this is the freewill heresy of the British monk Pelagius, that was condemned by the council at Ephesus in 431 AD, and a number of other councils. In fact, this is the most condemned of all the heresies by numerous councils, more so than any other heresy. And his doctrine of free will became known as Pelagianism. Perhaps you've heard that theological term bantered around. He emphasized human ability and free will, rather than depravity and sinfulness. So Pelagians believe, for example, that it is possible to live without sin; that the effect of Adam's sin on his descendants was simply a bad example. So all people are free to obey or free to disobey apart from God's grace; man can initiate salvation on his own apart from God's intervening grace. And there's a hybrid of that called semi-Pelagianism, which maintains that, yes, grace is necessary, but that the free that the will is free by nature, to choose whether or not to accept it, when that grace is offered. So again, man is the one that must take the initiative in salvation, and then God must help him along on the way to be saved.

And then there's yet another version of it. I have many dear friends who will believe this. And it's not necessarily as much a heresy as it is just a wrong understanding of soteriology. That's called Arminianism. They would argue that God provides salvation-in that he takes the initiative by providing salvation, but having made that available, that plan available, he leaves man to his own devices to choose to respond a right to God's plan. So God and the believer cooperate together in attaining salvation. And then, of course, there is another view, which I think is the biblical view, it's sometimes called Augustinianism, or Calvinism. It's reformed soteriology that we believe here at Calvary Bible Church. And it basically says this, that God brings man to Christ for salvation. That the power and the glory all belong to him and to him alone. That salvation is all of grace. You might think of it this way-- to the Pelagians, They would say that the natural man is well. To the Armenians, they would say that the natural man is sick. To the Augustinians or the Calvinists, we would say the natural man is dead. That's a simple way of putting it. RC Sproul said this, "The grace that is considered in all semi-Pelagian and Arminian theories of salvation is not efficacious grace." Efficacious is kind of a big word, it means to affect, to benefit, to cause something to actually happen. "Rather," he says, "it is a grace that makes salvation possible, not a grace that makes salvation certain. Therein the great difference. In the parable of the sower, we see that regarding salvation, God is the one who takes the initiative to bring salvation to pass. He is the sower. The seed that is sown is his seed corresponding to his word and the harvest that results is his harvest. He harvests what he purposed to harvest when he initiated the whole process. God doesn't leave the harvest up to the vagaries of thorns and stones in the pathway." Sproul goes on to say, "It is God, and God alone, who make certain that a portion of his word falls upon good ground. A critical error in interpreting this parable would be to assume that the good ground is the good disposition of fallen sinners-- those sinners who make the right choice, responding positively to God's prevenient grace." "Prevenient" means preparatory. "The classical reformed understanding of the good ground is that if the ground is receptive to the seed, that is sown by God, it is God alone who prepares the ground for the germination of the seed."

Well, indeed, as James says, In James one beginning of verse 17, "Every good thing given and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow and the exercise of," catch it, "His will." Not our will, but in "the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." Beloved, the only reason any of us ever believed the gospel, ever responded in repentant faith is because God in His sovereign election, set his love upon us in eternity past. And then in time, he took the initiative to change the disposition of our heart, that we might voluntarily believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm always so deeply humbled by that. You must understand that in election, God demonstrates his resolve to save sinners. And that is what actually happened at the cross of Calvary. These are truths that Armenians and Pelagians would deny. J. I Packer said this, quote, "For Arminianism, salvation rests neither on God's election, nor on Christ's cross, but on man's own cooperation with grace, which is something that God does not himself guarantee." My, my, that's no gospel at all too me. That's not good news. If salvation rests on me, I'm in trouble.

Notice again, our text in verse 18, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ." "Reconcile," the Greek term "katallasso"-- it means to restore to a place of fellowship by removing an offense that had destroyed that fellowship. It speaks of the removal of hostility, and the restoration of "shalom," of peace.

Now, I want you to notice, who is the one doing the reconciling? It is God, it is not man. Beloved, you must understand that in the true gospel, we see that man cannot affect his reconciliation by doing something. It is solely a work of God, accomplished by the person and the work of Christ, through the efficacy of his blood. Man is unable to do anything to remove the hostility that God has toward his sin. Instead, you might think of it this way; man passively receives the gift of reconciliation through the atoning work of Christ on his behalf. Man cannot cause himself to be born again. He cannot raise himself from spiritual death. Think of Lazarus. There was Lazarus, laying in the tomb, wrapped in grave clothes, stiff as a board, reeking of the stench of putrefaction. Did he have the faculties to cooperate with Jesus' command to come forth? Did he contribute anything to his resurrection? Well, obviously he did not, not until God gave him life. Then he came forth. Yet you hear something different in many gospel presentations. I've heard it many times oh, it's like a man that's drowning in the sea, and we have to throw him the lifeline of the gospel, but he's got to grab it. And so then you have to have altar calls and manipulative stories and 48 verses of "Just as I am" and the organ and all this stuff to get the mood going so that people will finally grab that line and be saved. But folks, a corpse can't grab anything. And that's what Scripture tells us--that we are spiritually dead. We are hostile to God. We are alienated from him. Our spiritual ears are deaf, we are blind. Our heart is deceitful, above all things and desperately sick. It's called a "heart of stone." It is cold, it is unresponsive, and on and on it goes. And if that isn't bad enough, we read that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. Why? To keep them from seeing "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ", Second Corinthians four four. But the Word and the Spirit gives life dear friends, that is the glorious news of the gospel. So regeneration must always precede faith if I can put it that way. Sola Gratia, reconciliation is by grace alone. We don't initiate reconciliation, beloved, we receive it. John MacArthur said this, "Reconciliation does not happen when man decides to stop rejecting God, but when God decides to stop rejecting man. It is a divine provision by which God's holy displeasure against alienated sinners is appeased, his hostility against them removed and a harmonious relationship between him and them established. So indeed, we see Sola Gratia, reconciliation is by grace alone.

But also notice in verse 18, we read, "God reconciled us to Himself through Christ." there's Solus Christus-- reconciliation is through Christ alone. We must understand that only Christ could satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God. Only Christ could appease his wrath. That is propitiation, meaning satisfaction or placation. It's his sacrifice alone, that propitiated God's holy wrath against us making reconciliation possible. First, John 4:10, "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." Indeed, he alone is the mediator between God and man. Colossians one, verse 20, God chose 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. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you and His fleshly body through death, in order to you present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." Oh, beloved, this is staggering. This is good news beyond anything you can imagine.

Likewise, in Ephesians, two beginning of verse 13, Paul says, "But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by having put to death, the enmity." Folks, this is what happened at the cross.

But what you also notice in verse 19, God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. This is another way of describing the Great Commission. He goes on to say, "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." So here again, we see that Christ is the agent of reconciling; we are united to Christ saving faith; we are in Christ. In fact, earlier you will recall in verse 17, in Paul's testimony, he says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." And therefore, because of that, every believer enjoys an intimate, living, eternal union with Christ whereby we become one with him.

But notice the content of our message of reconciliation. And here's where the rubber really begins to meet the road, as we might say. In verse 19, "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." Beloved, this is what we celebrate in worship, and this is what we preach to the world. But we must be careful. Paul's use of the word "world" is used by the Universalist to argue that God's death reconciled all mankind, without exception. Perhaps you have run across these people. Everyone goes to heaven. Very, very popular view. They will also use John 1:29, where John the Baptist declared of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Well, there it is, they say, he paid everybody sin. They will use John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." And they will point to John 4:42. And First John 4"14, where Jesus has called, quote, "the Savior of the world." John 6:51, Jesus declared, "The bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." First Timothy two, six, "He gave Himself as a ransom for all." Hebrews two nine says that by the grace of God, "He might taste death for everyone." First John, two, two, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the world." And I'll explain that a little more in a moment. Well my goodness, when you look at those verses, it seems like there right. You paid everybody sins, everybody ought to go to heaven. And certainly a superficial reading of these passages, especially when you don't compare them with other passages of Scripture, seem to indicate that very thing; that Christ paid the penalty for everyone's sin. The problem is, what do you do with hell? Why call anyone to repentance, if everybody's going to be saved anyway. Why preach the gospel if Christ satisfied God's wrath for everyone? Now, obviously, we know that can't be true, that there is a hell. Jesus said in Matthew 7:23 that I read earlier, he will declare to false professors, "I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Sounds like some people didn't get their sins paid for right? Revelation 21, verse eight, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So how do we answer the Universalist? Ah, but I'm glad you asked. You must understand that the terms "world" and "all" and "everyone" are used to describe mankind in general. They are used to speak of all men without distinction. But not all men, without exception. Big difference. For example, I had a conversation not too long ago with a Universalist and he brought up First John two two, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the world." And he wanted me to explain that. And I asked him, "Well, what is the context of all of this, and along with a lot of other things?" Well, he really had no answer for that. And that's what happens; many times people pull these verses out of context. And well, there it is. Well, the context here is that John is writing to saints who had been snookered by false teachers who embraced Gnosticism. And the Gnostics were saying that the only ones that could be saved were the initiates that had the secret knowledge. Likewise, many Jews thought that they were the only ones that could be saved. Certainly not those Gentiles, certainly not those wicked rulers of Rome. So John is refuting this kind of exclusivism. Christ died for Jews and Gentiles. He died for Gnostics. He died for barbarians, for kings and for paupers. So the whole world, that phrase refers to mankind in general. All without distinction, but not all, without exception. He's referring to, as John said in Revelation seven, nine, "A great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." So it is in this sense, that God in Christ is reconciling the world to Himself. And what is the barrier that has to be removed in order for that to be accomplished? Our sin. and that's why he goes on to say, "not counting their trespasses against them." I've got a little note "hallelujah." Aren't you glad he's not pulling up the list and saying, "Are you kidding me?"

He goes on to describe in verse 21, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God and Him." And folks, when did this happen? On the cross of Calvary, Christ's death actually atoned for the sins of all whom the Father had given him in eternity past. His death actually, not potentially, expiated the sins of those who would believe--the elect of God. By the way, the word the word "expiate" in Greek it means "out of" and it speaks of him taking our guilt away; it's been removed. But you must understand that there can be no expiation apart from propitiation, you understand that? Our guilt cannot be removed until God's wrath has been satisfied. That's the point. But indeed, on the cross, he was our substitute. And Peter said in First Peter 2:24, that he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Beloved, the efficacy, that is the effectiveness of Christ's atonement, is not based upon the decision of the sinner to repent and to believe. Boy, if that was the case, none of us would ever be saved. Something actually happened at the cross. We can go all the way back to Isaiah 53 and verse five and read what happened, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. Folks, there is no potentiality there. We don't preach, "well, Christ made your salvation possible. And now it's up to you to complete the process." I hope you don't preach that? No, we declare to sinners, "Christ died for you." Only a perfect, efficacious atonement provides a salvation that has already been accomplished; nothing more needs to be added. It is a gift to be received by faith alone. Charles Spurgeon said this, "We say Christ so died, that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number." Can't you just hear him thundering this across the audience there in London about 150 years ago?

"We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ's death, not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility, run the hazard of being anything but saved." Now that's the gospel. J I Packer said this, "God's saving purpose in the death of his son was not a mere ineffectual wish, depending for its fulfillment on man's willingness to believe, so that for all God could do, Christ might have died and none be saved at all." He goes on to say, "The Bible sees the cross, as revealing God's power to save, not his impotence. Christ did not win a hypothetical salvation for hypothetical believers; a mere possibility of salvation for any who might possibly believe, but a real salvation for his own chosen people. His precious blood really does save all. Its saving power does not depend on faith being added to it. Its saving power is such that faith flows from it. The cross secured the salvation of all for whom Christ died." Oh, what a magnificent truth this is. This is the gospel, we preach; that God in Christ, as Paul said, reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them. Solas Christus; reconciliation is through Christ alone.

Again, if I can put it this way, his atoning sacrifice, his work on the cross, was efficacious only for quote, "Those whom the Father had given Him," John 17, nine. Those whom God determined from all eternity past to believe on the Son Ephesians one four, "He chose them in Him before the foundation of the world." Revelation 13 to eight, "and their names have been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." People don't like this. We have a rabid commitment to self-determination. We don't like a God that is fully in control, do we? Well, you do once you come to Christ, and you rejoice in it. Jesus declared, "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." And then he added, "I lay down My life for the sheep." Romans eight beginning of verse 32, "God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all." He went on to say God's elect, those whom He justifies. So dear friends, what a comfort to know that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them," verse 19. But please understand, reconciliation could never take place, apart from the forgiveness of sins, because it is sin that caused the separation to happen in the first place, right? And therefore we can sing with David, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man whom the LORD does not impute iniquity," Psalm 32, one and two.

Now, notice again, in verse 18, God gave us the "ministry of reconciliation," verse 19, "He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." The word "word" there is "logos" in the original language, as opposed to the Greek term mythos. It's a synonym for the gospel. It is the word of truth. And here we see Sola Scriptura; reconciliation is by scripture alone. You see, we understand all through Scripture, that it is God's word, that is the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. It is not the Bible, plus tradition. The word of God is central to our life, it's central to our faith, it's central to our worship. James 1:I8, "In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by," what? "The word of truth." Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." Paul said to the Thessalonian believers in First Thessalonians 2:13, "For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." I remember when that happened to me, and it's still happening, as it is with you, if you know and love Christ. Well, obviously, there's something else here. The gospel is freely offered to all, but sinners have to respond in faith in order to be saved. We see that here as well.

And here is number four Sola Fide; reconciliation is by faith alone. Verse 18, again, "God gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Again, we have to call sinners to repentance, we have to preach the gospel, so that they will believe. Verse 19, "He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." Verse 20, "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God." Now it's common for people to ask, "well, how in the world can a person respond to the gospel invitation if he's spiritually dead?" Very fair question. And as we've answered before, it's by the work of the Spirit. It's regeneration: the sovereign act of God whereby he imparts spiritual life to a sinner, again causing that sinner to voluntarily respond to the gospel in repentant faith. You see, regeneration is the cause, not the consequence of saving faith. You will recall in Second Corinthians four, Paul speaks of regeneration in terms of suddenly being able to see the light of the gospel; that's regeneration. When God saves the sinner, the Spirit's work causes these blind eyes to suddenly see what they could not see before; to suddenly perceive the light of Christ and all of his glory, resulting in saving faith. But God had to take the initiative. Well, then people will say, "Well, how can man be held responsible for his unbelief? If God is sovereign over salvation?" Well, I've heard that before. And usually the chin is up and the chest is out, and it's like, explain that one to me. Have you heard that before? Of course, there's a sense of, you know, if you believe that, well, then God's unfair, you know, that's the idea. Well, how do you answer that? Well, the answer is real simple. God doesn't say God's sovereignty and man's responsibility run parallel all through Scripture. They never intersect. We see it all over scripture. But you know what, they are perfectly compatible in the mind of God, even though they are an inscrutable mystery to us. By the way, as soon as you try to explain it, you cease to be biblical.

In fact, in Romans chapter nine, we're told to not even ask that question. There we read, "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?" Obviously, we are the clay pot; we have no capacity to even really ask the question much less understand it. We accept it by faith, we see it all through Scripture. "Well, I want nothing to do with a God like that,” I’ve heard that before. And all I have to say is well dear friend, if that's the case, you must understand that you will have an eternity to curse him in the solitary confinement of hell, for what you believe to be his injustice. And I hope that's not the case. All I can do is beg you, as Paul says, "on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." He will forgive your sins, He will make you a new creature in Christ. By the way, this is what the church is to do. We get all these things of what churches are supposed to be about--we're to be ambassadors of Christ, ministers of reconciliation, begging sinners on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. This is our great commission--to make disciples and to teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded them. We have the ministry of reconciliation. We're not to be, I don't know, social justice warriors, for example, that's where many churches have gone, as if they can somehow appease that crowd, which is absolutely ludicrous. We have the ministry of reconciliation, not the ministry of reparations, which is utterly absurd, and totally unbiblical.

Oh, dear Christians, we have a glorious calling because we serve a glorious God. We have the ministry of reconciliation. I hope you take that seriously. I hope that is your calling, your ministry.

Well, you're probably wondering, our time is almost gone. Aren't we going to get solar day of glory in there? O yes, we're going to do that real quickly. Soli Deo Gloria. Reconciliation is ultimately for glory to God alone. Notice again, back to verse 18, "Now all these things are from God." Whenever I think of that, I think of how Paul for 11 chapters, explains the depravity of man and the glory of God in justification. And at the end of that, he says, in that glorious benediction; that glorious doxology in Romans 11:36 He says, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Beloved, God is the originator. He is the sustainer. And the goal of all things that exist; everything comes from him, everything is preserved by him, and everything ends in him. And it's for this reason that even in that text Paul ascribes to God not merely glory, but he says, "the glory"; the supreme glory, the glory of redemption. Then he says, "Amen." What a fitting conclusion to Paul's arguments and explanations of the plan of redemption. We see this as well, by the way, in First Corinthians eight six, Paul says, "There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we want exist for Him; and one, Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him." Beloved, we exist for him, not for ourselves.

And even in the Old Testament, God spoke through his servant Ezekial, in Ezekiel 36:22. He says, "'It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name." He went on to say, "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight.'" Dear Christians please hear this, we are not central in God's plan of salvation. He is. Ultimately we are incidental to it. The whole plan of redemption in creation is the glory of his name that is uppermost in his plan and in his purposes of salvation. It's a humbling thought is it not? The ultimate purpose of election to salvation is according to Ephesians, one six, "the praise of His glorious grace." He went on to say in verse 11, "Having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end of that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Oh Child of God, we are ambassadors of Christ, begging people, as I'm doing today--if you don't know Christ, please be reconciled to Him, by placing your faith in Christ, your only hope of salvation. And dear Christian, is this the passion and priority of your life? Or do you merely live for yourself? Moreover, when you present the gospel, is it the true gospel of reconciliation anchored in the atoning work of Christ? Or is it some man-centered, watered down cotton candy version that exalts man and diminishes Christ that promotes works at the expense of grace that promotes free will, at the expense of God's glory. I trust our time together this morning has indeed equipped you with the truth. I hope your sword has been sharpened, and you will be willing to wield it by the power of the Spirit. And I trust you've also been encouraged by the truth as I am. Therefore with Charles Wesley, we can pray "oh for 1000 tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious master, and my god assist me to proclaim to spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of your name." Let's pray together.

Father, we're always profoundly humbled when we look at the great truths of your gospel. Thank you for reconciling us unto yourself. Thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ. If there be one here within the sound of my voice, I pray that you will save them by that grace even as you have us. We commit it all to you knowing that ultimately your purposes will be accomplished. And for this, we rejoice with exceeding joy. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.