Reconciled (2013)
2 Corinthians 5:20
There IS a God-shaped hole in our lives. There’s something missing. There’s been a separation between us and God. We were created to have fellowship with God, but there is a very real separation between you and God. A separation that God can’t ignore. He can’t ignore it, he can’t overlook it, it must be dealt with. It has to be removed.
In the Book of Genesis, God created Mankind for fellowship. This is an interesting thing to consider because our God has no need. He is not “discontent.” There is nothing “missing” and yet he created us for intimate fellowship. And God walked in perfect harmony with Adam and Eve. God wasn’t taken by surprise when it happened, but then, sin entered the world and broke that fellowship between God and Mankind – the Fall of Man.
The relationship that Man had with God was broken because sin separates us from God. Whether it is sin in the “big picture”, meaning sin that has not been paid for and washed away by the blood of Christ, separating you from God for eternity, or Christian, if it is sins as you are saved – either way, sin separates you from God.
The Book of Colossians tells us that because of our sin we were alienated from God. We were separated from fellowship and intimacy with God.
Colossians 1:21 (NLT)
21 . . . [You] were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
Our sin separates us from God, and honestly (on our own) we can’t do anything about it.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is a problem because God cannot be in the presence of sin. And so, sin separates you from God. Some people believe that God owes them something, and in a sense, they’re right.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death . . . (Eternal Separation from God)
That’s what God owes us… death. The wages of sin is death. This is our “just due” for our sin, it's death. We (on our own) cannot clean ourselves up, we cannot make ourselves right with God. “Religion” can’t fix that. Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. We can’t reach God; God has to come to us. Our sin separates us from God. Our sin has condemned us. We are forever his enemies. Without God intervening, we are lost, helpless, hopeless, and waiting only for God’s judgment.
BUT GOD! Two of the greatest words you’ll ever hear. We can’t do it – but God can! We are without hope – but God is the author of hope. Jesus IS our hope. He IS our life. He has reconciled all things to God, and I want you to hear that word – RECONCILED – today.
DEFINITION of RECONCILED: “To change from enmity to friendship. Reconciliation is what God accomplishes, by His grace toward sinful man, on the basis of the death of Jesus Christ being an acceptable sacrifice for sin.”
Our sin has separated us from God. But God has the answer – he has the only answer. The penalty for our sin had to be paid in full. The consequences of our sin had to be removed. If not, we would never be able to have fellowship with God and we could not do it, so God had to do it himself, completely, and he had to do it while we were his enemies.
Romans 5:10 (ESV)
10 . . . while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son . . .
God does the work. God has already done the work to reconcile you to himself. And he did it when you were at your worst. When you were his enemy. When your hand held the mallet that drove the spike into Christ’s hands. When it was your mouth spitting on his face. When it was your voice crying, “Crucify him!” When you were his enemy, God reconciled you through the death of his son. God could not wait for you to get your life together.
Sometimes people say to me, “I’m going to get my life together and then start coming to church.” God wants you just the way you are. He died for you when you were his enemy. You don’t have enough “clean” to clean yourself up, to make yourself presentable to God. He wants you just as you are – sin and all.
God knew the only way to reconcile you to himself was to send Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, then to die on the Cross to pay for your sin, and then to conquer sin and death in your place. So that by faith (Romans Chapter 6 says), we become so identified with Christ that his death to sin becomes our death to sin. His victory over the grave becomes our victory, and that his Resurrection becomes our resurrection. You have to own it yourself, personally.
Through Jesus Christ, God reconciled everything to himself.
Colossians 1:19–20 (NLT)
19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
God came down to earth, in Christ, to reconcile us because it was the only way it could ever happen. Jesus Christ is God in the Flesh and came to earth to buy us back from our enslavement to sin.
This word “redemption” or “to redeem” means to pay a sufficient price, to buy back a slave in order to set them free. That’s what God has done for us. He has bought us back so that we could be set free from the slavery that we’re in to sin.
He redeemed us . . . Jesus paid the price in his own blood to set us free from the consequences of sin. The only way God could reconcile us to himself is to pay the full price to redeem us from our sin.
Jesus Christ reconciled you to God. No matter how far away from God you are, no matter how far away you’ve been, no matter where you’re at today, Jesus is mighty to save. There is no one he can’t reach. There is no sin that hasn’t been dealt with on the Cross.
This separation between you and God has been dealt with. It has been conquered. The Cross is where the full payment for our sin was made, but the victory was not yet completed. The wages of sin is death – eternal death. And so, death had to be conquered. Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins, but then he had to take on the powers of death and the grave. And there is one ultimate, undeniable proof that Jesus Christ conquered not only sin but also death and the grave. That undeniable proof is the Resurrection!
The Resurrection is the manifestation, the revealing of the victory that Jesus Christ won on your behalf. It is the undeniable, proven (even historically), fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He did it so you would know that in him, you would rise from the dead also.
Today, the Lord wants to come alive in your heart. He wants to be resurrected in your heart and in your life.
On the Cross, the work of paying for your sin and making you right before God was accomplished. In the Resurrection, the victory was completed. When Jesus cried, “IT IS FINISHED” on the Cross, it was the victory cry of a conquering Warrior. God responded with a great earthquake, opening graves, and raising people from the dead. And the veil that separated sinners from the Presence of God in the Temple was torn in two – from top to bottom, opening up the way for people to come into the Holy Presence of God. God tore that veil because God was reconciling Mankind to himself through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The work of reconciliation had been finished. Jesus did that on your behalf, and because of that you are ushered in, you are called in, you are drawn into the very Presence of God. Where before you could not come into his presence because of your sin, because of the work Jesus Christ has done, you are now invited in – even with confidence, even with boldness – to come into the Presence of God.
When Jesus rose from the dead – everything changed. Acts 2:24 says Death could not keep Jesus in its grip. The Resurrection was the biggest event – EVER! In fact, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ made a mockery of the powers of death.
Colossians 2:13–15 (NLT)
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
The spiritual ruler and authorities are the principalities and powers, rulers and authorities that want you dead for eternity. If no one has told you, you have an enemy. You have a spiritual enemy who wants your soul dead for eternity. Jesus shamed that enemy publicly. He disarmed him, he shamed him publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
The battle was won on the Cross and the victory was completed in the Resurrection. We can point to that proof and say, “In Christ, that is me! He did that for me. He did that in my place!” And by faith, the Bible says that we become so identified with him that we follow him in that process of payment for our sins and of resurrection to new life.
The proof of Jesus Christ’s victory over sin and death is the Resurrection. It was the final blow that removed all the effects of sin that had kept us separated from God. It was the final step in God reconciling us to himself, Jesus had done it in our place. The work of reconciling us to God had been accomplished, and here is God’s response to that ultimate victory.
We spend a lot of time thinking of Jesus on the Cross, and it’s important so we understand what he did for us, but you need to know who he is today.
Philippians 2:8–11 (NLT)
8 [Jesus] humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I need you to hear this. Jesus is not on the Cross anymore. Jesus is not on the Cross anymore because that work is finished. He had somewhere to go from there, he had to go into the grave on your behalf, and he had to be raised from the dead on your behalf.
Today, Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross to pay for your sins, is seated at the highest place of honor in all creation. His name is above every other name. . . and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
Jesus Christ is not just a “good teacher” who came to give us some “good rules” to live by. He IS the Son of God. He is the instrument in which all things that have been created have been created. He has no beginning; he has no end. He is raised up and exalted on the throne in heaven like no other good teacher. No other religious leader rose from the dead. This makes a difference. Jesus rose from the dead. He came in human form to die in your place to pay for your sin, to reconcile you to God. But now, today, that same Jesus is enthroned in heaven with all of heaven worshiping him.
In Revelation 5, John is IN heaven.
Revelation 5:11–13 (NLT)
11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders.
12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was [slain]— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” AMEN!!!
Yes, his is the Lamb that was Slain. But today he is enthroned in heaven, clothed in rainbows of living colors, surrounded by flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder. And all of heaven cries, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and falls down to worship the One who died to save us. Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death for you in order to reconcile you to God, this same Jesus is now the King of Heaven.
Consider all of that as we read from Romans 5.
Romans 5:10 (ESV)
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Much more now that we have been reconciled shall we be saved by his life… his life as the Exalted King of Heaven!! Yes, Jesus died for your sin. But get a vision of where he’s at now because as you are identified through faith in him, you’re identified with his death, and with his burial, and with his resurrection. And Ephesians says that we will be raised up to be seated with him in the heavenlies. That’s something you don’t want to miss. Consider it carefully.
I want you to see that you are separated from God by your sin. That Jesus Christ did the work to reconcile you and I want you to know where he’s at now because he is “large and in charge” and enthroned in heaven. He changes everything.
God has reconciled us to himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that changes everything for us!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Jesus Christ changes everything! The work he’s done has been to change everything. But listen, everything is going to change, whether you’re a part of it or not. If you will be reconciled to God in Christ today, the old life of separation from God will pass away. You will no longer be an enemy of God but instead, you will be reconciled.
You’ve heard me say Jesus has done it all. So, what’s left? You have to receive it personally. You have to be identified with him by faith. And maybe you’d say, “Oh, that doesn’t sound like enough. I think I need to be religious, and I need ‘this’ and I need ‘that.’” That’s just not what God says in the Bible. God says by faith we are saved. By his grace, through our faith alone we are identified with Jesus Christ.
Continuing in 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 5:19 (ESV)
19 . . . in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
That’s what we’ve been talking about, that God has done the work to reconcile you to himself. This is the biggest message in all of history, that you can be reconciled to God. That you can go from being dead in your sin to being alive with Christ. That you can from eternal separation from God to eternal life in Christ. It’s the biggest message in the world!
But then, look. God entrusted to us the Ministry of Reconciliation. And so, I say to you today what the very next verse says.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV)
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Be reconciled to God! Because no matter what you think, there is a day coming just after you breathe your last breath that none of anything else is going to be important. The only thing that is going to be important is – was I reconciled to God before this moment?
It is only by Christ living in me that I can be his Ambassador. But…
What does that mean? What does that look like? Well, Jesus has done all the work to reconcile you to God. The only thing left is for you to receive his reconciliation. And receiving his salvation looks mostly like – surrender. It looks like you giving up. It looks like you giving up your way, and your will, and your pride, and your desire for the things of this world, and the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life. It’s about you surrendering those things and saying, “I believe what I really need is to be reconciled to God. I believe I need to receive what Jesus Christ has done.” It looks like you coming to the Cross just as you are and leaving your sins there for him to pay for. It looks like you humbling yourself and saying, “God, I need you. Jesus, I need you.”
It’s easy to see that our sin has separated us from God, right? Maybe it’s not so easy to think – “What do I do to get it back? I feel so far away from you. I need a new life.” The question is, are you willing to come to the Cross to receive the free gift that Jesus offers – to reconcile you to God, to forgive you of your sin, to make you right with God, and give you a new life with him?
Today, I want to give you the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Make a commitment to God right now, tell him that you desire to be reconciled. Receive his forgiveness and be restored to him today. Allow the sacrifice of Christ to pay for your sins and to justify you before God.
Pray to receive the work that God has already done, in Christ, to reconcile you to himself.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, this is it, this is what it is about. Lord this is our only purpose, our only role, our only calling from you – to testify to who you are. It’s to be your Ambassadors, Lord, to implore people to be reconciled to you, God. But now, Lord, we’ve done it, our job is over now – it’s your job. Now it’s your work, Lord. Holy Spirit convict, pierce, draw, Lord. Draw us to the Cross.
Come to the cross. Say, Lord, I need you. I need my sins washed away, today, Lord. I can’t wait another day. I need a new life, Lord. God, I want to be a new creation in you, Lord.
Tell him that right now. Don’t worry about what you’re going to do tomorrow. You just come and meet Christ right now. He’ll take care of tomorrow. He’ll lead you and guide you for his name’s sake, tomorrow. You come now. Are you willing to take a stand for him? If you stand for him here, he’ll stand for you there. He hung on a cross for you. He did it for you. Are you willing to take a stand for him right now? Some of you have fallen away from God, and need to be restored. Say, Jesus, that’s me. I want to take a stand for you.
We want you in our lives right now. All I am is yours, Lord. I surrender to you Lord, I crucify this life and I embrace you, Jesus.
We have nothing else, Lord. I’ve got nothing, Lord. Lord, I can’t fix this myself. I need you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. And so, I just give you my life Lord. I can’t fix it, it’s too bad. I’m out of options, Lord. I just surrender to you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
I know you’ve been praying. I know the Spirit of God has touched your heart. I know that some of you are pouring out sins that you thought could never be forgiven. Some of you are being drawn back to the Lord because you know it’s the only true life. I want to pray with you right now. There is no “magic prayer” in the Bible. (I need you to hear me.) God wants you to pour your heart out to him, not just today, but tomorrow, and every day after that.
You can pray something like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin. Please forgive me and wash me clean, Lord. Thank you for dying for me. I receive your forgiveness, and I receive you into my life as my Savior and as my Lord. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit for the power to be transformed. I give you my life as a follower. It’s in your own name, I pray, amen.
If you have made a commitment to Jesus Christ today, reach out to us and contact us. The Bible doesn’t call us to get people to repeat a prayer. The Bible calls us to make Disciples, to help other people learn how to follow Jesus. That’s what we’re called to, and that’s what we want to do, right here. We want to help you learn to follow Jesus.
We want to come alongside you with resources to help you in your new walk with Jesus Christ. We want to help you follow Jesus. Is there anything we can pray for you for? Is there any scripture we can give you? Is there anything in your life that you’d like to hear what God has to say in his Word about? Contact us
In the Book of Genesis, God created Mankind for fellowship. This is an interesting thing to consider because our God has no need. He is not “discontent.” There is nothing “missing” and yet he created us for intimate fellowship. And God walked in perfect harmony with Adam and Eve. God wasn’t taken by surprise when it happened, but then, sin entered the world and broke that fellowship between God and Mankind – the Fall of Man.
The relationship that Man had with God was broken because sin separates us from God. Whether it is sin in the “big picture”, meaning sin that has not been paid for and washed away by the blood of Christ, separating you from God for eternity, or Christian, if it is sins as you are saved – either way, sin separates you from God.
The Book of Colossians tells us that because of our sin we were alienated from God. We were separated from fellowship and intimacy with God.
Colossians 1:21 (NLT)
21 . . . [You] were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
Our sin separates us from God, and honestly (on our own) we can’t do anything about it.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is a problem because God cannot be in the presence of sin. And so, sin separates you from God. Some people believe that God owes them something, and in a sense, they’re right.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death . . . (Eternal Separation from God)
That’s what God owes us… death. The wages of sin is death. This is our “just due” for our sin, it's death. We (on our own) cannot clean ourselves up, we cannot make ourselves right with God. “Religion” can’t fix that. Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. We can’t reach God; God has to come to us. Our sin separates us from God. Our sin has condemned us. We are forever his enemies. Without God intervening, we are lost, helpless, hopeless, and waiting only for God’s judgment.
BUT GOD! Two of the greatest words you’ll ever hear. We can’t do it – but God can! We are without hope – but God is the author of hope. Jesus IS our hope. He IS our life. He has reconciled all things to God, and I want you to hear that word – RECONCILED – today.
DEFINITION of RECONCILED: “To change from enmity to friendship. Reconciliation is what God accomplishes, by His grace toward sinful man, on the basis of the death of Jesus Christ being an acceptable sacrifice for sin.”
Our sin has separated us from God. But God has the answer – he has the only answer. The penalty for our sin had to be paid in full. The consequences of our sin had to be removed. If not, we would never be able to have fellowship with God and we could not do it, so God had to do it himself, completely, and he had to do it while we were his enemies.
Romans 5:10 (ESV)
10 . . . while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son . . .
God does the work. God has already done the work to reconcile you to himself. And he did it when you were at your worst. When you were his enemy. When your hand held the mallet that drove the spike into Christ’s hands. When it was your mouth spitting on his face. When it was your voice crying, “Crucify him!” When you were his enemy, God reconciled you through the death of his son. God could not wait for you to get your life together.
Sometimes people say to me, “I’m going to get my life together and then start coming to church.” God wants you just the way you are. He died for you when you were his enemy. You don’t have enough “clean” to clean yourself up, to make yourself presentable to God. He wants you just as you are – sin and all.
God knew the only way to reconcile you to himself was to send Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, then to die on the Cross to pay for your sin, and then to conquer sin and death in your place. So that by faith (Romans Chapter 6 says), we become so identified with Christ that his death to sin becomes our death to sin. His victory over the grave becomes our victory, and that his Resurrection becomes our resurrection. You have to own it yourself, personally.
Through Jesus Christ, God reconciled everything to himself.
Colossians 1:19–20 (NLT)
19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
God came down to earth, in Christ, to reconcile us because it was the only way it could ever happen. Jesus Christ is God in the Flesh and came to earth to buy us back from our enslavement to sin.
This word “redemption” or “to redeem” means to pay a sufficient price, to buy back a slave in order to set them free. That’s what God has done for us. He has bought us back so that we could be set free from the slavery that we’re in to sin.
He redeemed us . . . Jesus paid the price in his own blood to set us free from the consequences of sin. The only way God could reconcile us to himself is to pay the full price to redeem us from our sin.
Jesus Christ reconciled you to God. No matter how far away from God you are, no matter how far away you’ve been, no matter where you’re at today, Jesus is mighty to save. There is no one he can’t reach. There is no sin that hasn’t been dealt with on the Cross.
This separation between you and God has been dealt with. It has been conquered. The Cross is where the full payment for our sin was made, but the victory was not yet completed. The wages of sin is death – eternal death. And so, death had to be conquered. Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins, but then he had to take on the powers of death and the grave. And there is one ultimate, undeniable proof that Jesus Christ conquered not only sin but also death and the grave. That undeniable proof is the Resurrection!
The Resurrection is the manifestation, the revealing of the victory that Jesus Christ won on your behalf. It is the undeniable, proven (even historically), fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He did it so you would know that in him, you would rise from the dead also.
Today, the Lord wants to come alive in your heart. He wants to be resurrected in your heart and in your life.
On the Cross, the work of paying for your sin and making you right before God was accomplished. In the Resurrection, the victory was completed. When Jesus cried, “IT IS FINISHED” on the Cross, it was the victory cry of a conquering Warrior. God responded with a great earthquake, opening graves, and raising people from the dead. And the veil that separated sinners from the Presence of God in the Temple was torn in two – from top to bottom, opening up the way for people to come into the Holy Presence of God. God tore that veil because God was reconciling Mankind to himself through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The work of reconciliation had been finished. Jesus did that on your behalf, and because of that you are ushered in, you are called in, you are drawn into the very Presence of God. Where before you could not come into his presence because of your sin, because of the work Jesus Christ has done, you are now invited in – even with confidence, even with boldness – to come into the Presence of God.
When Jesus rose from the dead – everything changed. Acts 2:24 says Death could not keep Jesus in its grip. The Resurrection was the biggest event – EVER! In fact, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ made a mockery of the powers of death.
Colossians 2:13–15 (NLT)
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
The spiritual ruler and authorities are the principalities and powers, rulers and authorities that want you dead for eternity. If no one has told you, you have an enemy. You have a spiritual enemy who wants your soul dead for eternity. Jesus shamed that enemy publicly. He disarmed him, he shamed him publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
The battle was won on the Cross and the victory was completed in the Resurrection. We can point to that proof and say, “In Christ, that is me! He did that for me. He did that in my place!” And by faith, the Bible says that we become so identified with him that we follow him in that process of payment for our sins and of resurrection to new life.
The proof of Jesus Christ’s victory over sin and death is the Resurrection. It was the final blow that removed all the effects of sin that had kept us separated from God. It was the final step in God reconciling us to himself, Jesus had done it in our place. The work of reconciling us to God had been accomplished, and here is God’s response to that ultimate victory.
We spend a lot of time thinking of Jesus on the Cross, and it’s important so we understand what he did for us, but you need to know who he is today.
Philippians 2:8–11 (NLT)
8 [Jesus] humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I need you to hear this. Jesus is not on the Cross anymore. Jesus is not on the Cross anymore because that work is finished. He had somewhere to go from there, he had to go into the grave on your behalf, and he had to be raised from the dead on your behalf.
Today, Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross to pay for your sins, is seated at the highest place of honor in all creation. His name is above every other name. . . and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
Jesus Christ is not just a “good teacher” who came to give us some “good rules” to live by. He IS the Son of God. He is the instrument in which all things that have been created have been created. He has no beginning; he has no end. He is raised up and exalted on the throne in heaven like no other good teacher. No other religious leader rose from the dead. This makes a difference. Jesus rose from the dead. He came in human form to die in your place to pay for your sin, to reconcile you to God. But now, today, that same Jesus is enthroned in heaven with all of heaven worshiping him.
In Revelation 5, John is IN heaven.
Revelation 5:11–13 (NLT)
11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders.
12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was [slain]— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” AMEN!!!
Yes, his is the Lamb that was Slain. But today he is enthroned in heaven, clothed in rainbows of living colors, surrounded by flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder. And all of heaven cries, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and falls down to worship the One who died to save us. Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death for you in order to reconcile you to God, this same Jesus is now the King of Heaven.
Consider all of that as we read from Romans 5.
Romans 5:10 (ESV)
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Much more now that we have been reconciled shall we be saved by his life… his life as the Exalted King of Heaven!! Yes, Jesus died for your sin. But get a vision of where he’s at now because as you are identified through faith in him, you’re identified with his death, and with his burial, and with his resurrection. And Ephesians says that we will be raised up to be seated with him in the heavenlies. That’s something you don’t want to miss. Consider it carefully.
I want you to see that you are separated from God by your sin. That Jesus Christ did the work to reconcile you and I want you to know where he’s at now because he is “large and in charge” and enthroned in heaven. He changes everything.
God has reconciled us to himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that changes everything for us!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Jesus Christ changes everything! The work he’s done has been to change everything. But listen, everything is going to change, whether you’re a part of it or not. If you will be reconciled to God in Christ today, the old life of separation from God will pass away. You will no longer be an enemy of God but instead, you will be reconciled.
You’ve heard me say Jesus has done it all. So, what’s left? You have to receive it personally. You have to be identified with him by faith. And maybe you’d say, “Oh, that doesn’t sound like enough. I think I need to be religious, and I need ‘this’ and I need ‘that.’” That’s just not what God says in the Bible. God says by faith we are saved. By his grace, through our faith alone we are identified with Jesus Christ.
Continuing in 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 5:19 (ESV)
19 . . . in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
That’s what we’ve been talking about, that God has done the work to reconcile you to himself. This is the biggest message in all of history, that you can be reconciled to God. That you can go from being dead in your sin to being alive with Christ. That you can from eternal separation from God to eternal life in Christ. It’s the biggest message in the world!
But then, look. God entrusted to us the Ministry of Reconciliation. And so, I say to you today what the very next verse says.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV)
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Be reconciled to God! Because no matter what you think, there is a day coming just after you breathe your last breath that none of anything else is going to be important. The only thing that is going to be important is – was I reconciled to God before this moment?
It is only by Christ living in me that I can be his Ambassador. But…
What does that mean? What does that look like? Well, Jesus has done all the work to reconcile you to God. The only thing left is for you to receive his reconciliation. And receiving his salvation looks mostly like – surrender. It looks like you giving up. It looks like you giving up your way, and your will, and your pride, and your desire for the things of this world, and the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life. It’s about you surrendering those things and saying, “I believe what I really need is to be reconciled to God. I believe I need to receive what Jesus Christ has done.” It looks like you coming to the Cross just as you are and leaving your sins there for him to pay for. It looks like you humbling yourself and saying, “God, I need you. Jesus, I need you.”
It’s easy to see that our sin has separated us from God, right? Maybe it’s not so easy to think – “What do I do to get it back? I feel so far away from you. I need a new life.” The question is, are you willing to come to the Cross to receive the free gift that Jesus offers – to reconcile you to God, to forgive you of your sin, to make you right with God, and give you a new life with him?
Today, I want to give you the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Make a commitment to God right now, tell him that you desire to be reconciled. Receive his forgiveness and be restored to him today. Allow the sacrifice of Christ to pay for your sins and to justify you before God.
Pray to receive the work that God has already done, in Christ, to reconcile you to himself.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, this is it, this is what it is about. Lord this is our only purpose, our only role, our only calling from you – to testify to who you are. It’s to be your Ambassadors, Lord, to implore people to be reconciled to you, God. But now, Lord, we’ve done it, our job is over now – it’s your job. Now it’s your work, Lord. Holy Spirit convict, pierce, draw, Lord. Draw us to the Cross.
Come to the cross. Say, Lord, I need you. I need my sins washed away, today, Lord. I can’t wait another day. I need a new life, Lord. God, I want to be a new creation in you, Lord.
Tell him that right now. Don’t worry about what you’re going to do tomorrow. You just come and meet Christ right now. He’ll take care of tomorrow. He’ll lead you and guide you for his name’s sake, tomorrow. You come now. Are you willing to take a stand for him? If you stand for him here, he’ll stand for you there. He hung on a cross for you. He did it for you. Are you willing to take a stand for him right now? Some of you have fallen away from God, and need to be restored. Say, Jesus, that’s me. I want to take a stand for you.
We want you in our lives right now. All I am is yours, Lord. I surrender to you Lord, I crucify this life and I embrace you, Jesus.
We have nothing else, Lord. I’ve got nothing, Lord. Lord, I can’t fix this myself. I need you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. And so, I just give you my life Lord. I can’t fix it, it’s too bad. I’m out of options, Lord. I just surrender to you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
I know you’ve been praying. I know the Spirit of God has touched your heart. I know that some of you are pouring out sins that you thought could never be forgiven. Some of you are being drawn back to the Lord because you know it’s the only true life. I want to pray with you right now. There is no “magic prayer” in the Bible. (I need you to hear me.) God wants you to pour your heart out to him, not just today, but tomorrow, and every day after that.
You can pray something like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin. Please forgive me and wash me clean, Lord. Thank you for dying for me. I receive your forgiveness, and I receive you into my life as my Savior and as my Lord. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit for the power to be transformed. I give you my life as a follower. It’s in your own name, I pray, amen.
If you have made a commitment to Jesus Christ today, reach out to us and contact us. The Bible doesn’t call us to get people to repeat a prayer. The Bible calls us to make Disciples, to help other people learn how to follow Jesus. That’s what we’re called to, and that’s what we want to do, right here. We want to help you learn to follow Jesus.
We want to come alongside you with resources to help you in your new walk with Jesus Christ. We want to help you follow Jesus. Is there anything we can pray for you for? Is there any scripture we can give you? Is there anything in your life that you’d like to hear what God has to say in his Word about? Contact us