by Steve Ward, Pastor – Heritage Baptist Church

By nature, I am not an extrovert.  In both environment and heredity, I come from a long line of people who would just rather get along with everyone and never be noticed or bothered.  Throughout my journey into adulthood my quiet nature was evident.  Then, one day, something changed.  I heard something so amazing, so beautiful, that I couldn’t remain comfortable keeping to myself.  It was the Gospel of the Lord Jesus that I heard.  It was the message of truth, of redemption, and of the glory of the God and creator of the heaven and the earth.  From that day forward, there has been a burning desire in my heart- to speak about the subject that is addressed in the Bible.

There is a passage in 2 Corinthians (5:18-21) that states:

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. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In these verses, we see one of the grand and glorious pictures of the Gospel.  Please consider the following points that come from this passage.

1) The Christian message is “the word of reconciliation”

Have you ever seen the bumper stickers that state “God loves you”?  It sounds very nice and proper in an age of tolerance.  But I don’t know a single person whose life has been changed by it.  I don’t even know anyone who even had a moment of goosebumps or a warm and fuzzy feeling in their souls by seeing it!

The message of the biblical Gospel is not simply “God loves you”.  It is a much more powerful message; God is calling you to be reconciled to Him!

You see, God has made it clear to us through the Bible that every person is guilty of being ungodly and unrighteous.  Even the great heroes of the Bible such as Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and Paul are all guilty of sinning against Him.  Every person who sins in ungodly conduct is not just merely making bad choices, these sins are acts of rebellion and hatred against God.  Therefore, we all by nature are not on God’s “good side”.  In fact, God’s wrath is kindled against us all.

Forgive me for getting a little ahead of myself in my presentation, but we will see that God has sent His Son to reconcile people such as you and I to Himself.  In other words, He has done something that will fix the terrible situation we are in.  He sent Jesus to be put to death on the cross so that we may believe in His righteousness and His work which brings us forgiveness by faith.  If you deny that you need to repent of your own sins and believe that Jesus alone is righteous and that you can be saved from God’s anger against you by faith in Him, then you are calling God a liar and making Him your enemy.  In other words, you are taking a stand against God.  You are opposed to Him.

This is where the “word of reconciliation” comes in.  The message of the Gospel which the Church preaches is not that you need to be good enough to get into heaven.  It is not a message that God loves you, no matter what you do.  It is a message of reconciliation.  God calls you to repent from your hostility against Him and be blessed by believing in Jesus as the Lord and Savior.

2) God was in Christ

Our passage in 2 Corinthians shares another powerful aspect of the Gospel.  It is not just that God loves us, but God is in Christ.  Why is this significant? Though all of us are enemies with God because of our sin and denial of the Gospel of Jesus, God still did something to bring a remedy.

Jesus is the eternal God.  Jesus was born as a man.  Do you see the peculiar nature of those two truths?

We must now ask ourselves what the purpose was of God becoming man. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) record for us the events of the life of Jesus.  What do they show us about the purpose of his life?  Upon casual observation, we may think that the Gospels begin with the birth of Jesus and end with his death, but the important stuff is the life in between.  However, this is not quite the case.  Jesus did not just run out of time to teach when he was crucified.  Instead, all of His life led to His crucifixion and then His resurrection.

God came in the human form of Jesus.  But humankind did not appreciate this.  Jesus taught wonderful things, but men hated him for it.  Jesus healed people with the power that only God can have, but men hated him even more.  Jesus also spoke of judgment against men, not only of the ‘heathen’ men who worshiped pagan idols, but He also spoke of judgment upon His own people…the nation of Israel for ignoring the commandments of God and for rejecting Him, the promised Messiah.

And so the Gospels show us how the people of God (Israel) conspired with the Romans to have God in Christ put to death upon the cross.  This was no accident either.  This did not take God by surprise.  The prophets had revealed long before and Jesus himself told those who followed him that this would take place.

God was in Christ, and Christ was put to death in agony and anguish upon the cross.

3) Christ was reconciling the world to Himself

The Gospel message of salvation in Christ begins to to take shape here.  Since God was in Christ, death could not hold Him.  Jesus rose from the dead.  The Gospels and Acts (the historical account that Luke’s Gospel continues after the resurrection) record that Jesus appeared to many after his resurrection from the dead.  Then it was witnessed as He ascended from earth back to heaven, where is now seated upon the throne as He rules over His church.

You see, God was in Christ with a purpose.  Jesus had to die and have his blood spilled upon the cross.  As our text in 2 Corinthians says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”.

God’s wrath is stirred up by the sins of men and women.  He is just and will punish people for their sins.  Hell is reserved for all who continue to reject Him, denying the righteousness of Jesus, and choosing to live in pride, greed, and lust.  But Jesus suffered the wrath of God even though He did not sin.  Why?  This is the question of all questions.  This is the crux of the Christian faith.

4) God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf

If you will believe in the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah, then you have a personal stake in this matter.  Jesus suffered the judgment of God that was deserved by every person, Jew or Gentile, male or female, black or white, who trusts in Him.  He took our place!  He took upon himself the judgment of sin, even though he did not sin!

He did so in order that our sins would not be counted against those who would trust in Him as our text says.  They were counted against Him instead.

5) That we might become the righteousness of God in Him

Not only is our sin transferred to Him, but there is an unbelievable exchange.  His righteousness is conferred upon those who believe!  A sinful human being who repents and believes in this Gospel of Jesus Christ has been reconciled to God.  His punishment for sin was taken by Jesus, and the righteousness of Jesus has been give to him!

Oh, what a glorious message!  It is a message that has transformed people for thousands of years, and it is just as powerful today as it was then! There is no other religion, no other philosophy, and no other hope that offers such perfect glory in truth. Therefore, as our passage from 2 Corinthians says:

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,

as though God were making an appeal through us;

we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,

so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

There is no way that you can earn such righteousness – the righteousness of God.  There is no other hope.  This salvation can be yours by repenting (sorrowfully turning away) from your sins and hostility against God, and by believing in the Gospel message.  May God shed His marvelous grace upon you!

6) Other Verses for Consideration

Finally, let me just list some other passages of Scripture that drive home the message of the Gospel.  I pray that God’s Word will convict you and bring you into the perfect shelter of the Gospel.  There are powerful testimonies of men and women who have meditated upon these verses and it has led to repentance and faith in the Gospel.  In fact, the Ephesians passage listed below led to my own personal faith in the Gospel.

• Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

• Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

• Ephesians 2:4-10: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

• Colossians 1:21-23: “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach–if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard”

• Titus 3:3-7: “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

• 1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Copyright © 2008 Heritage Baptist Church

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Scripture references New American Standard Bible © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, All rights reserved.