“No Longer Enemies”
(2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
Series: The Gospel for Real Life (4 of 8 )
Team Preaching with Rev. Todd A. Linn and Rev. Rich Stratton
Words in Black: Todd A. Linn
Words in Red: Rich Stratton
- Take God’s Word and open to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 (p.779).
If you’re visiting this morning we are in the middle of a church wide study of the Gospel for Real Life. We are reading through this book by Jerry Bridges, reading two chapters a week and then discussing them in our Sunday school classes. In our worship time Brother Rich and I are team preaching through a biblical passage that reinforces the weekly readings from the book.
Today’s passage is in 2 Corinthians 5 and the context of this passage is the new birth. Paul talks about those who have become Christians, those who have been “born again.” He describes such people in verse 17. Many of you know this verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- Pray.
Introduction:
We’ve been using our hands a lot in teaching the truths of the Gospel. Here’s another hand illustration. This hand is God. This hand is Adam. God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says everything is good. There is sweet fellowship between God and Adam. Then Adam sinned. He sinned against God, by disobeying God’s command. When Adam sinned, he turned is back upon God and went his own way. This pictures separation. When Adam sinned he opposed that which was right. At that moment of sin, Adam literally became an enemy of God.
We have learned that God appointed Adam as our representative. When Adam sinned, we sinned. Romans 5:12, “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” And because we sin we are enemies of God. This is the meaning of Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.” We are enemies of God.
Enter the word reconciliation. To reconcile is to bring back (hands illustrate). Biblical reconciliation is the act of bringing back the one who has gone astray, bringing back the one who was an enemy so that there is peace and fellowship. Reconciliation happens through Jesus Christ. Paul writes of reconciliation in Colossians 1:20-21. God’s plan through Christ is:
20 …by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.
Through Christ Jesus God reconciles (or brings back) sinners to Himself so that they would no longer be enemies. We “who once were alienated and enemies…yet now He has reconciled.” One of the most vivid illustrations of reconciliation in the Bible is the story of the prodigal son. Here is a young man who alienates himself from his earthly father and gets his inheritance early and runs away and spends it all on wild living. When he hits rock bottom, he confesses his sin, repents, and goes back to his father. And one of the most beautiful points in that story is that the young man’s father is actually waiting for him to return. He is watching and waiting for the return of his wayward son. And when his son returns (hands illustrate), sweet reconciliation takes place. God is always at work, always there, already drawing souls to Himself. He is the loving, waiting, Heavenly Father of all prodigal sons.
Reconciliation is what Paul is writing about in our passage in 2 Corinthians 5. There are just four verses in our text this morning, verses 18-21, and the word “reconcile” or “reconciliation” occurs no less than five times in these verses. Look at it again in verse 18:
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
The “all things” there in verse 18 points back to verse 17 where Paul describes a person who is born again. He says, “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Then verse 18, “Now all things are of God.” That is, God alone makes all things new. God alone saves. God alone reconciles. All things are of God.
This is different from religion. Religion is man’s attempt to make things new with God. Religion is man’s attempt to reconcile himself with God. Religion is man’s going to God. Reconciliation, on the other hand, is God’s coming to us. “All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself.” We could not do it. God does it and He does it through Jesus Christ.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
Paul speaks for himself as a preacher of the Gospel and he speaks for every Christian as a witness of the Gospel. God “has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” God has given us the privilege and responsibility of sharing the Gospel with others. What is the message of reconciliation? Verse 19:
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them…
Verse 19 is a bit like John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes on Him, shall not die, but have eternal life.” This is the essence of verse 19, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.” God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross so that we would not die for our sins. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die so that we would be forgiven, so that God would no longer impute our sins to us (impute, or count these sins against us). So this is our message to others, verses 19-20:
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation,
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Think of yourself as “an ambassador for Christ.” You go out into the community and across the continents as an ambassador for Christ. This really takes the fear out of sharing our faith. If the president of the United States called and asked you to be his ambassador to some country, you would likely feel honored, proud, and you would go in great confidence. You would not fear. You have the authority of the leader of the free world. And we are ambassadors—not for the president—but for Christ! How much greater our honor, privilege, and confidence. We go out into Henderson and across our commonwealth, our country, and the continents as representatives of Jesus Christ. And Paul says when we share the Gospel, it is “as though God were pleading through us.” Do you see that in verse 20? God is doing this work. God is pleading through us. He is calling for reconciliation. So that is the evangelistic plea—last part of verse 20—“We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” That’s a summary of the Gospel message: “Be reconciled to God.”
Then, verse 21 tells how this reconciliation is possible:
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
What a great verse! Memorize this verse. In fact, say it with me right now, verse 21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This verse teaches the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
Verse 21 means that God the Father regarded Christ and treated Christ “as sin” even though Christ Himself never once sinned. Christ never sinned. Hebrews 4:15 says, “He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” So Christ is without sin, but when He died on Calvary’s Cross, God regarded and treated Christ “as sin.” Christ did not become a sinner. You must never say that. Christ did not become a sinner. Christ became sin. He was regarded and treated as sin. He took our sins upon Himself. He died for our sins. He took our place. As our substitute, He took our place and took our punishment by dying for our sins.
The choir sang this earlier:
This, the power of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.
That’s the first half of verse 21: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us;” second half: “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Two weeks ago we talked about the righteousness of God in Him. We talked about being “clothed in the righteousness of Christ.” Righteousness is what we need in order to be forgiven of our sin. We cannot enter into heaven with our own righteousness. Our own righteousness—our good deeds, our charitable giving, our kindness to others—does not earn us a spot in heaven. Romans 3:20 says, “by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified in God’s sight.” We need the righteousness of another, someone perfect. We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life. He fulfilled perfectly all the commands of the Old Testament. He lived a perfect life, keeping every single command of the moral law. The Gospel means Christ’s righteousness is credited to us. You will remember we used the picture of one hand covering the other. The Christian is forever clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
If we are Christians, this is what this means: God the Father gives to Jesus what was ours—sin—and He gives to us what was Christ’s—righteousness. This is often called “The Great Exchange.” That’s verse 21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
I think of this truth when I sing the hymn, “Rock of Ages.” Speaking of Christ, we sing:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure.
“Save from wrath and make me pure.” That’s the “double cure,” the great exchange. We gave to Christ what was ours—sin—and we are saved from wrath. God gives to us what was Christ’s—righteousness—and we are made pure. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
A precious older lady put it into simple terms. She said, “It means I’m standing in Jesus’ shoes and Jesus is standing in mine.”
There are other blessings of reconciliation we want to share with you in the time remaining. First, God’s reconciliation through Christ means:
I. I am Adopted by God
“Adoption” is one of the sweetest words God uses to describe what happens to the Christian through His work of reconciliation. We use the word, of course, to describe family relationships. Some of you have adopted children. You have brought them into your family and regard them just as you would a biological son or daughter. And some of you were adopted by your parents. In fact, in the best of situations, many adopted sons and daughters think of their parents the way biological sons and daughters think of their parents. They simply love them and don’t think of anyone else as their mom or dad. And this is what God does for us! He adopts us into his family. He regards us as His very own. It is, however, hard for us to fully appreciate God’s work of adoption until we first appreciate the fact that we are once His enemies.
In our reading this past week Bridges defines a word similar to reconciliation. It is the word, “Redemption.” Redemption means to “buy back” or “to secure the release of someone.” The word was often used in the context of slaves. A slave owner would redeem or secure the release of a slave from the slave market and then the slave became his. In a similar way, apart from Christ we were all slaves to sin. We were in the slave market, enslaved to a lifestyle of sin and doomed to an eternal hell. Then our Master comes. His name is Jesus Christ. He redeems us. He secures our release and now we are His. He owns us. But unlike a human master who at his best is still a sinner, our Master is the perfect, sinless, loving Lord Jesus. I want to be His slave!
So before Christ came to us we were in a cell block on death row. Sin enslaved us. We were under the wrath of God and deserved nothing. But Jesus comes to us in the power of the Gospel and sets us free from death row. God does this through Christ Jesus. Through the life and work of Christ—His life and death on the cross—God adopts us into His family. We are His sons and daughters forever.
It is as though we were brought into the courtroom and heard the jury say, “Guilty.” But then a man arises and says, “I will take his punishment. I will serve his sentence.” And the judge allows this exchange so that justice may be served, a conviction and sentence determined, and then this judge forgives us and brings us into his home to live. Do you see? The Man who arises in the courtroom is our Lord Jesus and the judge is none other than the Supreme Judge of the universe, God the Father who forgives us because Jesus Christ took our place. And we are brought into God’s house and God’s family. I am adopted by God. Secondly:
II. I am Empowered by God
God has not only adopted us into His family, but He also gives us a new heart so that we can live as He expects His sons and daughters to live. Before we were adopted by God, the general pattern of our lives was like this (hands). We were God’s enemies, but now He has reconciled us and taken our heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). This new heart empowers us to live the new life He has given us.
I refer to this new life in our evening services when I baptize. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” We should walk in newness of life. God expects us to live as His sons and daughters. He is our Father. If we are His then we live in accordance with His desires. Paul says this earlier in the text, 2 Corinthians 5:15, “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” And God empowers us to live this way. He empowers us to live as sons and daughters whose lives glorify Him.
I love the way Bridges illustrates our need for new hearts. Going back to the earlier example of a person’s being forgiven in the courtroom and then brought into the judge’s home to live. Bridges asks us to imagine what it would be like if you lived in the judge’s house and you knew the judge was bringing home a criminal to live in the house. What if he were a violent criminal, a murderer who likes to kill people in their sleep? Would you be comfortable sleeping in the bedroom next to his? Probably not! But applied spiritually, the criminal is a changed criminal. He is coming home with a new heart. Before he was born again, his heart was bent on evil. But God has not only redeemed this criminal, He has also performed “heart surgery” on this criminal and given him a new heart. His desires have changed now. This former criminal now wants to live his life in such a way as to please his Master.
If we are truly born again, we have new desires. We want to please the One who set us free. Of course, we are not yet perfect. We still make mistakes. We still sin, but the overall pattern of sin in our lives has changed. With the passing of time, we are becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is possible because God has given us a new heart to live the new life. I am adopted by God. I am empowered by God. Finally:
III. I am Accepted by God
This truth teaches that we are forever secure in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are forever saved. We are forever born again. Because of Christ Jesus we will forever be accepted by God. And we are accepted by God because God accepts us not on the basis of our personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
I have two sons. They both bear my name: Linn. They will always bear my name. They will always and forever be Linns. They may grow to do things, at times, that do not please their father, but they will always be my children. Their relation to me, their standing with me, will never change. Similarly, we bear the name of Christ. We are Christians, we bear His name. And because of Christ Jesus, we are children of God. We may grow to do things, at times, that do not please our Heavenly Father, but we will always be His children. Our standing with Him will never change. I am accepted by God.
How important it is to remind ourselves of this truth when we slip and fall! As Christians we stumble and sin from time to time and our consciences condemn us and we see Satan smiling scornfully as he points his accusing finger at us. What are we to do?
We flee to the cross! We bow our heads and close our eyes and see Jesus on the cross and we preach the Gospel to ourselves. We remind ourselves that we need not wallow in shame and guilt and that Jesus died for that sin we just committed. We confess, we repent, and we thank God for the unsearchable riches of Christ.
This, the power of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.
- Stand for prayer.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name. The author intends to provide free resources in order to inspire believers and to assist preachers and teachers in Kingdom work.