WEBVTT 00:00:00.980 --> 00:00:09.040 Father God, we do want to give you thanks for the free church that we are a part of, and 00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:15.519 ! for the work that you are doing through your people, that you are building your church in lots of 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:25.899 different places, and you invite us to play our part in seeing your kingdom grow as we pray. And so, 00:00:25.939 --> 00:00:33.659 we are glad to be able to pray together for churches in our region, in our presbytery. 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:39.519 We think of Dunfermline in Fife, and we give thanks that in a couple of weeks they'll have 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:49.220 a new minister. We pray for Andrew and his family as they get ready to move to Dunfermline to begin 00:00:49.220 --> 00:00:56.840 that new challenge and opportunity. We pray that you would give them peace and joy as they seek to 00:00:56.840 --> 00:01:06.659 serve you. We pray that as he brings that message of reconciliation to the people in Dunfermline, 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:16.120 that hearts would be encouraged and lives would be changed, that you would be with the congregation, 00:01:16.299 --> 00:01:24.219 help them to love and support and to pray for that new minister and new ministry, and use them 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:31.239 in their wider community. And we also want to give you thanks for the church in Aberdeen, 00:01:31.239 --> 00:01:38.060 for Bon Accord. We thank you for their desire and the opportunity that they have to plant a church 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:46.839 in Aberdeenshire. We recognize that that part of our country has not got many churches, 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:57.799 gospel churches, and so we pray that as they plan to start a new church, that it would be a means of 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:03.939 many people getting to hear the good news, that you are the one true and living God, that you have 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:09.139 provided a way of salvation through the Lord Jesus, and that many people would be changed, 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:17.979 to be with them through that whole process. Lord, we thank you for the work of the gospel in Kirkcaldy, 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:23.900 again over in Fife. We thank you for their sacrificial support of a new church in Leaven, 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:34.159 and we pray for Jeff and Elijah as the new team develops there in Leaven, as they preach your word, 00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:40.080 as they look to make inroads into the community. We also pray for John and his ministry in Kirkcaldy, 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:48.040 continue to encourage the church there, enable them to be faithful in communicating hope and good 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:55.259 news to their immediate community. Thank you that they have a new missionary family working with 00:02:55.259 --> 00:03:02.399 them. Pray that they would adjust well, come to be a real blessing as they have sacrificed in order to 00:03:02.399 --> 00:03:10.739 serve the local church over there in Dunfermline. Lord, we're also conscious of the needs of our 00:03:10.739 --> 00:03:16.099 islands. We thank you for the islands of Scotland. We thank you for the history and heritage of 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:23.539 your word being preached and proclaimed. We pray for the island of Aran as they seek to find a new 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:32.159 minister. Lord, that you would provide. We recognize that there is such a need for a clear communication 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:38.240 of what the Bible teaches. There is such a great need for people to encounter Jesus as Lord and Savior. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:47.100 So will you direct someone to take up that position? We also remember the islands of Skye and of Lewis. 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:54.620 We recognize the need for new ministers to support congregations that don't have a minister. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.360 We pray that you would encourage those who are already working in gospel ministry, 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:07.000 that as they bring your word Sunday by Sunday, as they look to serve their local communities, 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:14.439 that you would draw many men and women and boys and girls to put their trust in the Lord Jesus. 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:20.500 And we recognize as we scan around our country that there are so many opportunities for 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:28.040 the preaching of the gospel, but there are so few laborers in the harvest field. And so we pray that 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:36.040 you would continue to raise up new men who would gladly sacrifice and serve for the cause of the gospel. 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:42.960 We pray for the work of ETS, that it would continue to be faithful and effective in preparing people for a life of 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:51.160 service for the sake of Jesus the King. Lord, we thank you for churches with a particular focus on training 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:58.020 people for ministry. We think of churches like St. Andrews. We thank you for Chalmers Church here in 00:04:58.019 --> 00:05:06.339 Edinburgh. We thank you for placements that ETS students get to have through the year as well as in the holidays. 00:05:07.219 --> 00:05:14.859 Lord, as experienced ministers look to share their skill, their learning, their pastoral experiences, 00:05:15.039 --> 00:05:22.579 that it would serve to equip and strengthen an up-and-coming new generation of pastors and teachers. 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:32.379 And Lord, we pray for churches in hard places in Scotland. We think of some of the schemes around 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:38.939 our cities. And we thank you for gospel work going on there in places like Nidre and Gracemount here in 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:44.919 Edinburgh. We think of the work in Charleston and Merkinch and Inverness. And we ask that you would 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:53.340 prosper that work, that you would protect and unify and enable the church and your people to be a source 00:05:53.340 --> 00:06:00.860 of light in a context where there is often so much darkness and confusion. There would be reconciliation 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:08.319 where there is so much breakdown. Lord, we do ask for your kingdom and for your glory, 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:18.000 that your church would continue to expand as people are called to put their trust in Jesus. And we pray 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:31.079 this for your glory and in the name of Jesus. Amen. Now, let's turn in our Bibles back to the passage 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:38.240 that we read, especially to verses 16 to 21 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Again, if you're using 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:46.920 the church Bible, it's page 1162. Because here we're thinking about reconciliation as the very heart of the gospel. 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:56.600 In Australia, from the 27th of May to the 3rd of June, there is this year's Reconciliation Week, 00:06:57.180 --> 00:07:06.319 recognizing past mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples. Maybe we've heard stories of those forced adoptions of 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:13.439 Aboriginals being removed from the land. And so this week becomes a celebration of Aboriginal culture, 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:20.540 focusing on a shared history, at the same time as it deliberately being a plan to pursue reconciliation 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:27.360 and justice for First Nations people. And the interesting thing that I find about Reconciliation Week, 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:32.159 so it's a relatively new thing for Australia, is it began with the churches. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:40.700 In 1993, the churches began to pray. There was a week of prayer for reconciliation, 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:50.720 which by 1996 had become the National Reconciliation Week. And that gives us some clue and some insight 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:57.740 that for the message of Christianity and for Christian people, reconciliation is something basic 00:07:57.740 --> 00:08:04.840 and fundamental. That it is indeed the very heart of the gospel message. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.960 That there is this powerful transforming force within the gospel 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:17.579 that brings reconciliation between people and societies, and fundamentally speaks of reconciliation 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:23.780 with God Himself. And that takes us to the language of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:31.299 that he makes the point to this church that God reconciles us to Himself through Jesus, 00:08:32.339 --> 00:08:40.240 and that then Christian people and Christian churches become ministers and ambassadors bringing this good 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:47.860 news of reconciliation. You may have picked up in our reading that as Paul writes, he's also writing 00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:57.639 to defend himself. In this letter, we find him a lot defending his calling as an apostle, somebody who's been set apart 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:05.360 and then sent out by Jesus with authority to bring good news. And we also find him defending his gospel message. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:13.159 There are other groups, there are false teachers who are pouring scorn on Paul and Paul's message. 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:18.299 And so what we have here is really significant, I think, because as he writes to the Corinthians, 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:25.719 he says, listen, here is the essence of my gospel message. If you want to remember what my message, 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:32.339 my ministry was all about, it's here. You get that sense? Here is how Paul looks when he goes to different 00:09:32.339 --> 00:09:38.259 places to fix the truth in people's minds. He speaks in terms of reconciliation. 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:46.480 Reconciliation is such a powerful thing because it reminds us of the idea of barriers and of hostility. 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:54.379 And the gospel is this declaration that God has acted in Jesus, His Son, to end hostility, 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:01.519 to deal with sin, to bring a people home to Himself that we could be called children of God. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:10.419 And so he really unpacks again the beauty of reconciliation, reminding his listeners, 00:10:10.579 --> 00:10:15.679 his first listeners and hearers who are beginning to be skeptical about Paul's teaching. Listen, 00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:25.240 remember, this is God's answer to separation and breakdown. This is the wonderful thing that happens 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:33.940 because God acts in power to remove the barrier, to remove the alienation, to establish good relationship. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:40.840 This is what happens because God has given and extended forgiveness to people. 00:10:42.220 --> 00:10:45.820 This is an act of God turning enemies into friends. 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:53.900 And Paul invites the Corinthians, invites us, indeed, to look at the cross, to recognize in the cross, 00:10:54.060 --> 00:11:02.000 here is the evidence of the lengths that God in His love will go to so that people like us can be 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.900 reconciled to Him. So it truly is the very heart of the good news because it's the very heart of our God. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:13.740 So that's what we're going to do this evening. We're going to take a look at the message of 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:19.279 reconciliation as we find it here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We're going to do that using a few 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:25.740 questions. The first question, which is a really important question, is who is the agent of 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:31.519 reconciliation? So we'll need our Bibles for this. And when we take up our Bibles, we see three times 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:38.279 it becomes clear that God, God the Father, is the agent of reconciliation. The first place we see this 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:48.699 is in verse 18. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. We see it again in 00:11:48.699 --> 00:11:57.279 verse 19. God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. And then we see it again in verse 21. 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:06.899 God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. And so Paul wants us to be absolutely sure and clear 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:15.539 that the source of all our salvation, the fountain from which our salvation flows, is found in the 00:12:15.539 --> 00:12:24.000 loving heart of God the Father. And this is in the context of reconciliation. So let's think for a 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:30.500 moment about the creator-creature relationship as we have it in the Bible. What we discover is that 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:39.799 ever since Adam and Eve first fell into sin, for us as people, we are the ones who create the breakdown. 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:50.399 We are those who have turned our back on God. To think about that famous parable of Jesus, we are the 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:57.299 prodigal son who will happily take our father's gifts, but by nature we want nothing to do with our 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:06.639 father. So in the relationship, all that we supply in real terms is the fact that we are sinful and we 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:17.439 stand in need of reconciliation. God our Father, He supplies the rest. He is the source of the eternal 00:13:17.439 --> 00:13:26.359 plan of salvation. He is the one who in love sends His Son. He is the one who takes the initiative to act 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:33.440 to show us grace. This isn't something that we deserve. This is something that God freely gives because of His 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:41.180 love. And I think where Paul emphasizes it's God the Father, God the Father, God the Father, it prevents a couple 00:13:41.180 --> 00:13:49.180 of misunderstandings. So one misunderstanding that people have as they look at the Bible and think about this topic is 00:13:49.179 --> 00:13:58.199 that the Father is somehow the reluctant partner, but He is forced to be willing because Jesus is full of love 00:13:58.199 --> 00:14:03.899 and Jesus goes to the cross and Jesus makes the reluctant Father sort of grudgingly accept people. 00:14:04.579 --> 00:14:11.299 So some people have that view of they think Jesus is so full of love, but the Father is much more reluctant 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:18.599 and stands on the same. And that's simply not true. The Bible is really clear that God the Father loves 00:14:18.599 --> 00:14:27.019 with an everlasting love, that the Father loves to save, that He lovingly sent His Son, that He paid that 00:14:27.019 --> 00:14:32.979 price so that He could gladly welcome sinners into His family. The Father is not reluctant. And actually, 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:37.919 we need this for assurance. And sometimes, Christians, we struggle with this because we don't understand the 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:46.659 extent to which the Father, our Father in heaven, is for us in love in Christ. And if we don't understand that, 00:14:46.719 --> 00:14:53.860 we'll always struggle and wonder, does God really love me? If I mess up, will He still love me? But the Gospel says 00:14:53.860 --> 00:15:02.439 absolutely always love with an everlasting love in Christ. There's another misunderstanding as well. It goes to probably 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:09.520 the starting point. It's the misunderstanding that says, well, we must, you know, if we've messed up, 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:15.220 then it must be our responsibility to reconcile ourselves to God. If we are ever to experience His 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:21.460 love, then we must do a better job. And that's the kind of the, it's entirely the wrong starting point. 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:27.740 But it's what leads people to try and turn over a new leaf, to try and do religion better, 00:15:27.740 --> 00:15:34.879 to try and somehow climb the ladder to God. But it doesn't deal with a fundamental problem. And it's 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:42.539 not the way reconciliation works. It always comes from God, from His initiative down to us. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:49.360 Because the problem, you know, reconciliation implies there is a problem in a relationship, 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:56.860 there's a separation. The problem is a moral problem. It's the problem of our very real guilt. 00:15:57.740 --> 00:16:05.840 It's the problem that our sin separates us from God. And that God is righteously angry with us 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:12.779 because of our sin, and that we by ourselves, we cannot fix our sin problem. To think about it a 00:16:12.779 --> 00:16:18.700 slightly different way, the Bible could almost use the language of having a posture problem. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:26.879 Some of us, we struggle with our posture. But there is something about sin that curves us in 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:35.480 on ourselves. So that instead of giving glory to God, instead of looking up to Him as King, 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:41.120 instead of making Him the center of our lives, sin curves us in. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:49.340 That we will claim glory that properly belongs to God. That we will live where we are the center, 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:57.120 where it's as if we are on the throne of our lives and God is pushed to the side. We have a posture 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:03.300 problem because our worship is not right. And again, we can't fix that by ourselves. But God's answer, 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:11.920 the Father's answer, is to send the Son. And Jesus the Son becomes fully human, fully God, 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:20.380 fully human. And He is, for us, the perfect image of God. And He is also the perfect mediator between God 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:27.720 and people, because He is fully God and He is fully man. And it's in Jesus' substitution and in Jesus' 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:33.779 sacrifice, which is all planned by God the Father, that reconciliation comes to be. 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:43.619 And here is the joy that Paul finds in the gospel. Here is what he joyfully communicates as he travels 00:17:43.619 --> 00:17:51.119 around, that God the Father has acted in Jesus to remove that sin barrier, to remove that hostility, 00:17:51.379 --> 00:17:58.700 to restore us to the image of God, to raise our eyes from ourselves to see God our King. 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:07.259 So that's who is the agent of reconciliation. The second question, also very important, is this, 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:17.100 who benefits from reconciliation? Some of us were here as we finished off the Jonah series last week, 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:22.380 the story of Jonah. It's a very interesting one. We were thinking about the mindset of Jonah. 00:18:22.380 --> 00:18:30.380 Jonah. And Jonah wasn't sort of unusual in his day for thinking there are some people in the world, 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:36.800 in his case, thinking Jewish people, who deserve God's love and God's favor. But other people, 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:45.400 people like those in Nineveh, evil, wicked people, they don't deserve. And Paul was somebody who was 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:51.880 raised in that kind of environment, that Israel was the chosen people of God, 00:18:52.380 --> 00:18:59.480 and the other people known as Gentiles, they were far from God. And in many cases, 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:06.820 undeserving of anything from God. But then what happened in Paul's story 00:19:06.820 --> 00:19:13.900 is that he met the risen Lord Jesus, and he discovered the good news of the gospel. 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:21.080 And he discovered actually all along God's plan was that blessing would come, not just to some 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:31.039 kinds of people, but to all nations. And so Paul is now writing this letter as someone who has been sent 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:38.460 by Jesus to travel from place to place. And as he travels, and as he establishes churches, 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:45.039 and as he strengthens Christians, he's sharing the good news of Jesus with anyone and with everyone, 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:56.279 because he understands that the gospel is wide. God's grace runs wide. And when it comes to the 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:02.379 question of who benefits from reconciliation, we need to see there's two things going on in this 00:20:02.379 --> 00:20:09.659 passage. Both, there's that sense that it's very inclusive. It's a message for the world. 00:20:09.660 --> 00:20:19.120 But it's also exclusive in that it's for those who are in Christ. So it's both inclusive, it's for the 00:20:19.120 --> 00:20:25.720 world, but it's also exclusive, it's for those who are in Christ. See it there in verse 19. 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:33.600 God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. So here is something that's absolutely 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:42.179 fundamental to Paul's gospel. That God does not discriminate. That God is God for all people. 00:20:42.899 --> 00:20:51.759 That Jesus came as the Savior for the world. That the Son of God truly is the only Savior for all people. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:58.719 It's the reason, incidentally, why Christianity is the one truly global religion. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:05.740 Because ever since the coming of Jesus, and then as Jesus from heaven with the Father sends the Spirit, 00:21:07.120 --> 00:21:14.299 the church is not tied to a particular place. We don't have holy places. It's not limited to a 00:21:14.299 --> 00:21:21.799 particular people group. It's not limited or restricted to one kind of culture. Rather, it's God's gift, 00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:34.700 God's message for anyone, so we can go anywhere with the message of Jesus. That we can say to anyone, 00:21:34.879 --> 00:21:41.180 for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:50.839 might not perish but have everlasting life. So it's inclusive. It's for the world. 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:58.959 But to avoid a misunderstanding again, Paul is not saying that everybody automatically goes to heaven, 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:07.500 that everybody automatically is saved and enjoys eternal life with God. So he is saying Jesus is 00:22:07.500 --> 00:22:15.000 a sufficient Savior. He is all that we need, all that anyone needs for salvation. That his sacrifice, 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:20.000 it means that he is. He is a sufficient Savior. He is a sufficient Savior. He is a sufficient Savior. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.640 But it only becomes effective in our lives when we have faith. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:36.480 Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. And that's why as we read 2 Corinthians 5, 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:42.400 you would have heard the language of being in Christ. So verse 19 again, 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:49.440 God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. How are we reconciled? When we are in Christ, 00:22:49.480 --> 00:23:02.120 when we are trusting in Christ. It's all about knowing the Son, having a saving relationship with 00:23:02.120 --> 00:23:10.580 Jesus, the Son who gives us full access to the Father and to his love. That's how we benefit from 00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:16.819 this. That's how we move from being strangers and enemies of God to being friends and children of God. 00:23:16.919 --> 00:23:24.659 It's through knowing Jesus, the Son. There's a story from the American Civil War that maybe helps to 00:23:24.659 --> 00:23:32.179 illustrate it. So there was one particular soldier who, during the fighting over a number of years, 00:23:32.180 --> 00:23:41.400 had lost both his father in the fighting and his brother. So he was the only male left in his family. 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:48.660 And his mother was at home running the farm. And this soldier knew that she couldn't do it by herself. 00:23:48.779 --> 00:23:56.740 And so he thought the thing to do was to go to Abraham Lincoln to speak to him for permission to 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:03.519 leave the army in order to go and help to care for his mother. So he knew where Abraham Lincoln was 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:11.640 stationed at the time. And so he went hoping to gain a meeting, but he was turned away at the gate 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:19.099 by some other soldiers. And so this soldier found himself sitting down, I guess maybe pondering what 00:24:19.099 --> 00:24:24.940 to do next, when he was spotted by Abraham Lincoln's son, called Todd, who came up to him and said, 00:24:24.940 --> 00:24:32.640 well, you look very sad today. And he told his story. And little Todd Lincoln said, I can help. 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:39.539 And the way he helped was he walked him directly into his father's office, taking him past the 00:24:39.539 --> 00:24:44.880 soldiers, taking him past the guards, taking him right into a meeting. Abraham Lincoln turned to 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:51.740 his son, hello, Todd, who's your friend? And Todd said, Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you. 00:24:51.740 --> 00:25:00.920 And as they talked, Abraham Lincoln helped. And he was released so he could go and serve on the farm. 00:25:03.259 --> 00:25:13.579 Faith is what unites us to Jesus, the Son of God. And with Jesus as our friend and our Savior, 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:20.559 we too find ourselves invited all the way in to the presence of our Father. 00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:30.079 We are sons and daughters loved by the King when our faith is in Him. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.599 The third question then, which is an important one for us to ask is, how does reconciliation 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:46.519 happen? So we know that it's from the Father, we know it's open to the world, and we receive it by faith, 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:56.039 but how does it happen? Well, key to the gospel of reconciliation is verse 21, often known as the 00:25:56.039 --> 00:26:09.660 great exchange. God made Him, that is Jesus, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, 00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:20.180 so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. It's an imagery that comes from the realm of 00:26:20.180 --> 00:26:27.200 currency exchange. So we are familiar with this, I imagine, when we move to a different country, 00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:34.180 or even if we go on a foreign holiday, we probably find ourselves looking at the exchange rates, 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:40.519 and we find depending, if we're from here, depending on the strength of the pound, either we do well or 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:48.360 not so well, how far our currency will take us when the exchange takes place. There are some 00:26:48.360 --> 00:26:55.539 countries where you can feel like you have got loads of money if you go because the exchange rate is very 00:26:55.539 --> 00:27:09.599 much in our favor. Other times things are more tight. Well, God in His grace has provided an extraordinary 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:19.319 exchange. This exchange in verse 21 isn't about money. It's about something more important than money. 00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:29.960 It's about our moral standing. And what happens here in the good news of what God does for us in Jesus 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:45.000 is that Jesus takes our sin and He credits us with His perfect righteousness. That's the great exchange 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:52.660 that takes place on the cross. So remember what we said earlier, that our big problem is guilt. It's our 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:59.420 moral problem. It's like an ugly stain that makes us unfit for the presence of a holy God. But God's 00:27:59.420 --> 00:28:09.099 response of grace again is that He sends His Son Jesus, and Jesus Himself takes the sin burden, the moral debt, 00:28:09.099 --> 00:28:39.079 and the moral debt, and the moral debt, and the moral debt, and the moral debt. And He sends us to 00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:43.460 the sin, to the sin, to the sin, to the sin, to the sin, to the sin, to the sin, to the sin, 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:43.460 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:53.079 reconcile because of this wonderful exchange that takes place at the cross. And this great exchange 00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:58.740 that happens at the cross is actually something that is anticipated earlier in the Bible. The 00:28:58.740 --> 00:29:05.340 whole sacrificial system, I think, anticipates it. But to give us some focus, let's think about the 00:29:05.340 --> 00:29:12.160 Day of Atonement. So, the Day of Atonement, which you'll find it in Leviticus 17 in the Old Testament, 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:22.480 was an annual reminder to the people that God is holy, that they are sinful, but God has graciously 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:31.720 provided a way of sacrifice to remove sin so that God and His people can stay in right relationship 00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:39.740 with each other. And central to the Day of Atonement were two animals, two goats. And on this day, 00:29:39.740 --> 00:29:46.099 the Day of Atonement, there was one goat that was chosen to be the sin offering. And the goat that 00:29:46.099 --> 00:29:53.059 was chosen for the sin offering, it was killed. The judgment fell. So, the sins of the people were, 00:29:53.180 --> 00:30:00.380 as it were, transferred onto the goat, and the goat was killed. An act of judgment. But then there was 00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:05.480 the second goat, and that goat was known as the scapegoat. And again, the imagery was of the people's 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:13.200 sins being loaded up onto this goat. And this goat was then sent off into the wilderness to go into 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:23.799 the exile place. And the effect of the actions of the Day of Atonement was that forgiveness came, 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:30.839 that peace came, that peace came, that God could continue to live with His people. 00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:40.960 Now, take that idea and think about what happens to Jesus on the cross. And we see both of these things 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:51.619 fulfilled. That as Jesus dies bearing sin, the just judgment of God falls on Him 00:30:51.619 --> 00:31:03.079 as our substitute. And at the same time, Jesus experiences the sense of exile of the scapegoat. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:13.199 He is sent out into the wilderness. He dies outside of the city. He dies in the darkness. He dies crying, 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:22.840 my God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the reality is that Jesus is judged and abandoned 00:31:22.840 --> 00:31:32.860 so that His people can be forgiven and welcomed. But it takes that great exchange. Jesus takes my sin 00:31:32.860 --> 00:31:42.380 and He credits to me His perfect righteousness. And the good news is that while the imagery of the 00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:50.540 Day of Atonement, it helps us to see, in a sense, this transfer, what Jesus provides on the cross is far 00:31:50.540 --> 00:31:57.900 better, far more lasting than the Old Testament system. Because the Day of Atonement happened year 00:31:57.900 --> 00:32:07.600 after year after year. Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice, because in God's plan, it was never 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:15.939 that an animal would sacrifice for a human, but that Jesus would become a man to sacrifice and substitute 00:32:15.939 --> 00:32:22.379 Himself for us. And His sacrifice, because He is the perfect Son of God, is a sacrifice of infinite value. 00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:29.699 Fully covers all of our sin, so that peace is restored, not just for a year, but peace is restored with God 00:32:29.699 --> 00:32:34.980 forever. There is no need to repeat Jesus' sacrifice. That's why He's now returned to heaven, 00:32:34.980 --> 00:32:40.680 and He's sitting down. His work is finished, though He continues to pray for us. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:46.759 So it is true to recognize that if you and I, if we trust in Jesus as our Savior, 00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:55.200 God will never count your sin against you or against me, because those sins have already been 00:32:55.200 --> 00:33:03.480 counted against Jesus as our substitute. The debt has been paid. And because of that, 00:33:03.480 --> 00:33:08.500 we can know that God is always for us and never against us. 00:33:10.500 --> 00:33:17.079 Because we know that as Jesus was raised the third day, it was as if God the Father is saying, 00:33:17.700 --> 00:33:24.039 I love my son. He's finished the work. Here's the vindication that what he has done has been effective. 00:33:24.039 --> 00:33:34.440 And God is always for His Son, Jesus. And Jesus has stood for us. Therefore, God is always for us and 00:33:34.440 --> 00:33:44.039 never against us. So this is the greatest exchange. It's a gift that comes from the Father. It's a gift 00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:51.579 we receive by faith. It's a gift carried out by Jesus on the cross. One last thing then to ask them, 00:33:51.579 --> 00:34:00.779 what difference does reconciliation make? I don't know how sentimental others are in the room, but I 00:34:00.779 --> 00:34:08.539 have always, I think, loved big reunion or reconciliation stories. I suspect it's good. So as a kid, 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:14.380 and some of you will remember, I was raised on, I think it was Friday, still a black surprise surprise. 00:34:14.380 --> 00:34:21.260 Remember a silly black surprise surprise. The last, I don't remember what else happened in each episode, 00:34:21.380 --> 00:34:28.019 but it always finished. Usually there'd be an older person, and they'd tell a little bit of their story, 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:35.700 but maybe they'd been sort of adopted as children, and they'd lost track of their sister or their brother. 00:34:35.699 --> 00:34:43.839 And every episode always ended along this. You know, that sister you haven't seen for 50 years, 00:34:44.179 --> 00:34:49.619 or that brother you didn't even know you had. Well, here they are to say hello. And you get this 00:34:49.619 --> 00:34:59.099 wonderful reunion played out on a TV studio stage. It's a beautiful thing. And I think it's beautiful 00:34:59.099 --> 00:35:06.059 because we are made for relationships. And we know that breakdown and loss is always painful, 00:35:06.059 --> 00:35:12.519 but recovery and reconciliation then is always beautiful. And we never really got to see what 00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:17.139 happened to those families, but you could well imagine if you had lost contact with a brother or 00:35:17.139 --> 00:35:21.860 sister for decades, and then you have them, then it's like entry into a new life. Now you've got a new 00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:28.059 family. You've got all these memories to catch up on, this future to live together. Well, in a much more 00:35:28.059 --> 00:35:37.380 profound way, the good news of Christianity is life-changing. When we put our faith in Jesus, 00:35:37.799 --> 00:35:43.139 there's a much greater reconciliation. We're reconciled to God the Father. Now we have Jesus 00:35:43.139 --> 00:35:48.360 as our elder brother. Now we always enjoy the presence of God in our lives as He comes to live 00:35:48.360 --> 00:35:55.880 in our hearts by the Spirit. Everything changes. B.B. Warfield said this, 00:35:55.880 --> 00:36:05.820 the revolution in our standing is marked by a revolution in living. And we can see that in 00:36:05.820 --> 00:36:15.940 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, 00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:24.900 the new is here. Again, to quote from B.B. Warfield, his wonderful little book called The Savior of the 00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:31.539 World. He says this, a believer with the life of Christ flowing into his veins will discover himself 00:36:31.539 --> 00:36:41.360 a new creation, looking out as such on a new world, filled with new enthusiasms, directing himself to new 00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:52.000 ends. We see life differently. What fills us with a sense of joy and purpose is entirely different 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:59.280 because of reconciliation. The God who gives life at creation makes us new creations in Christ, gives us 00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:06.360 new life in Christ. And it's very much a case, as Paul says, of out with the old and in with the new. 00:37:06.360 --> 00:37:12.360 So just to think, four things that we can see from our text that become new. First of all, 00:37:13.160 --> 00:37:23.260 as we are reconciled, we have new eyes. Verse 16, he says, from now on, we regard no one from a worldly 00:37:23.260 --> 00:37:30.360 point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. So Paul is someone who 00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:37.079 came to have a very radically different view of Jesus when he met the risen Jesus. But this is true 00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:44.200 of all of us when we come to have faith. Now we see him as Lord. And because we see him as Lord and as 00:37:44.200 --> 00:37:52.940 Savior, now we love him. And now we see that we enjoy his presence and we live by his power and we're guided 00:37:52.940 --> 00:38:00.280 by his words. And Paul says, we also learn to see other people in a different way as well. 00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:06.920 We learn to see them, I think, more and more as Christ sees them. People made in the image of God, 00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:15.760 deserving of our dignity and our love. People who need to be reconciled to God. People we now want to 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:27.120 share the good news of Jesus with. We have new eyes. We also have a new heart. I think we read verse 15. 00:38:27.600 --> 00:38:34.760 Let me read it again. It says, Jesus died for all, all those who believe in him, that those who live 00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:43.640 should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. 00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:50.139 Now we have a new reason for living. Now we have a heart transplant. Now we live to show 00:38:50.139 --> 00:38:56.779 our love for God and for Jesus, our Savior. And in this way, we're very much restored to, 00:38:57.859 --> 00:39:05.279 as it were, our factory settings. When God made us, we were made in his image to love him and to glorify 00:39:05.279 --> 00:39:13.619 him. Sin corrupted that. But by God's grace and in the gospel, we are restored. 00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:21.079 And our being restored in order to love God and to love our neighbor again. And Paul reminds us that 00:39:21.079 --> 00:39:29.279 our love and our obedience is always in response to how God has loved us in giving us Jesus, 00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:36.980 the one who died for us and was raised for us. So we have new eyes and a new heart. It's also true to 00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:46.340 say that when we are reconciled, we're also given a new community. Now you may be noticed the language 00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:54.920 is very much plural. It's very much us and we. So we can go to verse 18. All this is from God, 00:39:55.480 --> 00:40:02.480 who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Who's the us? 00:40:02.480 --> 00:40:08.420 Who's the we in this section? It's the church. It's the people of God. And so when someone comes 00:40:08.420 --> 00:40:14.460 to put their trust in Jesus, immediately we're brought into God's family. We have a whole collection 00:40:14.460 --> 00:40:20.380 of brothers and sisters. And so we can worship together and we get to serve together. And as 00:40:20.380 --> 00:40:25.740 we're reminded here, we also get to practice what we preach together. Forgiveness and reconciliation 00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:33.159 becomes who we are and what we do. And that's tied into the fourth and the final thing to recognize is 00:40:33.159 --> 00:40:42.739 that we're given a new purpose. Verse 20 reminds us, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors, 00:40:44.119 --> 00:40:51.799 as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:58.700 So here's our purpose. Now we're speaking for our King. We are ambassadors. It's not our message. 00:40:59.340 --> 00:41:05.880 It's God's message. And that message is reconciliation. We're sent out to share God's story. 00:41:06.340 --> 00:41:11.160 Listen to what God has done through Jesus so you can be brought home to Him through trusting in Him. 00:41:11.740 --> 00:41:17.640 And we get to share our own stories of how we have come to experience reconciliation and how 00:41:17.639 --> 00:41:27.679 God has been at work through Jesus to transform us. So as we draw to our close, hopefully we've seen 00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:36.900 with Paul that reconciliation is indeed the heart of the gospel. To borrow the question that Anselm of 00:41:36.900 --> 00:41:43.199 Canterbury asked hundreds of years ago, why did God become man? Here's one wonderful answer. 00:41:43.199 --> 00:41:54.439 Jesus became a man to fix the fractured relationship between us and God, to remove the barrier of sin 00:41:54.439 --> 00:42:02.439 between us, for His gracious sacrifice to be God's way to cancel our guilt. 00:42:04.939 --> 00:42:09.019 And since this is the heart of the gospel, and since this is God's heart, it's absolutely true that 00:42:09.019 --> 00:42:13.280 whoever we are, whoever we are, and whatever our current relationship with God, you and I, 00:42:13.340 --> 00:42:21.340 we need the reality of this message in our lives. That we would let the great exchange of the cross 00:42:21.340 --> 00:42:33.619 totally change our own lives, leading us to enjoy life with our God. So let me pray for us now. 00:42:33.619 --> 00:42:47.420 Father God, we thank you for that eternal love, that eternal plan of salvation that involved you 00:42:47.420 --> 00:42:56.839 willingly sending your Son into this world to become sin for us, to suffer and die for us, 00:42:56.840 --> 00:43:05.400 so that by trusting in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God, that we might have the 00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:13.019 barrier of sin removed, that we might enjoy fellowship and friendship with you, the living God. 00:43:14.180 --> 00:43:20.620 And we pray that more and more as we appreciate and live out of this truth, that it would really 00:43:20.619 --> 00:43:29.319 transform us, that you would give us new eyes and a new heart, that we would enjoy our new community 00:43:29.319 --> 00:43:39.139 and our new purpose, and that our hearts would always be full of a sense of wonder, that you loved us 00:43:39.139 --> 00:43:43.279 and you gave your Son for us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.