Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Bible teaches that salvation is a free gift for us, that we can be reconciled to God, our sins forgiven, by placing our faith in Jesus. But it's only free because the Son of God paid a most costly price. William Barclay writes that God alone can pay the terrible price that is necessary before men can be forgiven. Forgiveness is the most costly thing in the world. In today's message, Pastor Rich examines the ultimate reconciliation. Let's listen in. This is part two of a message from 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 21.
It was first preached on April 20, 2014. God says to you, I am willing to not hold your sin against you because my Son has taken it upon Himself. Wow.
Why? That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Isn't that a fascinating truth? That the holy God of the universe would substitute His Son to take the blow of His wrath for you so that you could have His righteousness. That's reconciliation. That's forgiveness.
This next line is very, very important. Forgiveness is complete by the imputation of righteousness. Forgiveness is complete by the imputation of righteousness.
That word imputation simply means to credit to one's account. You see, there's an exchange that happens. Christ takes your sin. He takes God's wrath. And when you surrender yourself to Him in faith, then His righteousness is credited to you. And therefore, I can stand confident before you this morning as a sinner who has been saved by grace, and I know I am not perfect.
My family knows I am not perfect. But I can be absolutely confident that the infinite, sovereign, holy God of the universe looks at me and He sees the righteousness of His Son. Because it's been credited to me because I've surrendered myself to Him in faith. Romans 4 makes it very clear. His righteousness is imputed, credited to us who believe.
This transfer has happened. He was forsaken. His Father turned His back on Him so that you could be accepted. That's reconciliation. And so, the history has been presented and the plea goes out, be reconciled to God. Verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us.
Who is the us? We who have been reconciled. God pleads through us to you, be reconciled to God. The offer is there. It is a plea, it is an invitation.
There's no coercion. There's something very interesting about this where it says, be reconciled to God. The last four words of verse 20, be reconciled to God. This is, in the original language, the Greek, this was written, this is a passive imperative.
That almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? This is a passive imperative. What are you going to do with that? It goes back to the beginning of verse 18, now all things are of God. We don't reconcile ourselves to God. God reconciles us. And so the plea is this, in the passive imperative, be reconciled to God. What does that mean?
Let me paraphrase it for you. Surrender yourself to His grace. You and I were born with a problem. That problem is self preeminence. We think we're it.
We're not it. God is. And when I surrender myself to His grace, it is at that moment that that exchange happens.
He bore the wrath for me and He gives me His righteousness. And therefore, I am reconciled to God. If you do not surrender to His grace and without the reconciliation of God, the best you can do is die. And again, death, as I speak, it is not an annihilation. It is not a ceasing to exist. You will exist for eternity. The question is, will you exist in a state of life or will you exist in a state of death? Without a reconciliation to God, you can do nothing but die and you will be destined, you are destined to a godless eternity of despair. And so the plea goes out, be reconciled to God.
The invitation is there. Some of you may be here this morning. I ask these questions often. How do we know? Yes, I'll acknowledge that Jesus was a historic man that walked this earth in history and He was a good teacher and yes, He died a tragic death. But how do we know that this is true? How do we know that what the theological implications say that we can be reconciled to God, that He died in my place? How do we know? That's why we worship on Sunday. Do you know what happened on Sunday? The Lord walked out of the grave.
That's how we know. The resurrection of Christ is our guarantee. The resurrection, the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is our guarantee and proof to all of four things.
Number one, that Jesus is God. What other man can walk out of the grave? It doesn't happen.
This man did. He walked out of the grave. Romans 1.4 says very clearly that He was declared, proclaimed, declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Uncontestable, He is God. That means that His claims are believable that He is God. God's testimony is true. The second thing, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is our guarantee and proof for all that His payment for our sin was accepted. How do I know that Christ died for my sins? How do I know it stuck?
How do I know it worked? Because He walked out of the grave. That's how we know. Romans, I'm sorry, yeah, Romans 4.25, He was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. Raised for our justification. Justification means that I am made acceptable before a holy God.
And He is then willing to reconcile me to Himself. My guarantee of that is when Jesus walked out of the grave. Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ is our guarantee that we who are in Christ will live. We who are in Christ will live. 1 Corinthians 15 makes it very clear, Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. First fruits is agrarian term.
You take the first product from the fields, that means there's a lot more to come. And the fact that Jesus rose from the dead in space and time in history because He did, I will too. He is the one who said, because I live, you shall live also. What mere man could make a statement like that?
No, not just a mere man, the man who walked out of the grave. Fourthly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is our guarantee and proof to all that we will stand in the judgment. We will stand in the judgment. There is an accounting coming and I will stand, you and I will stand before the one who made us. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a guarantee to me that I will stand in that judgment.
Why? Because I have His righteousness. If you do not have His righteousness, you will not stand. You will fall. And that day of judgment is coming.
That's why the plea goes out. And the Apostle Paul in history was in Athens, a great city of a great deal of philosophy and religions and he was speaking to a very philosophical people. And it's recorded in Acts chapter 17 verse 31. He says, God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. And who is that man that He has ordained?
He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10am. You're listening to the Delight in Grace. You're listening to the Delight in Grace.
