WWUTT 1678 Be Reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

We who are followers of Jesus are now Christ's ambassadors. We're to go out with the message of reconciliation, so that others may hear the truth of the gospel, put faith in Jesus, and be saved when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians chapter 5, finishing up this chapter today as we come back to those closing four verses, 18 to 21, which

I'll be reading from the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

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 transgressions against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

So, then, we are ambassadors for Christ.

As God is pleading 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.

We're finishing up with these last two verses today, verses 20 and 21, where Paul says, we are ambassadors for Christ.

What does it mean to be an ambassador? You've probably heard that term used many times, some sort of expression of somebody being an ambassador for Christ, but probably didn't realize that the context was right here in 2

Corinthians 5 .20. To be an ambassador means to be a diplomat for someone or a nation, a representative of a foreign country, might be a person who acts as a representative or a promoter of a certain activity or company or something like that.

The word gets used fairly loosely, but as it's to be understood here, as Paul uses it in 2

Corinthians 5 .20, an ambassador is someone who represents a king or a nation.

Now, what would be the difference between that and an apostle? Because an apostle, of course, is going out with the word of Christ, right?

So he is Christ's representative, and whatever he says is the same as what

Christ has said. The word of an apostle was to be regarded as the word of Christ himself, where, well, an ambassador is pretty much the same thing, as Paul is drawing attention to this and contrasting himself with the false teachers that have come into Corinth and are trying to woo them away from the gospel that was first proclaimed by Paul and his missionary brethren.

They are not representatives of the kingdom of God, Paul is saying, of these false teachers.

In fact, later on in 2 Corinthians, he's going to say that they're agents of Satan, and that kind of comes back to the ambassador thing.

So Paul and those who have gone out with the gospel, they're ambassadors for Christ. These guys, these false teachers, are agents of Satan.

So there's the contrast between the two. There's not a side -by -side contrast here.

It's not like Paul is directly saying something about the false teachers, but that's certainly what he has in mind, because these super apostles, these men who have claimed to be apostles, have come into Corinth and have convinced, through their flashiness, through their charisma, through their smooth words, they have managed to woo some of the

Corinthians over to their side. These men that have not given of themselves in any way for the sake of the

Corinthians. But Paul has just about given up his life for their sake.

I mean, he has put himself in harm's way, at risk, for the sake of the

Corinthians to hear the gospel and so be saved. We are the true ambassadors of Christ's kingdom.

These guys are false teachers, agents of Satan. Again, not a side -by -side comparison there, but that's going to be the contrast.

So then we are Christ's ambassadors. We are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us.

He's not pleading through the false teachers, but those who have come proclaiming the truth. Incidentally, this reference, or this word rather, that gets translated ambassador, it's actually a verb.

So then we are Christ's ambassadors, or we are ambassadors. I think those three words together, how they come out in English, we are ambassadors, is one word in Greek, and it's a verb.

So if you've ever heard the word adult used as a verb, adulting, have you ever heard that said before?

I have to adult today, you know, I'm not looking forward to adulting, I wish I could just go home and be lazier, you know.

That's probably the way that somebody's using that word, which is facetious. Adult is not really a verb.

But in this particular case, that word ambassador is kind of being used in that way, and it is truly a verb.

So as one who is going out as a representative for Christ, this is Paul stating, putting into action the thing that he is doing.

Now apostle is not necessarily a verb. That is an office, that is a person assigned.

But ambassador here is a person doing what has been commissioned of him to do by Christ, to represent

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

And this is, again, the third verse that we've looked at this week that has had that word reconcile in it.

It appears once in verse 18, twice in verse 19, and then again in verse 20.

And to reconcile means to accept that which was not previously desired. When we were in our sin,

God did not desire us in that state and we did not desire God. But by a transformation that has happened through the

Holy Spirit working within us, we now hear the gospel and we believe it. We desire to follow it.

We desire God and he desires us because we've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

That's what's coming up here in verse 21. So that's what the word reconcile means. And Paul has been talking here about the ministry of reconciliation, the word of reconciliation.

We have ministry in verse 18. We have word of reconciliation in verse 19. We have be reconciled to God in verse 20 as ambassadors for Christ.

This is this is what we are out to accomplish, that you who have been separated from God because of your sin and rebellion against him, that you might be reconciled back to him.

And this happens through the gospel. So as ambassadors for Christ, we go out with the gospel, which is the ministry of reconciliation, which is the word of reconciliation.

It is this word, the message of the gospel proclaimed. When a person hears it and believes it, they are reconciled to God.

Now the reconciler is Christ. So Paul talks about here about receiving the ministry of reconciliation, of having the word of reconciliation.

But the one who reconciles, the one who brings us to God is

Jesus Christ. He is the reconciler. But now he has appointed this ministry that others may go out with the message that reconciles.

He's given this to his apostles and to the disciples, which would likewise be us.

As Jesus commissioned his disciples in Matthew 28, go into all the world, into all nations, baptizing in the name of the father and of the son and of the

Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Of course, Jesus is speaking directly to his disciples who are with him.

But as we are also followers of Christ, we are disciples to whom that has been spoken.

The application comes down to us. And so we likewise have been given this ministry of reconciliation.

We likewise have been made ambassadors for Christ, that we would go out as his representatives and for his kingdom, proclaiming this message that by faith in it, a person becomes a citizen of the kingdom of God.

They become reconciled to God. They become fellow heirs with Christ of his eternal kingdom.

This is the message, the ministry of reconciliation. And again,

Jesus being the reconciler, there is there's similarity here in verse 20.

There's similarity with this and what was said back in verses 14 and 15 for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died.

So Christ is doing something on someone else's behalf, right? That's what said there in verse 14, verse 15.

And he died for all so that they who live, the all is that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

So as Paul says of himself, we are ambassadors for Christ. We're doing this on Christ's behalf.

And as he said earlier, he said, we're doing this on your behalf so that you would be reconciled to God.

So therefore, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. That's in verse 20.

Same thing as in verse 15 for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Verse 20, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, a representative for somebody else that is pleading with a people.

You too can be one with God through faith in Jesus Christ. And we who were once far off, as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter two, or Ephesians yeah,

Ephesians two, that's right. We who are once far off have now been brought near by the precious blood of Jesus, all who believe in him.

Now finally, verse 21, and this is wrapping it all up.

This is wrapping up everything that we have read in chapter five concerning the temporal and the eternal.

We started off talking about our earthly tent that is to be torn down, but we're looking forward to a house that is built in the heavens, which no one can tear down.

We will live in that place forever. Remember, that's how we started chapter five. That was the longing. And how do we get to that place?

We're reconciled to God. How do we get to eternity? We're reconciled to the eternal one and the reconciler is

Christ. And so wrapping all of this up, understanding forgiveness of sins, understanding the promise of eternal life, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Second Corinthians 521. This is the gospel in this verse.

Whenever you ask somebody, give me the gospel in one verse. What are they going to tell you?

Usually it's John 3 16, right? And that is a great one verse summary of the gospel for God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

Whoever believes in him will not perish, but we'll have everlasting life.

What a beautiful one verse summary of the gospel. Rarely though will you hear somebody quote to you second

Corinthians 521 he made him the father made the son who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

And there we have that our behalf again that was in verse 20 that was back in verse 15.

This is God doing something on our behalf for our sake, for our benefit.

He made him who knew no sin, Jesus Christ, who is the sinless one who lived a perfect life, who kept the father's will perfectly, who fulfilled every aspect of the law.

God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.

Now, it's not that Jesus literally becomes sin. He's not hanging on the cross there.

There's the personification embodiment of sin right there. That's not what that means, but that the sins that we were guilty of were placed on him.

This is called imputation. So we have double imputation that's talked about here in this particular verse.

The first imputation is our sin was imputed to Christ on the cross.

When you read about the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, the head of the household, the father takes a lamb, a goat, whatever animal is being brought to the priest to be slaughtered as a sin offering.

And as it is put on the altar, the father or the head of the household is supposed to put his hand on the animal's head.

And then the priest kills the animal, slashing its throat, and it bleeds out.

And the head of the household with the hand on the head is supposed to represent a transference of sin from the person to the animal.

Now, since he's the head of the household, he represents the rest of his household. That's sin that has been committed by people in his house that he carries with him on their behalf to the priest.

And then the animal is sacrificed on their behalf. And the head of the household puts his hand on the animal's head as representing a transference of sin to the animal that is being killed for atonement, for the forgiveness of sins.

Now, as it says in the book of Hebrews, the blood of goats and lambs had no power to heal sin anyway or to forgive sin.

The forgiveness of sin is only through Christ. But all of this sacrificial system was pointing to the spotless lamb who would take away the sin of the world.

And that is Jesus Christ. So that act that was done in the sacrificial system of putting the hand on the head of the animal, the transference of sin, that's what happened when

Christ died on the cross. Those whom he died for, our sin was transferred to him.

Now, once again, this is why you have to understand a doctrine of election, that Christ died for his own.

He died for those whom God had foreordained from before the foundation of the world that we would be saved.

He chose which ones whom he would save. Now, we don't get to know that. We don't know who the elect are.

God knows that. We do not. But he's chosen who is going to be saved. And then we know we affectionately know who it was

God has chosen when we proclaim the gospel and somebody believes it. So when a person puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we can know

God foreordained from before the foundation of the world that you would come to know him through the declaration of the gospel.

Jesus dies on behalf of those whom the father has given to him. John chapter 10,

I lay my life down for the sheep whom the father has given to me. That's not every single person.

That is definitely a particular group of people. And we've been reading about that particular atonement even here in 2

Corinthians five. So with this transference of sin upon Christ, that's why you have to believe in particular atonement for this verse to make a good

Orthodox doctrinally sound sense to you is because we understand that Christ is dying for his own.

The whole world sins were not were not imputed to Christ. He didn't have every sin ever committed in human history put upon him on the cross because then he's atoned for everybody's sin.

And we know that he has not the the effectualness of that atonement is transferred to us when we put our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ.

But he dies on our behalf. Our sins transferred to us.

We know that it is on behalf of his elect because of what we read back in verses 14 and 15.

One died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Not everybody's behalf on behalf of those who were given to the son. So he dies on our behalf.

The father makes him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Our sins imputed to him, transferred to him who dies on the cross for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

And there's the other part of that double imputation. So the first part is our sins transferred to Christ on the cross.

The second part is his righteousness transferred to us, which is why once again, this can only be for his elect because not everybody is wearing the righteousness of Christ.

Only those for whom he died who believe and therefore have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

So once again, and as I've said, while we've been going through second Corinthians five, when the father looks at us, what he sees is not our sin, not the wretch that we were that was deserving of the judgment of God.

But now by faith in Christ, our sins forgiven. His righteousness imputed to us when the father looks at us, he sees us with the same love that he has for his own son.

As I've heard John MacArthur say, when Jesus was dying on the cross, God looked at him as if he had lived my life.

And as a follower of Jesus wearing the righteousness of Christ, God looks at me as if I have lived

Jesus life. That's double imputation. My sin upon Christ on the cross, his righteousness upon me.

That's the gospel. And incidentally, it is a gospel message that the Roman Catholic church does not have where you are constantly going after works in order to attain righteousness.

Nope. Righteousness was fully purchased and granted to you by the imputation of Christ.

Roman Catholic church doesn't teach that. Nor does the Greek Orthodox church. Nor do any of the other pretenders like Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses.

And of course, no other religion in the world has this. It is only Christianity and it is only understanding what the scripture truly says, that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Brothers and sisters, is that you? Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Have you been reconciled to God?

Then live in his righteousness today. I beg you be reconciled to God.

Heavenly father, we thank you for the good word of the gospel that we've been reminded of today.

And as we've been going through second Corinthians chapter five, now as children of the living

God, may we live according to the righteousness that we have been given in Jesus Christ previously.

We were undeserving of your love. What we deserved was your judgment and wrath. But thanks to this precious gift of Christ on the cross for us, our sins have been atoned for and we wear his righteousness that we might become the children of God.

So teach us to walk as your children today, living in a manner that is pleasing unto the

Lord. As Paul said in second Corinthians five, nine, we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, we desire to be pleasing to him and may we live in such a way today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.