WWUTT 1677 The Word of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19)

God has commanded that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ go out to the whole world.

And it's through this message that God is reconciling people from the whole world to himself.

When we understand the text. This is

When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Just looking at the last four verses here. This is verses 18 to 21 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote 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.

Now, if you look at these last four verses here of chapter 5, you'll notice the word reconciliation appears in three of them.

And I'm thinking here that word reconciled is four times in three verses.

Yep, that's correct. Because it appears once in verse 18, twice in verse 19, and then again in verse 20.

So verse 21 is the only place that reconciliation doesn't appear, but we still have four occasions in these four verses where we have this word reconciled.

And as I said yesterday, close to the end of that lesson, to be reconciled means to accept that which was not previously desired.

So when we were in sin and in rebellion against God, we did not desire

God, and he did not desire us in that state. But through Jesus Christ, we have been transformed.

We have been made into a new person. As we read in verse 17 yesterday, the old is passed away, behold, the new has come.

So in Christ being new, we've been reconciled to God. We now desire God with a brand new heart, being born again.

We've been changed and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we desire God, and being clothed in Christ's righteousness, he desires us.

And so it is through the gospel that we have been reconciled to God. So now, we must take the message of the gospel to the world, and this is the word of reconciliation.

So as we read yesterday in verse 18, Christ has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

As we go out sharing the gospel, we are helping people to be reconciled to God.

And all of this is from God. Start at verse 18 again. Now, all of these things are from God.

We have been recruited. We've been welcomed into this plan that God has to save his elect.

We understand that the elect have been determined from before the foundation of the world.

God has chosen whom he is going to save from sinful man.

We have been elected. We read about these things in places like Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5.

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he graciously bestowed on us in the beloved.

And in verse 11, in him we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

At the very start of Titus, when Paul was writing to Titus, he said that he is a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and for the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness.

So there, Paul is saying that he has been made an apostle for the sake of the faith of God's elect.

He serves Christ so that those who have been elected from before the foundation of the world would hear the gospel and so be saved.

This is God's plan. And he decreed from before the foundation of the world who would be saved.

And then he has also decreed the means to that end. So he's not only decreed the end, he has decreed the means to that end.

The end is these are the people who are going to be saved. And the means to that end is here is how they are going to be saved.

And so now we've been recruited into that plan that God had from the beginning on who he was going to save and how he was going to save them.

And now that we're part of that plan, we're to go out with the gospel. We're to go out with this ministry of reconciliation.

There's that idea out there that people term hyper -Calvinism, this idea that because God has already determined who is going to be saved, therefore we don't need to share the gospel with anybody.

Who he's going to save is who he's going to save. It doesn't matter whether we share the gospel or not. Now that is wrong. It is completely unbiblical thinking.

That's more like fatalism than it really is true Calvinism, although it gets termed hyper -Calvinism.

But it's not biblical at all. We have been told to go out and share the gospel. And this is part of that plan.

We have been saved by the gospel, and now we must go out with the gospel so that those whom

God has elected for salvation will hear the gospel and be saved. That's the way that anybody is saved.

As it says in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. No one has become a

Christian because they didn't hear the gospel. When a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it's because the gospel was proclaimed to them.

The only way that a person is saved is by the name of Jesus. And so we must go proclaim

Christ to the lost, those who do not know, those who are separated from God by their sin, those who are still living in rebellion, those whose federal head is

Adam, and they still have the same sin nature of Adam, which they're going to continue to follow to their death, and therefore their destruction and ultimate condemnation, or eternal condemnation, because they did not hear the gospel and then repent of their sin and put faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and live. No one's going to stand before God on the day of judgment and be able to say, well,

I didn't even hear, I didn't even know, so therefore you can't judge me on the fact that I've rejected the gospel. No, they are willful sinners in rebellion against God, and they're going to be judged on that merit.

The way they come to salvation, if you love people and you don't want them to spend an eternity in hell, then the way that they come to that salvation is by the declaration of the gospel.

You have got to go out with the gospel. We've been given this ministry of reconciliation. The only way a person is reconciled to God is by faith in Jesus Christ, and so we must go out with that message.

But knowing ultimately that those who come to faith are of faith not because we did anything, not by the will of man, as I read yesterday from John 1, but by the will of God, not works of the flesh, but it is the work of God.

All of these things are from God who brings this about. And so now having been saved, we are part now of that plan of salvation in the sense that we have been recruited to go out with the gospel to those who are lost so that they may hear and believe.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. We read here in verse 19, not counting their transgressions against them.

And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So we must go out with that word.

And that is the word, the message of the gospel, the proclamation of Christ. But how about this word world?

What is what is world here? God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, but we know that the whole world is not reconciled to God.

And at the conclusion of all things, the whole world will not be reconciled to God. There will still be many, many people who are going to hell.

The vast majority of human history will be going to hell. Some of you have probably heard, you know, a lot of the news that's been surrounding

Elon Musk recently, the richest man in the world, the guy who founded Tesla.

So you see those Tesla cars out there. That's thanks to Elon Musk. But anyway, Elon has purchased

Twitter. So he's now the owner of Twitter. I don't think that deal is done yet, but he's buying one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, and he wants to make it a free speech platform, make free speech great again.

So he's going to kind of open up the restrictions on Twitter against people who have been banned for saying truthful things.

I'm one of them. I was banned from Twitter because I proclaimed that men are men and women are women and a man can't become a woman and a woman can't become a man.

And Twitter banned me for that. I got back on. But, you know, anyway, all that to say, Twitter is banning people for telling the truth.

Elon wants to open that up and make it more of a free speech platform. But there are people that are threatening his life because he wants to do that.

So the other day, Elon tweeted. That's what you call a post on Twitter. You call it a tweet.

Anyway, he tweeted, If I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowing you.

That tweet had like 2 million likes or something like that. It was a very, very popular tweet. Well, there was a fellow named

Muhammad. I imagine this man is Muslim based on his picture here.

But this fellow named Muhammad said, You won't die before your day, Elon. Anyhow, you are slash were a unique figure in this world.

I'm only wondering one thing. As a genius, haven't you found out that there is a great creator of this world yet?

If you did, make sure you confess this before your last heartbeat. Bless you.

Now, that's not really sharing the gospel. If this man is Muslim, he doesn't know the gospel anyway.

It seems like he's just telling Elon he needs to know there's a creator out there.

And he needs to confess that he knows that there's a creator. And if he doesn't, what's the consequence?

He didn't really give a consequence. But is he therefore suggesting to Elon, If you don't acknowledge that there's a creator, then you'll be going to hell?

That's not how a person's saved. You have to do more than acknowledge a creator. As it says in the book of James, Even the demons believe and shudder.

So, just believing in God is not enough to save you. You must believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Put your faith and trust in him. Turning from sin to Christ.

And honoring him. And you will be saved. It's in Christ Jesus that we have our salvation.

So this man, Muhammad, is not sharing the gospel with Elon. But here is how Elon responded.

Thank you for the blessing. But I'm okay with going to hell. If that is indeed my destination.

Since the vast majority of all humans ever born will be there.

That's a really fascinating response. I mean, it makes you tremble because Elon says,

I'm okay with going to hell. He doesn't even really understand what he's saying. I mean, truly he has to know,

Hell is a place of fiery torment for all eternity. He's okay with that? He probably doesn't really believe in hell.

He's being smart, as Elon is. A very, very smart guy.

But he's being a smart aleck here. And he's trying to say, I'm okay with going to hell. Because that's where the vast majority of all humanity is going.

But he seems to understand the concept of heaven and hell. At least that much. Whether this

Muhammad guy is appealing to Elon on the basis of Islam. Or Elon would be hearing the

Mormon version of the gospel. Or Elon would be receiving a true presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

No thanks to the guys at the Babylon Bee. I'll talk about that more at a later time.

Oh, by the way, Ray Comfort just recently did an interview with the

Babylon Bee guys. And Ray Comfort is one who is very critical of the way that the guys at the

Babylon Bee evangelized Elon. Or did not really share the gospel with Elon.

Really fascinated to hear that interview. That should be really good. At the time that I'm recording this devotional lesson, that interview hasn't aired yet.

But be looking for it. An interview with Ray Comfort and the Babylon Bee guys. But anyway, all that to say,

Elon is at least smart enough to recognize whatever faith tradition you're looking at. I'm using the term faith very generally there.

But whatever faith tradition you're looking at, the vast majority of human history is going to hell. He at least understands that much.

And yes, according to Christianity, it's the same thing. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, broad is the way that is leading to destruction.

And many find it because that's the easy way. But narrow is the road that leads to life.

And few will find it because that is the difficult path. So most people are going to hell.

When we're talking about the elect, God saving his elect, we're talking about a remnant.

And we see that theme throughout the scripture. There's always a remnant that God saves, that God preserves for himself.

And the saved will be that remnant forever with God in eternity. So it's true that a minority of people are going to be saved and the majority of people are going to hell.

Nonetheless, if we love people and we recognize that most people are going to hell, then we should be bold and diligent to get out there with the gospel.

For we know it's only this message that will save you from that judgment.

That you hear the gospel, that you're convicted over your sin, and you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, as it says here in verse 19.

And once again, does not mean every single person in the world. It means that if anyone in the world is going to be saved, it is only by Christ.

And world here is also talking about people from all over the world.

It's not talking about the whole world, but about people from the whole world.

Every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth, as is depicted in the book of Revelation, being around the throne and singing the praises of God forever.

It's not just Jews and it's not just Gentiles. It's people from Jews and Gentiles from the whole world who are reconciled in Christ to God.

God was in Christ reconciling people from all over the world to himself.

I'm not reading something into the text there that I should not be reading. That is exactly what is intended.

The word world is to describe people from all over the world.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. We were talking about this earlier in chapter 5 when we were reading in verses 15 and 16.

That 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.

On whose behalf? On behalf of those who died and rose again.

Those are the all that Jesus died for. It's not every single person. It is only those who live for him.

Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh. Paul says, even though we have known

Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer. Sorry, I've skipped verse 14.

14 and 15 are really the two verses that go together. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died.

But we know by verse 15 that the all who die are those who are in Christ. All who are in Christ have died to themselves or they've died to their sin and they're alive to God in Christ Jesus.

That's who all is describing. Not every single person, but all who are in Christ. Likewise, this word world in verse 19 has a context that pertains to people from all over the world who are followers of Christ.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their transgressions against them.

But we do know that the vast majority of the world, God will be counting their transgressions against them.

So this is not with regards to every single person in the world. He has committed to us, therefore, the word of reconciliation.

So we must go out with the gospel to the world, that they would not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3 .16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, whoever in the world believes in Jesus Christ will not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

He who believes in him is not judged, but who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten

Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.

For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.

But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested, as having been done by God.

All of this is from God. John 3 .16 -21

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here today, and I pray that it convicts our hearts to recognize, to realize the need that the world has for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we would know, just as we've been saved by the power of the gospel, so is anyone in the world saved by the power of the gospel.

So we must go out with it, that those who are going to be saved will be saved. They will turn from their sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ and live. We don't know exactly who the elect are, but you do.

And we pray that in faithful service to our God and King, who loved us and gave his

Son for us, that we would be willing to give ourselves for the service of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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