Reconciled to God

This last Sunday, Pastor Kyle continued in our church’s sermon series through the book of Acts. In His message, he spoke of things needed to turn potential relational battles into real-life breakthroughs for the Gospel. (1) Both the right theology and the right approach are crucial. The disciples of Christ stand firm on the living Word of God in the holy Scriptures of the immutable Bible. In John 17:17 the Lord Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” 

 

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ The Savior of the world rightfully proclaims in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Repentant Christ-Followers know and understand when 2 Corinthians 5:21 declares, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Their sins were paid for by Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice on the Cross. As Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And Ephesians 2:4-5 confirms, “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

 

The converted Believer by saving faith is forgiven of their sins and the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to them. Romans 3:22-24 asserts, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Jesus Christ is the “One Way” provided by God, the Father in Heaven for salvation. Therefore, John 3:36 affirms, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” To believe means a mere but sure assent of the understanding to the truths of the gospel and implies, with this assent of the mind, a yielding of the will and affections, accompanied with a humble reliance on Christ for salvation. 

 

In John 3:14-17 Jesus avows, “Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the desert on a pole, so must the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross, so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life after physical death, and will actually live forever. For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave His One and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him as Savior shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.” That is why the Apostle Paul asks in Romans 10:8-9 “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

 

The Lord Jesus gave us the “Great Commission” in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 saying, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 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.” This was not the “Great Suggestion”, but a commandment to His disciples to make disciples. Ephesians 2:10 explains, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Spreading the Gospel of Salvation is “Good News and Good Works”. Pastor Kyle tells us that we need to be willing to tackle and confront the hard issues of righteousness, holiness and biblical morality, ethics and obedience to God, but be determined to leave with unity. To restore a person to an upright position before the Lord is the goal.

In the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus warns us, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Yet 2 Peter 3:9 testifies, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Jesus came to seek and save the lost; His followers are commissioned to do just that. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 maintains that, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God ... then go and sin no more.

 

In Christ, Brian