Man's estrangement from God is the starting point, stemming from the fall and evident in our choices, wicked works, and deliberate avoidance of God's knowledge. The sermon explains propitiation as a Godward act, necessary due to His holiness, and made possible through Christ's incarnation and sacrifice, illustrated by the Old Testament mercy seat. Reconciliation, a man-ward change, is offered to all the world through Christ's death and accomplished in fellowship with the Father, but it is personally applied by receiving it through faith. As Christians, we are called to acknowledge our distance from God, enjoy our new nearness to Him, and actively serve in the ministry of reconciliation by urging others to accept God's offer.
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Our topic is man reconciled to God. Let's run back over some of the thoughts that we had in the preceding lesson. Man is estranged from God. This is a word that means more than simply that he is not very close to him. It means that he has been separated from him. One man was created capable of fellowship with God. According to Genesis one, twenty-six and twenty-seven. And the second point we want to notice is the effects of the fall in Genesis three and in Psalm ten and four.
Psalm ten and four says, God is not in all way of thought. And this was very plain. Immediately after the fall, men turned away from God and began to live independently of him. So we are said to be alienated from God in Ephesians four and eighteen, and to be at enmity against God in Romans eight, seven and eight. Now the first thing is that this is made evident by the individual choices which people make. In Romans three and eleven, and I would like you to Call your attention to an Old Testament prophecy, Hosea ten and verse twelve, where the Lord said, It is time to seek the Lord.
I'm Romans three and eleven, but there is none that seek it after God. So you've got two things together. People should seek the Lord, but they do not seek the Lord. Sometimes you hear a preacher say that we should seek the Lord, but This is wrong. The Son of Man has come to seek and to say that this is law. The Lord Jesus does the seeking. Otherwise, it wouldn't be any done. Now, it is evident that we are estranged from God, A, by our wicked works. Colossians one and twenty-one says that we are alienated in our minds by wicked works.
And B, that we enjoy evil. Second Thessalonians two and twelve says that they take pleasure in unrighteousness and see in the fact that we put God out of our mind. Romans one, twenty-one, three-five, and twenty-eight, three times in that section. He says they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They did not want to think about God. When you feel sorry for the poor heathen, remember that he is deliberately making a choice of keeping God out of his knowledge. He makes an image of a God he wants to worship, and then he doesn't make any eyes, and he doesn't bore any holes for the ears in the little wooden God, because he doesn't want his God to see and hear what he's doing at all.
This is very common among the idol makers. So man does not really want to think about God. Now we're going to talk about propitiation. I make no apology, whatever, for expecting you to learn some technical terms. If you were studying electricity, you'd have to learn about boats and arms and... Well, that's not all I know about electricity. You'd have to have a vocabulary about electricity. If you were studying medicine, you'd have to have a medical vocabulary. If you're going to study the Bible, you will have to learn some terms. These terms are very important and they're not interchangeable. Propitiation comes from a Greek word, hires carry on, and it means that which expiates, or that which takes away what kept God from reaching down to man.
It's the expiation of sin, the taking away of sin. That's the meaning of propitiation. Now, one, it is Godward. Propitiation is never for us. It is for God. First, because of his holiness. Habitat I. Thirteen says, God is of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. God simply can't look upon sin. And Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse fifteen says, God requires that which is past. Now be, it is Godward because blood must be shed to answer of the holiness of God.
In Leviticus sixteen, fourteen to seventeen, he tells us that he has given us the blood upon the altar to make an assonement for our souls. He said this in the Old Testament. And in Hebrews nine twenty-two he says without shedding of blood there's no remission. Now there may be a bloodless religion, but there is no bloodless salvation. There must be the shedding of blood. And The third point I'd like to make under this first section, that it is Godward, is that it is not appeasement. I repeat, not appeasement. Now, if you look in the Webster's dictionary, you'll find the word pacify and appease and several other words.
Now, this is perfectly true of the heathen gods. They do things to get their gods in a good mood. But this is perfectly ridiculous when we think of the God of heaven. Because I John four, eight and ten says that God is love. God is already friendly disposed toward it. God is kindly disposed toward it. God wants to save us. The whole idea of salvation originated with God. It was God who loved the world enough to save us only to God himself. You see? So it's very wrong to think of propitiation as being something that appeases God, gets him back in the good numerous. It isn't that at all. It's simply that it is necessary because of his holy character that he's going to be consistent.
Something has to be done about seeing. Now, number two, it is possible only through the incarnation of Christ. Now, Romans three, twenty-five tells us that he restlessly, and I emphasize that word, he restlessly answers, for sin, both past, and teach it. That is, the sins of the people who lived before the cross, as well as the sins of the people who have lived since the cross. And Hebrews two seventeen tells us that he is a merciful and faithful high priest.
You need to learn about the Lord Jesus as the high priest. Now, the first act of the high priest in the Old Testament, Aaron, was to offer a sin offer. And the first act of the Lord Jesus, as our high priest, was to make propitiation for our kin. And the Revised Version of Hebrews two seventeen uses the word propitiation. That's the right word there. Now number three, we have an illustration of this in the Mercury sheet. I'm explaining this. In the Old Testament, God told the people that they were to make a tabernacle, later on a temple, where he would meet with them.
And in the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest was allowed to go, there was a box called the Ark. And in this box he kept the Holy Commandment. And over the top of that, as a lid, was a solid gold thing called a murky sheet, with a golden angel on each end of it. And these angels were called carabin. They were the angels who guided the throne of God. And this mercy seat had to have blood sprinkled on it once a year. This was called the Day of Atonement. It's still observed by the Jews as Yom Kippur, they call it. And the blood was sent along the mercy seat. Now this was a meeting place of God with man.
It's Exodus twenty-five, twenty-one, and twenty-two. A meeting place of God with man. The only place. that God could meet man. And B, it was a place where mercy and truth could meet together, Psalm eighty-five and ten tells us. Now truth has to do with the righteousness of God. Mercy has to do with his kindness toward us. Now these seem to be at variance with each other. The holiness of God says he ought to be sent to hell. The love of God says, but I want him in heaven. Now how are these to be reconciled? Well, they're only because the Lord Jesus gave himself for us.
In the Old Testament, it was a mercy seat where they took the blood of animals. But after the Lord Jesus came, the mercy seat is in heaven. And you and I are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. So this is how God is propitiated. After mercy, peace. In Luke eighteen and verse thirteen, the last point in this section, the Republican, the Lord Jesus said, Pray to prayer. God be merciful to me a sinner. Now sometimes preachers say, This is the sinniest prayer.
Now this is all wrong. Because what he was saying was this. The word merciful there is exactly the same word translated mercy to you. What he was saying was God Look at the mercy seat and then feel toward me as you feel toward the mercy seat. See the point? Have mercy upon me for the sake of the blood which is on the mercy seat. You know he was saying, have mercy. God can have mercy. I say this reverently, but it's absolutely true. God cannot have mercy on any other righteous ground than the shedding of life. There must be something done about sin before God can come out to man.
And this something is called propitiation. Now as a result of propitiation, and always to be thought of in connection with it, our third section of this study, reconciliation. Now reconciliation is an entirely different word. It's the word And it means to change thoroughly. We use the word reconcile when we talk about people who are enemies getting together. This can be on any basis. It can just be simply on a basis of, well, I made lots of mistakes and so have you, so let your hands on it and forget it.
That's a possible way of reconciliation between friends. doesn't want it more than that to be done. He insists upon finding out whether he's ready to change anything or not. And of course God insists on certain things before there can be reconciliation with him. We sometimes use the word reconciled when we mean that I give up, I'll accept this thing. I'm reconciled to a situation. But reconciliation in the Bible has in mind the changing of the condition between God and man. Now one, reconciliation is man-worthy, just as propitiation was godless.
That's why I say these two concepts, these two words describing salvation, should always be thought of together. I think diagrammatically, I think of it as a line, a perpendicular line with an arrow at the top and one at the bottom. The top one is propitiation. The bottom one is reconciliation. Propitiation is for God so that reconciliation can take place as man. It is manly because God does not need to be reconciled. God doesn't do anything against that.
We're the ones who did everything that's wrong. God doesn't need to change. His attitude is right. He talks to us because in an Old Testament passage I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. And again he says, As I live, says the Lord. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. So God's attitude toward us is good, but we are the ones who have to be changed. Now it is mannered in three ways. First of all, it is offered to all the world. Second Corinthians five and nineteen says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Now, this did not change either God or the world.
My second point here, the world is not changed. It is a judicial act. Romans eleven, thirteen, fifteen, twelve and six, very plainly. The casting away of the Jews is result in the reconciling of the world. Does that mean the whole world is saved? No, it seems means the world has widened up to the whole world again. That sort of thing. So whenever you read about reconciliation of the whole world, remember that this is potential. It is only actual when it proceeds. Here's another statement. And this happened one time in the history of England.
There were many deserters from the army. In Queen Victoria, I believe it was, they issued a proclamation which was sent around the world that any deserter from the British Army who would apply at a retreating station before a certain deadline would be immediately pardoned. So what she did was issued a proclamation which gave a blanket pardon to all deserters. Now were they all pardoned? Oh no, some of them didn't go to the place, they were afraid to be sick, or they were afraid to, or else they'd be too busy, or else, you know, whatever it was, they didn't go on a bike or didn't come to them.
So reconciliation is for the old world, but it becomes effective only after it is received. So, it is beautiful. Now see, It affects the Israel Gentile enmity. In Ephesians two and verse sixteen, he very plainly tells us that because of the death of the Lord Jesus, it is possible for Jews and Gentiles who were once so far from each other to not only be reconciled to God but to be put together in one body. And the church is composed of those Jews and Gentiles who are now reconciled each other as well as the God.
But our second section tells us, under the third division, the reconciliation, it tells us that it was accomplished by Christ at the cross. In Romans five turn, we read that we are reconciled by the death of his son. by the death of his Christ. It cost a great deal. It cost a tremendous price to reconcile us to God. There was no other way than the death of his Christ. I have heard of a mother getting her husband and her son together on her deathbed.
And this is a very sad thing to think of. Two men were not willing to be reconciled to each other except for the death of their loved ones. For how much more material it is, it cost the death of our blessed Lord to bring us back to himself. Now it was not only accomplished by Christ in the cross, but it was accomplished in full fellowship with his father. Because our second Corinthians five of nineteen says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. So it was the Father and the Son jointly working together in the reconciling of the world.
Now our third point is that it is applied personally by receiving. Romans five and eleven says, and I'm giving you the revised reading, I have a note attended here saying that the revised version reads, reconciliation. It says, By whom we have received the atonement. But the word atonement, in Old Testament words, don't ever use it in connection with preaching the gospel in our age. I know many preachers do. But the word atonement is from the Hebrew word papar, which means to cover. In the Old Testament, our sins were covered, or their sins were covered, by the continual sacrifice of animals.
But our sins, as believers, are so away. So the word there in Romans five, eleven should not be atonement but reconciliation. We have received the reconciliation. This is like the illustration now of the team offering the pardon to all who apply. And you and I must apply. And this brings us to section four of our study, our responsibilities. What part do we play in reconciliation? Obviously, I can't go to God as a holy God and tell him that I'm a really nice guy and I hope he just takes me in and makes me retire. I have no right forever in that field.
So I must come by the channel that he has made for me. And one, that is to acknowledge our distance from God. Ephesians two, thirteen says, You who were once far off I now made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now this is historically hard to do if you've been religious all your life. You're any church member? I know a man who is a preacher. And a good one. And a successful one. He made a great evangelist. But he was not saved. He had never been reconciled to God.
I said, how can you explain this? You preach. You preach the very true gospel. and people were converting to a preaching. And he said, you weren't saved. He said, I explained it in the same way with a doctor, may die of the very disease, and he self-alizes it because he doesn't take his own medicine. I told people how to come to Christ, but I never came because I thought I'd always been a good boy, you know, and I'd grown up in the church and had gone to a seminary, and I didn't think I knew either. For every person, they must acknowledge it. Remember that it was Nicodemus. A ruler of a Jew, we call him a preacher, to whom the Lord Jesus said, Marvel not that I said it to you, you must be born again.
Every human being, Old Testament or new, has to be born again before he can come to God. We'll talk about that later. Reconciliation then requires, first of all, that we acknowledge our distance from God. A, even the religious. are far from God. Matthew fifteen, verses seven to nineteen. They're seven to nine. You notice that this part he tells us that with her lips they confess but their hearts are far from him. And then comes out to you that the final mind is enmity against God. Romans eight, seven and eight.
Regardless of how nice your life may have been, the heart is not right. until we are reconciled. Now the second thing is to receive the reconciliation. We mentioned Romans five, eleven while ago, by whom we have received the reconciliation. Now Romans three twenty-five in the revised version says this is true faith by his blood. The King James Version reads, true faith in his blood. But faith is never in an object. Faith is in a person. faith is in God and in His Word. So you and I are reconciled to God through faith by His blood.
As a result of the killing of the blood of Christ, by faith we believe what God is there. And we come to God by faith. Now this gave modern social emotion of the human body. I think that a great deal of harm was done when a man invented the altar call. You don't find this until the last century. Never occurred before at all. It didn't mean the scripture at all. This business of asking somebody to get out of their seat and come to the front of the building, in the front of the place, for salvation, seems to give them the impression that there's a motion of the body. It's not a motion of the body, for God. It's called it, the motion of the heart.
See, of the mind. It's a matter of my consciously turning to God. This is what we mean by faith. Now the third thing is, our responsibility is to enjoy, to understand, I say first of all, and to enjoy, get nearness. Most of us who have received Christ are blessed much more wonderfully than we really know. Sometimes, as Christians, we feel sort of ill at ease in God's presence because we're not as good as we ought to be there, because we have been negligent or spiritual things.
We start to feel ill at ease. But if you really do, you really understand what reconciliation means. If you're right now with God, then you can enjoy this newness. Now this newness is A to God. Only five and ten tells us that he has brought it to God. And B, it is the newness to others in Christ. No matter what we may have been in. In our natural faith, perhaps you and I would never have known each other and wouldn't even have cared for it. But here we are because of reconciliation. We are rightly God, therefore we are right to each other.
And we could understand and enjoy there. Now the fourth point is to serve in the ministry of reconciliation. This is given to us of God. In chapter twenty, five, eighteen, we read, God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now the ministry means the service. This is not just for people who quote enter the ministry or who quote go into full-time service. All Christians have the ministry of reconciliation. If you have the need right to God, you have the privilege and the responsibility of telling other people how they too can be reconciled to God.
So Dean tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. We will find this in the twenty verse of this same section. Second Corinthians five in verse thirty. We are ambassadors for Christ because now then we are ambassadors for Christ. And I have made a note here that we do not decide to become ambassadors. I went to a town one time and saw a sign out in front of a church building just as I was going through the town, and it said, join the ambassadors for Christ. I don't know what they had going on, but I'm sure that that isn't possible. If you're saved, you are an ambassador.
You may be a hook one. You may be a very unfaithful one. You may not be working at the job. As the little boy said, when someone else was your father was a Christian, he said, well, yes, but he isn't working at it right now. And this was true of many of us, that we are ambassadors. However, truly, we may be. Many an ambassador has had to be recalled for one reason or another. But we are ambassadors. Now, you have a responsibility, according to verse twenty. And this is the third point. We are to deceit and pray or beg others to be reconciled to God.
Don't ever tell a sinner to pray for salvation. This is totally foreign to the scriptures. You see, if somebody invited me to a drink and then said, no, then he's ready. He said, come to the table. And I went in and got down beside my chair and looked up into the lady's face with colorful eyes and said, I'm so hungry, won't you please give it something to eat? You think that is crazy. And the Bible says, all things are ready to come. Salvation is a free gift that God asked you to accept. So never tell a sinner to pray that God will save you.
I don't think that's the same people do that. Of course, that's not correct. Because we are the ones, as Christians, we are the ones representing God and Christ. We are telling them. We are begging them to be reconciled to God. You get the point? The proclamation has come out from God. God is offering salvation, and he's asking people to accept his son. So what are we going to pray about? Accept the thinking if we accept it here. And I would like to say that according to the last verse of this chapter, verse twenty-one, that this is not psychological. It is gospel-based.
The last verse says, For he, Christ, was made sin for us. He knew no sin, that he might be made the righteousness of God in him. Charleston, not that they should get on the bone right of him, not that they should turned up to the Lord, not that they should, it would be good for them to say, if they became Christians, but tell them that the Lord Jesus Christ has done the work for them. Based on the gospel, you see, rather than on a psychological appeal of some kind. Now this is the way we discharge our responsibilities as serving in the Ministry of Reconciliation.