Man's estrangement from God, stemming from the fall, is characterized by wicked works, pleasure in unrighteousness, and a deliberate avoidance of God in thought. Propitiation, a Godward act through Christ's sacrifice, addresses God's holiness and expiates sin, enabling reconciliation. Reconciliation, a manward change, is offered to all the world through Christ's death and is applied personally by receiving it through faith. Christians are called to understand and enjoy this reconciliation and to serve as ambassadors, beseeching others to be reconciled to God based on the finished work of Christ.
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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. 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 their thoughts. 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 third thing is that this is made evident by the individual choices which people make. In Romans 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 am Romans three and eleven. He said, 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 save that which is lost. 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 words and be that we enjoy evil second Thessalonians two and twelve says that they they take pleasure in unrighteousness and see in the fact that we put God out of our minds Romans one twenty one twenty 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 years in his little wooden God, because he doesn't want his God to see and hear what he's doing is wrong. 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 volts and ohms and, well, that's about 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. comes from a Greek word, hilus tarion, 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. Habakkuk I-XIII says, God is of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. God simply can't look upon sin. And Ecclesiastes chapter three in verse fifteen says, God requires that which is past. Now be, it is God's word because blood must be shed.
to answer to the holiness of God. In Leviticus XVI, fourteen to seventeen, he tells us that he has given us the blood upon the altar to make an atonement for our souls. He said this in the Old Testament. And in Hebrews nine twenty-two, he says without shedding of blood is 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 humor. But this is perfectly ridiculous when we think of the God of heaven. Because First John four, eight and ten says that God is love. God is already friendly disposed toward us. God is kindly disposed toward us. God wants to save us. The whole idea of salvation originated with God. It was God who loved the world enough to send His only begotten Son.
You see? So it's very wrong. To think of propitiation as being something that appeases God, gets him back into good humor. It isn't that at all. It's simply that it is necessary because of his holy character if 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 righteously, and I emphasize that word, he righteously answered for sins both past and future.
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 offering. And the first act of the Lord Jesus as our high priest was to make propitiation for our sins. 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 mercy seat. Let me explain 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 was kept the Holy Commandments. And over the top of that, as a lid, was a solid gold thing called a mercy seat with a golden angel on each end of it.
And these angels were called cherubim. They were the angels who guarded 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 sprinkled on the mercy seat. Now this was the meeting place of God with man. 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 kindliness 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 only because the Lord Jesus gave himself for us. In the Old Testament it was a mercy seat where they put 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 profitiated at the mercy seat. In Luke eighteen and verse thirteen, the last point in this section. The publican, the Lord Jesus said, Pray to prayer. God be merciful to me a sinner. Now sometimes preachers say, This is the sinner's prayer. Now this is all wrong. Because what he was saying was this. The word merciful there is exactly the same word translated mercy seat. 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. He wasn't just saying have mercy. God can't have mercy. I say this reverently, but it's absolutely true. God cannot have mercy on any other righteous ground than the shedding of blood. There must be something done about sins 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 katalaso, 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've made lots of mistakes and so have you, so let's just shake hands on this and forget it. That's a possible way of reconciliation between friends. Joseph wanted more than that of his brothers. He insisted on finding out whether his brothers had changed any or not. And of course, God insists on certain things before there could 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 conditions between God and man. Now one, reconciliation is manward, just as propitiation was Godward. 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 with man. It is manward because God does not need to be reconciled. God doesn't do anything against us. We're the ones who did everything that's wrong. God doesn't need to change. His attitude is right. His thoughts to us, as he says 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, saith 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 manward 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 and fifteen tells us this very plainly.
The casting away of the Jews results in the reconciling of the world. Does that mean the whole world is saved? No, it just means the door is opened wide enough for the whole world to get in. That's what it means. So whenever you read about reconciliation of the whole world, remember that this is potential. It is only actual when it's received. Here's an illustration. And this happened one time in the history of England. There were many deserters from the army. And Queen Victoria, I believe it was, issued a proclamation which was sent round the world that any deserter from the British army who would apply at a recruiting station before a certain deadline would be immediately pardoned.
what she did was to issue a proclamation which gives a blanket pardon to all deserters. Now, were they all pardoned? Well, no. Some of them didn't go to the place they were afraid it was a trick, or they were afraid that, or else they were too busy, or else, you know, whatever it was, they didn't go and apply, so it didn't come to them. So reconciliation is for the whole world, but it becomes... effective only after it is received. So, it is judicial. 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 brought together in one body. And the church is composed of both Jews and Gentiles, who are now reconciled to each other as well as to God. But our second section tells us, under the third division of reconciliation, this tells us that it was accomplished by Christ at the cross.
In Romans five, then we read that we are reconciled by the death of his son. By the death of his son. 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 son. 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 that two men were not willing to be reconciled to each other except over the death of their loved one.
But how much more serious it is that it cost the death of our blessed Lord to bring us back to himself. Now it was not only accomplished by Christ and the cross, but it was accomplished in full fellowship with his Father. Because Second Corinthians five and 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 appended here saying that the revised version reads reconciliation. It says by whom we have received the atonement. But the word atonement is an Old Testament word. 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 kaffar, 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 put 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 Queen offering the pardon to all who apply and you and I must apply and this brings us to section four of our study our responsibility 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 real nice guy and I wish he'd just take me in and make me his child I have no rights whatever in that field so I must come by the channel that he has made for me and one this is to acknowledge our distance from God Ephesians two thirteen says you who were once far off are now made nigh by the blood of Christ now this is especially hard to do if you've been religious all your life you and a church member I
knew a man who was a preacher and a good one and a successful one they made him state evangelist but he was not saved he had never been reconciled to God I said how did How can you explain this? You preached, you preached a very clear gospel, and people were converted to your preaching. And you say you weren't saved. He said, I explained it in the same way that a doctor may die of the very disease that he specializes in 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 I'd gone to seminary, and I didn't think I needed it.
Well, every person then must acknowledge this. Remember that it was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. We call him a preacher to whom the Lord Jesus said, Marvel not that I said unto 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, but 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, verse seven to nine.
You'll notice that this passage tells us that with their lips they confess me, but their hearts are far from him. And then point out to you that the carnal 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, Through 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 shedding of the blood of Christ, by faith we believe what God has said. and we come to God by faith. Now this does not entail the motion 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 isn't in the Scripture at all. This business of asking somebody to get out of their seat and come to the front of the building or 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 toward God. It's all the motion of the heart. You 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'd say first of all, and to enjoy this 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 or because we have been negligent of spiritual things. We sort of feel ill at ease. But if you really believe you really understand what reconciliation means, that we are right now to God, then you can enjoy this nearness. Now this nearness is A to God. Romans five and ten tells us that he has brought us to God. And B, it is a nearness to others in Christ. No matter what we may have been, in our natural state, Perhaps you and I would never have known each other and wouldn't even have cared to.
Now here we are because of reconciliation. We are right with God and therefore we are right with each other. And we should understand and enjoy this. Now the fourth point is to serve in the ministry of reconciliation. This is given to us of God. In Second Corinthians 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 been made right with God, you have the privilege and the responsibility of telling other people how they too can be reconciled with God. So, B tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. You'll find this in the twentieth verse of this same section, Second Corinthians five and verse twenty. We are ambassadors for Christ. It says, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. And I have made a note here that we do not decide to become ambassadors.
I went through 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 were saved, you are an ambassador. You may be a poke one. You may be a very unfaithful one. You may not be working at the job. As the little boy said, when someone asked you if his father was a Christian, he said, well, yes, but he isn't working at it right now. And this is true of many of us, but we are ambassadors, however poor we may be. Many an ambassador has had to be recalled for one reason or another.
But we are ambassadors. We have a responsibility, according to verse twenty. And this is the third point. We are to beseech 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 dinner, and then said, now dinner's ready, will you come to the table? And I went in and got down beside my chair and looked up into the lady's face with soulful eyes and said, I'm so hungry, won't you please give me something to eat?
She'd think I was crazy. And the Bible plainly says, all things are ready, come. Salvation is a free gift which God asks you to accept. So never tell a sinner, to pray that God will save him. I don't say he doesn't save people who do that, but that's not correct. Because we are the ones, as Christians, we are the ones representing God and Christ. We are praying them. We are begging them to be reconciled to God. You get the point? The proclamation has come out from God.
God is offering the salvation and He's asking people to accept His Son. So what is there to pray about? Except to thank Him if we accept His gift. 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 who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Tell sinners not that they should get on the bandwagon, not that they should stand up for the Lord, not that they should, it would be good for them if they became Christians, but tell them that the Lord Jesus Christ has done the work for them.
Base it on the gospel. You see, rather than on a psychological appeal of some kind. Now this is the way we discharge our responsibility as serving in the Ministry of Reconciliation.