Work of Christ for Sinners

Work of Christ for Sinners

Work of Christ for Sinners

Colossians 1:20-23

We are going to see here the things Christ has done for us.

1. God for us in Christ

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven [Col. 1:20].

“Having made peace through the blood of his cross” means that by His paying the penalty on the cross for your sin and my sin, peace has been made between God and the sinner. God does not approach man today and say to him, “Look here, fellow, I’m against you. You have been rebelling against Me. You are a sinner, and I am forced to punish you for that.” No, God is saying something entirely different to the lost sinner today. He says to you and to me, “I have already borne the punishment, I have already paid the penalty for all your sin. I want you to know that you can come to Me.I do not want to punish you by separation in eternity I want to have you in Heaven with me for eternity. Peace has already been made in Christ Jesus, if you will just turn and come to Me.”

This is what Paul meant when he wrote,

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

Peace has been made through the blood of His cross. Paul puts forgiveness of sin right along with the blood of the cross. God can forgive because the penalty has already been paid. Jesus paid that penalty through the blood of His cross; therefore a righteous God can forgive you. God is not a disagreeable neighbor who is waiting around the corner to pounce on the sinner and to find fault with him. God has His arms outstretched and is saying, “Come, and I will give you redemption rest.” “By him to reconcile all things unto himself.” Reconciliation is toward man; redemption is toward God. God is saying to all men today, “I am reconciled to you. Now will you be reconciled to Me?” That is the decision a man must make. Paul explains this very clearly in his letter to the Corinthians.

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18–20).

A great many people have the idea that they must do something to win God over to them. My friend, God is trying to win you over—the shoe is on the other foot. God is reconciled. He is asking man to be reconciled to Him. “Reconcile all things”—some people take this statement and get the foolish notion that everybody is going to be saved. To understand this, we need to pay a little attention to the grammar that is here. What are the “all things”? We will see that it is limited to all things that are to be reconciled, those which are appointed for reconciliation.

Maybe it will help us if we look at Philippians 3:8 where Paul says, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… .” What are the “all things” here? Does Paul include everything in the whole world? No, it refers to all the things that Paul had to lose. In the verses just previous Paul had enumerated all the religious pluses which he had had in his life. It is all these things which Paul counted for loss. Paul couldn’t lose something that he didn’t have. “Whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” You will notice that Paul limits the “all things” that are appointed to reconciliation—he doesn’t mention things under the earth. In Ephesians 1:22 it says, “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.” What are the “all things” that are going to be put under His feet?

Well, in Philippians Paul wrote,

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil. 2:10).

Notice that all things are going to acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ—all things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth. That doesn’t mean that they are all reconciled. Paul makes no mention of things under the earth being reconciled to God. My friend, don’t listen to the deception, the siren song, that all is going to work out well. Don’t think you can depend on God being nice and sweet and pleasant like a little old lady. Things in heaven and in earth are reconciled to God, but not the things under the earth. The things under the earth will have to bow to Him, but they are not reconciled to Him at all. This is the place and this is the life in which we need to be reconciled to God. “Things in heaven”—not only must we be made ready for heaven, but heaven must be made ready to receive us.

The Lord Jesus said, “… I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

By the Incarnation God came down to man; by the blood of Jesus man is brought up to God. This blood also purifies things in heaven according to

Hebrews 9:23–24. (Heb 9:23) It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

(Heb 9:24) For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Heaven must also be reconciled.

2. What you once were

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled [Col. 1:21].

God did not wait until we promised to scrub our faces, put on our Sunday clothes, and go to Sunday school before He agreed to do this work of reconciliation. It was while you and I were in rebellion against Him, while we were doing wicked works, that He reconciled us to Himself. No man can say, “I’m lost because God has not made adequate provision for me.” A man is lost because he wants to be lost, because he is in rebellion against God.

“That were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind.” This reminds us that there is a mental alienation from God as well as a moral alienation. A great many people think that men are lost because they have committed some terrible sin. The reason people are lost is that their minds are alienated from God. You know I have a few times come across people who I am trying to witness to or to invite here to Church even before I became your Pastor that just shut me down right off, I mean just shut me off. One couple just blatantly said we are not into that God stuff leave us alone!! The one that really gets me well they all do but when they say I have given my time already now my time is my time!!

Or the time I was giving my testimony to an old friend and he said what really, they let you in the door! wow I got stories to tell them!

I think this explains the fierce antagonism toward God on the part of the so-called intellectuals of our day. There is an open hatred and hostility toward God.

Some time ago J Vernon Mgee had the funeral of a certain movie star in California. The Hollywood crowd came to the funeral. One of the television newscasters commented on the funeral, and he appreciated what he had to say about it. He said, “Today Hollywood heard something that it had never heard before.” But he also saw something there at that funeral that he had never seen before. He had never seen so much hatred in the eyes of men and women as he saw when he attempted to present Jesus Christ and to explain how wonderful He is and how He wants to save people. There is an alienation in the mind and heart of man.

Now the favorite thing they do is separation of church and state! No prayer before any government meetings!!

A few years ago, I opened up the Fireman’s Pasta Feed with a prayer to bless the food and the evening, David has as well in the past and I believe Bob has also well I had a couple of family`s complain about the prayer stating it was no place to have it stating separation of church and state! I told them sorry they felt that way, but their argument had no substance.

3. Where you now Stand

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight [Col. 1:22].

“The body of his flesh”—here is an explicit declaration that Christ suffered—not just in appearance—but He suffered in a real body. This directly countered one of the heresies of Gnosticism in Paul’s day. “To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” Unblameable means “without blemish.” That was the requirement of the sacrificial animal in the Old Testament. You and I cannot present perfection to God, and God cannot accept anything short of perfection. That is the reason we cannot be saved by our works or by our character. We simply cannot meet the demands of a righteous God. But He is able to present us unblameable. Why? Because He took our place.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Unreproveable means “unaccusable or unchargeable.” God is the One who justified us. If God declares us to be justified, who can bring any kind of a charge against us? He is the One who has cleared us of all guilt.

4. How you must go on

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister

[Col. 1:23].

This is not a conditional clause that is based on the future. The if that Paul uses here is the if of argument. It does not mean that something shall be if something else is true; rather it means

that something was if something else is true. We would say, “Since ye continue in the faith grounded and settled.” Paul’s point is that we have been reconciled—it is an accomplished fact. So if you are a child of God today, you will continue in the faith grounded and settled. You will not be moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard. “Whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Paul loved to look back and rest in his glorious privilege of being a minister of Jesus Christ. I consider that the greatest honor that can come to any person. I thank God every day for the privilege that He has given me of declaring His Word—there is nothing quite like that.