The Cross of Christ

On your tables, you'll find some bibles.

Or if you have your own, please open the bible to Roman chapter 5, just Page 11 32 in the Church Bible, Romans 5, and we're going to read verses 1 to 11. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die, but god demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him?

For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now received reconciliation. Thanks, Ben. Some magnificent passage, isn't it?

So full of wonderful truth there, and you could do a whole series, I think, on those 11 verses. And yet, we're just going to be focusing this evening on those last couple of verses. Where you will have picked up perhaps the repetition of the word reconciliation. That's our theme this evening. We're looking at doctrines of the cross.

We have been for the past couple of months, thinking about all that Jesus did for us on the cross, these big words that we've been opening up together, and reconciliation is our is our word for the evening. If you are a student joining us this evening, you're very welcome. If you haven't been before, we do have a group after this evening service called students on Sunday. We meet in 1 of the back rooms for some food and a bible study, and we're gonna be thinking more about this theme of reconciliation this evening, but from a different passage. In colossians.

So if you're a student, very welcome to join us after the service. And as we get going, let's let's let's pray together, so pray. Heavenly father, we thank you that you are the God of reconciliation. That you are the 1 who has come to make peace with your enemies through the Lord Jesus. And we thank you that that is really the great treasure and the great prize of the gospel that we can be reconciled to you our great God.

And we pray that you would help us not merely just to understand these things this evening, but to love the reality of them, to love the truth of them, to enjoy the relationship that we can have with you to be more committed to declaring the message of reconciliation to this world, which is at war with you, and yet can come to terms of peace through the Lord Jesus. Help us we pray in his name. Oh, man. Oh, man. Rosita Forbes was was an English traveler and explorer of the last century, and I don't know an awful lot about her, to be honest, but what I do know sounds amazing.

So she was a traveler. She she covered a vast parts of the world writing about them and and doing so in her journal. And this is this is a a kind of word of recommendation from 1 of the books that was written about her travels. And this is called the book is called from The Sahara to Samacanth, which I think is in Uzbek. I had to look it up because I didn't know that.

And on the back of the book, it says, almost a century ago, Rosita Forbes, The bride of an adulterous Scottish army officer pawned her wedding ring, bought a horse, a revolver, and a camera, and embarked on what would be a long adventurous career as a travel writer. She sounds great, doesn't she? You know, her husband commits adultery so she thinks, forget it. I'm gonna pawn my wedding ring. What can I get with the money?

Revolver camera horse, and I'm going around the world, and I'm gonna write about the world. And I I I haven't actually fully read any of her books, but I'm sure I'm sure her observations were fascinating. She she spent a lot of time apparently in in in China, And she writes about 1 occasion where she was in a Chinese village, and she had nowhere to sleep. There was nowhere for her to sleep that evening in the village And so she bunked for the night in in a temple, in a Chinese temple, and she writes about that experience of spending the night in a Chinese temple And and she says this, she talks about how she awoke in the middle of the night, and the moonlight was slanting in through the window. On the faces of the images of the gods, and on every face was a snarl and a sneer.

As of those who hated men. And I find that quite a powerful image. I find it very easy to imagine her lying there in this temple at night with the moonlight slanting through the windows and illuminating the faces of these stone and wood gods all around her. And as the moonlight shines on their faces, she sees them snarling and sneering. She sees the faces of those who hate men.

These were gods that she could not really know or understand these were gods that looked down on mankind, and they looked down with disdain. They despised man. They sneered at man and snarled at man. God's who would never want to really know us. And I wonder sometimes if if we can think a bit like that about the true God, that if the light was to shine upon his face, if we could see his face, it would be a snarl.

It would be the face of a sneering God, 1 who We cannot know 1 who we cannot really understand, but we know this at least that he despises man, and he despises the creation. I wonder if lots of people, even even Christians, think like that about God. I think lots of us sometimes live under the suspicion that if we could see the face of God as he looks at us, it would be 1 of disapproval and and sneering and snarling and a bit a bit fed up with us. Think that's true, isn't it? We can often think that as God sees our lives, that's that's the expression that he would have on his face.

And yet that just cannot be made to fit with what we find here. The face of a snarling God is not the face that we encounter in this part of Romans 5. This part, as you will have seen in the reading, is all about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about what he has done for us on the cross. That through faith in him, we can be justified and declared to be right with the living God.

It reminds us of the power of his resurrection We will be saved because of his resurrection life. It tells us about the new life that we now have because of Christ. We have a life of peace and grace we stand in grace before God our father, and Paul wants us to know that all of this is a demonstration of God's love for us. That the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to change our attitude, change God's attitude towards us, He came to show us what it is and always has been, an attitude of love. That when Jesus came into this world, he didn't do so to turn God's snarl into a sneer and to a smart it's I knew I was gonna get that wrong.

Turn his snarl into a smile. But he actually came to display the love of God for us. That's what we see in this in this passage. Romans 5 verse 8 tells us that God demonstrates his own love for us in this. That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And so here, the light comes through the window of the bible, and it illuminates the face of Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. And on his face, we just see love that is as vast as an ocean. Coming to rescue his people. In this series, as I said, we've been looking at these that these big words which all reveal God's love for us. Words like expiation, god taking our sin away from us, propitiation, satisfying, his own wrath.

We've looked at his victory over evil and satan. All of these are expressions of his love for us, and all of them are leading somewhere. That's the key point tonight. These are not just things that God does for us. He does them for purpose.

He does them for a reason. He takes our sin away, satisfies his own wrath, defeats satan and evil, 4 8 for an end for a purpose. And that is that we might be reconciled to the living God, that we might stand in grace, enjoy his peace, and boast in that boast in our reconciliation. That's how Paul puts it, isn't it? In verse 11.

We boast in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. That's where it's that's where it's all been going. And actually, I hope what we're gonna see this evening is that all of these other words without reconciliation, lead to no gospel at all. So expiation sin taken away without a relationship with God at the end of it is no gospel. Propreciation, God satisfying his wrath against our sin, but not bringing us into friendship with himself is no gospel.

Christ defeating Satan, well, that's great news. We want him defeated but unless we're rescued from the reign and rule of Satan and brought into relationship with God is no gospel. It's all leading towards this. The the vastness of God's love for us, the smile of God's face toward us, is seen not only in the other words, but in the results, was it all for? That we might be reconciled to God.

And what makes this so remarkable is how we have actually treated God. And if we read Roman's from the beginning, we we we would have seen that. So in in Romans 1, particularly verses 18 to 32, Paul tells us very clearly that we are the ones with snarling faces. That we are the ones who sneer and look with disdain upon the God who made us. That's how he describes it.

He talks about how we've suppressed the knowledge of God. That in this universe, God has written large across the heavens, that there is an eternal, all powerful, divine being, that he has written that into the skies. They proclaim The glory of his name. Day after day, they pour forth knowledge. They say to us, there is a God.

He's great. He's glorious. You should worship him. And we suppress it, and we push it down, and we don't wanna listen to it. And we'd rather give our glory to something else.

He goes on to say that. Not only if we suppress the knowledge of God, we've exchanged the glory of God for other things. We've taken all the worship and adoration that rightly belongs to God and we channeled it towards other things that aren't God, things like ourselves, and images, and treasures of this life. And then he describes how we've just been so unthankful to God. We've refused to thank him.

It's quite a startling way to prove our depravity, isn't it? You haven't been thankful to God. He's made you. He's loved you. He's put a conscience within you.

He's given you a world around you. So much and you haven't given thanks to him. And so what Paul has been showing us is that we haven't just done a a few military exercises nearby God. You know, we haven't just rattled our saber around him to threaten him We we we have declared all out war on him. We have gone to war against him.

In our sinfulness. And for that, Paul goes on to say that we deserve his condemnation. It's different from the kind of sneering, despising, but we do deserve the holy anger of the Holy God for how we treated him. And yet, this is the love that is as vast as the ocean. That even though we declared war on him, He did not declare war on us.

Instead, he sent his own son for peace. To make peace with us. And on his son, when he died on the cross, he laid all of the unthankfulness and all of the suppression of truth. And all of the exchanging him for other things, all of that was laid upon Jesus. And he died for us at the cross.

So that we might have peace with God. He did it so that we might be reconciled. To God so that the war might end, and the weapons might be put down, and that we might have peace with the Lord. In verse 1, it says, therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God. It's remarkable, isn't it?

That we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10, for if while we were God's enemies, there's war language here. We were reckoned sides to him through the death of his son, how much more having been reconciled? Are we gonna be saved through his life? 1 Peter 3 18, another verse from the bible, says Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.

And why did he do that? To bring you to God. We're gonna sing a wonderful song at the end of this service which just puts it so perfectly. By your perfect sacrifice, I've been brought near your enemy, you've made your friend. That's reconciliation.

1 definition that I found online says this about reconciliation. And it's lacking. The process of 2 people or groups in a conflict agreeing to make amends or come to a truce. So much more than that, isn't it? So much more than that.

This isn't about 2 individuals or groups agreeing to come to a truce. Agreeing to lay their weapons down and not pursue hostilities anymore. This isn't just about making amends. I been brought near your enemy, you've made your friend. This is into wonderful, intimate, relationship.

That's what reconciliation is all about. It's dealing with the thing, the wrong, the sin that's separating, dealing with it, to restore, to reconcile 2 people together, to a proper, intimate, safe relationship. That's what reconciliation is about. But it also means this. I found this online as well, and it's a bit better, I think.

The action of making 1 view or belief compatible with another. The action of making 1 view or belief compatible with another. And you may have heard it used in that sense when people say, look, our views on this just can't be reconciled. You know, we've talked about it, we've explained it, we've argued it through our views on this are too different, they can't be reconciled. But here's what Paul says in the new testament.

It's quite amazing. He says, the natural man does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God. But we have the mind of Christ. In other words, he's saying that to be reconciled to God, means that we begin to see things as they are. Our thinking becomes like his thinking.

So I begin to see myself as I really am. That I'm a fallen sinner. That's really true. And I begin to understand that that war I was waging on him was not as just as I thought it was. It was actually motivated by my wickedness.

It was an unrighteous war that I was waging against him. I begin to see the culture as it really is. Lots of needs, But greatest of all, peace with God because we are at war with God. I begin to see my culture as it really is. I begin to see God as he really is.

Not something to be domesticated, not something that I can put in my pocket and get out whenever I have a religious itch. Not something I can ignore most of the time as I listen to my own counsel, but as the holy, all mighty, all powerful, all seeing, all knowing, righteous God and yet 1 who has moved towards me in love. I begin to see God as he really is. I begin to see the gospel as it really is. Not foolishness, but the wisdom and the power of God, the power of God for the salvation of all who will believe.

In other words, God in His love both reconciles us to himself in relationship and reconciles us to his way of thinking. We begin to see things as they really are. That's 1 of the fruits of reconciliation. The natural man does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God. But we have the mind of Christ.

That is the prize of the gospel. Reconciliation, relationship, and seeing things with crystal clear clarity, seeing things as they really are. Now, with that little introduction out the way. I've got 5 points on reconciliation. They're all short, and they're more like applications.

So don't worry. The first is this and you might I I've actually left the clicker down there, Paul. So if you could flick it on, we'll probably see a face of a snarling snarling god. There he is. That's not like the true god.

Thank you. The scope of reconciliation is cosmic. That's the first thing. The scope of reconciliation is cosmic. Collossians 1 19, says God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things.

Whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross, the scope of reconciliation is cosmic. Not only does Paul tell us that sinners, right now, individual sinners, can be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. He tells us here that 1 day all demonic power in the heavens and the earth, all the sin which does so much harm, and all rebellion, and all the curse on creation is going to be gone and the prince of peace is going to reign forever upon the earth. And Paul says, it is through the cross that that is achieved, that human history and cosmic history and the liberation of the world is the blood of the cross, that Christ has purchased a new world through his cross. 1 1 quote says this, can we have this quote up Paul?

Thank you. It says a gigantic rupture taken place, dislocating the relationship between God and man, and throwing into disarray the whole created order the world knows no settled peace, futility and decay are the hallmarks of creation, hostility and evil are the hallmarks of mankind. Futility and decay are the hallmarks of creation. Hostility and evil are the hallmarks of mankind. What can be done?

Cinders can be saved, and the world can be liberated through the blood of the cross because of the blood of the cross. God has reconciled to himself all things through the blood of the cross. That's the first thing, the scope is just cosmic. Secondly, the hope of reconciliation is eternal. Back to Romans and have a look with me at verse 9 of Romans 5.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, How much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, How much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life? And here, Paul is doing that I'm gonna argue from the lesser to the greater thing. I'm gonna argue from the lesser to the greater. And so he's saying, look, Basically, if the really hard thing has already been done, how much more the easy thing?

Not that you can really put it that, but if the hard thing has been done, 1 achieved, how much more the easy thing? If we have been justified by the blood of Christ and declared right before God, will we not be saved as well? Of course we will if God could do that. And he can certainly do that. If we've been reconciled through his death, what about when we see him in his resurrection life?

Will we not be saved through him? This hope is eternal. Reconciliation is something to be enjoyed now, but it carries great for the future. When Jesus Christ brings all of his children to the father for inspection, they will found they will be found to be above reproach. No longer his enemies, but his friends his friends, his children, his brothers, his sisters, adopted, bought near because of reconciliation.

That's the hope that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. That's the hope that God has poured into our hearts through His love. That we would know hope now and hope then. The hope of reconciliation is eternal and the scope of it is cosmic. Thirdly, the fruit of reconciliation is to be preserved.

The fruit is to be preserved. Now, we've spent all of our time so far on God's love for us in reconciling us to himself. But the new testament also tells us that through the cross, God has reconciled us to 1 another. That we have become 1 new humanity through the blood of the cross. That's a fruit of reconciliation.

Paul puts it perhaps clearest of all in Ephesians chapter 2. Christ himself is our peace, who has made the 2 groups 1 and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. By setting aside his in his flesh the law with his commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself 1 new humanity out of the 2 thus making peace, and in 1 body to reconcile both of them to God, through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. Now that we don't have or we may not have tensions that are as furious as those that existed between June and Denjal in in the first century.

But we must work hard to preserve the fruit of reconciliation that we have peace with 1 another through the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we want different cultures here in the church? We really want that. It's great to have a Spanish speaking ministry starting we want to reach the nations. Do we want people from different backgrounds in the church?

We very much we very much want that. Do we want people with different personalities? We really want that. But do we want the kind of differences that divide us? We don't want that.

We don't want that. Because Jesus shed his blood on the cross, to make a new humanity to reconcile us to 1 another. The verse the verse there verse 16, where he says that is it it it's very strong. Some translations have it. That he's reconciled both to God in 1 body through the cross, thereby killing hostility.

Reconciliation in the church in God's eyes is something worth dying for. He shed his blood. That's how important it is to make us united around the cross. And so therefore, if we if we feel the beginnings of war inside us for another brother and sister, if we feel like taking up arms against them. Then we need to go back to the cross and lay those arms down.

Because according to God, that was a hill worth dying on. To bring the church together through the blood of the cross. That's worth fighting for. That's worth preserving. The fruit of it is worth preserving.

Fourthly, the message of reconciliation is to be preached. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, God 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. Now when you read the old testament, you see that 1 of the things the false prophets used to say all the time was peace peace when there is no peace.

They would go around and tell the people of God, look, it's fine. You know, God's at peace with you. Peace peace. There's no judgment coming. God loves you.

He's happy with your sacrifices. He likes the sort of worship that you're offering. He doesn't mind a little bit of idolatry here and there. Peace peace. Peace peace when there is no peace.

And that message rings out today, doesn't it? Peace here, peace there, peace peace. You can find peace God is not angry. People look for peace everywhere. If you just type in on Amazon in the search box in a in a piece.

It's big business in a piece. I mean, there are there are there are well over 10000 search results for for inner peace. I was looking through them. In the last couple of days, they're they're incredible. All all these sort of methods of achieving in a piece.

Yesterday afternoon, for some reason, I was watching I can't remember what it was called, like garden disaster or something. It was 1 of these Saturday afternoon programs that comes on after escape to the country. And it was about having your garden done up, and this was 1 of the things that the people wanted. They wanted a a a pergola where they could have they could have a sort of a tranquil space in their garden where they could meditate and find in a peace and have words around it which would encourage inner peace. It's big business.

People want inner peace. How can we ever be at peace with ourselves? If we're at war with the living God. Until we come to terms with him there is no peace. There's no peace.

Whatever peace that there is on offer, is like a light dusting of snow on the ground. Just an hour or 2, and then it's gone. This message that we have to preach is 1 of reconciliation. It is 1 of true and lasting peace with God. And when we've got peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We tend to find that all the other things fall into place as well. That's the message. Until we come to terms with God. There is no peace. And so our message to the world is we we we declare to you on God's behalf.

Be reconciled to God. Come and enjoy the peace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be reconciled to him while you can. The message of reconciliation is to be preached. Lastly, the God of reconciliation is to be trusted. He is to be trusted.

And it's it is wonderful really standing up here and and looking out and and just knowing because of the relationships that exist here in the church, knowing that so many of you have been reconciled to God. And you have you have known God's love for you at the cross and you're friends with him. And you know peace with him and or and the fruit and the joy of a life of peace with God. And yet, there are also people that I, you know, don't recognize here that come in the evening services, that come and go. And, you know, if that's you and you're you're you're new here and you're not sure about Christian faith.

Can I ask, you know, do do you know you you might be at war with God if you're not a Christian? That you actually are at war with God. I mean, look how it's put in colossians 1 21. Hopefully, this will come up. I'm not sure if I actually maybe I didn't.

No. It says this. Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds, as expressed in your evil actions. How do we know that by nature we're hostile towards God in our minds? It's expressed in our evil actions.

This is not just apathy that's being talked about here. It's not just that we're apathetic towards God. And we're not really bothered about and we might investigate him at some point in the future. We're antagonistic towards him. We're warlike against him in our sin.

That we suppress the knowledge of him, really, that we exchange his glory for rivals, that we fail to give thanks to him. This is hostility of the mind This is war like behavior in the heart. This is how the bible describes us. And yet, look at the face of God in Romans chapter 5. And you see not a snarl, but just just love.

Just a God who is willing you to come. The work has been done and God is willing. Jesus Christ has died and risen again for you. God has accepted his sacrifice. We had no part to play in this reconciliation.

God did it. God stepped in with peace. God came to bridge the gap. We didn't have a part to play in it. All that's left is to accept it.

There's an old prayer from a book of old prayers, and it's it's called reconciliation. And in it, it says this, that the person is talking to God. And they're saying, if you The offended parts or the offended party perhaps act first with the word of appeasement. I need not call into question thy willingness to save. It's wonderful, isn't it?

You know, if if God has acted first. If he has come with terms of peace. If Jesus stepped into this world to reconcile us to God, if he took the initiative in stopping the war and making us friends again. Then we need not call into question, his willingness to save us. He's already come for that purpose.

There we go. That's where he's come. To save. So we're going to we're going to leave it there. 5 points.

The scope of reconciliation is cosmic The hope of reconciliation is eternal. The fruit of reconciliation is to be preserved. It's work work hard to preserve it. The message of reconciliation is to be preached, and the God of reconciliation is to be trusted. It's pray together.

We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now received. Reconciliation. Father we thank you for the scope of reconciliation. That work that your son did on the cross is just massive in its scale.

And its implications that when your son on that good Friday shed his blood on the cross. Not only does it mean that individuals like us can come to peace with you. But in that moment, as your blood was shed, you reconciled the world to yourself through Christ. Thank you that his perfect reign of peace is coming. And that all evil and wickedness will be banished from that place, and this new liberated creation will be free for us to enjoy with you.

We thank you father that the hope of reconciliation is eternal. That not only do we now stand in grace and in peace, not only do we have hope in this life? But we have hope to come that 1 day you will save us. Through the life of your son who died for us. What a great hope.

We thank you lord for the fruit of reconciliation. For how you've not just brought us to you through the cross, but you've brought us to 1 another. Lord, we don't wanna fight against each other. We don't wanna divide. We don't wanna separate.

We don't wanna be cruel to each other. We don't want to, in our sin, attempt to undo what you have done. And so help us lord not to wage war against each other, but to work really hard to preserve the fruit of reconciliation. We thank you for our church. And for the for the amazing unity that we do share in the gospel, we thank you for the partnerships that we enjoy and the friendships and the fun that we have together.

All of that is a gift of your grace. And yet we hear stories, tragic stories of churches who fall out with 1 another and divide and separate lord preservice from it. Give us grace that we might be united still in the cross. And we thank you for this message of reconciliation which we can preach Help us to declare to the world, be reconciled to God. Father, sometimes it feels like we, you know, we just we just we miss our opportunities.

We don't wanna we get scared. We don't wanna say stuff. Lord help us to be bold with this message. It's what the world needs to to come to terms of peace with you. Help us to be bold with it.

And we thank you that you are the God of reconciliation and help each 1 of us to trust you. To come to peace with you and to enjoy the fruit of the gospel, an eternal relationship with you in Jesus' name, amen.