We'll invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. You can find that on page 966 of your Pew Bibles. I'm going to read 2 Corinthians 5, 16 through 21. Our sermon will focus on various aspects of verses 18 through 21. There's so much here, we're actually gonna tackle these verses over two sermons, so whatever you are hoping to hear tonight that you don't hear, Lord willing, you'll hear that next time. So 2 Corinthians, chapter five, starting at verse 16. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God. who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Praise God for this comforting gospel. Let's pray as we look into these verses here this evening. Blessed Lord, You have caused your holy scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that having read them and heard them, that we might learn, that we might inwardly digest them, and that through the comfort of your holy word, that we may embrace and hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, I'm sure this doesn't apply to all the kids here. I'm sure it's just my kids or when I was growing up. That's some sarcasm there. The kids, I'm asking you when you're on a really long car ride or some of us will think back to those joyous times. Do you ever fight with your brother or your sister in the car? You ever have arguments and things as you go? You know, stop touching me. This is my personal space. This is your personal space. It's my turn to sit there. It's my turn to pick what we're going to watch on this long drive, or, and I'm thinking of specific people here, and I'm not calling you out because this was me too, all right, or you're bored. and you need to find a way to entertain yourself. So then you start harassing and poking the people next to you. I still do that in session meetings even now. But does this sound like the kinds of things that happen in your car on long drives? Yes, some of you? Well, in parents, we get frustrated with the conflict, because especially in that small, confined space, it's very obnoxious, and things come out of our mouth, not terrible things, but things like, knock it off, don't make me come back there, I'm gonna pull over. Don't make me turn this car around. I always wanted to see if that would happen. It never did. Or perhaps maybe for some of you, and kids don't rat your parents out, but your mom or dad turns into an elastic man or woman and somehow reaches back and whacks you. I don't remember a lot about my dad, but I remember he could do that. As parents, we just want peace in the car, but the kind of peace that we really want, you wouldn't classify that as true peace or true reconciliation. What we really want is just a lack of conflict. We want a temporary ceasefire. We want the space between seats to serve as some kind of demilitarized zone for the car ride. Well, this is similar to the world's idea of what peace and reconciliation means. The dictionary does not have a very good definition of reconciliation. It says, when former enemies agree to an amicable truce. See, reconciliation occurs when two parties are at war with each other and then they just agree to stop fighting and we're just gonna be at peace now. That's basically the world's view of reconciliation. It's being satisfied with just no more fighting. Well, this idea of reconciliation falls far short of what the Bible teaches about God's reconciliation with sinful man. The Bible teaches us that it's much more than this. And as those who are sinners by birth and by choice, who are naturally, apart from Christ, at war with God, who are enemies of God, we know that we need a lot more than just a ceasefire. We need more than a temporary reprieve or just a delay until judgment. We need complete restoration of our broken relationship with our Creator. And the restoration or the reconciliation of this broken relationship, this is the great theme of the entire Bible. Well, Paul wants to make sure that we understand that the gospel is the ministry of reconciliation. Our theme tonight, the gospel is the good news that man's broken relationship with God has been more than restored through the work of our Lord Jesus. We have two points this evening. First, we'll see that reconciliation is a work of God alone. And second, we'll see that reconciliation is made possible through the work of Christ alone. Now the first truth that we learn from our passage this evening is that God is the sole actor. God is the initiator. He's the one who does the work of fixing our broken relationship with Him. The work of reconciliation between God and man, it's one-sided. The theological term that we use to describe this one-sided work of God is we say that it's monergistic, that it's the work of one party. That means that salvation is the work of God alone. And in verse 18, Paul starts by saying this when he says, all this is from God. It's clear that God is the source, but the source of what? All this. What is all of this? Well, all of this is the truth that we just explored in verses 16 and 17 last week in the AM service, that if you are in Jesus Christ, you're a new creation. You're already a part of the new heavens and the new earth and the old things have passed away and the new has come. All of this is also everything that Paul has said up to this point in the letter about our salvation in Jesus Christ. Church Father John Chrysostom explains what he thinks of when he reads, all of this is from God. And this is a beautiful description. He says, This means that nothing is of ourselves, for remission of sins and adoption and unspeakable glory are given to us by him. But behold, a new soul, for it was cleansed, and also a new body, and a new worship, and new promises, and covenant, and life, and table, and dress, all things are absolutely new. For instead of the Jerusalem below, we have received that mother city which is above. And instead of a material temple, we have seen a spiritual temple. Instead of tables of stone, fleshy tables. Instead of circumcision, baptism. Instead of manna, the Lord's body. Instead of water from a rock, blood from his side. Instead of Moses and Aaron's rod, the cross. Instead of the promised land, the kingdom of heaven. Instead of a thousand priests, one high priest. Instead of a lamb without understanding, a spiritual lamb. All these things are of God by Christ and His free gift. All of these things, this is the all of this. And Paul makes it clear that the work of restoring our relationship with God is not two parties who are at war agreeing to come together to make peace, but it's the offended party that's the initiator and doing the work of reconciliation. If you still have your Bibles open, just glance through with me verses 18 through 21. Look at all the things that God is doing in these verses. All is from God. God is the source. God is the one reconciling us through Christ. God gives the gift of the ministry of reconciliation. God is reconciling the world to himself. God is not counting trespasses against sinners. God entrusts this message to the Apostle Paul. God ordains the ambassadors to carry this message. God himself makes an appeal to sinners. God made Jesus to be sin for us. And our Lord Jesus gives us the very righteousness of God. All of these actions are of God. And this is only three verses. Salvation, it's clear, is from God alone. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. Jesus is the only path that sinners have to have peace with God. And it's the name of Jesus alone, and in his name alone, that we have assurance of salvation. Before Christ, left to our own devices, we do not seek out God. It's God himself that comes down to us to rescue us from the pit of despair. God is the initiator. He's the source of our reconciliation. And if he wasn't, then none of us would ever seek it. None of us would ever be reconciled. God, the offended party, he's the one that seeks out and accomplishes reconciliation. Our Lord fixes the broken relationship that we have with him. Oftentimes, some of us will know from our experience as we came to Christ that oftentimes we're complaining, kicking, and screaming along the way, and yet God still reconciles us to himself through Christ. This approach to reconciliation is very different than the approach of the world because it's one-sided and the offending party is doing all the work to make reconciliation happen. The closest biblical illustration that we could probably think of of a picture in the Old Testament of what God is doing here as the one who's the pursuer and doing all the work comes to us from the book of Hosea. We don't have time to read a lot of it. I'm just going to give you a summary. Most of us are familiar with the story. But to try and get Israel to see the error of their ways and turn back to the Lord, God has Hosea live out an object lesson. an object lesson that shows God's love for Israel. He instructs Hosea to take a prostitute to be his wife. This is someone who is undeserving and unclean and unfaithful. And even though she's married to Hosea, she continues to be unfaithful, and yet Hosea is instructed to keep going after her, to go get her and bring her back. The reconciliation here is one-sided. The offended party, Hosea, does all the work in restoring his relationship with his wife, and she just keeps trying to leave. We never read of her expressing remorse or regret or even saying thank you. Well, this is a picture of what God has done for sinners. And if you trust in Christ, this is what God has done for you. God has pursued you and done all the work necessary for reconciliation. You've contributed nothing to the restoring of this broken relationship because you had nothing and you didn't even know the relationship was broken and you didn't even desire reconciliation apart from Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God had to work in you first to open your eyes because you didn't even know you were at war with God. And as we understand what it means, then, that God alone is the one that has rescued us, saved us, and mended our broken relationship, even in spite of our opposition, and we cry out all the more, and why, Lord, why did you save me, such a sinner? But thank you that you did. Thank you for doing that work that even though I pushed you away as best I could, you came and sought me. We praise God that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We didn't want a relationship with God, but that didn't stop him from seeking us out. And what a God we have. What a Savior that pursues us, even when we don't want to be pursued, so that we might be friends with God. When we sing that hymn, this is the love that's so amazing, so divine. When we hear of God's love for us and pursuing us, then we want to know more about it. We want to know, Lord, how did you do it? We know God is loving, but he's also holy and is just. God couldn't just pretend that we didn't sin. The wages of sin is death. So Lord, how did you overlook our sin and trespasses? How'd you do that? Well, Paul goes on to tell us. In verse 19, we read, In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. Now, there's much discussion about what's the world here. Some people say the world is every person. Some say the world just refers to the elect, and some think of the world here as the whole creative order in the cosmos that needs saving from the effects of the fall. Well, when we have trouble figuring out a passage of Scripture, what it means, in this case what's world referring to, one of the things that we do is compare it to other clearer passages so that we might understand how to read this here. So if you want to look for a moment at Romans chapter 4, I'll read it. You can turn there if you like. But in Romans chapter 4, starting at verse 7, as Paul quotes Psalm 32, we start to get some clarity here on what Paul means by the world. Romans 4, 7, blessed are those who lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord does not count his sin. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, verse 11. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that the righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the father of all the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also who walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So one of the things Paul's getting at here, what he's getting at in Romans chapter 4, as he quotes Psalm 32 and then comments on it, is that the overlooking or the covering of sin is not only for the Jew who has been circumcised, but it's for the whole world here. The whole world meaning those who are also uncircumcised. For Abraham was saved, he was counted as righteous before he was circumcised. So it's for Jews and Gentiles. So Paul's saying the sins of believers from all nations will not be held against them. That's what he means by world here. And again, we wonder, how can this be? This is amazing grace to us. But how exactly have sinners been reconciled to a holy God? Well, we know the Sunday School answer, and it's not wrong, it's correct. The answer, of course, is Jesus. But specifically, what happened to our sins? Where did they go? Well, in verse 21, Paul tells us how this reconciliation transaction is made possible. In these few words, we have a summary of the gospel, and these are some of the most encouraging and beautiful words of the entire Bible. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Hear those words. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. Well, Hebrews 15 tells us that Jesus Christ was tempted in every way that we are, yet he was without sin. He didn't have any. In our Old Testament reading in Isaiah 53 verse 9, we read, of Jesus. He had done no violence. There was no deceit in his mouth. Our Lord Jesus was without sin. He did nothing to deserve God's wrath, but he still took it for us. God is holy and just. Sin can't just be ignored. It can't just be wiped under the rug. It must be paid for. And it must be paid for. It can't be paid for by somebody that's already a sinner, that already deserves judgment. It must be paid for by someone who doesn't deserve judgment. This makes sense to us if we think about it. A person convicted of murder who's already headed to prison for life, if they said to the judge, hey, my buddy just killed a couple of people as well, I'll take his life sentences as well. Not only would we say no, but we know why we'd say no. Because he wouldn't be paying for anything because he's already guilty. He's already spending his life in prison. Paying for his buddy's crimes would not, it wouldn't cost him anything. He already deserved what he had coming there. So Jesus then had to be without sin, because forgiveness is not free, it's costly, and Jesus paid the bill due for our sin with his own blood. For our sake, he was our substitute as he was made sin. This does not mean that Jesus was made to be a sinner. It means that Jesus paid the consequences for our sin in our place. In Galatians 3.13, we read of this. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Our Lord Jesus took the punishment that we deserved. He died in our place. Jesus paid for our sins so that our relationship with God might be restored. Christ's death on the cross. repaired our relationship with God. But Jesus didn't just make peace between sinners and God. He did even more than that. He made sure that this would be an everlasting peace. The second half of verse 21 says that, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus died on the cross for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. God's righteousness. Think about that for a moment. Christ suffered so that we might have the same righteousness that God himself has forever and ever. If you are in Christ, you are counted reckoned and seen as righteous, as righteous as Jesus himself. In fact, it's the very righteousness of Christ that you have right now. Now in Christ, because of his perfect obedience, as he obeyed the law perfectly, that's his righteousness. But now Jesus Christ, who is the righteous one, he's the righteous one, but now if you are in Christ, and he is yours, it is you, you are now the righteous one. How can we comprehend this? I am the righteous one? Yes, because you have Christ's righteousness. Well, how is this possible? It's this way because Jesus obeyed the entire law perfectly during his earthly life. He was judged, he was declared righteous and perfect, and now he gives that gift of righteousness to sinners. There are two transactions that take place at the cross. There's a double imputation. Christ takes something away from us and gives us something else. Christ takes our sin upon himself, and then he gives us his righteousness. Our sins are imputed, they are reckoned, they are given to Christ. And his righteousness is imputed, reckoned, and given to us, and now it is ours. So not only are we reconciled to God and made to be God's friend, we have the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. This is the doctrine of justification. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 33, says, what is justification? The answer, Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. God the Son has made reconciliation possible by taking our sins upon himself and paying for them, and as if that's not even gift enough, then he gives us his very righteousness. This is the good news. This is the gospel. This is our confidence. This is our comfort. This is how God has reconciled sinners to Himself. He's taken the initiative. He's removed all the barriers. He did all the work Himself so that we might have right relationship with Him. God hasn't just restored our relationship with Him, but He's also done what needed to be done to preserve that relationship for eternity, as we are the righteousness of God. Paul wants to make sure that we get this, that we understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, that for all who believe in Him, He's paid for your sins and given you His righteousness. And then if you understand this is what the work of Christ accomplishes, make sure that you believe it's true that this really happened. And then trust that Jesus has died for your sins. True faith is understanding the gospel, believing the gospel, plus trusting in Christ. Trust in Christ and His work on your behalf will be yours. tonight. You'll be God's friend, and not just His friend, but you will be the very righteousness of God. This is the full gospel. This is the good news of reconciliation. For all who believe the good news and trust in Christ, memorize this verse. When you feel Like how could God love a sinner like me? I sinned again. When we are faced with the wretchedness of our sin and we doubt God's love for us, let us remember our salvation is not based on our own feelings that day. It's based on something outside of us, and it's found in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Remember these words when you're doubting. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. For in this short verse, in these few words, the entire gospel of grace is contained and there's much comfort for our souls here. Last week we asked, what should you see when you look in the mirror? And we said you should see the new creation that you are in Jesus Christ. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, not only do you see new creation looking back at you, you also see someone who has now a completely restored relationship with your Heavenly Father. You aren't only on good terms with God, you're on the best of terms. So praise God, from whom all blessings flow, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. so that we might have everlasting friendship and peace with our God. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for this good news that we truly are born again, that we are a new creation, and that we can honestly say that you are our friend. Not just our friend, but our best friend. And not just a friend for now, but a friend forever and ever. Lord, we know there's nothing that we did to make this come about. Let that not only cause us to praise you and give thanks, but also to comfort us, knowing there's nothing we can do to lose your favor, that you are faithful, and that you will keep us. We thank you, Lord, that we are no longer at war with you, but have everlasting peace. We pray these things and ask your blessing in the name of the Prince of Peace, who secured this for us, amen.