"The Ministry of Reconciliation"
(No. 2837)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 28, 1903.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
8, 1887.
"And hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians
5:18.
THERE has been a long-standing quarrel between God and man. It
commenced in that day when our first parents hearkened to the serpent's
voice and believed the devil rather than their Maker. Yet God is not
willing for that quarrel to continue. According to the goodness of His
nature, He delights in love. He is the God of Peace and He has, on His
part, prepared everything that is necessary for a perfect
reconciliation. His glorious wisdom has devised a plan whereby, without
violating His Justice as the Judge of all the earth and without
tarnishing His perfect holiness, He can meet man upon the ground of
mercy and man can again become the Friend of God. That blessed work was
done long ago and now all that remains is that man should be reconciled
to God, that he should be willing to end the dispute and that his heart
should turn towards his Maker again in love, peace and perfect
reconciliation. He bids us, His ministers and, indeed, all His
servants–each according to his opportunity, experience, knowledge,
ability and Grace–to go abroad among the sons of men and exercise "the
ministry of reconciliation," to labor to bring men into harmony with
God, that they may be willing to accept what God has done toward the
making of an everlasting peace and ending, once and for all, this
grievous quarrel.
You notice, dear Friends, that Paul says that God "has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation," that is, to us men. He might have sent
angels to you with the Gospel, but, for a thousand reasons, it was
preferable that He should send to men by men. You also observe how the
Apostle reassures us by this message, for, if there were a war between
two countries, as, for instance, suppose our country should unhappily
be at war with France, it would be a token that we desired peace if the
ambassador whom we sent to France was a Frenchman who had become
domiciled among us. It would be a sure sign that the French sought to
be at peace with us if they said to an Englishman living in Paris, "Go
to London and try to make peace between the two nations." It would be a
token at once that the desire for peace was sincere and you may be sure
that God earnestly desires that there should be peace between you and
Himself because He sends men to you with "the word of reconciliation."
This shows His condescension, too, in that He veils His glorious
majesty.
A seraph would be far more worthy than I am to stand here to plead with
you and, willingly enough would I resign my place to him. I do not know
that an archangel could desire a happier or better work than to stand
here and speak on behalf of the God of the whole earth and labor to
bring back God's rebellious children to Him–but while his splendor
might reveal much of the greatness of God to you, yet you might be
terrified and alarmed by the angelic preacher!
But now, the human being who addresses you, being just like yourselves,
shows how God lays aside His Glory and holds back the thunder of His
power, that He may come and reason with you, face to face, as a man
reasons with his friend. He "has committed unto us the word of
reconciliation" because we can, in this matter, speak from experience.
When we talk about being at peace with God and speak of the joy which
this reconciliation brings, we can say, "We know it is so, for we have
felt it." We can enter, with full sympathy, into the case of our
friends who are still unreconciled to God. We know the evil of sin and
the fear it creates in the conscience, for we have felt it ourselves.
We can, therefore, be tender and compassionate to others who are in a
similar condition. And we also know something of the sweetness of peace
with God through Jesus Christ, for we are living in the enjoyment of
it. We know, too, what are the struggles of a
poor soul seeking to get that peace, for we struggled into peace
through the rich mercy of God! I hope, therefore, that you will see the
Wisdom and the Grace of God in choosing one like yourself to plead with
you on His behalf and that God will be pleased to bless that
instrumentality and make it effectual in your reconciliation unto
Himself.
Notice particularly that the ministers of God are not sent to reconcile
God to you. That great work is already done. As the righteous Judge, He
was angry with all sin, but now, seeing that an acceptable Sacrifice
has been presented, He is able to meet you with forgiveness in His
heart. We are not even sent to find out a way of reconciling you to
God, for He "has committed unto us the word of reconciliation" as well
as "the ministry of reconciliation," so that all we have to do is, as
it were, to translate into today's language that which God Himself has
written in this Book. We have to speak out in simple, earnest, living
words, the message which has been dictated to us–not to make up a
message, but to act as the mouthpiece of God! Oh, that He might make me
that to many a heart here now! Now let us go to this solemn work and
may God the Holy Spirit help us in it!
First, then, we wish to state the objective of true Gospel ministry.
Next, we will declare the word of reconciliation. And, then, we will
beseech you to agree with it God grant that these points may strike
home!
I. First, then, let us enquire–WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF TRUE GOSPEL
MINISTRY? It is that men should be reconciled to God.
My unconverted Hearer, you are at enmity against God. I know that you
do not always believe that. You say, "I have not yielded my heart to
Him, but still, I am not at enmity against Him." Listen. You do that
which displeases Him and you do it without any grief over it, or,
whatever compunction you may feel for a time, you do the same thing
again and again–and you continue to do it! What does this prove? When
a subject constantly rebels against his sovereign, does it not prove
that he is disloyal at heart? "By their fruits you shall know them," is
our Lord's own test. Look, you unconverted ones, see what your fruits
are! Do not your wicked works prove that you are at enmity against God?
Is it not certain that you do not like to hear much about Him? Am I
speaking untruly when I say that you count the Bible very dull
reading–that some of you say that Sabbaths spent as Christians ought
to spend them are very dreary days? You want something more cheerful.
God's House is too weary a place for you and to think about Him is too
much of a task. I put it to your conscience whether it is not so with
you. Do you not regard religion as being a very gloomy affair? If you
wanted what you call, pleasure, would you think of seeking it in
drawing near to God? No, you would be happier if there were no God at
all, would you not? And if all the arrangements of Divine Justice, by
which God governs the world, should be abolished, would you not be
pleased? If you could sin without being checked in it, or threatened
with punishment for it, would you not be glad?
All this proves that you do not love God! The real English of it is
that you would destroy God, if you could, in order to have liberty to
act according to your own devices. You do not find pleasure in Him. You
must admit that your pleasure is found elsewhere. When we truly love a
person we find pleasure in being in his company, we are glad to receive
letters from him–in fact, anything that the hand of the loved one has
touched becomes interesting or even sacred to us. Seeing that it is not
so with you, but that you have said to God, "Depart from me! I desire
not the knowledge of Your ways"–does not this prove that your heart is
at enmity against God? Ah, young people, you may scarcely think that
this accusation is a just one, but the more you come to search and
look, the more you will find that it is true. If it is not true, I am
indeed glad that I need not ask you to be reconciled to God, for you
are already reconciled! But then, we shall need to see the proofs that
it is so and, among the rest, we shall want to see whether you love
God's Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and trust in Him, for, "He
that loves Him that begot, loves Him, also, who is begotten of Him." If
you love the Father, you will love the Son and put your soul's trust in
Him. But it is not so with unrenewed men–they are at enmity against
God.
Our objective, in all our preaching, is that you should really be
reconciled to God–not that you should pretend to be so. "Oh, yes," you
say, "we will attend the regular services. If you wish, we will join
the church. We will be baptized, or we will be confirmed–and we will
take the sacrament." That is not sufficient. God wants the love of your
heart. He wants you to be at peace with Him. Suppose you were to attend
to all these external things and still did not love and trust Him–you
would be insulting Him–not honoring Him! I tell you, all your church
or chapel attendance, your saying of your prayers and your reading of
the Bible are of no value in His sight unless your heart is right with
Him. That is the point we are aiming at. In vain is all your attendance
upon outward worship! In vain is your profession of being recon-
ciled to God unless you really are! You must love the LORD your God
with all your heart, or else the work of the minister is not even
begun, much less completed.
We can never be satisfied with your merely listening to us. It is a
great thing to have a large and attentive congregation, but it only
makes us mourn if we even imagine that you give your ear to us and not
to our Master–if you say, "He speaks pleasantly," or, "He speaks
well," and yet obey not the message we have tried to convey to you! Oh,
forget us! Think nothing of us! Reproach us if you will! There is good
reason for it, sometimes, but turn unto the Lord our God! "Be you
reconciled unto Him"–that is the burden of all our preaching and,
therefore, we cannot be put off with your saying that you will be
reconciled to God one of these days. We do not preach with a view to
getting you to promise to be reconciled someday–we beseech you to be
reconciled now. "Behold, nowis the accepted time; behold, nowis the day
of salvation." Those are not my words–they are the words of Inspired
Scripture itself. Now, then–we have nothing to do with tomorrow! It is
now, even now, that we beseech you, in Christ's place, to be reconciled
to God! And we want that reconciliation to be worked at once by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Thus I have stated the objective of true Gospel ministry.
II. Now, secondly, I want to make known to you, as plainly as I can,
"THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION." What is that word?
First, I have to tell you that "all things are of God. "That is the
first sentence of the verse from which our text is taken. If,
therefore, you are willing to be at peace with God, there is nothing
whatever needed from you. God has prepared all things that are needed
for this present and perpetual reconciliation! To make the friendship
between God and man firm and lasting, all that is needed has been
already supplied! There is to be nothing of your will, nothing of your
merits, nothing of your doing, nothing of your suffering, but, "all
things are of God." I think I hear one say, "That suits me, then, for I
have nothing and I can do nothing." You need not be anything, Soul. It
will be better if you can be nothing and still better if you can be
less than nothing, "for all things are of God." That is where "the
ministry of reconciliation" begins. Surely, such a message as that
ought to help bring men into peace with God!
And, next, I again remind you that the reconciling work on God's part
is already done. He "has given to us the ministry of reconciliation,"
but He "reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." When Jesus hung upon
the Cross–when Jesus died–when Jesus rose again, everything was done
that was necessary in order that God might be able to forgive the
guilty and receive them to His bosom! Nothing can be added to Christ's
completed work, of which He said, "It is finished." It is as
efficacious, today, as it ever was. The work of salvation was done
forever and, on God's part, there is nothing now to be removed in order
that all who trust His Son may be at perfect peace with Him.
The Lord, through the Apostle's words, graciously deigns to explain how
this came about Paul says that He "was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Do you see what
that means? You are full of sin, but God will not set that sin down to
your account if you trust in His Son's Sacrifice! You have lived a life
of sin, but He will not impute it to you! Perhaps you ask, "How can
that be?" I will tell you, directly, but, first, I ask you to believe
that it is so. "Not imputing their trespasses unto them." You are in
debt. You owe a great sum that you can never pay, but the person to
whom you owe it turns to his account book and he says, "I have nothing
down against you–are you not delighted that it is so?" "But I am in
your debt." "I have nothing down against you," he says again. He knows
all about the debt, yet he tells you it is not in his ledger. "But it
must be down somewhere," you say, "that man has set my debt down to the
account of somebody else." That is exactly the case with your sin! Read
the last verse of the chapter and you will get the explanation–"For He
has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him." Jesus willingly undertook to stand in
the sinner's place–and if you accept the reconciliation He has made,
your debts are put down beneath His nameand through them all is drawn
the red mark of His atoning Sacrifice, canceling them, every one, so
that God can say, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your
transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins."
You see, then, that God meets you on these terms–that whatever your
guilt may be, He lays it at the door of Christ and makes Him to be sin
for you and, then, He puts you into Christ's place and makes you to be
' 'the righteousness of God in Him." And so He saves you! "That is an
extraordinary plan," you say. It is. It is extraordinary. It wakes the
echoes of Heaven every time the angels think of it, but it is God's
plan. Will you have it? What do you say? Will you quibble at it, or
will you accept it? Do not let its wonderful character keep you back
from it. On the contrary, say, "If
God is satisfied with it, I may well be satisfied, too! If God is
content with the work of Christ, I am sure I well may be! It is to Him
that the debt was due and if He says it is discharged, I believe Him!"
If He declares, as He does, "There is therefore now no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus"–if He teaches His people to say, as He
does, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God"–we
are glad enough to accept the Truth He reveals!
And I, for one, am glad enough to proclaim it to you! I have known the
time when I could almost have leaped out of the pew when I first
learned this simple way of salvation–it did something more than
electrify me when I came to understand that this was the way in which
God was just and yet the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus–and
that all that I had to do was simply to accept it, to look to Christ
and take Him to be my Substitute! That was what I did and so I obtained
peace in believing. Many years have passed since then, but I have never
sought for any other confidence, nor do I want any other! Jesus is All
in All to my heart at this moment and, therefore, I urge all here
present to accept Him. Let every guilty, burdened, heavy-laden sinner
come and take Christ, who is the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God,
saying, "If God meets me thus and is willing to blot out all the past
and let me begin over again. If He is willing to cast my sins into the
depths of the sea and never call me to account for them, and never lay
them to my charge–blessed be His holy name, it does not take me two
minutes to consider whether I shall accept this reconciliation or not!
I will have it and rejoice to have it! May He grant it to me now!"
III. My third point is this. We are not to be satisfied merely to tell
you the Gospel. WE ARE TO BESEECH YOU TO ACCEPT IT, "as though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's place, be you reconciled to
God."
Consider, I pray you, how unseemly it is for you to be at enmity
against your God. You are a creature whom He has made and you could not
exist a single moment longer if it were not for the constant emanation
of His power which sustains you in being. You owe everything to Him!
You are absolutely in His hands–He can create and He can destroy. A
moth beneath your finger would not be one half as easy to crush as you
are beneath the finger of God if He becomes angry with you! Is it wise,
is it right for the creature to be at war with the Omnipotent Creator?
Remember, too, what a good God He is! He makes the sun to rise on the
evil as well as on the good. The rain falls upon the lands of the
blasphemer as well as upon the fields of the devout. God gives us
fruitful seasons–yes, He gives us everything and He is not provoked
against us even though we have continued to rebel against Him. For
which of these things do you sin against Him? As I have studied God's
Character and known something of Him by fellowship, I have bowed before
His matchless goodness. Oh, it is indeed evil to do anything against
One who is pure Love, who is "holy, holy, holy," altogether without
fault! It cannot be right–I put it to your conscience–it cannot be
right for you to be at enmity against the pure and holy God! Think of
this matter, I pray you, and end your enmity.
If you are not at peace with God, you ought to rejoice at any plan by
which you may be at peace. I say, any plan. I would take the Bible, if
I had never opened it before, and say, "Whatever I find between the
covers of this Book of God, I will gratefully accept. I do not mind
what plan He proposes, so long as this sad state of things shall come
to an end. Can God forgive me? Can He receive me into amity with
Himself? Can I be His accepted child? Whatever He proposes, I will
agree to accept it even before I know what it is. "But how much more
ought you to accept it when the plan is what I have explained to you,
namely, one in which there is nothing but mercy on God's part, though
there is nothing but sin on yours–one in which God, in the Person of
His Son, takes all the suffering, and you have all the blessing–one in
which Jesus takes all the shame and you take all the joy!
And, mark you, this is to be had for the asking. You have but truly to
seek it and you shall have it! Forsake your sin. Forsake your evil
thoughts. Confess your transgressions to the Lord and come and trust in
Him whom God has set forth to be the Propitiation for human sin! That
is all that is required–why do you not accept it? Surely it is because
sin has maddened you and so fascinated you as to make you slaves to its
accursed self, so that you do not turn unto Him even though the way of
salvation is so simple, so easy, so sure, so everlasting. I would that
I could put a force into the very tones of my voice that would send
home this reasoning to your heart! As God's creature, you ought to be
at peace with Him! Any way in which reconciliation could reach you, you
ought to be glad to accept–but such a way as this, in which God's
justice is honored and yet His mercy is revealed–ought to strike you
as being full of Divine Wisdom and you should at once accept it. Oh,
that you would do so!
Let me further plead with you to be reconciled to God because the
consequences of not being reconciled to Him will be very terrible. What
king is there who, if he were about to go to war and found himself able
to raise only a thousand
troops, would not stop a while if he found that his adversary were
coming to meet him with a million men? "Oh," says he, "this is too
preposterous! My little army could not stand in the field for an hour
against my adversary's vast host. The very first discharge of his dread
artillery would sweep both myself and all my little company away." But
the contrast is still greater in your case because you are not, with
respect to God, even as strong as a thousand would be against a
million! He could devour you as easily and as swiftly as the fire
devours the stubble. Let the wax fight with the flame, or the twig
contend with the fire before you shall be so foolish as to attempt to
contend with God! Throughout your life He proposes terms of peace to
you–but there will come a day when He will have no dealings with you
through ambassadors–He will deal with you by executioners!
I think that it was Alexander who, when he besieged a town, would hang
out a white flag and at night a lamp of white color–and as long as
either of them hung out, it was a token that if the besieged
surrendered, they should have the best possible terms. But when he hung
out the red flag, or the red lamp, the people knew that every man in
that city would be put to the sword. Alexander would offer no other
terms, then! He had hung out the white signal long enough and now he
had changed his tune. So, all through this life, the white flag is held
out to you–but the time will come when, instead, there will be the red
flag of vengeance–and woe be unto the ungodly in that day! Modern
deceivers may tell you what they like, but God's Word declares, "These
shall go away into everlasting punishment." And side by side with it,
as if to confirm it, is the other declaration that the righteous shall
go into life eternal or everlasting–indicating, by the same Word which
is used concerning the righteous, that they shall reign forever and
ever, but the doom of the wicked shall be just as lasting. "The smoke
of their torment goes up forever and ever." If one is to be shortened,
the other must be and I cannot, even with all the pity in my heart,
shorten the torments of Hell at the expense of the bliss of Heaven! Nor
will God do so. Oh, provoke not the wrath of the Most High! But be at
peace with Him this very hour!
Think, too, of the consequences which wiil follow when you have peace
with God, for the man who is at peace with God, and knows it, is the
happiest of men! He is at peace with all things! He is at peace with
life, death, time and eternity. The very beasts of the field are in
league with him and the stars in their courses fight for him. All
things work for his good now that he has become a child of God by faith
in Jesus Christ. Oh, the joy that some of us have experienced through
entering into peace with God! We could not describe it to you.
Sometimes, it has been so exhilarating that we have felt that we could
not communicate any adequate sense of it to our fellow men, for we have
heard words which it would not be lawful for a man to utter, save in
the ears of those who have felt the same supreme delights! That blessed
Book of Solomon's Song is misunderstood by many Believers because they
never knew the joy of conjugal love with Christ and the sweetness of
His heart when He lays it bare to His Beloved people. "The secret of
the Lord is with them that fear Him" and I can assure you, Beloved,
that if you do but become reconciled to God, it will be the best day
that you ever spent.
Let me continue pleading with you for a little longer. Do you not know,
dear Friends, that the first person to seek peace in any quarrel should
be the offending party?' t is not often that it is so, but it ought to
be so. The person who has offended another ought to be the first to
seek terms of peace. Now youare that person. Come, then, accept the
message of love which God sends to you. That I may come very close to
you, let me ask, "Have you anything to say against God?" In all earthly
quarrels, there are two sides, but it is not so in this case. Is there
anything which the Lord has done that you think to be difficult? For
instance, is there anything in the terms of peace that He puts before
you that you think to be too stern? "Oh," you say, "His requirements
are too strict!" What are those requirements? That you should leave
your sin? That is not too much to ask of you. Does not every doctor who
wants to heal a sick man who has taken poison, first of all prevent him
from taking any more? Sin is poison to you. Would you let your child
who has made himself ill by eating some unsuitable thing, keep on
eating it? No, you would take it away from him!
That is all that God wishes to do to you–to deny to you that which, if
you were wise, you would deny to yourself. This is not a hard thing,
surely. "Oh, but what He asks of me is so mysterious! I do not
comprehend it." What is it that you do not comprehend? That you should
believe on Jesus Christ? That is as simple as the act of breathing.
That you should trust yourself to Christ? "Where is He?" you ask. He is
in Heaven, but He is just as able to save you as if He stood here in
bodily Presence. Do you not often trust people whom you never see? Some
of you have business transactions with people in India–or you trust
your money to a banker in Australia, or in America. You never saw the
banker and you do not need to see him. You believe that there is such a
person and you trust your money to him. Trust your soul to Christ in
the same fashion. Though you never saw Him, rely upon Him, for you have
read about Him and you believe the story of His birth, life, death and
Resurrection.
"Ah," says one, "but if I were to become religious, I would lose so
many pleasures." I see. But, in order to be reconciled to God, I would
be willing, if necessary, to lose a thousand pleasures! Do you not feel
that if there were some amusement that you loved, that grieved your
mother, you would give it up? Husband, if there were something that you
did that made the tears stand in your wife's eyes, even though you
liked to do it, would you not give it up for her sake? For those we
love, we can readily deny ourselves and count it no denial. But, after
all, you know that it is not so. God asks us to give up no pleasure
that is real pleasure–and if there is any pleasure at all in it, it is
sin. He takes care to give us ten times as much pleasure in His own
holy ways. If it were right, I could speak of some here who have known
all about the pleasures of the world. They know the pleasures of
horseracing. They know the pleasures of the most frivolous company that
can be. But I know what their testimony would be, if I asked them. They
would say that an hour of peace with God not only recompenses them for
the loss of those pleasures, but that they are glad to get rid of all
such rubbish, the things of which they are now ashamed!
I do not know how merry a young fellow you may be, but if you are
happier than I am, young Man, you must be an uncommonly happy person! I
can pick out some, who are much older than I am, and who have more
rheumatism in their bones than I have and who also have a good deal of
poverty to endure. I could bring you many an old woman who is sitting
here, and I could ask her, "Would you change places with that young man
who is given up to the guilty pleasures of sin? Come, old Mary, what do
you say? This young man says that he would lose pleasure if he were to
become a Christian–what do you say? Would you change places with him?"
I think I hear her say–
"I would not change my blest estate
For all the world calls good or great!
And while my faith can keep her hold
I envy not the sinner's gold."
So, young Man, you see that we are as happy as you are! We may not make
so much noise over it, sometimes, but "still waters run deep" and the
quiet joy of the Christian is joy that is worth having.
"Oh, but," says another, "this is my difficulty. I am afraid God would
not receive me even if I were to come to Him." Just give me your hand,
Brother–let me have a grip of it. Now, if I were to assure you that I
would receive you into my house, would you believe me? I believe you
would. Well, you may doubt me if you like, but you must not doubt my
God, or doubt the bleeding Lamb! And He has said, "Him that comes to
Me, I will in no wise cast out." He could not put it stronger than
that! For no reason and in no way will He cast out any soul that comes
to Him, so He will not cast you out. But I hear another say, "I have
tried and failed." What have you tried? Have you accepted Christ as the
Propitiation for your sin? Have you trusted yourself with Christ? Do
you say, "Yes"? Then you are a saved man! God declares that you are.
"But I have prayed," you say. Yes, but that is not the way of
salvation. God forbid that I should say a word against prayer! I would
say a thousand words forit–it is a blessed exercise–but the dead
cannot pray, nor can you till you are made alive! The first thing that
you have to do is to trust Jesus Christ–and that is the only thing
which the Gospel demands of you as the grand condition of
reconciliation with God! "This is the work of God, that you believe on
Jesus Christ whom He has sent."
"Yes, but I have tried to lead a different life." I know that you have.
But suppose I were a physician and I said to you, "Here is the medicine
that will cure you," and you say, "I will not take it, Sir." "Why not?"
"Because I have tried some other medicine in vain." Would that be
logical? The doctor might say, "You may have tried 50 sorts of
medicine, but that has nothing to do with what I am giving you–you
have to try this." It must not be yourway of being saved, but God'sway.
Your way is to try and live better. But then you do not live better,
for you break down again and again. God's way of saving you is that you
trust Jesus Christ and then He will make you live better! Old things
shall pass away and all things shall become new when Jesus Christ has
you in His hands. Have done with yourself and let Jesus Christ do the
whole work and He will save you. That is God's way of salvation.
I do not know whether I have mentioned the peculiar quibble or quarrel
that any heart has with God, but I hope I have done so. I would
willingly lay down my very life if I could bring all in this Tabernacle
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We preachers, and you teachers in the Sunday
school, and you who try to talk privately with individuals–we ought
all to be very earnest with them, for this is very solemn work. They
are apt to die at any moment and to die, too, without hope.
Let us plead earnestly with them for God's sake. It does seem so sad
that a good God should have so many millions of His creatures as His
enemies–that He who keeps the very breath in their nostrils, should
get no return from them but ingratitude. "The ox knows his owner and
the ass his master's crib," says God, "but Israel does not know, My
people does not consider." O God, for Your dear sake we would bring men
into reconciliation with You if we could!
We must also be in earnest for Christ's sake, for Christ died for
them–He died to save sinners. He had no subordinate aim. This was the
one passion of His soul. "He saved others." "Himself He could not
save." Oh, by the wounds of Jesus, the scars of which are still visible
above, be reconciled to God! Trample not upon His precious blood!
We would be earnest with you, also, for your own sakes. In a short time
you will be on a sick bed and you will be on the brink of the grave. We
pray you, before the death-sweat stands in great beads upon your brow,
seek peace with God. Ere yet they that gather about your bed whisper to
one another, "He is going," oh, be at peace with God through Jesus
Christ who is our Peace and who reconciles us to the Most High!
And I would be in earnest, last of all–and have my Brothers and
Sisters in earnest, too–for our own sakes. "That sounds like
selfishness," says someone. If so, it is a hallowed selfishness. As
surely as I am a living man, I have to give an account of this night's
work before the Judgment Seat of God and every Christian worker and,
especially, the Christian minister, will have to answer for it whether
he declared the Truth of God and declared it with an earnest spirit. I
think, sometimes, that it will be the greatest mercy that God ever gave
to mortal man if I am able to say, at the last, what George Fox, the
Quaker, said just as he died, "I am clear. I am clear. I am clear."
Brother-minister, if you and I, at the last, are clear of the blood of
all men, we will lift up an everlasting song of gratitude to our Lord
and Master who made us faithful to our charge! We dare not think of
standing before Christ's bar if we have not been in earnest with you.
It is as much as our souls are worth to trifle with you–to gather you
together on a Sabbath evening, to try and tickle you with fine words,
or pretty anecdotes, or mere excitement. This will never do.
Souls, you will either be lost or saved! You will be in Hell among the
damned or in Heaven among the blessed–and that very shortly! And if
the watchman warns you not, your blood will be required at the
watchman's hand. That we may be able to give in our account, with joy,
"be you reconciled to God." That we may be able to say, "Here we are,
Lord, and the children You have given us through our ministry," "be you
reconciled to God." Dear young people and you aged folk who soon must
go, and you in middle life, "be you reconciled to God." "As though God
did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's place, be you
reconciled to God." God reconcile you to Himself, for His dear Son's
sake!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:9-21.
Verses 9-11. Therefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may
be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of
Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made
manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your
conscience. The outside world did not understand the preachers of the
Gospel–they thought them dreamy enthusiasts, earnest about nothing at
all. But Paul says that God understood him and he hoped, too, that the
consciences of those to whom he was writing had also understood him.
The truly faithful minister of Jesus Christ may know that there are two
approvals that he will be sure to get–the approval of his Master and
the approval of men's consciences. Their prejudice may condemn him, his
mode of oratory may not suit their fancy, but their conscience must
give quite a different verdict–it must approve the faithful preaching
of the Gospel.
12, 13. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you
occasion to glory on our behalf that you may have an answer for those
who glory in appearance, and not in heart For whether we are beside
ourselves, it is to God: or whether we are sober, it is for your cause.
Happy Paul who, as a preacher of the Gospel, could write, "If you say
that we are beside ourselves, that we are really mad upon religious
matters–well, it is to God that we are so! It is not every madman who
can say that. "Or if you tell us that we are too serious and sober, it
is your case, your cause that makes us so." Well may we be sober and
solemn when we think of the danger in which men's souls are.
14, 15. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge,
that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all,
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but
unto Him which died for them,
and rose again. The true-hearted Christian judges himself to have died
when Christ died and, therefore, he feels that he must not live for any
objective but the Glory of Christ.
16. Therefore, from now on, know we regard no man after the flesh: yes,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we
Him no more. He is gone back to Glory, so our objective is not to win a
kingdom for Him anywhere upon earth. Our aim now is spiritual–the
proclamation of His Truth, the winning of a Kingdom for Him in the
hearts of men.
17-19. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away: behold, all things have become new. And all
things are of God, who has reconciled unto Himself by Jesus Christ, and
has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not implying their
trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. The work of reconciliation He committed to His Son–the
word of reconciliation He has committed to us. It is our high privilege
to tell the tidings of the wondrous work by which God is reconciled, so
that, without any violation of His Justice, He can have mercy upon
those who have offended Him.
20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us: weprayyou in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. As if
Christ Himself stood here and pleaded with you, He bids His ministers
plead on His behalf. In the name of God, He bids us beseech you to be
reconciled to God. Ambassadors do not generally beseech men–they stand
on their dignity, they make demands for the honor of their
sovereign–but Christ's ambassadors know of no dignity which should
keep them from pleading with men.
21. For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him.