Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1124
“And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to 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 imputing their trespasses unto them, and has 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 you reconciled to God. 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.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
MAN became God’s enemy wantonly, without the slightest offense given on God’s part. But man did not make advances towards reconciliation, or express regret because peace was broken. The first overtures for peace are not made by man, the offender, but by our aggrieved and offended God. Therefore our text begins with the declaration, “All things are of God.” Reconciliation of man to his Maker is never achieved by man, but is the work of God from first to last, and to God must be all the glory. The text enforces this Truth by giving us a brief summary. The Lord first finds the messengers of reconciliation by reconciling some men to Himself. He chooses His ministers, having called them into a state of reconciliation.
Read the verse—“All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” The ambassador is sent, not from man to God, but from God to man. Then the matter of the ambassador’s message is altogether of God, for it is God who has “reconciled the world unto Himself through Jesus Christ.” He gave His Son to be the atoning Sacrifice by the ordained method of substitution—thus it is He, alone, who has made a way of access between fallen man and Himself. Furthermore, the method by which this Atonement is applied to the reconciling of men is also of God. It is not man who beseeches God, but God who beseeches man to be reconciled.
It is not man who cries to Christ, but Christ prays man, through His ministers whom He places in His stead, to be reconciled to God. So that from the first thought of reconciliation, right on through the provision of the Atonement, to the conclusion of the solemn league and Covenant between the heart and God, all things are of God. I am glad to commence my sermon with such a weighty doctrine. I am glad to have such a theme with which to stir the hearts of the reconciled. You owe it all to God, my Brothers and Sisters, therefore render thanks unto the Most High and never attribute to your own wills or to any natural goodness in yourselves, your present friendship with the Lord. For all this is of God who has reconciled you unto Himself.
In the process of reconciling the sinner to Himself the Lord uses means. He might, if He had pleased, have influenced all human hearts by His Spirit, without a pleading ministry selected from among men, but He has not chosen to do so. God exercises His power over the human mind not miraculously, but in conformity with the laws of the mind. The Spirit of God beseeches and prays men to be reconciled. He deals with us not as with marble or wood, carving and shaping us by mere power. Acting upon the mind of man He does not act according to the laws of matter, but deals with mind after the mode in which minds must be dealt with. And therefore His Divine Grace operates upon human wills by persuasion—“as though God did beseech you by us.” And by pleading—“we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be you reconciled to God.”
But the means used of the Lord are always such as will ensure that all the glory shall be to Him alone—if God beseeches, there can be no honor to man in yielding to the Divine persuasion, but great glory is due to Him who in infinite condescension prayed to His own creatures and stooped from the loftiness of His Glory to beseech His own rebellious subjects to have mercy upon themselves.
This morning I shall try to drive at the heart and conscience with all my might, depending upon the Spirit of God to make my appeals effectual. And with that aim, and no other, I shall first of all speak upon the ambassadors of reconciliation. Secondly, upon the matter of their embassy, the message they have to deliver. And, thirdly, upon the manner in which they are to deliver their message.
I. First, then, dear Friends, we will begin with THE AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION. It appears, from the text that they, themselves, were once enemies to God. “All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself.” Yes, Beloved, when we beseech you to be reconciled to God, we give to ourselves no airs as though we were superior to you by nature, or had been superior in our former conduct before conversion. No, rather we are bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Are you sinful? Such were we. Are you rebellious against God? Such were we. Are your hearts hard? Such were ours. We do not look down upon you from an elevated platform of affected dignity, for we recognize our own nature in yours. Therefore we come to you as to fellow sinners and, albeit it is a sorrowful thing ever to have sinned, we are glad to think that we can speak to you of an evil which has vexed us, the power of which we have painfully felt and penitently mourned, as you must yet do.