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CHRIST’S WORK OF
RECONCILATION (Col 1:21-22)
06/11/17 Grace Bible Church,
Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl Hilbert OPENING ILLUSTRATION One New Year's Eve at London's Garrick Club, British
dramatist Frederick Lonsdale was asked by Symour Hicks to reconcile with a
fellow member. The two had quarreled in the past and never restored their
friendship. "You must," Hicks said to Lonsdale. "It is very
unkind to be unfriendly at such a time. Go over now and wish him a happy New
Year." So Lonsdale crossed the
room and spoke to his enemy. "I wish you a happy New Year," he
said, "but only one." Today
in the Word, July 5, 1993. I. PAST STANDING IN ENMITY
(Col 1:21) A. Unredeemed State 1. In his
NT writings, Paul was very clear about man’s unredeemed state. When Adam
sinned, he plunged the entire world into sin, death, and judgment. Therefore,
the standing of all men is that they are separated from God and are in need
of reconciliation. 2. Eph 2:1-3 expounds on the same truth that
all men are dead in their trespasses and sin, walk according to Satan, live
in the lusts of the flesh, and are under the wrath of God. 3. Rom 3:10-18 teaches that no one has a
righteous standing before God, no one understands spiritual things, no one
seeks for God, no one does good, and all men are inherently sinful in their
thoughts, words, and actions. 4. Eph 2:12 reveals that in an unredeemed
state man is separated from Christ, excluded for covenants and promises,
without hope, and without God id the world. B. Unredeemed State in
Colossians 1. Col 2:13
declares that we were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of the
flesh. 2. In Col 1:21, even the believers at
Colossae were formerly alienated, hostile in mind, and engaged in evil deeds. 3. “Alienated” (apallotrioō)
means estranged, excluded and separated. Unredeemed man is estranged from
God, separated from Christ (Eph 2:12), and excluded from the life of God (Eph
4:18). 4. “Hostile” is the Greek word exthros
and can mean enemy but carries with it the idea of hatred and
hostility (Rom 5:10). This hostility, that is toward God, is described as the
hostility in the mind, that is, their inner thoughts and person (Rom 8:7). 5. “Engaged” is inserted in the NASB.
The idea of the passage is that the Colossians were “strangers and enemies in
[their] minds as expressed through [their] evil deeds” (NET). 6. All of these denote the state prior to
man’s reconciliation. II. PRESENT STANDING IN
RECONCILIATION (Col 1:22) A. Aspects of Reconciliation 1. Reconciliation
Offered a. In Col
1:20, the idea was that God made the world reconcilable and savable by the
death of Christ. God made salvation possible to the world. b. Though in the sacrifice of Christ, God
made provision for the world (cf. John 3:16; 1 John 2:2), all persons will
not be reconciled to God in the saving sense of being redeemed. The benefits
of Christ’s atonement are applied only to the elect, who alone come to saving
faith in Him. MAC 2. Reconciliation
Applied a. In Col
1:22, reconciliation is not just possible, but is actually applied to those
who place their faith in Christ. This was Paul’s point to the Colossian
believers. b. It is for this reason Paul states, “yet
He has now reconciled you.” c. We see the same two aspects in Rom
5:10-11 (“while enemies reconciled” …and… “now received the reconciliation”). d. Reconciliation for the believer is an
actual positional change in his relationship with God from “enmity to amity”
(SLJ). e. When the sinner comes to Christ he is
reconciled to God, no longer dead spiritually, no longer alienated, no longer
separated, no longer without hope, and no longer without God. 3. Reconciliation
is Not Universalism a. I want
to reiterate that this does not refer to Universal Reconciliation.
Universalists, both Unitarian and Evangelical believe that everyone will be
saved in the end. The Evangelical Universalist believes that everyone will
eventually be saved through Christ. My question is, “since they take
reconcile “all things” in a very literal sense, do they believe that fallen
angels will also be saved? Scripture teaches that in Rev 20:10, Satan will be
thrown into the lake of fire and will be tormented forever and ever. So, they
already have a hermeneutical conundrum. But regardless what they think of
Satan’s end, they have another conundrum, look at Rev 20:11-15. All who have
not trusted in Christ, whose names are not written in the book of life, were
also thrown into the same lake of fire. b. One thing I have learned in studying the
Scriptures is that, if it doesnt make rational sense or fit the overarching,
consistent character of a loving and inclusive God, its probably not true.
Like the idea of fire endlessly burning a human body. Literal fire only burns
as long as it has something to consume. A flesh and blood person couldnt burn
more than a few hours (24 according to cremation experts). (Julie Ferwerda,
Raising Hell, a book denying hell and promoting Universalism). c. What Mrs. Ferwerda does not take into
consideration is that God’s gives resurrection bodies to the saved fitted for
heaven and resurrection bodies to the damned fitted for hell (Joh 5:29; Act
24:15). B. Apologetics of
Reconciliation 1. Reconciliation
Through the Death of Christ a. This
phrase reinforces that reconciliation was accomplished “through
[Christ]…having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col 1:20). b. Reconciliation came through death,
that is, the death of Christ, the death of His Son (cf. Rom 5:10).
Reconciliation had to come through the death of Christ because the wages for
sin is death (Rom 6:23). c. Before there could be reconciliation
there had to be the payment for sin. That payment was the death of Christ. 2. Reconciliation
in Christ’s Fleshly Body a. We must
not miss the intentional mention that the death of Christ was “in His
fleshly body.” Not only is it the truth regarding the Christ’s
incarnation, but it was a refutation to the Pre-Gnostic teachers troubling
the Colossians. b. Paul’s phrase clearly described that
Christ was not a phantom or that the Spirit Christ departed from the human
Jesus just before the cross. 3. Reconciliation
vs. Gnostic Dualism a. Since
the material world was created by the evil offspring Ialdabaōth, the
material world was neither intended to be created nor was it inherently good.
It was for that reason that the Gnostics could not accept Christ’s physical
body or His physical death. b. But Paul affirmed that Gnostic dualism
(spirit is good, material is evil) is wrong because not only did Christ
create all things in heaven and on earth, but also in Gen 1:31 God declared
that everything He had made was “very good.” It was Satan and man who sinned
and affected everything with sin, death, and judgment. 4. Reconciliation
vs. Gnostic Salvation a. Salvation
for the Gnostics was not through the substitutionary death of the incarnated
Christ. Rather, salvation for the Gnostic was the mystical knowledge (gnosis)
that they were actually part of the upper spirit world and part of the
Invisible Spirit. They were in essence trapped in their material bodies until
death. At which time, they would ascend to the spirit world provided that
possessed this mystical knowledge. b. How will people be saved?
The Secret Book [of john] frequently refers to people as lost in oblivion or
forgetfulness. We have forgotten who we really are fragments of the divine
from the Entirety. Thus, people need to be brought out of oblivion and
returned to knowledge of God. [This is done through gnosis].(Professor David Brakke, The Ohio State
University, Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, pg. 30) c. Paul affirmed that salvation was through
the person and work of Christ on the cross. The believer learned about the
knowledge of the gospel and what Christ did for them. The believer placed his
faith alone in Christ alone. It is not through a meditation technique,
mystical experience, or works. 5. Aim of
Reconciliation a. The
Father’s purpose for reconciliation through Christ is so that the believer is
“presented” (paristêmi - lit. place before, a formal sense of
presentation before a dignitary (Act 23:33) or God) before Him (Col
1:28). b. The goal of reconciliation is the
believer’s sanctified position in Christ as holy, blameless, and without
reproach. But at the same time, God is dealing with our condition to match
our position. III. PRACTICAL STANDING IN
PERSEVERANCE (Col 1:23) A. Conditional Statement 1. This
verse begins with a condition “if indeed” (ei ge). The idea of the
conditional phrase is that reconciliation and sanctification have taken place
“if indeed” they continue in the faith. 2. This does not mean that they will lose
their salvation, but it may show that some among them were never saved if they
do not remain established, steadfast, and not moved from the hope of the
gospel. Moving from the gospel to a false gospel reveals that an
individual did not truly know and/or believe the true gospel. B. Conditional Norm 1. The true
believer will continue in the faith. This is the doctrine of the perseverance
of the saints, or better, the doctrine of the perseverance of the Savior in
the life of a true believer. 2. But we are to cooperate with this
perseverance by becoming firmly established and steadfast in the knowledge of
Christ and the gospel from the Scriptures. IV. OBSERVATIONS AND
APPLICATIONS A. Practicality of
Reconciliation 1. If you
are a believer in Christ then you have been reconciled to God. God is not
your enemy and He is not out to get you. 2. Rather God was satisfied (propitiated)
with Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf and you now have a reconciled
relationship with God. 3. He may purify you with trials but He is
not making you pay for old sins. B. Ministry of Reconciliation 1. However,
after to being reconciled, we have been given a responsibility and that is
the ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18). 2. Our ministry is sharing the message of
reconciliation (2Co 5:19). God has made the world savable through Christ.
But, individually they must place their faith in Christ in order for
reconciliation to apply to them. 3. This ministry has been “committed”
to us by God. We are ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors speak for the
kingdom which they represent. We represent God and His kingdom. It is “as
though God were making an appeal through us” (2Co 5:20). 4. Since God is making His appeal through
us, we implore (beg) sinners on behalf of Christ to be
reconciled to God. C. Apologetics of
Reconciliation 1. Salvation
does not come from gnosis, meditation, or esoteric techniques that pretend to
make us feel like we are divine. Achieving some psychosomatic experience is
not salvation, but merely a self-induced pseudo emotional experience. 2. Salvation only comes through faith in the
person and work of Christ (Joh 14:6). 3. It is sad that Gnosticism is re -packaged
in the New Spirituality Movement. It is even sadder that it has infiltrated
the church. a. Hidden within each human being is a higher
divine self, which is a manifestation of the higher, more
comprehensive divine nature. (Heelas (p. 226) Jeremy Tarcher past New Age
spokesman) b. we may further define the goal of
spiritual growth to be the attainment of godhood by the conscious self. It is
for the individual to become totally, wholly God. (M. Scott Peck,
Road Less Travelled, pg. 283) c. When you’re not looking at Morris
Cerullo; you’re looking at God. You’re looking at Jesus. (Morris Cerullo, The Endtime Manifestation of the
Sons of God) d. Kenneth Copeland "Every Christian is
a god. You dont have a god in you, you are one". (Kenneth Copeland, The
Force of Love (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987), audiotape
#02-0028, side 1.) e. "Pray to yourself, because I'm in
your self and you're in Myself. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord."
(Kenneth Copeland) (Kenneth Copeland) f. "...And I say this with all respect
so that it don't upset you too bad, but I say it anyway. When I read in the
Bible where He says I AM, I just smile and say, 'Yes, I AM too.'"
(Believer's Voice of Victory Broadcast, 7/9/1987). g. Benny Hinn said, "God came from
heaven, became a man, made man into little gods, went back to heaven as a
man. He faces the Father as a man. I face devils as the son of God. Quit your
nonsense! What else are you? If you say, I am, youre saying Im a part of Him,
right? Is he God? Are you His offspring? Are you His children? You cant be
human! You cant! You cant! God didnt give birth to flesh h. You said, "Well, thats heresy."
No, thats your crazy brain saying that." (Benny Hinn, Our Position in
Christ #2The Word Made Flesh ( Orlando Christian Center, 1991 ). |
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Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516 |
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