https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com

Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 31
II CORINTHIANS 5:9 - 5:21 - PART 2
So get your Bible, and compare Scripture with Scripture. Christ has already forgiven them, and now in this series of verses we're going to run into yet another word that deals with our relationship with God as believers, and that is "reconciliation." Reconciliation has been totally accomplished because of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
II Corinthians 5:17a
"Therefore if any man..." II Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: (creation) old things are passed away; (the old life style, the old habits) behold, all things are become new. 18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, (His finished work of the Cross, His death on the Cross, His shed blood, and His power in resurrection) and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"
The same thing has happened in the realm of the spirit with man and God. What once was together has now been totally separated, and this great gulf that stands between God and man has to be bridged, and only God can do it. Man can't make reconciliation, God has to. So the work of the Cross has brought in reconciliation to man and God. I've always said that the first step of faith for the lost person to take is to believe what God says about his condition. Romans 3:23
"For all (that includes every human being that's ever lived) have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" That's a blanket statement. Now verse 24.
Romans 3:24-25a
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,..."
Romans 3:25,26
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26. I don't think God will bend at all with what mankind tries to add for our salvation. I don't think God can bend. Verse 26 again. II Corinthians 5:18b
"and hath given to us (every reconciled believer) the ministry of reconciliation;"
Now verse 19:
II Corinthians 5:19
"To wit (that is to say) that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; (so far as the reconciliation of lost man and forgiveness is concerned, it is already accomplished. We pick that up here in Revelation Chapter 20 as the lost come before the great White Throne. Revelation 20:12
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; (now the God here of course will be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Righteous Judge) and the books (plural) were opened: and another book (singular) was opened, which is the book of life: (now when it's evidenced that the lost person's name is not in the book of life then Christ turns to the record. So now they come up before God and they're going to have to face those sins as God now passes on the judgment of those things written in the books, according to their works. So never misunderstand me when I teach that all the sins of the world are forgiven, and that lost people don't have to face them, because that only applies if they become believers. II Corinthians 5:19a
"To wit, (that is to say) that God was in Christ,..."
There are people who have never contemplated that. That Jesus of the Cross at Calvary was the same God of Genesis 1:1. I've said over and over, if only more people would ask that question. So Paul is telling us again that God was in Christ:
II Corinthians 5:19b
Until that lost person dies, and has lost his opportunity for believing the Gospel, I don't think his sins are being held against him. God is ready to cancel those sins in a moment, but when they leave this life never having believed then here they stand at the Great White Throne. Well what is the great commission? Matthew 28:19
"Now then we (every believer) are ambassadors..."
What's an ambassador? He's a representative of some government, but he's living in a foreign country. Colossians 1:12,13
Well it's in Heaven. Now verse 20.
The moment we become believers, and we're placed into the Body of Christ, we are also made members of the Kingdom of Christ in Heaven, but we're left here as ambassadors. We are representatives of Heaven itself, we become the ministers of reconciliation. II Corinthians 5:20,21
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21. For he hath made him (Christ) to be sin(He took on the sin of the world) for us, who knew no sin; (that precious sinless Lamb of God, The eternal, Sovereign, Creator God took on the sins of the world for us) that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Now a lot of people are afraid of that word "Righteousness." You see when the righteousness of God is imparted to the believer, it's simply means, "That now God sees you, God sees me clothed in the righteousness of God Himself.

#LesFeldick
#BibleStudy
#Bible