SUBJ: God revealed in Christ as He who reconciled us to Himself, and the manner of reconciliation.

AIM: That we might know the elements of reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation and the mandate to be reconciled.

INTR: It would seem that there is a conflict between this passage and others such as John 3:16
1. To many, it would appear that the love of God to a people is sufficient grounds for salvation.
2. But, when the holiness of God is brought into the picture, we realize that justice demands that the integrity of God be preserved in all that God does.
3. There is, however, no conflict when we realize what the giving of His Son entailed.

THESIS: There is no mandate to merely believe that God loves, but there is a mandate to believe that He loved in such as way as to make His Son a propitiation for our sins. We must then consider that:

I. All things are of God to the believer (v. 18)
1. It is easy to see the benefits of salvation as coming from God without seeing the means God employed to bring them about.
1) Some think of God’s benevolence in an unqualified manner
2) While others believe that God responds to something in us.
2. It is the “Who hath reconciled us to Himself” that makes all the difference in our approach to Him.
3. Christ is made the propitiation for our sins: Romans 3:25 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; AND Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. AND 1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. – Propitiation is that which assuages or takes away the wrath of God and makes Him able to be gracious to the offenders.
4. The ministry of reconciliation is the preaching of the Gospel of Peace in that
1) Christ has accomplished it,
2) And that we publish the fact of peace through the blood of Christ.

II. God was in Christ reconciling (v. 19) --“to wit” is “how that”
1. Reconciling involves changing from condemnation to justification.
2. The thought of “in Christ” is thought by some to be “by Christ.” The fact that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily settles the first and that God was so acting settles the second. It is both.
3. It is important that we know that the purpose of God has always been such a reconciliation – He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
4. Consider then the “non-imputation” of sins as the means of reconciling the world to Himself.
1) The application is particular as in John 3:16 and is applied to believers as we note that many died not reconciled (note that it is all of Him).
2) Thus, it is the Sovereign act of our gracious God.