Sinners Entreated to Be Reconciled to God
JVow they we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. — 2 Corinthians v: 20.
Were an ambassador sent from a foreign power with a message to this assembly, every ear would be attentive to hear it. But the message of an earthly sovereign is not what you are now called upon to hear, but a message from the court of heaven. It is addressed to every impenitent sinner. then, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead,” that you will listen to the message and comply with its demands, the sum of which is, ‘’ be ye reconciled to God.”
The text contains a summary of the apostles’ preaching, not only to the Corinthians, but to mankind generally. Wherever they went, this was their message to sinners, ‘’ we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
Let us consider the duty of an ambassador in delivering his message.
His great business is, to publish the treaty of peace, and to set before sinners the terms of reconciliation. In doing this, he is bound inviolably to adhere to the instructions of his divine Master. From these instructions he must not depart in the least degree. He must “justify the ways of God to man.” He must hokl up the character of God as a holy and righteous sovereign, who claims the love and obedience of all his subjects. He must hold up the character of the sinner as odious in the eyes of infinite purity, as a lost and guilty criminal under the condemning sentence of God’s holy law. On the one hand he must bring into view the glorious gospel, with all its melting invitations, and promises of eternal peace and joy. On the other, he nuist bring into view the broken law, and wrath of God as “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” and point the sinner to the regions of despair, and never-ending torments in hell. By the mercies of God, he must beseech, and by the terrors of the Lord he must endeavor to persuade men lobe reconciled to God.
“As though God did beseech you by us.” Here mark the divine condescension. God beseeches. By whom 1 By his faithful ambassadors. Does God beseech? Then the andassador is not to deliver his message in the name of a dying man, but in the name, and by the authority of the living God. And thus he must come in the name of God, and deliver his whole message, without regard either to the love or hatred of men. Says the faithful ambassador who penned the words of the text, “Even so we prcnch, not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts.” “Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men. I should not be tb.e servant of Christ.”
“We pray you in Christ’s stead.” Here again, you will mark the same condescension. Christ still retains his compassion for sinners. He still pleads with them by his ambassadors, who are to stand and plead — beseeching hard-hearted rebels to be reconciled to God. This is their great business. It is all that they can do.
It is proposed
I. To show what is implied in being reconciled to God.
The Scriptures have decided this point with great clearness. It involves whatever is essential to the Christian character.
1. It implies a change from the state of an enemy to that of a friend. All are by nature children of wrath, enemies, unreconciled to God. Hence it is asserted in the context, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” This is essential. Love is the distinguishing characteristic of friendship. Supreme love to God for what he is in himself, is indispensable. “He that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. But he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” All, therefore, who have not been born of the Spirit, are unreconciled. They still possess the carnal mind which is enmity against God.
2. Reconciliation to God implies love to his law. This is a perfect transcript of his moral character. Love to God, and love to his law, are, therefore, essentially the same. ‘’ 0 how love I thy law.” “I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man.” This is the language of a heart reconciled to God. And the person who is truly reconciled, not only delights in the precepts of the law, but he acquiesces in its penalty. Its condemning sentence appears to him to be right.
3. Reconciliation to God implies a willingness to accept salvation on the terms proposed in the gospel.
The satisfaction which Christ made on the cross, is called a reconciliation on the part of God. This as committed to the apostles, is called the ministry and word of reconciliation. Now those and those only who are pleased with the plan of salvation, can be saved. The treaty of peace was formed in the counsels of eternity. God claims the right of prescribing the terms of reconciliation, without consulting the notions and feelings of men. That God should act in this manner is both just, and merciful. It is just because God is the offended party, and man the offending party. It is surely improper for the condemned criminal to prescribe to his judge the terms on which he shall be pardoned.
It is merciful, because man, being a sinner justly condemned, has no claims to salvation on any terms whatever.
Hence we find that the Scriptures speak of God’s reconciling the world unto himself — not of his being reconciled to the world, or to their plans of salvation. But the fact that Christ has died, and that a way of salvation has been provided, does not settle the question whether the sinner will be saved. If he is displeased with the plan of salvation, and does not freely subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, instead of being saved, he will fall under an aggravated condcnmation.
Mankind are naturally opposed to the gospel plan of salvation. Else why is there an enemy to God among all those who have once heard the gospel? Why do not all at once comply with the terms of salvation 1 Why is there so much opposition to the doctrines of the gospel? This subject explains the reason. Men are unreconciled to God. The fact that the carnal mind is enmity against God, accounts for all this opposition. That persons are opposed to the doctrines which they hear from the pulpit,, is no evidence that those doctrines are not true. A previous question remains to be settled. Are these persons reconciled to God 1 Have they been born again? If not, opposition is to be expected. If the carnal heart is not opposed to the truth, the Bible is not true. Corrupt sentiment will be pleasing to a corrupt heart. Show me a scheme of doctrines with which mankind are naturally pleased, and I will show you one that never came from heaven. The very fact that sinners are unreconciled to God, implies that they are not pleased with the terms of reconciliation. If they were not opposed to these terms, there would be no necessity of beseeching them to be reconciled. They would be reconciled of course.
That mankind are not reconciled to the terms of salvation, is evident not only from the conduct of thoughtless sinners, but of those who are awakened to a sense of their sin and danger. One would suppose that the gospel of reigning grace, and the glad tidings of a Saviour, would be embraced with the utmost readiness by such sinners; — that they would at once individually exclaim in transports of joy, ‘’ This is the Saviour I want. This is the salvation suited to my condition.” But alas! even the convicted sinner, however clearly he may see his lost condition, and however great may be his distress, will not come to Christ that he might have life. He continues to inquire, ^’ What must I do to be saved?” and the gospel answer, repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, gives him no relief. His proud heart will not submit to these terms. But let such remember that the terms of salvation will never be altered. The sinner must repent or perish.
Having- shown what is implied in being reconciled to God, I proceed
n. To beseech my impenitent hearers to be thus reconciled.
My business now lies directly with the enemies of God; for they only need to be reconciled. An enemy “to God! Where can the individual be found, on whom God has fastened this charge? The text takes it for granted that all to whom the gospel is sent, are in a state of enmity to God. The king of heaven would not send his ambassadors to his faithful subjects, to beseech them to be reconciled to their friend whom they supremely love. But multitudes who yield some general assent to the truths of the gospel, are not convinced that they are unreconciled to God. Many assert that they never were his enemies, that they were always reconciled to him. If this be so, they are not lost, and Christ has nothing to do with them, for he “came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Numbers who have long imagined themselves at peace with God, have only been at ease in Zion. This was the case of the great body of the Jewish nation, and of Paul himself, who after the straitest sect of their religion lived a pharisee, until lie was awakened by the voice of the Son of God, ‘* Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” And of his brethren, the Israelites, he snys, “I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”
It was over the case of such that he wept. ^’For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and tell you now even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”
And do you, my hearers, plead not guilty’? No child of Adam can stand up before his judge, and say, I am innocent. All the subjects of divine grace, were once unreconciled to God, and ‘’were by nature children of wrath even as others.” ‘’ You who were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.”
Have you become reconciled to God 1 You have seen what is implied in becoming reconciled.
It implies a change from the state of an enemy to that of a friend. Are you conscious of having experienced such a change? Do you now hate what you once loved, and love what you once hated? Do you delight in communion with God 1 Is it the language of your heart, ‘’ whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee ‘?” Or is the thought of a present, holy, heart-searching God, a terror to your minds? Do you cherish the secret wish that there were no God that you might sin without restraint? Do you dismiss, as much as possible, serious thoughts from your minds, that you may enjoy the pleasures of sin undisturbed?
Love to the divine law is another evidence of reconciliation. ‘’ If a man love me,” says Christ, ‘’ he will keep my words.” ‘’ This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.” Do you love God’s law, and strive to obey it 1 Or do you live in the neglect of known duty? Do you murmur at the strictness of the law, and find more delight in forbidden paths, than in walking in the strait and narrow way to life? Do you cast off fear and restrain prayer 1 Are you ashamed to confess Christ before men? Are you more anxious to secure the friendship of the world, than the approbation of God 1 If so, there can be no doubt as to your true character and condition. “Whosoever will be the friend of the world, is the enemy of God.”
Reconciliation to God, as we have seen, implies also a willingness to accept salvation on the terms which God proposes.
Are you pleased with the terms of salvation 1 If you are, you have doubtless complied with them. Have you repented and believed in Christ? If not, “why 1 No reason can be assigned but the opposition of your hearts. If you were pleased with the terms of salvation, you would not remain in impenitence and unbelief another moment.
Many, I am aware, express strong desires for salvation, and sometimes say they would give all the world, if they had it, for an interest in the divine favor, while they have never found in their hearts, to feel the least degree of contrition for their sins, or the least degree of love and gratitude to the God who made them, and the Saviour who died for them. Whatever value such individuals may place on a heaven of eternal happiness, they do actually prefer sin to all things else; — and in spite of the ofiers of eternal life, the calls of a bleeding Saviour, the invitations, commands, and threatenings of Almighty God, they are now forcing their way down to eternal perdition.
Let me ask again, have you become reconciled to God?
To all who do not love God supremely, delight in his law, and render cheerful obedience to its precepts, and who do not acknowledge the justice of its penalty, and weep over their unreasonable transgressions — to all who are not willing to be saved on the humbling terms of the gospel, and to enlist under the Redeemer’s banner, and who do not rejoice that Jehovah reigns,! have a message from God. It is a case of life and death to your souls; and as such I beseech you to regard it.
What now is the cause of this enmity between you and God? Has God ever injured you? Has he ever dealt unkindly wnth you? What have you to allege against his character, against his law, or against this treaty of peace 1
Do you ask what God requires of you 1 The answer is plain. “Be ye reconciled to God.” This is what God claims. And from this we cannot depart without entering on forbidden ground. He claims the heart. And from this we cannot depart, without disloyalty to God. Individuals and nations may negotiate a treaty of peace, though the heart be not engaged. An outward reconciliation may be effected, while the heart remains the same. But not so with God. He looketh on the heart. If that be withheld, ‘’to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord’?” If the heart be not engaged, however sinners may treat about a reconciliation, their insolence is met with this repulsive demand, “who hath required this at your hand ‘?” Without this, not a step can be taken towards settling your peace with God.
And now all things are ready; and God is inviting and beseeching you to accept his mercy? What is the reply of your heart? Do you not like the terms of this treaty? You are required only to be reconciled to God. What can be more reasonable than this? Is it hard that you should be required to love (j!od — lo feel sorrow for sin 1 — to confess and forsake it 7 Is this Iiard ] Or is sin so lovely, and so desirable, that it appears hard and unreasonable that you should be required to hate and oppose it with all your heart? Why then will you not renounce it? Is sin so noble a thing in itself, and so desirable in its consequences, that you cannot part with it — that you will lay down your life — your eternal life for its sake? Your love of sin is all the excuse you have, or can have. Or will you plead your inability? What! cannot be reconciled to God! Cannot feel sorrow for sin! Cannot cease to rebel against the king of heaven! What an acknowledgment is this! Out of thine own mouth, wilt thou be condemned. If, indeed, you are so opposed to God, that you cannot feel sorrow for sin, this is the very reason wby you ought to be condemned. The harder it is for you to repent and love God, the more wicked you are, and the greater will be your condemnation.
God himself is beseeching yo.u to be reconciled. And why do you not obey? Have your pride and stubbornness risen to such a pitch, that you -will not do the most reasonable thing, though God beseeches you?
In the name of God I come to beseech you to be reconciled. Why will you stand out against the will of heaven? You are on the side of bis enemies. The prince of darkness, ever since his fust rebellion, has been attempting to rear his kingdom within the limits of Jehovah’s empire. But how feeble are all his attempts. ‘^ He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.” ‘^ For he hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Why then will you continue this unequal contest with your God? He is the rightful Sovereign of the Universe, and claims a throne in every heart. You are under infinite obligations to him as your Creator and constant preserver, and are therefore bound to obey him.
God possesses all excellence in himself, and on this account he deserves the supreme love of all his rational creatures. It is the duty even of the fallen angels to love him, for their rebellion has not cancelled their obligations. While God is on the throne, all his enemies, whether on earth, or in hell, will be forever criminal for not loving him, their torments notwithstanding. For on what principle, can the prince of darkness justify his conduct in maintaining eternal war with the king of heaven? But while you continue unreconciled to God, you virtually justify all the rebellion of wicked men and devils. And are you willing to be the apologists of the devil and his angels?
Again — consider what God has done for your salvation. The gift of a Saviour was not an act of justice to our world. Sinners had no right to demand the blood of the Son of God to atone fcr their guilt. Why then should he come to our world with a message of peace? Why not take on him the nature of angels, and extend pardoning mercy to those of them who had fallen? Though this has not been done, they are not justified in continuing in rebellion against God. No more would man have been justified, if Christ had never died.
But let US suppose that Christ had left the race of Adam, and gone down to redeem the fallen angels; should we not have been astonished at the mercy of God to them? And had those rebels mocked and insulted the beloved Son of God, and in their hellish rage Jiad stiipped him, crowned him with thorns, nailed him to the cross, and put him to death, would you not have thought this to be heaven-daring wickedness? What depravity, think ye, would this conduct have manifested to the Universe?
Be astonished, 0 ye heavens! This Saviour has concluded a treaty of peace for rebellious man, and now sends this message to you, ^’ Be ye ieconciled to God.’’
In his name I plead. You may now disregard the voice of a dying fellow mortal. Let him be forgotten. But will you not hear the voice of God? “Hear O heavens, and give car O earthy for the Lord hath spoken /” His commanding voice to every sinner present, is, “Be ye reconciled to God” Have you not continued long enough in your rebellion? Have you not long enough resisted his call? And will you now again turn away from him thatspeaketh from heaven? Will you not hearken to the voice of the heavenly charmer? — your bleeding Saviour? Have you no repentance — not a tear to shed for the sins which nailed him to the cross?
O what amazing love invites I “He is the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person” — and is he unworthy of your love?
He is the delight of the Father — his only begotten and well-beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased — and is he unworthy of your love?
He is the lamb of God — the light of the heavenly world, and receives the homage of angels and glorified spirits — and is he unworthy of your love?
When from his exalted throne, he beheld the miserable enemies of God, sitting in the region and shadow of death; he left the bosom of his Father and with the keys of death and hell at his command, passed by the fallen angels, opened the prison- doors of rebel man, and lighted up his dreary abode with rays of celestial hope — and is he unworthy of your love?
Admiring angels, eager to bear the news of his entrance into our world, announced to the shepherds the birth of their incarnate God, and sang “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will to man” — and is he unworthy of your love?
He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief — He knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth — yet he was treated as a stranger and an outcast — as one unfit to live. The world knew him not. ^’ Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests,” but your Saviour “had not where to lay his head.” He was esteemed as less worthy to live than the vilest robber. Barabbas may live, but he must die. He was stoned, and found no rest in his passage through this world. He was falsely accused, unrighteously condemned, scourged, arrayed in a purple robe, crowned with thorns, a vast multitude of feeble worms hailed him with acclamations of mock homage, they spit upon him, smote him with the palms of their hands, and nailed him to the cross. There he yielded up the ghost. But he arose from the dead, and ascended to his throne of glory, from which he now invites you to his arms, and beseeches you to accept the salvation which he has piuchased with his blood — and is he unworthy of your love?
‘’If any man love notour Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha.”
I must close my feeble entreaties, and leave the event with God. This is, perhaps, the last time that I shall speak to you, in the name of God, on this side of the eternal world.
Sinners, must I leave you where I found you, unreconciled to God ] Your business is not with a fellow mortal. I have done; and the whole remains to be settled between God and your souls. However hard you may think of this message, it is not mine. God beseeches — God commands your compliance now. And will you raise your feeble arm to oppose? God is on the throne; and have you an arm like God? However opposed you may be, yet God is on the throne, and what can you do? God is on the throne, and will dash his enemies in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Before I close, I must remind you, that with some of you this may be the last call — the last offer of peace which God will ever send you. But a different message will soon arrive. You will shortly hear again from your offended Sovereign. Before the setting of the sun, the messenger of death may be despatched with a commission to drag some guilty soul to his dread tribunal. He may now be even at the door.
By the mercies of God, and by the terrors of his ‘^ratli — ])y the joys of heaven and the pains of hell — by the merits of a Saviour’s blood, and by the worth of your immortal souls, I beseech you, lay down the arms of your rebellion; bow and submit to your rightful Sovereign. Oppose, and still he will reign. “jPor God hath set his king upon his holy hill of Zion,^’ and hath sworn by himself that unto him every knee shall bow.
Once he has descended with a message of peace and good will to men. But shortly, he will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in Jlaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall he punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.