Reconciliation and Salvation

Next Part Reconciliation and Salvation 2

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10

There are two points of divine truth on which the Scriptures are very express and plain, and yet both of them are most stoutly resisted by the pride and self-righteousness of man's heart. These two truths are the completeness of the fall, and the equal or more than equal completeness of the recovery. Neither of these truths, though for different reasons, is palatable to man's self-righteous nature. As to the first, the depth of the fall, how few are willing to admit that man is in such a state as the word of God describes him to be– "dead in trespasses and sins;" "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of his heart;" "serving diverse lusts and pleasures;" "living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another," "having no hope, and without God in the world." But how plainly are all these evil fruits traced up in the Scriptures to their parent stock– the Adam fall. How clear on this point is the language of the apostle– "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death," not only naturally but spiritually, "passed upon all men for that [or "in whom," margin] all have sinned;" "through the offence of one many be dead;" "the judgment was by one to condemnation;" "by one man's offence death reigned by one;" "by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;" "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners."

And yet these unquestionable and express declarations of Scripture are so opposed to that natural principle which exists in all of us, that we think we are not so thoroughly helpless as not to be able to do something to please God and obtain salvation; and that we will never be exposed to all the desperate rebellion that our wicked heart is capable of manifesting.

It is true that from a kind of traditional respect for the Scriptures there is a bridle in the jaws of many which prevents them from speaking against them; but when the truth contained in them is brought forth and enforced in other language, then it is that the enmity manifests itself.

In a similar way, the other grand and glorious truth which is the correlative of the first, the completeness of the recovery, the perfection of the finished work of Christ, the full atonement which he has made by his blood shedding and death, is as much opposed as the depth of the fall, because it equally stands in the way of that self-righteousness which is innate in every man's heart. See how it cuts both ways. If I can do something toward my own salvation, then the fall is not complete; for it has left me some power. If I can do something for my own salvation, then the recovery is not complete; for to become effectual it needs my co-operation.

But how plainly has the Holy Spirit revealed not only the depth and completeness of the fall, but the height and completeness of the recovery. The apostle, in the chapter before us, ascribes justification to the obedience of Christ as plainly as condemnation to the disobedience of Adam, summing up the contrast he has drawn between the two covenant heads in these words of truth and power– "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:17-19.)

In the words of our text, we find Paul seeking to encourage the desponding saints of God, by laying before them what Christ has already done, and what he still lives to do. It is the summing up of the argument laid down in the preceding verses. The main point which he enforces, and whereby he sets off the wondrous love of God, is that "when we were yetwithout strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." The death of Christ and that for "the ungodly" is the key-note of his melodious theme– the grand fundamental truth of the gospel– on which he insists and enforces with all the strength of his pen. From this gospel doctrine he draws a no less gospel conclusion, that thereby God "commends," or, as the word means, "recommends," "his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He would thus to the utmost of his power enhance and set before our eyes the greatness of the love of God; that this love was not to "the righteous man," of whom he had spoken in the preceding verse, if indeed such a one could be found; nor for "the good," that is– the kind, benevolent man for whom some would even dare to die; but that it flowed so freely forth towards us while we were yet sinners that he sent his only begotten Son to die for us.

He would thus open a door of hope for every sensible sinner who is led by divine teaching into an experimental acquaintance with the depth of the fall, and encourage him to come to God as he is, in all his sin and shame, that he may receive mercy from the hand of him whose name and nature are love.

He then goes on still further to encourage the drooping saints of God by pointing out to them the fruits of justification by the obedience and blood shedding of Christ and the way in which it makes salvation sure– "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." The saints of God are justified, that is, are accounted righteous, through the blood of Christ; and though it may seem at first sight unusual language, yet it perfectly harmonizes with an expression in the same chapter– "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (verse 19); for the blood shedding and sacrifice of Christ were a part of this obedience. Thus by setting before them, that they are already in a state of justification and acceptance before God; that the blood shed upon the cross is their plea and title to eternal bliss– a plea and title that never can be set aside by the curse and condemnation of the Law or the accusations of Satan and a guilty conscience, he encourages them to believe that they shall be fully saved, and are in fact already saved from the wrath to come.

But this glorious and most encouraging truth he sets forth more fully in the words of our text, as the general summing up of the preceding argument– "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

In bringing before you what I seem to see and feel as the spiritual and experimental interpretation of these words, I shall, with God's help and blessing, divide our subject into two leading branches, showing, under the first, the reconciliation of enemies; and, under the second, the salvation of friends.

I. The reconciliation of enemies.

A. What language can describe more fully or forcibly the lost, ruined, undone condition of man by nature than the declaration from the mouth of an inspired apostle that he is an enemy of God? Have we ever considered the depth and meaning of that pointed and pregnant expression? Have we ever viewed it in the light of God's countenance and seen in that pure, holy, and heavenly light what it is to be an enemy of the great God of heaven and earth? Let us endeavor, then, as the Lord the Spirit may graciously enable us, to devote a few moments to the consideration of this point, for only as we are led into an experimental acquaintance with it, humbling though it maybe to our pride or painful to our conscience, can we see or feel any grace or glory in the reconciliation which has been effected by the blood shedding and death of Jesus.

But how has this come to pass? What brought us into this miserable condition? God did not make man his enemy. On the contrary, he made him upright, in his own image, after his own likeness. Here was friendship, not enmity. But what a depth of condescension was it in God to breathe into man an immortal soul, bearing in every feature and lineament a visible representation of the purity and perfection of himself, that is, so far as a created, and therefore finite and limited being was capable of it. Man thus made in the image of God was God's friend. God walked with, and talked with him in the garden of Eden; and acceptable were his visits, for a divine familiarity came with them, and such a mutual communion as a pure and innocent man could maintain with a condescending God. Standing in his created purity and native innocence, Adam had no alarming apprehension of the majesty of God, for there was no bar between him and his Maker, any more than there is now in the angels who ever stand in his presence.

But ah! how soon the scene changed– how Satan envied man's happiness; how determined that old enemy the Serpent was to make a breach between God and man who seemed in his eyes raised to occupy a place in God's favor from which he himself had fallen; and how fearfully, through God's permission, he succeeded by planting, through the subtle medium of temptation, in the breast of man the same evil root of wickedness that had struck so deeply into his own being, degrading and polluting a pure angel of light into a foul fiend of darkness. Sin being thus, as it were, infused into the heart of man, broke up that friendship which existed between the Creator and the creature, and hurled man down into a state of enmity and alienation from the Author of his being.

God did not put enmity into man's heart; God was not the author of man's sin. Satan was the author of the whole. Yes, it was the old enemy, the Serpent, who injected sin as a secret and subtle poison into man's nature, which was created pure and yet subject to fall, and by this infusion of sin, introduced that enmity and alienation into his heart, which constituted him an enemy of God. Let us be clear here. Satan himself could have had no power of introducing sin into man's heart but through the medium of temptation. Though I have spoken figuratively of the injection and infusion of sin; I do not mean thereby that Satan infused sin into man's nature as a venomous serpent by a sudden bite introduces poison into the blood of a bitten man. He rather, to change the figure, presented a cup to man's lips, which seemed sweet and good, but really contained deadly poison. It was the free act of man to take and drink it in disobedience to the revealed will of God. Thus, though Satan was the tempter, and man the tempted, yet, by yielding to the temptation, man sinned by a voluntary act, and so became a personal transgressor. Now this sin, with all the alienation and enmity consequent upon it, has been handed down from our fallen ancestor to us. We are born into this world enemies of God, what I may call natural enemies, because we bear the same corrupt nature that Adam had when "he begat a son in his own image, after his own likeness."

B. But have you ever considered what it is to be an enemy of God, and what it means and implies? It is to be at war with all the perfections of God, no more, with the very Person of the Almighty. Such is man by nature and practice. Such are we, every one of us as born into this world– at open or secret, direct or implied war against the Majesty of heaven, and against all those glorious perfections whereby God is what he is.

Thus, man by nature, is at war against God's holiness, for his heart and life are unholy, unclean, polluted, and vile; and as such, he is at war with the spotless purity and holiness of God, as opposed to the corruption and uncleanness of his heart. There always is a war, express or implied, between opposites. Filth is at war with cleanliness, drunkenness with sobriety, unchastity with purity, falsehood with truth, covetousness with liberality, pride with humility, ungodliness with godliness.

Similarly, man by nature is at war against God's justice, for he is ever doing the things that the Law, which is the declaration of God's justice, expressly and positively forbids, and never does a single thing that it with equal authority commands.

He is at war with God's omnipresence, daily committing those iniquities which God's presence, were it known in his soul, would effectually prevent.

He is an enemy to God's omniscience, as living in ignorance and contempt of that omniscient eye which reads every secret thought of his heart, and is privy to every act performed by his hands; and to that omniscient ear which hears every idle, and worse than idle word, continually issuing from his lips.

He is at war against God's truth; for he hates it with a determined hatred.

He is an enemy to God's people; for he persecutes them and despises them to the utmost of his power.

And he hates God's word, because it condemns him; and he knows if he were to live under its power and influence he must give up those practices which that word condemns.

But you, or some of you say, "I am sure I am not that character– I am not an enemy of God." O, my friend, it is because you do not know yourself; it is because there is a veil of unbelief and self-righteousness over your heart, which hides yourself from yourself. Did you see what you were by nature; if you had a right view of what your carnal mind really is, you would confess with the apostle it was "enmity against God; that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Could you read your heart as God scans it with his omniscient eye, you would see nothing but enmity against God there. You would see that your heart by nature hates what God loves, and loves what God hates. And can there be a greater proof of enmity than that? You would see that your inclinations and desires, thoughts and affections were all at war against every perfection of heaven; and can there be a greater mark of enmity than to be bent on doing what God abhors? You would find your will totally opposed to the revealed will of God; and can there be a greater mark of enmity than a will diametrically opposite?

You would find there was no love in your soul for God or godliness; no love for heaven and holiness; no love for God's truth and the perfections of his adorable Majesty; no love for Christ or his people; but, on the contrary, you would find nothing but enmity, rebellion, pride, and self-righteousness lurking and working in its lowest depths. You must not think because you are moral and upright, correct in your outward walk, and consistent in all the relationships of life, that you are not by nature an enemy of God. Neutrality in this warfare is enmity. Not to be on Christ's side is to be against Christ; not to be separate from God's enemies is to be God's enemy; not to love him is to hate him, and not to be his is to be Satan's. May the Lord, if it be his will, give you light to see there are but two classes– enemies and friends, children of God, or children of the wicked one.

But this state of enmity and alienation from God we have each to learn for ourselves by personal experience; and until we learn thus, in some measure, what we are by nature and practice– enemies of God by wicked works; we never shall be able to enter into that wondrous way of reconciliation which God has revealed in the Scriptures of truth, and which he makes known with a divine power to all whom he brings within the bonds of the Covenant.

C. This leads me to the "reconciliation" spoken of in our text as effected by the death of God's dear Son. Good men use the expression sometimes "a reconciled God;" and there is a sense in which it may be properly used. There being an alienation between God and man, there being enmity on man's part and righteous indignation on the part of God against sin, there was a necessity that this anger of God should be appeased. The anger in the bosom of God was not against the persons of the elect, for being chosen in Christ and viewed complete in him, they were ever "accepted in the beloved." But sin having made a breach between God and them, the anger of the Almighty was justly due to their transgressions, and needed to be appeased or pacified before it could cease.

Thus the church says, "Though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comforted me." (Isaiah. 12:1.) So the Lord speaks, "In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer" (Isaiah. 54:8); thus he says also in Ezekiel, "When I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God." (Ezekiel 16:63.) These, and similar expressions, show that there is a sense, a sound and Scriptural sense, in which God may be called "a reconciled God," and when so used, I have no objection to the expression. And yet I freely confess I prefer to speak as the Scripture speaks here of our being reconciled to God, rather than of God being reconciled to us– "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son."

What a glorious flood of light does this throw upon that wondrous scheme of eternal love and super-abounding grace whereby God's enemies became God's friends. Let us endeavor to enter into the nature and efficacy of this reconciliation.

The first thing that the word reconciliation implies is that there was a previous state of friendship, and that this friendship had been broken up, and, as a consequence, been converted into enmity. This, however, we have already seen. It implies also a healing of that breach, a making it up again, and a restoration to the same or greater state of friendship.

Now the first thing necessary was to reconcile the persons of these natural enemies of God as having become inimical to God's justice and holiness. Sin had defiled them individually, and personally made them loathsome and abominable. Sin had brought them individually under the stroke of God's justice, so that the demands of a righteous law opened to them the door of hell and shut against them the gate of heaven. Sin also, as a polluted thing, had contaminated them from head to foot, clothed them in filthy garments, so as to render them unclean in body and soul, and, as such, unfit to enter into the pure courts of heavenly bliss.

This is beautifully typified in the forlorn child spoken of in Ezekiel 16– "cast out in the open field to the loathing of its person in the day that it was born." Though a child, and a beloved child, its native filth made its person loathsome. So with Joshua, the High Priest, who was "a brand plucked out of the fire," and yet "stood clothed with filthy garments." Until his iniquity was caused to pass from him, his person was loathsome, on account of his loathsome garments. (Zech. 3.) The persons, then of the people of God needed to be reconciled; and this they were through the atoning blood of God's dear Son. This made John say, "Unto him who loved us and washed us" that is, our persons, "from our sins in his own blood." (Rev. 1:5.) "And such were some of you; but you are washed." (1Cor. 6:11.)

This reconciliation is for the sins of God's own people through the blood shedding of his dear Son, and thus an atonement was made for them, that is, a satisfaction to the justice of God which had been, as it were, injured and offended by their transgressions. Thus, there was a reconciliation between the apparent jarring attributes of God, such as his justice and holiness, which would condemn; and his love, mercy and grace, which would save. Sin had caused the breach, sin had produced the enmity; and therefore when by the full satisfaction of Christ, sin was atoned for, put away, blotted out, and cast behind God's back, reconciliation was effected. Now nothing but the infinite wisdom, pure grace, and sovereign power of God could have devised, brought to light, or carried through this way of reconciliation for those who were his born and natural enemies. The first movement was on God's part to us, not on our part towards him. Reconciliation was in his bosom, not in ours. Mercy was in his heart towards us when we had no mercy upon ourselves nor indeed any sense of our need of it. The whole plan of salvation was devised from eternity in the mind of God and carried out in the incarnation of his dear Son before we here present had birth or being. Thus the whole of the work, from first to last, was devised in the purposes of eternal love and executed by the hands of omnipotent power.

But having seen a little into the meaning of the word "reconciliation," let us endeavor to look at the way in which it was carried into execution. This the apostle declares was effected by the death of God's Son, his true, proper, and eternal Son. This is in full harmony with the whole current of sacred writ. We therefore read of God "sending his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10); of "not sparing his own Son, but delivering him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32); of his "bearing our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24); of his "putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:28); of his "having by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:12); of his being "wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities;" of his "bearing the sins of many, and making intercession for the transgressors."

Thus by the incarnation, sufferings, and sacrifice of the Son of God, and by taking our nature into union with his own divine Person, and in that nature, suffering, bleeding and dying, he reconciled those who were by transgression enemies to God and godliness. Thus also, by his mediation he reconciled all the perfections of God, some of which seem to clash, as his justice and holiness on one side, and his love, mercy, and grace on the other. Justice called for its victims, demanding its just due. Mercy, as pure mercy, apart from justice, would have spared the transgressor, but justice could not give up its rights. And yet the perfections of God must suffer no tarnish or diminishing. Each must have its own unsullied, unimpaired luster.

Now the Lord Jesus Christ by his incarnation, mediation, sacrifice, blood shedding, and death reconciled these apparent jarring attributes of God, and thus made mercy and truth to meet together, righteousness and peace to kiss each other. He put himself into our place, standing under the weight of our transgressions and sins, and thus by exposing his own precious body and soul to the strokes of the sword of God's wrath, he received in his own person the strokes of that wrath due to us. God therefore said by the prophet, "Awake O sword against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow, says the Lord of hosts." (Zech. 13.) As then he voluntarily undertook to endure in his own Person the wrath against sin which must otherwise have fallen upon us– his sufferings, blood shedding, and sacrifice were acceptable to God, a sweet savor that rose up into his nostrils; not that God took delight in the sufferings of his dear Son, as sufferings, but he delighted in the obedience to his will thus manifested, according to the words, "Lo, I come to do your will, O God."

When, then, he had finished the work which God gave him to do, and had put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, reconciliation was effected and accomplished. It was this of which the angel Gabriel spoke to Daniel, "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people, and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24), all which were effected by the blood shedding, obedience, and death of the Son of God.

Now there was no other way whereby enemies could be reconciled. It will be our wisdom and mercy to ponder over this solemn truth, and to view it in its various bearings. And first,in what a dreadful state of enmity and alienation must sin have placed us as enemies to God, if we could be reconciled to him by no other means but that his only begotten Son should die for our sins. How dreadful must those iniquities be which demanded such a blood shedding and such a death as this! What eternal hatred must God have to sin so to punish it in the Person of the Son of his love; yet, what eternal love must he have to the persons of his elect, to send his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to reconcile them unto himself, and to make them partakers of his own holiness. Could any other way have been devised, that way would have been chosen; but all the wisdom of God could contrive and choose no other.

And so far as our faith can embrace the great mystery of godliness, we clearly see that no other way but this could have reconciled the jarring attributes of God. By no other way could the Law have been fulfilled, or the claims of divine justice satisfied; by no other way could grace have super-abounded over the aboundings of sin; by no other way could the wondrous love of God and of his dear Son have been made manifest; and by no other way could the love and obedience of the people of God have been effectually secured.

Next Part Reconciliation and Salvation 2

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