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12-18-05
Have you ever had an enemy? Maybe someone who slandered your name, or someone who mistreated you in some way that you resent, or perhaps a subordinate who mocked or defied you, or perhaps a friend who failed to stick up for you.
And maybe suddenly this person was in trouble. Would you come to his or her aid? Would you give him or her money? Would you sell your house and live on the street to help him? Would you give your own life for them? Would you have your child killed to help him?
Would you give your life to end the hostility between you and them?
Seldom even for a good person would one dare to die.
The world is full of hostilities. Men against men. Women and against women. Husbands against wives. Children against parents. Countries against countries. Political parties against political parties.
The greatest or saddest hostility of all is that between God and ungrateful rebellious sinners.
It is a pleasure this morning, the week before Christmas, to offer a short meditation on the words from one of the greatest of Advent hymns, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.”
Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!"
Indeed, this reconciliation between God and sinners is the very essence of the good news of Jesus Christ, and the truth of it warrants all the heralding that angels can muster.
We know of people needing to be reconciled everyday. There are probably people to whom each of us here today needs to be reconciled.
To be non-reconciled is to be in a state of conflict, enmity, and opposition.
This great hymn, and the Scriptures from which it came, says that God and man, apart from Jesus Christ, are in a state of conflict, are at enmity with one another, and are enemies.
And this is the cold hard truth. People don’t like to hear it these days. They imagine themselves quite alright with higher power of their choosing. But the reality is not so.
The Bible speaks clearly of human beings as being in rebellion against God, as being His enemies, as disliking both His expectations of them and of Him. In return, they are under His wrath, they are children of wrath, unable even to come into His holy presence, spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins, with only death and hell as their future fate.
This is the state of affairs into which Jesus, sent from the Father, from God Himself, came, sent into the world to reconcile sinners to God.
To do this he had to accomplish or satisfy three things.
He had to satisfy God’s justice by suffering the just penalty for sin and rebellion.
He had to satisfy this penalty as a man, representing other men.
And he had to make possible a change of heart in man, where he would no longer hate God, but love Him and desire to know Him and keep His commandments.
I like the way it’s put in Romans 5:6-11.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
While we were helpless (unable to do anything about our condition) Christ died for the ungodly.
While we were still sinners (not just sinners, but still sinners, ongoing continual sinners) Christ died for us,
While we were enemies (that is, God’s enemies) we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
Into this state of affairs God who is rich in mercy sent into the world, born that Christmas morn, His one and only Son, begotten but not made, begotten from all time, God the Son, to die for His enemies, to die in their place, and not just to die, but to receive upon himself the just penalty for their sin, and thus satisfy the wrath of a holy God in their place, and thus end the state of enmity between God and sinner.
And Jesus did this not as superman but as a man who felt the pain of every blow, and knew the forsakenness and pain of being an enemy of God more deeply than any man has ever known.
And this same Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death itself, and releasing the power of the promised Spirit into the world to change hearts of cold unbelief into hearts of receptive faith, so that we could say “yes” to God and to His free offer to come to him.
This Spirit outpouring Paul describes as “God’s love, poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
And even better yet, we were not merely dismissed as in acquitted, we were adopted into God’s family. We became his friends, His children. We were given the privilege of knowing Him as Abba, Father.
And so that this could continue for all eternity, we have been given the living hope of our own participation in Jesus’ resurrection. Yes, we too will be raised to life just as he was, and in Him we have hope in the glory of God.
And so it is our delight and pleasure to sing today such great songs of truth and faith.
Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!"
Joel Gillespie
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