The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1912-01-26

COuOCuuSuI OuI IuO OC"oAS LII hS1A
and even satan himself. But he means
all the things which it has pleased
the father from the beginning thus to
reconcile. The definite article in the
Greek suggests this as the thought.
which is made clear by the other
teachings of the Bible on the same
subject. Among those things which 1t
pleased the father to reconcile to him
self are the believers on Jesus Christ,
anC it is OF their reconciliation espe-
ctally that Paul here speaks.
1. First he shows our need OF
reconciliation, by telling us that we
were sometime alienated and enemies
in our mind by wicked works"
Sometime" covers the whole period
of our lives from physical birth to
our new birth by the holy spirit. All
that time the natural man is alienated
from God. And not only alienated.
but hostile to God. an enemy, as the
text says.
What Are Wicked Works7
This enmity need not show itself
necessarily in giving way to the lower
and baser appetites of the body.
There are cultivated men and women
who are able to, control these appe-
titles, but who are at the same time
enemies to God in their mind. e..
in their modes of thought and feeling,
which are contrary to his revealed
will. And this enmity must in the
very nature of the case. show itself In
wicked works"
II. Second, he shows the source Of
our reconciliation. which is God him
self. yet now hath he reconciled U.s."
The very one from whom we were
alienated and against whom we were
enemies Is the one who reconciles us.
HE who might the vantage best have
Found out the remedy
This is grace. especially when we
understand that it does not mean pri-
marily that we became reconciled to
God, but that God became reconciled
to U.S. This he did by taking that sin
out of the way which was the barrier
to his reconciliation.
III This leads Paul to speak in the
third place of the means of our
reconciliation which was the work of
Christ for US or the cross as our sub
stitute Saviour, 'In the body Of his
flesh through death" Why say "the
body Of his f1esh?" Why not say "his
body" without adding "fiesh?" Be-
cause there was a heretical sect in
that day which denied the materially
of Christ's body. They believed in a
spiritual, but not a material. mediator
ship.
But Christ had a real body and real
flesh and real blood which he offered
In Precipitation for our sin, he passed
through real suffering and died a real
death Such is the teaching of this
verse.
w. And this brings us to the fourth
point. which Is the result of our
reconciliation. presented holy and
without blemish and unchanged in
Gods sight This is true immediate
~ Of every believer the moment he
accepts Christ by faith as his Saviour
Oh, If everybody in this sin-cursed and
sin-wearied world only knew and be-
lieved that. If they would only pause
in the rush of things and listen to
1t for a single moment!
The Battle of Concord Bridge.
At the battle of Concord bridge, at
the beginning of the revolution. when
John Buttrick gave the command to
fire it was to, British subjects he gave
it, but 1t was obeyed by American
citizens In other words, In that in
slant their condition became changed,
though the experience of that change
was thing of growth. So the instant
a man takes Christ as his Saviour,
he stands before God free from the
guilt of sin, without blemish and
without charge. And this is grace!
The final point in the lesson is the
proof of our reconciliation, which i,
that we continue in the faith. rooted
and grounded and not moved away
from the hope of the gospel" Paul is
speaking not to the false teacher who
went out of the church, but to the
true believer who stayed in. Those
who are true to the faith delivered
once for all to the saints" have the
witness in themselves that they are
reconciled tn God