The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1912-02-15

a5x S2 include not only
the souls of the
condemned, but the demons in hell
and even satan himself But he means
all the things which 1t 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 it
pleased the father to reconcile to him
self are the believers on Jesus Christ,
and 1t is of their reconciliation espe-
cially that Paul here speaks.
l. 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 Works?
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-
tites, 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 US"
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
took
Found out the remedy"
This is grace, especially when we
| understand that it does not mean pri
marily that we became reconciled to
Cod but that God became reconciled
to us. 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
I Christ for US on the cross as our sub
stitute Saviour, In the body Of his
{
body of his fiesh?" Why not say his
body without adding "fesh?" Be
! cause there was a heretical sect in
that day which denied the materiality
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.
". 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
wearied world only knew anc be-
lieved that! If they would only pause
in the rush of things and listen to
It for a single moment!
The Battle of CONGO ID Bridoe.
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
1t, but it was obeyed by American
citizens. In other words, In that in
slant their condition became changed.
though the experience of that change
was a thing of growth So the instant
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 is
that we continue in the faith, rooted
and grounded and not moved awav
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 to God