Atonement and Reconciliation

That was a beautiful Wanda, thank you very much. And happy atonement, good afternoon. It's a full crowd, that's great to see. And it's always good to see the excitement. There's always a little buzz where people talk about where they're going for the feast and what they're going to do and things along that line. I'd like you to turn to start today's message if you would go to Genesis 3. Genesis 3. God created the universe in the beginning and it was perfect, which always makes me wonder what the Garden of Eden really was like. You know, we see so many beautiful things. The drive here was beautiful today. Well, what would it have been like? It just, yeah, that's always an amazing thought to me. But mankind was given dominion over every creature. The Garden of Eden was described as perfect in beauty. And as long as Adam and Eve were at one with God, well, they could look at God, they could talk to God, and they could innocently view everything around them in a way that was not offensive to our Creator. Genesis 3.1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? We know what happened from here. Right? Satan deceived Eve into sin and then we find in verse 7 that the eyes of both of them were opened. Right? As soon as they sinned, their minds changed. And suddenly they knew they were naked, but they felt ashamed about it. Their perspective changed. They started interpreting what must be evil and what must not. Made a lot of analysis along those lines. And verse 8 says, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. If you think about it, that encapsulates the effect of sin. That encapsulates it.

Change. What sin does is it changes our perspective on life. And it makes us want to hide and to separate even from God. Happened from that first point? Carried on ever since. And of course, we find what God does in response in verse 22 through 24. It says, There are no indications, if you look at it, you know, we don't have a lot of words there, right? But there's no indications in Genesis 3 that Adam and Eve wanted to breach that breach to be healed. Right? What they did instead is they justified themselves. We can see that. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent. And because of the sins of Adam and Eve, humans ever since have been cut off from the Holy Spirit.

And there has been this missing element in the reasoning process of people.

All goes back to that one point in time. And as a result, all of mankind's actions since have been built on reasoning that's not influenced, right? That's not directed by God's Spirit as was intended. So even though people doubt the existence of the devil, the Bible reveals Satan is real. He's powerful. He's in this invisible force that is swaying all of mankind. All. Revelation 12.9 tells us that his influence is so great that he deceives the whole world.

Not something to be taken lightly. And all we have to do is look around and we can see the world's conditions, right? And we see the impacts of that. We could see it in music. We could see it in literature, internet, TV, wherever. Even though mankind is created with this spiritual capacity, our minds are limited and unable to find the true things of God without God's help. And so when they were moved from Eden, it wasn't just a relocation. It was a separation from what makes our minds most effective. And mankind was unable to undo or overcome that separation from their Creator. Again, it goes back to you because spiritual things are not physically discerned. All from that one action. So mankind has been trapped. They've been doomed. And that's the reason we're very, very easily overpowered by Satan. Our brain needs God's help to be able to defend itself. And man's separation from God has continued to get wider and wider until God finally healed the breach. Rather than understanding Satan's role in God's plan, people blame God for what happened. Human nature, right? If you'll turn to 2 Corinthians 4 verses 3 through 4, 2 Corinthians 4, 3 through 4, we were created as free moral agents and have chosen not to follow God but follow Satan's influence. Now, he's very effective at influencing us, but Satan strives to maintain this advantage by blinding people from understanding God's truth. And that's what we see the Apostle Paul talking about here in Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. So again, you tie this genesis to what Paul was writing here, and it allows us to see the power, the influence of Satan.

Turn forward to 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. 11 and verse 3 now. So Paul is starting to warn the Corinthians and us, right, that we need to beware of the deceitful methods of the devil. 2 Corinthians 11.3. But I fear, lest somehow, as the servant deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your mind, my mind, may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. So the Day of Atonement, it involves not only the forgiveness of sin, but as we heard in the sermonette, it pictures the removal of the primary cause of sin, right?

Satan and his demons. Mankind will continue to fall into disobedience and suffering until that future time, right, when God removes the original instigator of sin. The Day of Atonement, therefore, looks forward to that time when Satan's deception will be removed, and he will no longer be free to influence us as he wishes. I read a beautiful story about an English landscape painter named John Constable. If you've ever seen any of his work, he had a love of painting these idyllic countrysides of eastern England, which there's plenty of. And he had a great love for as many children.

His oldest son was also named John, and he kept a diary, and this is from his diary. He said there was to be a special exhibit of his father's new work, and critics from far and wide came to their home in the suffix countryside to see the new painting. The highlight of the day was the unveiling of a very large canvas which was hidden behind a curtain.

Everyone was very excited, and Constable walked up to the curtain and pulled the cord, and the new painting was unveiled. But instead of sounds of joy, there were sounds of groaning and shock, because right across the canvas from top to bottom was a great tear. Slowly everyone departed, and Constable was left with his wife and children, staring at the torn work of art.

All of his children were there, except young John. Later that evening, young John returned home, looking very frightened and guilty, and his father said, John, did you do this? And he replied, yes. What happened next was something that the young John would never forget. His father looked at him and said the gracious words, how shall we amend it, my dear? Our world, our world is this beautiful work of art that God gifted us with. And we deserve to be punished for our sinful share in spoiling God's beautiful canvas. It's creation. But instead of punishing us, God so loved us, right, that he sent Jesus into the world to save us from tearing ourselves apart.

And so if the work of the devil is to divide and to separate, the work of Jesus is to reconcile. When Jesus died on the cross, he mended a broken world, and he brought God and humans together. He made forgiveness possible, if we truly repent and believe, and forgive. Theologically, that's called atonement, at one mint. Jesus came for the purpose of mending that which was broken by forgiving our sins. So if you think about it, Christianity is really about mending. It's about mending.

And that's what reconciliation means. It means mending or restoring something that was broken. Every Christian is called to work with God in mending what's broken, our relationship with him, our relationship with each other, mending the torn canvas of this world. We normally think of Passover in terms of being reconciled to God. And so it's natural to say if we're reconciled to God through Christ's sacrifice, why do we need another day other than Passover to teach us about reconciliation?

Are you able to answer that question if somebody asks you that? If we're already reconciled, why do we need to fast on atonement? What's the specific significance of this day in God's master plan? Well, Passover and atonement, they're really inextricably linked, very, very tightly linked. Both involve reconciliation. However, atonement supplies answers and solutions to things that are not resolved by Passover. Passover is personal in nature, and it provides reconciliation of the individual to God.

It helped us to begin unity with people in the church, right? With God, with Christ. And it's through Passover that we learn the price of redemption and the reconciliation that the death of creator did on our behalf and the need for that. Turn to 1 Peter 1, verse 17 through 21. 1 Peter 1, 17 through 21. The day of atonement pictures an essential step in God's salvation plan that's not found in the symbolism of the Passover. Because atonement is universal in nature. It provides reconciliation of the world to God. It reconciles all of mankind at one time with God and each other through Christ. So sin doesn't happen without a cause, and God makes this cause clear in the symbolism that's associated with the day, like we heard in the sermonette. Passover shows Satan being defeated by Jesus, but still free to work out evil manipulations. Atonement shows Satan defeated and punished by banishment. No longer free to do anything but reflect on the consequences of the path he's chosen. So today's like this ultimate Jubilee day. The change of rulership of the world is commemorated in that sense. And that step has to take place before humanity can experience the true peace that we're going to celebrate in a week. 1 Peter 1 and verse 17. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by traditions from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foredained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you, for me, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. So the emphasis in what we're reading right there is about the cost of reconciliation. In his wisdom, God knew before creating mankind that we would sin. It's still the most amazing benevolent act that I can even imagine. If there was going to be both reconciliation and character building, then there would have to be a means provided that would not only satisfy the legal requirements, right? of sin, but also contribute or contain a moral, a spiritual influence to motivate mankind to cooperate and obey on their own.

A major portion of our desire to obey God comes from an appreciation, an obligation, a recognition of what God has done and can do and make possible if we yield to him. And that starts with recognizing the price that was paid for us. Turn to Isaiah 59 verses 1 through 2. Isaiah 59, 1 through 2. So at Passover, we rehearse that reconciliation was done for us personally, as individuals. Now in Isaiah 59, let's expand on the topic. Isaiah 59 starting in verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is air heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from God, from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Our sins, our iniquities, our breaking of God's law, our breaking of God's law, are what has brought on the need for atonement, the need for reconciliation. The word atonement means reconciliation, if you didn't realize that. Sin and breaking God's law produces the opposite of atonement. It produces separation, builds barriers between us and God, between us and other people. And so Isaiah spells out clearly that God will not hear us because of our sins. This isn't saying that God cannot hear. In fact, it very explicitly says that's not the case. God can't hear. But God is telling us that it's because of our sins that God will not hear. That's that separation between us and God, which was caused because we're the ones who have drifted away. To us as self-centered human beings, right, it seems that God has gone away from us, but he hasn't moved at all. Ever since, eating of that first fruit, we have drifted away. So we play a major part in reconciliation because God has given us free moral agency. It is so easy to blame Satan and say he's at fault for everything we commit. The devil made me do it. Now, remember, we're each personally responsible for our actions. Our human nature and personal choices play a definitive part in our sins. God gave us free moral agency so that we could respond to him. Right? But that takes us putting his word into practice. That takes us exemplifying his nature in choosing God. I'm going to come back to this thought on believing. We have to choose to do that. Turn to Romans 5 verses 10 through 18. Romans 5, 10 through 18. We never should abdicate our responsibility by blaming Satan. He is guilty. Yes, there's reason that the sins of the people were put on his head as an instigator. But we too must do our share and control our human nature. So what God is trying to do with the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gift of his spirit is to motivate people to repent, to change, to turn, to resist what we naturally have done for most of our life, to build character, to learn to live by faith. Romans 5, 10. Romans 5, 10. For if when we were enemies, when we were separated from God, we were reconciled, brought back together, to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So we see reconciliation with God is not the end of the process. That's important to realize. We are reconciled by Christ's death so that we can be reunited with God. We will be saved because Christ is alive. Romans 5, 11. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So Passover covers that concept because Christ died for our sins. And by faith, we're forgiven believers. We're to give our life to God. We repent and we're reconciled. But again, that's not the end of the process. Verse 12 expands God's bigger purpose for eternity.

It's not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. So we're looking at judgment by God. Verse 16 says, for the judgment which came from one offense. So that's referring back to Adam, right? All going back to the beginning. That was the test case for all humans. And so what God judged was that as Adam went, so would we. And we followed right along like a little duckling is following, doing the same thing. Remember, the Day of Atonement symbolizes the reconciliation of God in all humanity. So God's solution to bridge the gap was that just as one man was cut off from God through, the actions, or all were cut off by the actions of one man, I should say, so would mankind be reconciled to God through one man Christ. But what Christ did for mankind doesn't pass to everyone automatically. It doesn't pass automatically. God first reveals Himself, but then each person has to believe. We have to repent, or reconciliation can't occur. It takes two. And everything that Jesus did, preaching the gospel, casting out demons, healing people, introducing us to the Father, it was done for one reason, so that people would believe. We all need to believe. But believing has been the problem from the beginning. Adam and Eve didn't believe God, and so what did they do? That really looks good to eat. I don't know. I think there's going to be good things if I eat that. And they sinned. The reason we sin, the reason there's violence on the streets, the reason there's trouble between parents and children and husbands and men, between parents and children and husbands and wives, is because people do not believe God. It's really that simple, because if we truly believed and acted accordingly, we wouldn't act the way we do when we sin. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2, 9 through 13. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 through 13. God tells us in the Bible what to do, but we think there has to be a better way. It's human nature. There's a way that seems right to a man. That verse, I think, sums up our separation in a nutshell, all the way back to the Garden of Eden. There will be no reconciliation unless there's repentance, and there will be no repentance unless we believe.

We must, first of all, believe that God is, and secondly, that His word is true, it's kind of the basis of salvation, right? The basis of reconciliation. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things of God, for what man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also spoke or speak, not in words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So, the question for us today is, how will mankind ever be reconciled to God?

How will mankind ever be reconciled to God? How will we ever be able to produce peace with one another? And the answer is, it's impossible!

As long as things remain as they are.

Evolutionists claim that mankind grows older, right where I'm proving we're getting smarter. Is that true? Yeah, some ways. But certainly not in the ways that matter most. That separation that goes back to the very first person. As technology increases, so does wars. In the earlier part of the century, do you remember what that war was called? It was the war to end all wars, World War I. And it's been estimated, depending on how you associate after effects of war, between 130 to 230 million people have been killed in wars in the 20th century. So, mankind isn't improving. We're degenerating in every wrong direction. We're being driven apart. We're not even at one within our families. The Feast of Atonement expresses just how much God loves humanity. Rather than wanting to punish us, God so loved us that He gave us His Son not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Remember reading that. It's been God's purpose since the foundation of the world to restore all things. For there to be this refreshing, this time of refreshing, it's to provide that fresh air that just, if you go to one of those places where you just are basking in just the open fresh air, but this is so much more. Establishment of something good to follow all this bad. Atonement concerns itself with the legal, the moral, the practical aspect of how to restore God's government, but at the same time ensure the rebellion won't continue to happen in those who possess free moral agency. Turn to Isaiah 1, verses 13 through 16. Isaiah 1, 13 through 16. Selfish, currently motivated humans want the good things that we can get from God, like security, like prosperity, like health and healing. We like good weather. We like good crops. We like ease in our lives. Right? But we don't want to sincerely obey and surrender to God's direction for our lives. That's where believing comes in. That's the journey of conviction. And that conditional approach to God is what's resulted in many people losing God's blessings, drifting away. Isaiah 1, 13. Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbath, the calling of assembly. They were doing it. They were bringing the sacrifices. They were keeping the days. I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. They weren't getting the connections. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They are troubled to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers I will not hear, your hands are full of blood. That's why he wouldn't hear. Their actions weren't supporting the rote mechanic or mechanics, I should say, a belief. So the breach was made through sin. How is that breach to be healed? Well, it started with Christ's sacrifice. But there has to be action on our part, on each human's part, if we're ever going to be at one with God. Verse 16. Wash yourself. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widows. Atonement is not only something Christ does. Atonement is not only something Christ does. There will never be oneness with God until man does something with his free moral agency. And that's the key. And that's the key.

We can't let things remain as they are. And that's why, as people in church now, we know we are called to repent, to be converted, to change. And God is called upon people to allow their minds to turn back toward God. Not all people at this time. But notice I said the word allow. Once we begin to repent, the reconciliation is absolutely sure. Because justification will occur and sanctification will occur. It will continue. But the problem is we have to continually remind ourselves of what we're supposed to believe. And not fall for the lies that Satan has tried to blind humans with since the start, since we were born. It's well before then. Human nature is overpowering, and evil habits that offend God are so deeply ingrained. What they do is they separate us from God. Eventually, those habits have to be caught. They have to be repented of. Now we begin to see that being at one with God has more to it than just merely being justified by grace through faith and being reconciled to Him. It's something that only begins at justification and reconciliation because God's objective is building in us His holy, His divine, righteous character. That's the goal. God wants a family. When we're at one with God, then we look at things exactly the same as He does. When we aren't at one with Him, it's as though we have stepped away from Him. And we only see things from this veiled perspective.

Let's now turn to this fantastic set of scriptures that pulls all these thoughts together. It clarifies our role in a way that we can easily look past. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. We'll read verses 17-21. 2 Corinthians 5, 17-21. From the start, God has wanted us to be in alignment with Him. Adam and Eve had it until they didn't. Who knows how long that took? Sin makes that impossible. So in response, Jesus gave His life to make reconciliation possible. But Jesus did not make reconciliation guaranteed. We have to want our perspective to change. We have to make a choice, the choice, to follow God.

And as sin brought a change in perspective and separated Adam and Eve, repentance brings each of us back, you could say, to Eden. It really does. We each have the personal choice to take from the tree of life. Those who are baptized here have chosen to take from the tree of life. And when we do, and when we did, it's as if the story of creation and Genesis began all over again, but with a happy ending, potentially. As long as we keep choosing, as long as we keep believing. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. So the key to reconciliation with God and men and the restoration of this formerly wonderful relationship with our God are founded in being in Christ. That's what it mentions. So it pictures the work of Satan the devil, this great divider, being defeated once and for all on this day, and the great reconciler, Christ, being chosen by us, us being in Christ. Paul kind of got a foretaste of this. If you think about when he was on, at least a foretaste of reconciliation on that road to Damascus, because he experienced God's grace. Up to that point, he was lost. He was confused. And without reconciliation, we would still be lost in our sins. We would have the veil and the blinders. We wouldn't recognize the sinners we are. But verse 17 shows that reconciliation gives us the opportunity to become new. But it can't stop there. It can't stop there. Once we become new, we can't tarnish the beautiful newness by returning to the filth. We can't go back to our selfishness. True reconciliation must bring ongoing change. Right? And where to be examples of a life that has been changed, has been reconciled to the Father. Do we? When people watch our lives, they should want to have what we have. The hard question is, do they? Do we shine a light? And that depends on if we have truly been changed by the power of Jesus Christ. Are we different than we once were? If not, we're lost and again need to be reconciled. Some believe that they can live good enough. I could do it. I could live good enough. Friends, there's nowhere in the Bible you find that man can reconcile himself to God. It doesn't work that way. In every case, God reconciles man to him. And before the world was formed, God cared enough about you and me to send his only son to be a sacrifice in order to reconcile us to him. But the work of reconciliation has to carry on. The work of reconciliation has to carry on. And we have a part in it. It's very clear that God wants us to be at one with him. And if we're at one with him, then we must be at one with the rest of mankind. You can't say, I'm at peace with God, but those people. The flip side is also true. If we're separated from one another, then we're also separated from God. That's why today is this humbling day of considering where we reconciled. How shall we mend it, my dear constable, said to his son. Each one of us has been called to God's work of reconciliation. We have been called to this work of mending a broken world. Verse 18. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us—all y'all—us the ministry of reconciliation. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Now this word used for reconciliation is only used four times in the Bible, and it's translated atonement in Romans 5 and the King James Version. Remember, toner means reconciliation.

The ministry committed to us stems from our being reconciled or restored to favor. The word given means to be placed in trust. Isn't that a beautiful phrase? God has put in sacred trust with us this ministry of reconciliation. What are we doing with it? The day of atonement ought to be teaching us that our initial reconciliation to God is not enough. It's only the beginning. God intends to reconcile the whole world to himself through his agent, Jesus Christ, and those disciples who commit to live like him—us. The next step is for us to be reconciled with our brothers. A complete atonement with God will only occur when mankind truly loves as an action and not a feeling. So often we approach these things, ah, I just love, it's just a good feeling. I'm not going to do anything about it, but yeah, it's a good feeling. That's not what it's about. Agape love is the exercising of God's word as a way of life. A story I read was told about two brothers who lived on adjoining farms, and at one time they were close, but then they had this deep quarrel. And at the start, they often shared their resources, but after the quarrel, that practice stopped, and there was nothing left but bitterness. One morning, the brother named John answered a knock at the door, and it was a carpenter. And the carpenter asked, is there any work I can do? John said that there was something he could do, and he took the carpenter to where the two properties met, and he showed him how the other brother had built, taken a bulldozer, and created a creek where the meadow used to be. John said, I know he did this to make me angry. I want you to help me get even by building a big fence, so I won't have to see him on Orr's property ever again. So the carpenter worked hard all day, and when he reported back to John, John noticed that there was no fence. The carpenter had used his skill and built a bridge over the creek instead of a fence. And John's brother saw the bridge, and was deeply moved that his brother would do such a thing. So the two brothers met in the middle and embraced. They looked, and they saw the carpenter starting to put his things away, and they said, wait, we'll find more work for you. But the carpenter replied, I'm sorry, but I have other bridges to build.

Even as Christ loved us while we were enemies, so we have to love others first. Christ loved us first. We have to love others first. We have a role in reconciliation.

It takes humility to do that. We must willingly submit ourselves to God and how we act toward others. And that starts with understanding the spiritual why. Why are we doing it? We've got to understand the why. Over time, if we live this way, others will start to understand and to come to love us even as we now love God because he first loved us. It's not about us. We're building a connection to where our source of strength comes from. There must be a connection. There must be a relationship between us worshiping God and how our character is displayed on the street, at home, at work, with our spouse, with our children. Our character should reflect the ministry of reconciliation when we're away from church, when we're not in the eyesight of God's people. Are we different when nobody's looking? Now consider this concept in reverse. There is no way a true Christian can treat others with contempt and greed and envy and jealousy and anger and hatred and revenge and do those things during the week and then come to services before God thinking somehow they're not separated from him. How can we become ministers of reconciliation? We do it by comforting the brokenhearted, healing the breaches wherever we see them. That's what we're asked to do in this lifetime. The ministry of reconciliation involves the proclamation of the gospel and its assurance that forgiveness of sin is available in Christ. Verse 19. That is that God, speaking of the Father, was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us, God the Father, is committed to us the word of reconciliation. So from this section, we learn that it's God the Father we're now reconciling to. Jesus Christ was his agent of reconciliation, but the result that occurs, the that is, which started that verse, is forgiveness. Our responsibility, then, is to carry that same message to others. Believers are committed to share the ministry in the word of reconciliation with others. They said, us, all y'all, have both the ministry of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation that's been assigned to us by God.

Weird to tell people of the wonderful opportunities that they have to be made right with God through Christ. And sin is what's preventing us from having that relationship with God. But we have a Savior. Jesus' perfect sacrifice on the cross made atonement for all sin and brought harmony to mankind's relationship with him. Christ is the one who reconciles us, all people, to God. And now we can confidently exemplify that people can repent of their sins, be right with God, see Christ through us, hopefully. Verse 19 describes that ministry of reconciliation and proclaims the word or the message of reconciliation. The message we're supposed to share is at the end of this next verse. Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. That's the word of reconciliation. Be reconciled to God. And as a result of our reconciliation, God has called us to share the message, that message of being reconciled, living a restored relationship. God could use any method. I mean, like they said, the rocks could cry out and talk. For some reason he chose us. And it's not a duty. It's not a burden. It's a blessing. It's an opportunity. It's an important perspective for all of us to have as we're traveling to the Feast of Tabernacles. Be a light. Be a light out there. We are ambassadors of Christ, and that literally means that we're representatives of Jesus to a different world. How's it going? How are you and I representing Christ each day? If we profess to be Christians, then people are watching our movements. And through every action and reaction in our lives, we're either pointing people to Jesus or pointing them away from him. A different way to look at what we do each day. Have we brought praise or shame upon the name of Jesus Christ? Are we a fitting ambassador for Christ? There are many under the banner of being Christians that do more damage than good, I would argue. So this ministry of reconciliation, it's a big responsibility. And we read in that last verse that God is making his appeal. He's pleading through us. We can't reconcile anyone to God. Realize that. We can't reconcile anyone to God. But we can and we must point them to the one who can't. We must make it clear to a lost world that Jesus is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. And the ministry we've been given is to turn hearts toward God. And as we know, it's a life and death matter.

Jesus paid the price for our reconciliation because God loves us. So we must share that message of reconciliation. Before we read that the next verse, I'd like to read a well-known verse to you, but just fit it in here to carry the point forward. And that's going to be, I'm going to read to you 1 John 4, 20 and 21. It says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also. Christ said, we have to love our enemies. Our feeling toward our enemies might not be good. And yet we're still required to love him or them or her. Since love is an action, then we can do that even though our feelings may not be all that agreeable toward that person. Don't be rained by your feelings. Okay, now let's read 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Since don't count against those who are reconciled to God through Christ, because God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. So reconciliation is this ongoing process whose objective is that we become the righteousness of God. That's our job. You may get paid for something else, but that's why you're here on earth. We're here to become the righteousness of God. We're to become at one with God and become like God.

And that all naturally extends to the Feast of Tabernacles. To the eighth day they were about to celebrate, because it should inspire us as we observe it. What you and I are going through now, it's typical of what people are going to go through at the millennium when Christ returned. It is what people are going to have to be brought to realize in the second resurrection. Reconciliation isn't something that's going to occur simply because Satan has been taken out of the world. Oh, sure. A tremendous impediment will be removed, yeah. But that's not the end of it. When people come up out of the grave in the second generation, I'm second resurrection, I'm sorry, I guarantee you they're going to have the same mind as they had when they went down. All of Satan's influences are still deeply ingrained. They will still naturally be self-indulgent and self-centered and selfish, and everything else that Satan has created in the world. They're going to have to go through the same process of repenting and repenting and repenting that we do. And at the core, it'll come down to whether they believe. God had to reveal Himself and His purpose and had to reveal our sin to us so we could humble ourselves and repent. We have to believe God to the extent that we humbly submit an obedience to His way. It's that humble process of transformation, and it's shown by the exercise of what we are doing now, which is fasting. So what does fasting have to do with this day? Fasting is a tool, it's an object lesson. We generally speak of fasting in terms of it being a tool used to draw us closer to God. When I was younger, I had a different mental picture of that whole thing, which was a little shallow over time. But it's this visual that I would have of God being on one side of a field and me being on the other side. And when I draw close to God, I picture myself walking over closer to where He was. And when you reflect on it, it's kind of a dumb analogy, at least primarily. God wants to draw us to the place where we're close to what He is, not where He is. God wants His mind to be in us. That's the objective. Fasting is not to bend God to our will. We don't fast to receive anything from God except His abundance, mercy, and forgiveness for our human weaknesses. Fasting should express and grow our humble desire to draw closer to God because we realize that separation that's happened, that reconciliation we so badly need. Does attending Sabbath services or the Holy Days, listening to sermons online, draw us closer to God? It depends.

If the byproduct of exposure to religious events is having us think more like God, so our actions toward others are more like His, then we are drawing closer to Him. It's about actions. There are two ways to fast and observe today, right? We have the—I can guarantee you, and especially we have some of the young folks here—they right now are in the we have to, or we can have the because we want to. Certainly remember that first couple times, and it's just like looking at that clock, and the seconds couldn't be slower, but I have to. If we're here only because we have to, then we're going to be complaining in our mind. We're going to think it's hot. We're going to think this guy is rambling. We're going to focus on physical conditions, but if we're properly fasting with the right attitude, then we'll grow closer to being like God today, and we're going to celebrate being protected from a worldwide spiritual famine. Think of this day in relation to a spiritual famine. Fasting helps us remember how temporary our physical existence is. Right? We're all a little puckered. Without food and water, we will soon perish. And so fasting helps us realize just how much we need God as the giver and the sustainer of life. I don't know you. I don't necessarily, when I fast, feel hunger. I feel weaker. I, my knees get a little rubbery. I don't have that zip. I don't have that energy. My mind starts to get a little dull. My tongue, a little heavy. Things just don't work as smoothly as they normally do, right? God wants us to make that same connection of physical hunger to spiritual things. We desperately need the things that God provides. And when we don't have spiritual things, we can only get from God. Then we're going to be just as weak as we are physically when we don't have food. Oh, there are people in parts of the world, you know, Africa and other places have been where they're absolutely starving and have to fast way too often. Spiritually, we're like them if we don't repent. We're choosing to be in that situation. We won't be able to do spiritual things without what we can only get from God. That's the lesson of the separation in the Garden of Eden that we started this message with. You can go to hundreds of different stores, restaurants tonight. You can buy all sorts of food. And it'll make you feel like you're going to be in a restaurant. And it'll make you feel stronger physically. But there is only one place you can go to get the food that will feed you spiritually. So, my friends, atonement is to reinforce that we need God. It's preposterous to say that God needs us. God has a plan to reproduce Himself, but you and I, we have to be willing. Our part is to be ready. We're to have at one point, we're to have God. And during atonement, we realize how much we depend on physical food, and we suffer for lack of it. God deeply wants us to feel that same urgency for Him, for our relationship, for reconciliation spiritually. Do you feel like today you hunger spiritually as much as you do physically? That's part of today's meaning, and it pictures God's and reconciliation. Because we've been given deliverance by atonement from being under the power of the evil one. So, the day of atonement represents a coming time of reconciliation, when God will take Satan and banish him. And we all in humanity will have this amazing chance of reconciliation to repent, to get past all the devastating horror that's going to happen in terrible ways before His coming. And at last be reconciled to God. So, the Feast of Atonement is about us drawing closer to God, to God's mind, to God's heart, to His character, and becoming like Him. Let's focus on that for the rest of the day.