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My parents were divorced when I was 12 years old. And when it happened, I was sad but also relieved, because the many years or arguing, bickering, and yelling in the home finally came to an end. You’ve heard that much of my childhood was spent alone and isolated in the hospital. That’s true. And when I wasn’t in the hospital, I had this traumatic experience in the home. I remember thinking as a young boy that I would do anything to stop the confusion. I blamed myself for my parents’ anger toward each other. I wanted to have a happy home and peace in the home so badly. I wanted my parents to be brought together, to be reconciled to each other.

But if you’re a Christian, you were involved in a much greater dispute than a married couple on the verge of divorce. God had a controversy with you, and you with God. In most disputes there are varying degrees of blame on both sides. But that is not the case here. God is good and provided for us. But we were unthankful and unholy. He is “a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4). And we were wicked sinners. And our sins made a separation between God and us. We had broken His perfect Law, and we had no excuse for it. He was angry with us every day. We were also angry with Him, but for no reason. We rebelled against Him. God was totally justified in His anger toward us. And we had no excuse for our rebellion. God would have been completely just to send us to Hell.

I. First, God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ.

“God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ”
      (II Corinthians 5:18).

God in His love and mercy sent Christ to bring us to Him. Through Christ we are reconciled to God. His passion and death took away our guilt. Christ washed our sins away in His Blood, and He gave us His righteousness. Now, through Christ, God accepts us. We have an intimate relationship with Him. He loves us and finds no fault in us, and we love Him. We have been adopted in the beloved of God. Now

“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
       (Romans 5:1).

The Christian can now sing,

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
   He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
   And "Father, Abba, Father," cry,
And "Father, Abba, Father," cry.
   (“Arise My Soul, Arise” by Charles Wesley, 1707-1788)

Praise God, I know my God through my Saviour Jesus Christ! What a wonderful life with God and Christ we Christians have!

“God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:18).

II. Second, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

God has brought us to Him through Christ. Now our ministry is to bring others to Him through Christ. We do this in and through the local church. This is the ministry of reconciliation. The great evangelist Dr. John R. Rice wrote,

“The one great obligation of the Christian is to fulfill the ‘ministry of reconciliation’ (vs. 18) which is committed to us. Since we are reconciled to God, the one thing we must do in response to Christ’s love and sacrifice is to win others” (John R. Rice, The Church of God at Corinth, Sword of the Lord Publishers. 1973, comments on II Corinthians 5:18, page 204).

Oh, how Dr. Rice loved sinners. And hear again his great love for Christ and the great focus of his heart to soul winning. “The one great obligation of the Christian is to fulfill the ministry of reconciliation. “The one thing we must do in response to Christ’s love and sacrifice is to win others.”

Our ministry is to win others. Our ministry is to do evangelism. We must bring sinners into the church to hear the preaching. We must take care of them. We must love them. We must pray for them. As God sent out Christ to win souls, Christ sends us out to win souls as well. Christ said,

“As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21).

We will not win all people that we will try to bring in. We will not win most. But we will win some. And they will be won by brothers and sisters in the local church that obey Christ. We are an extension of Christ’s love and power. Christ said,

“He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (Matthew 10:40).

It’s as if God sends His arm out through Christ and faithful brothers and sisters going to evangelism. And then His arm brings lost people into church and to Himself through Christ and the brothers and sisters. This is our ministry of reconciliation. This is how we can be used of God to bring people to Him through Christ.

We have great expectations when we bring a sinner to hear the preaching. Most will not listen, at least not for a while. But those that stay will eventually hear the preaching. It may initiate this great chain of a sinner’s eventual conversion. The Apostle Paul said,

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:13-14).

The preacher will preach. This is the only way they will hear the Gospel. After hearing they must believe the Gospel. After having believed the Gospel they may then call on Christ in faith and be saved.

This is our ministry. This is our work. And you have an important job in bringing young people into church and taking care of them. And as the Apostle Paul said, “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1). We are Baptists. We are not Catholics or Presbyterians who believe that only the priest and minister do all the work. No, we believe in the priesthood of the believer and in every-member evangelism.

That is every-member evangelism! There is no substitute for doing evangelism. There is no reason not to do evangelism. There is no excuse for disobedience to Christ. Whatever other ministry you’re involved in, make sure to do evangelism. Like Dr. Rice said, “This is our one obligation. This is the one thing we must do … to win others.”

Our ministry requires love. Like all the great soul winners in the past we are motivated to win souls out of love for Christ. What a great debt we owe to Christ! We must not live for ourselves, but for Christ. If we love Christ we will want to please Him. We will not let anything stop us from serving Him and winning souls. The Bible says,

“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Timothy 2:4).

If we are good soldiers of Jesus Christ we would be most concerned about pleasing Christ. We would not allow the affairs of our life interfere with serving Christ in soul winning. Have you entangled yourself with the affairs of this life? Has poor study habits and poor school performance stopped you from soul winning? Are you fooling around going to the malls or gym and not doing enough soul winning? If you haven’t put your heart into soul winning, you have not pleased Christ, and you are not a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The Bible says,

“For the love of Christ constraineth [compels] us” (II Corinthians 5:14).

If you loved Christ as you should, you couldn’t help but to think about and do much soul winning. The love of Christ would compel you to do so. If you haven’t been doing much soul winning, it shows that your love for Christ has become cold.

Our ministry requires wisdom. We need wisdom to win souls. The Apostle Paul sadly said, “Who is sufficient for these things” (II Corinthians 2:16). There are so many potential pitfalls in a person coming into church, staying, and then to be converted. It requires wisdom at every turn to work with a sinner. Have you really done your best calling the visitors and getting to know them during the week? Have you really had a burden, prayed for, or even fasted for your visitor? The person who has brought someone into church who got converted has received great wisdom from God. The Bible says,

“He that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).

His wisdom is seen in his soul winning. If you lack wisdom, ask God for it. The Apostle James said,

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

Ask God to give you wisdom in bringing your friend from school or work into church and keep him in church until he’s converted.

Our ministry requires zeal. The zeal to do God’s work and to win souls consumed Christ. Oh, to God we would have more of Christ’s zeal! If we thought more spiritually, and more soberly over lost people’s condition, we would have more zeal. The Apostle Paul said,

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men”
       (II Corinthians 5:11).

It terrified Paul to think of what great judgment sinners were under without Christ. It gave him great zeal to persuade men to come to Christ. Fear is another great spur to zeal. Jude said,

“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire”
       (Jude 23).

Oh, that we may fear for our friends at school or work and pull them, compel them to church that they may not go into the fire that shall never be quenched.

Our ministry requires steadfastness. Doing evangelism is hard work and rarely do we see someone from our labors come into church and be saved. But we must not be discouraged. We must continue on. God observes the work you do for Him.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58).

We have God’s promise that our labor is not in vain. But the greater promise is if we continue faithfully, God will cause our labor to reap fruit.

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

Our ministry gives us joy. What a great privilege it is to serve God through our local church. Doing evangelism is a joy. It’s a joy just to obey Christ and do His will. And when God adds the increase, we may see a soul come in and be converted. The Prophet Isaiah, as a type of Christ, said,

“Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me”
       (Isaiah 8:18).

And if we are blessed by God to win souls, we can say the same thing to God, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.” And our blessing will not only be at that time but eternal, forever and ever. The Bible says,

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

This is our ministry. Let us win souls. Go to Wednesday prayer and evangelism. Go to Thursday prayer and evangelism. Do personal evangelism and turn in these names on Saturday night. Bring friends from your work or school. Compel them to come in. Don’t give up!

So little time! The harvest will be over.
   Our reaping done, we reapers taken home.
Report our work to Jesus, Lord of harvest,
   And hope He’ll smile and that He’ll say “Well done!”

Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest!
   Today is given us lost souls to win.
Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning,
   Today we’ll go to bring some sinner in.

The harvest white, with reapers few is wasting
   And many souls will die and never know
The love of Christ, the joy of sins forgiven.
   Oh, let us weep and love and pray and go!
(“So Little Time” by John R. Rice, 1895-1980).

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: II Corinthians 5:11-18.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: “So Little Time”
(by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980)