#demonsareliars

[inthespiritofthemind]

#46 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Part 2

Verse 18: “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,” When Adam and woman sinned in the Garden of Eden, God’s closeness and fellowship with mankind was broken.  But He had a plan for reconciling us to Himself before the foundation of the world. Every part of what these verses say was part of that plan and was set in motion.  God knew what would happen and began the reconciliation of mankind to Himself. Reconciliation is the restoration of a friendly relationship.  God loves us so much, that He created us as His highest creation.  He spoke His Word and when man disobeyed, God’s Word was fulfilled and mankind died spiritually as a result of the first sin each one committed.  He desired for His relationship with mankind to be restored.  But each man was in an unholy state when sin occurred and could not survive fellowshipping God directly.  God’s pure holiness made it impossible for us to be in close contact until the ultimate sacrifice was made.  The sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats according to the Law each year “could never make perfect those who draw near…..For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.”  Hebrews 10:1b, 4

So, God planned the ultimate sacrifice which would be once for all.  “By this will (covenant) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  Hebrews 10:10 He planned to send His Son to be the ultimate sacrifice as a spotless lamb, sinless and perfect, on the cross for us, as us, in death and in resurrection. Thereby, He, God, could reconcile the whole world, whom He loved so much, to Himself through Jesus Christ!! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (God).  John 3:16 Now we can, as holy and righteous spirit beings who are one with Him, fellowship Him through Jesus.  Jesus points us to the Father.  Everything Jesus did was because God desired it.  Jesus had to submit His will to the Father completely. And by doing that, we have been reconciled to the Father!

In the last part of verse 18 we see that God gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  This brings to mind that after we have received the fact of our reconciliation, He desires for us to look out of our own selves and “minister” that same reconciliation to others.  To minister is to “give help, serve, or attend” to the needs of others around us.

Verse 19: “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”  This reconciliation has not just been given to Christians.  It is a fact already accomplished for the whole world. We receive it gladly for ourselves, but the message of reconciliation is for everyone in the world.  The sacrifice has been given.  It is done! It is for everyone! God desires all of mankind to know they are already reconciled to Him.  He yearns for relationship with all mankind.  And He has given us that ministry.  A ministry is caring for the needs of others, and for the lost, it is sharing that God loves us all and has given us reconciliation or relationship with Him.  Everyone can have salvation upon receiving Jesus as Savior and then know God.  

He is not holding trespasses or sins against us. He gave the ultimate sacrifice of His Son! The sins have been paid for by Jesus.  God demanded perfection and Jesus performed that for us. Demons accuse us of imperfections and failings over and over in the number one stronghold called performance.  In that stronghold we base our own value on a flawed view of the imperfection and behavior in our souls, and we think that is how God sees us.  But this verse clearly states that God is not holding our sins against us.  We are reconciled.  The whole world is reconciled to God.  Demons also manipulate this performance stronghold in our souls to cause us to have difficulty loving the brethren based on their performance and behavior and to feel distant from God based on our performance and behavior.  These are all lies which we have received and believed.

God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus and His perfect sacrifice.  God no longer holds our sins against us.  We are sin free.  We are brought back to reconciliation and relationship with God.  Individually and as part of the whole world, we are entrusted to speak and minster that word of reconciliation.  If we are believing the lies of the stronghold of performance, we will encounter demons trying to stop our freedom from occurring and that of those to whom we are to minister.  We need to spend time with the Holy Spirit to be free of these strongholds.  He will shine the light of truth in our souls and we must take authority over the evil spirits and command them to leave. Offensive warfare will uncover the spirits and when we turn up the light of truth against them they will leave. When light comes against darkness, the light always works and wins!  Then we must will to do what the Father desires and speak the word of reconciliation to all mankind.

Verse 20: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  We are people sent as representatives or messengers for Christ.  We are begging on behalf of Christ.  Jesus humbled Himself before His Father giving everything.  He gave Himself for the whole world at the request of His Father.  How did He do that?  Think of the love required for Him to go through what He went through.  He gave up His deity and became a man in the flesh. He dealt with everything we deal with in life except He knew what darkness was and never sinned when tempted by that darkness.  He knew what it was to live in this earth, but His fellowship with His Father was not severed until He suffered the cross.  Because He gave all, even His life, He asks us to accept His sacrifice and reconciliation to God. We are to share this offering from the Father. This is such good news.  God is entreating through us for all to accept.

Verse 21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Jesus went to the cross for us and as us.  When He died, He died as us.  So, we were literally on the cross with Him.  We saw that in verse 14.  In verse 15 we see that He also rose again on our behalf. He rose as us. We have died and risen with Christ.

Jesus did not just die as us and rise as us, but He BECAME sin!   That is a miracle only God could do! He knew no sin. He became sin.  As perfection, He had never sinned. He was the only one who ever performed perfectly, which is what God required as a “once for all” sacrifice for mankind to be redeemed and reconciled to Himself.  He became sin on our behalf.  He did that so we could become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus).  

This “might” does not mean “maybe” will become the righteousness of God. “Might” here represents the opportunity to have something when you receive what is offered.  It is done when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.  This is a gift from the cross.  This means that when we receive Jesus we are rebirthed spiritually and become one spirit with God.  To be reconciled with God and in right standing enough to have a relationship with a holy God means that we must be holy and righteous as well. The newly rebirthed spirit being that we have become is clean and brand new as stated in verse 17. We are new creations who have never sinned and cannot sin. “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”  1 John 3:9

The rebirth does not change the soul, hence the need to renew the mind to the presence of lies from the enemy.  These lies and the liars behind them affect behavior in the soul and body or “flesh.” The lies also keep us from knowing the will of God. Romans 12:2 We are instructed to do spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 The battleground is the mind. Spiritual warfare is when spirits fight. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12  

The enemy will condemn believers when the soul expresses bad behavior which is a result of their presence and lies in our minds. But Romans 8:1 says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”   And 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus holds us complete without blame. We are righteous and one spirit with God.  We are blameless.  We are holy. We must renew our minds and believe the truth.  We must renew our minds and shine the light on the lies of the enemy driving them out of our souls.  God has given us righteousness through the gift of His Son and Jesus entreats us to know that and share that gift with the world.  I Corinthians 15:34 calls upon us to “Awake unto righteousness and sin not.” Righteousness is who we are in spirit. “Sin not” refers to the mind of the soul being renewed.  We are not to be sin conscious.  We are to walk in the righteousness God gave us.