The sermon explored the incredible truth of double imputation: Christ took our sin upon Himself while His righteousness was credited to our account. This wasn't a reactive plan after the Fall, but an eternal mission of redemption orchestrated from eternity past by the triune God. Christ left the perfection of glory—perfect love, perfect peace, perfect relationship with the Father—to enter our broken world through the humility of a feeding trough. He lived 33 years of active obedience, fulfilling every requirement of God's law, and then suffered passive obedience by bearing the full weight of our sin and God's wrath on the cross. The implications for our spiritual life are staggering: we've been given not just salvation, but a ministry—the privilege and responsibility of pleading with others to be reconciled to God.
Takeaways:
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We didn't reconcile ourselves to God—He reconciled us to Himself. Our only contribution to this broken relationship was the sin that caused it. God did all the work through Christ, and this reconciliation is a gift we could never earn or deserve.
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Christ experienced the deepest suffering imaginable—separation from the Father. All our sins, multiplied by every believer who has ever lived or will live, were laid on Him at once. All the wrath we deserved for eternal conscious suffering was poured out on Him in that moment. When He cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He experienced something we will never know and cannot fully comprehend.
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We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. This isn't optional based on our "gifting"—every believer has been commissioned to plead with the lost on Christ's behalf. God creates opportunities daily, especially during this Christmas season when people ask, "What does Christmas mean to you?" We cannot waste these divine appointments to share the greatest news ever given.
As we move through Advent, let's remember that the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was wrapped in the Gospel itself. The Incarnation wasn't just a beautiful story—it was the beginning of the most profound rescue mission in history. And now, that mission continues through us.
May we live this week with the urgency and boldness that comes from understanding what Christ has done for us, and may we faithfully proclaim to those around us: "Be reconciled to God."
