From Nothing but the Blood Audio
Now all these things are from God, who RECONCILED us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of RECONCILIATION, 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be RECONCILED to God.  —2 Chronicles 5

For if while we were enemies we were RECONCILED to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been RECONCILED, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the RECONCILIATION. —Romans 5

So we've now got an experience with what it means to be redeemed by the blood, for the remission of sins and how we’re justified, but what about being reconciled to God?

We don’t use that word much, except maybe to reconcile a checkbook. You can think of it as settling accounts or making everything even. I’m thinking of action movies, like the recent Equalizer movie, where settling accounts meant justice, killing and destruction.

But when the goal isn’t justice, but to win me/you/us back into a right standing relationship, that’s harder. Think of your favorite action movie. Got it? We like those movies because the protagonist (the good guy) makes and executes a plan flawlessly to bring justice to the antagonist (bad guy). But what Hollywood creative could ever develop a storyline to win the antagonist back into right relationship? None. We couldn’t even imagine it.

But God, had a plan to reconcile me/you/us to Him. Consider this story that Billy Graham told:

     From Nothing but the Blood Audio
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said, 
“Now gird up your loins like a man; 
I will ask you, and you instruct Me.
Will you really annul My judgment?
Will you condemn Me that you may be JUSTIFIED?
Or do you have an arm like God,
And can you thunder with a voice like His?”  —Job 40

Much more then, having now been JUSTIFIED by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. . . .  So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted JUSTIFICATION of life to all men. —Romans 5

The third thing our belief in the blood of Jesus Christ did was to JUSTIFY us to God.

As I look through the times the word “Justified” is used in Scripture (26 in the NASB) I can break them into two camps

1. 1. instances where folks looked to justify themselves, and
   2. times where God justifies another.

I could just have easily said:

     From Nothing but the Blood Audio
This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.  —Deuteronomy 15

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5

Results. We’re looking at what the blood of Jesus did to reconcile our relationship with God. We talked about how God’s non-negotiable (that He couldn’t not be holy) and my non-negotiable (that I can’t not sin) seem insurmountable. If a couple here in Atlanta had those same non-negotiables, no one would think that relationship could last.

But God (did you know that those are my two favorite words in Scripture—44 times in Scripture God changes the conversation/storyline/mankind back to His will) . . . Wait, while I’m on a tangent, let’s run down another. In this portion of the discussion, we’re rolling out some church-y words, but if you’ll stick with me, I promise . . .