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I. SIN HAS PLACED MAN IN ANTAGONISM TO GOD.

1. Man is estranged from God. Sin severs the soul from God. The principle of cohesion — the consciousness of rectitude — is gone, and the sinner, breaking away from the centre of all goodness, drifts into the wilderness of alienation. Sin leads man to shun the Divine presence and disregard the Divine overtures. It is a state of danger and spiritual death. How few are conscious of it!

2. Man is hostile to God. Enmity follows estrangement, and both have their seat in the mind. The mind of man opposes the mind of God, sets up a rival kingdom, and organizes an active rebellion against the Divine Ruler (Romans 8:7). If the hostility is not always open, it is in the mind.

3. Man's estrangement and hostility are evident in his actions.

II. MAN IS RECONCILED TO GOD IN CHRIST.

1. The distinguished blessing. "Now hath He reconciled."

2. The gracious medium of the blessing. "In the body of His flesh through death."

III. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN RECONCILIATION IS TO PROMOTE MAN'S HIGHEST BLESSEDNESS.

1. The highest blessedness of man consists in his moral purity. "To present you holy."

2. In His personal blamelessness.

3. In His freedom from censure.

(G. Barlow.)

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KJV: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

WEB: For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;