WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.580 Standing on the promises of God, my Savior, standing, 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:14.300 standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:21.399 Alrighty. Thank y 'all. Yes, sir. Thank you. 00:00:29.610 --> 00:00:36.109 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 00:00:36.109 --> 00:00:42.649 5. It's been a couple of weeks since we were 00:00:42.649 --> 00:00:46.310 here. Of course, we had a cottage prayer meeting, 00:00:46.450 --> 00:00:49.490 and then we had a revival, so we were a couple 00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:52.030 of weeks removed from where we left off in 2 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:58.509 Corinthians 5. But we left off with the key point 00:00:58.509 --> 00:01:04.709 being, that all who have died to Christ should 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:07.849 live for Christ, that we no longer live for ourselves, 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:11.189 but we should be those who live for Jesus Christ, 00:01:11.329 --> 00:01:14.209 that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and 00:01:14.209 --> 00:01:17.010 therefore we can be raised from the dead, and 00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:19.930 we can have eternal life, and if we put our faith 00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:23.930 in Jesus and give our life to him and seek to 00:01:23.930 --> 00:01:27.280 serve him, We die to ourselves. We're not living 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.379 for the flesh. We're not living for the world. 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:34.400 We should be living for Jesus. And so that's 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.620 kind of a brief summary of the last couple of 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:39.859 verses before we get into the verses tonight. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.799 So let's pray. And then we'll get started. God, 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:45.180 we thank you for your word. And I pray that your 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.340 word would challenge us tonight, that we would 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:49.939 grow in it, that your Holy Spirit would speak 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:51.900 to us. God, that you would hide me behind the 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:53.780 cross, that I would preach and teach in a way 00:01:53.780 --> 00:01:55.840 that brings glory and honor to you. And just 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:58.959 let your Holy Spirit be with us. In Jesus' name 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:04.859 I pray. Amen. All right. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:27.629 16. Verse 16. Well, what exactly does this mean? 00:02:27.849 --> 00:02:31.069 It doesn't really necessarily jump off the page 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:33.590 exactly what he's saying here, but he's saying 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:37.360 this. When we put our life in Jesus Christ, we 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.099 should be a new person. We should be changed, 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:42.240 as we're going to see as we read through these 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:46.439 verses. And so he says, Once that moment comes 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:48.879 in our life that we've put our faith and trust 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.759 in Jesus and we have been cleansed from our sins 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:55.939 and we begin to live for Jesus and not for ourselves, 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:58.960 there's a change. Now he says, look, from now 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.520 on then, okay, there was a point before we knew 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.360 Jesus and his resurrection and in all of his 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.759 power and glory, but now we know Jesus. after 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:09.800 the resurrection, and in his power and glory. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.259 So from now on then, we do not know anyone in 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:17.039 a purely human way, even if we have known Christ 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:21.199 in a purely human way. So he's saying, we knew 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.300 Christ in a purely human way. He came, he was 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:26.759 a human, he walked on this earth. He was a human 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.439 just like you and I. But he's much greater than 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:32.020 that. He's the Son of God. He's the Messiah. 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:35.620 And so we know people in a human sense, in a 00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:38.680 fleshly way, in an earthly way. We all know each 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:42.379 other as humans. But what the Bible really calls 00:03:42.379 --> 00:03:46.360 us to is a spiritual knowledge of each other, 00:03:46.419 --> 00:03:48.919 that the Spirit would guide us, that the Spirit 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:54.000 would lead us in our life. And so he's saying, 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:56.159 look, we don't just know each other as humans 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.000 anymore. We are now brothers and sisters in Christ 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.479 through the Spirit of God. And so we don't look 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:05.919 at things from a purely human perspective. We 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.060 have to ask God to help us through the Holy Spirit 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:11.180 to look at things maybe in the way that he looks 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:14.740 at things. And so we don't want to look at things 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:17.240 from a human perspective. We want to look at 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:20.420 it from a godly perspective. Now, the story of 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:24.420 Samuel is a good story here. When Samuel had 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.420 to go appoint the new king and it was going to 00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:28.980 be one of the sons of Jesse. And when he goes 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:31.740 to see the sons of Jesse, he looks for the best 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:34.399 looking, tallest, strongest, the best looking 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.899 guy there. And he says, this has to be the guy 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:40.680 that God wants to be king. Now what he was looking 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.199 at was the physical. He was looking at the purely 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:48.420 human part of Jesse's son. But what God was concerned 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:51.470 about was the physical. what was in the inner 00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:54.089 man. And so Samuel goes through all the sons, 00:04:54.329 --> 00:04:56.829 and he thinks he's going to pick the right one, 00:04:56.910 --> 00:04:59.750 and God says, no, that's not the right one. Even 00:04:59.750 --> 00:05:03.350 though physically, in a human way, they look 00:05:03.350 --> 00:05:05.930 like they were the one for the job, it was the 00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:08.750 one who had the Spirit of God upon him that had 00:05:08.750 --> 00:05:11.230 the heart of God that was going to be the one 00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:14.649 for the job, and it ended up being David. Not 00:05:14.649 --> 00:05:16.769 the one maybe from a human perspective would 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:18.250 have looked like the one who would have been 00:05:18.250 --> 00:05:21.930 fit to be king, but it was God who was going 00:05:21.930 --> 00:05:25.550 to appoint him as king because his heart was 00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:27.930 right. So God looks at things in a different 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:32.350 way than we do. And so once we are filled with 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:36.329 the Spirit, then we need to begin to take on 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:38.990 some of the attributes of God and pattern our 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:42.620 life after Jesus Christ so that we can... Try 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:45.939 to be more like him in every way. So what does 00:05:45.939 --> 00:05:49.699 that look like? Well, from a strictly human sense, 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:52.759 we may look into the world and we may see bad 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:55.620 things that go on and bad people and bad people 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:58.519 that do bad things. And we may be quick to say, 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:00.699 well, they shouldn't do that or they should live 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:02.540 their life a different way or they should make 00:06:02.540 --> 00:06:05.420 better decisions. And we might look at them in 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:07.699 that sense and maybe some of those things are 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:11.019 true. But how does God look at people who are 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:14.019 struggling? who are making bad decisions. He 00:06:14.019 --> 00:06:15.920 looks at them and he says, I don't want them 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.399 to make those bad decisions. I want them to know 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:20.740 that I love them. I want them to know my grace. 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:23.519 I want to shower my grace upon them and shower 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.839 my love upon them so that they'll know there's 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:27.980 something better than what they're living in 00:06:27.980 --> 00:06:31.439 the world. And so what do we do when we see people 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.800 who maybe aren't living right, who are struggling 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:38.779 with some sin, with some lifestyle choices? Now, 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:40.399 we don't pretend that those things are okay. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:45.620 We know that sin is sin. We call sin, sin. But 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:48.779 is compassion what drives us, or is it a spirit 00:06:48.779 --> 00:06:52.259 of judgment? That's easy to look at somebody 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:54.180 and say, shame on them, we want to pass judgment. 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:58.500 But it is the Lord who judges. But it's also 00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:01.800 the Lord who has compassion. And so maybe when 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:03.839 we look at people with the Holy Spirit that's 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.660 in us that we receive once we follow Jesus Christ, 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.620 we are no longer purely human. We've been changed. 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.579 We've been transformed. And we see people in 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:15.259 a human way, but we also see them through the 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:19.220 eyes of God. Or we should, as we see how Jesus 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:20.839 interacts with people through the Scripture. 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:23.819 We see it on more than one occasion that Jesus 00:07:23.819 --> 00:07:27.319 has compassion on the crowds. He has compassion 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.790 on the people. Even the Pharisees and the Sadducees 00:07:30.790 --> 00:07:34.069 that are out trying to trip him up, even the 00:07:34.069 --> 00:07:36.829 things he says to them that are kind of harsh 00:07:36.829 --> 00:07:40.310 or things that should get their attention, he 00:07:40.310 --> 00:07:42.470 calls out the very things that they do and they 00:07:42.470 --> 00:07:44.350 should have said, whoa, wait a minute, he's talking 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:47.370 about us. And they did do that. They did do that. 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:49.490 He'd say something, they'd say he's talking about 00:07:49.490 --> 00:07:51.790 us, but instead of saying, hey, you know, he's 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:54.029 right, I need to change, they would get mad at 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:56.040 him. He would say, here's the thing you're doing, 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:57.879 and you're doing wrong. And they should have 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.959 said, whoa, maybe he's right. But instead, they 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:02.579 said, we've got to find a way to get rid of this 00:08:02.579 --> 00:08:08.939 guy. And so when we experience people and encounter 00:08:08.939 --> 00:08:12.480 people in the world, we see the purely human 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.660 part of them, but we don't always know their 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:17.519 story. We don't know why they make the decisions 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:20.439 they do or how they got to the situation they're 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:23.720 in. And again, we're not justifying anything 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:27.040 that occurred. But people go through a lot. People 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.600 experience a lot. And once the Holy Spirit indwells 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:33.440 in us, then I think we need to have a little 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:36.360 bit of that compassion that Jesus had. So we 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:38.519 knew Jesus in a human way. He was a carpenter. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.440 But he was not just a carpenter. He was the Son 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:44.559 of God. And he changed the world. And he changed 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.799 the lives of many people while he walked on this 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.320 earth. And he changed the lives of many more 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.200 when he was crucified. and resurrected for all 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:57.360 of eternity. Verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:01.179 in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:05.539 passed away, and look, new things have come. 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:09.960 Now that's good. It's good when something old 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.100 is made new. It's good when something that's 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:17.090 worn out is made fresh again. And when we give 00:09:17.090 --> 00:09:21.389 our life to Jesus Christ, we are a new creation. 00:09:21.690 --> 00:09:23.850 Now, we need to remember this, and we need to 00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:27.409 stand firm on this, because our old self was 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:29.629 pretty rough, and maybe even our new self is 00:09:29.629 --> 00:09:33.409 sometimes. But before we come to Christ, we're 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:35.590 probably pretty rough. We've got lots of stories 00:09:35.590 --> 00:09:37.809 of things that we did, and the way that we acted, 00:09:37.870 --> 00:09:40.429 and the way that we treated people, and the things 00:09:40.429 --> 00:09:42.850 that were in our heart that are just not good 00:09:42.850 --> 00:09:46.750 things. And sometimes the thoughts and the memories 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:49.690 of our old self, they just kind of bombard us. 00:09:49.730 --> 00:09:51.029 You know, we'll wake up in the middle of the 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:53.009 night and we'll remember something we did 20 00:09:53.009 --> 00:09:55.490 years ago that just kind of keeps nagging at 00:09:55.490 --> 00:10:00.330 us. But that's our old self. Yeah, we were sinful. 00:10:00.470 --> 00:10:03.230 We're not proud of that, but we're free from 00:10:03.230 --> 00:10:06.509 that. We're not enslaved in that. We're a new 00:10:06.509 --> 00:10:09.389 creation. And so we need to rejoice in that. 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:12.850 I'm not who I was yesterday. And if we say we 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:16.029 are in Christ, but we're living like we did yesterday 00:10:16.029 --> 00:10:18.830 today, then maybe we need to reexamine our life. 00:10:19.289 --> 00:10:22.549 Maybe we're not a new self. Maybe we're the same 00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:26.889 old self. Now that's not to say that even when 00:10:26.889 --> 00:10:29.490 we're a new person that we don't sin, we're not 00:10:29.490 --> 00:10:33.909 perfect when we come to Christ. But we need to 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:36.590 be able to gauge our life and say, If I'm living 00:10:36.590 --> 00:10:39.090 pretty close to what I was living before I came 00:10:39.090 --> 00:10:41.669 to Christ, after I supposedly came to Christ, 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:45.870 then maybe we're not a new creation. Maybe we're 00:10:45.870 --> 00:10:48.750 just an old creation trying to fake it. Trying 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:50.769 to put on the new clothes but they don't fit. 00:10:51.429 --> 00:10:53.610 Because really deep down inside we're still the 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:56.490 same old person. But the scripture says that 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:59.179 those who are in Christ... are a new creation. 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:01.740 So praise the Lord. If we've done things in the 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:04.039 past, then we repent of those things and we'll 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:06.759 never forget about those things, but we cannot 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:10.700 allow them to overcome us and get us down and 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:13.240 weigh us down. We have to realize we're a new 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.980 creation and we're called to new things and better 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:19.960 things, not the old lifestyle, not to be depressed 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:22.379 by the old lifestyle, but to rejoice in the new 00:11:22.379 --> 00:11:24.899 lifestyle and say, God, these are the things 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:28.159 I did, but God, what do you want me to do? I'm 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.399 a new man. I'm a new woman now. God, how do you 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:37.100 want to use me? Verse 18. Everything is from 00:11:37.100 --> 00:11:41.779 God who reconciled us to himself through Christ 00:11:41.779 --> 00:11:46.259 and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That 00:11:46.259 --> 00:11:50.139 is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:53.889 to himself. not counting their trespasses against 00:11:53.889 --> 00:11:57.490 them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation 00:11:57.490 --> 00:12:02.090 to us. Okay, the first part here, great little 00:12:02.090 --> 00:12:05.289 word. Everything is from God. Everything is from 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:08.269 God. There's a good reminder. Everything is from 00:12:08.269 --> 00:12:12.110 God. Everything we have is from God. Everything 00:12:12.110 --> 00:12:16.149 in the world is from God. Now, it's a good time 00:12:16.149 --> 00:12:18.529 in our life when we come to that realization. 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:20.700 Now there's a lot of people in our world that 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:22.759 haven't come to that realization. They think 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:24.600 everything that they have is from themselves. 00:12:24.899 --> 00:12:27.279 It's from their own doing. That they're just 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.899 entitled to all of the resources of the world 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:33.120 and the waters of the seas and the trees of the 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.740 earth and the air that we breathe into our lungs. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.779 Some people just think, well, I'm just entitled 00:12:38.779 --> 00:12:42.860 to those things because I just live. But everything 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:46.100 is from God. So every breath we take, it's from 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:48.019 God. We didn't do anything to earn that. We didn't 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:50.919 make the air. The water we drink, it's from God. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.779 We didn't make the water. God made the water. 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:57.220 Everything that we have is from God. Everything 00:12:57.220 --> 00:13:00.200 that we make, every paycheck that we get, every 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:02.639 crop that comes into our garden, it's from God. 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:06.820 Everything that we have is from God. Some people 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:09.480 say, well, I worked. I made my empire. I made 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.240 my millions. Yeah, you did. But you didn't start 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.049 from nothing. You started from something. You 00:13:15.049 --> 00:13:17.070 didn't just start from the existence of absolutely 00:13:17.070 --> 00:13:20.129 nothing that we can't imagine. You started from 00:13:20.129 --> 00:13:22.750 something, and that something was made by someone, 00:13:22.830 --> 00:13:27.190 and that someone is God. So everything that we 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:30.830 have in life, everything that we have is from 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:33.389 God, and we need to remember that. It helps us 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:36.690 to stay grounded, I think, to say, okay, I wouldn't 00:13:36.690 --> 00:13:38.909 be here if it wasn't for God. The fact that I 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:40.710 can get up and walk and breathe today is because 00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:43.720 of God. The fact that everything I eat is from 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.600 God and every money I make is from God, then 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:49.820 maybe what we have from God should be used in 00:13:49.820 --> 00:13:53.700 some way to serve God. Because everything that 00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:58.759 we have is from God. And who is God? God is the 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:02.120 one who reconciled us to himself through Christ 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:06.379 and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. What 00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:09.019 does that mean to be reconciled? It means that 00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:11.440 people are at odds with each other. You might 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.220 have known people like that. You may be people 00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:18.259 like that. You may be like that right now. There 00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:20.539 may be somebody that you are at odds with, a 00:14:20.539 --> 00:14:23.700 family member or a friend or a co -worker, and 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:25.639 you just don't get along. There's something that's 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:27.360 happened. They said something to you. You said 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.480 something to them. They looked at you wrong one 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.700 day, and for whatever reason, you're just at 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:34.919 odds with each other. You might speak. You might 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:37.059 do just enough to get by, but there's a tension 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:40.289 there. And there's no good relationship there, 00:14:40.350 --> 00:14:42.970 and it's like you're always butting heads, and 00:14:42.970 --> 00:14:45.929 it always makes you feel angry when you see them. 00:14:46.289 --> 00:14:48.750 And that's what it means when you're at odds 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:51.490 with somebody, is that there's something between 00:14:51.490 --> 00:14:56.090 you that's hindering you from getting over that 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:58.490 and having a relationship with that person. Well, 00:14:58.509 --> 00:15:03.110 that's, for us, the Bible calls sin. There's 00:15:03.110 --> 00:15:06.450 something that's between us and God. that separates 00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:11.889 us from God, and it's our sin. But God gave us 00:15:11.889 --> 00:15:14.889 a solution to that sin. Wasn't anything we could 00:15:14.889 --> 00:15:17.210 do. After all, everything we have is of God. 00:15:17.769 --> 00:15:19.929 There's nothing we can do to earn God's salvation. 00:15:20.070 --> 00:15:23.110 It's all His, so we can't do anything that's 00:15:23.110 --> 00:15:26.450 His for ourselves to earn our salvation. There's 00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:29.409 something between us, our sin, that separates 00:15:29.409 --> 00:15:34.950 us from God, but God, through Jesus Christ, reconciled 00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:38.610 us to Himself. So now we're in good relation 00:15:38.610 --> 00:15:41.929 with God. Now we can have that relationship, 00:15:42.169 --> 00:15:46.009 that tension that keeps all of us as humans from 00:15:46.009 --> 00:15:49.440 God, our sin. That's washed away through Jesus 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.759 Christ. So we're not at odds with God anymore. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.519 We're not enemies of God, as Romans 5 says. We 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.519 are friends of God. That's a good thing. You 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.360 read the Bible, you see what God does to his 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:05.259 enemies? It's not good. What does God do for 00:16:05.259 --> 00:16:08.460 those who are his? Even when they mess up sometimes, 00:16:08.620 --> 00:16:12.240 God is faithful. God provides for them. God protects 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.509 them. God fights for them. God feeds them. It's 00:16:16.509 --> 00:16:19.610 a good thing to be a friend of God. And here 00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:22.570 we are told that we are reconciled to God through 00:16:22.570 --> 00:16:25.730 Jesus Christ. So we no longer will be at odds 00:16:25.730 --> 00:16:28.629 with God if we have trusted in Jesus Christ. 00:16:28.889 --> 00:16:31.669 If we've put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, 00:16:31.769 --> 00:16:37.080 we are reconciled to God. Verse 19, that is, 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:40.639 in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.279 not counting their trespasses against them, and 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:47.240 he has committed the message of reconciliation 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:53.340 to us. Now listen to that. Paul says, This message, 00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:55.679 this good news that we were at odds with God, 00:16:55.779 --> 00:16:59.000 we were sinners against God, we were separated 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.059 from God with no good relationship, we were enemies 00:17:02.059 --> 00:17:06.039 of God. He says, good news, Jesus came, he died 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:09.099 on a cross, he was resurrected, our sins are 00:17:09.099 --> 00:17:12.400 forgiven, we're a new creation, we're reconciled 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.660 with God, we are friends of God, and therefore, 00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:19.299 he says, the message of reconciliation needs 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:22.460 to continue through us. Now, I don't think he's 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:25.319 just talking about just himself and those who 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:26.640 are with him. I don't think he's just talking 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.500 about the apostles that were with Jesus. I think 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:32.720 he's talking about Christian men and women. That 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.339 if we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, 00:17:35.660 --> 00:17:39.339 then we are reconciled of God, then we are the 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.779 ones who God has called to bring the message 00:17:42.779 --> 00:17:45.839 of reconciliation. That's a big responsibility. 00:17:46.829 --> 00:17:49.690 That God has called us to be the ones to bring 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:53.170 the message of reconciliation. So how's the world 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:55.710 going to hear the good news? How are they going 00:17:55.710 --> 00:17:58.369 to know that they're a sinner but God loves them? 00:17:58.589 --> 00:18:00.609 How are they going to know that there's grace 00:18:00.609 --> 00:18:02.690 and that there's love and that there's someone 00:18:02.690 --> 00:18:05.470 to have compassion on them? How are they going 00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:08.450 to know that if they don't see it through us? 00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:11.369 God can work a miracle. He can appear to them 00:18:11.369 --> 00:18:13.430 in a bright ball of light and he can tell them 00:18:13.430 --> 00:18:15.880 that. And maybe he still does. There's people 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:17.980 that say that that happens, and I don't doubt 00:18:17.980 --> 00:18:21.640 it for a second. But I think way more times than 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:24.779 not, the way that people are going to be reached 00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:28.759 is through us. Because we are the ones who are 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:31.740 called to bring the message of reconciliation. 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:36.640 So are we doing that? Does the world see that 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:40.200 in us? Do they see compassion and love and grace 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.599 in us? Or do they see someone who's judgmental? 00:18:44.129 --> 00:18:47.609 And angry and unloving. What do they see? I don't 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:50.509 know. We have to answer that question for ourselves. 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:53.490 Maybe we don't like the answer we come up with. 00:18:54.069 --> 00:18:55.970 Maybe we try to fake ourselves out and say, I'm 00:18:55.970 --> 00:18:57.569 pretty good. But maybe if we're honest, we say, 00:18:57.630 --> 00:18:59.589 man, the world doesn't always see good stuff 00:18:59.589 --> 00:19:02.670 from me. They don't always see compassion and 00:19:02.670 --> 00:19:06.410 love. But we are the ones who are called to bring 00:19:06.410 --> 00:19:08.670 the message of reconciliation, the good news 00:19:08.670 --> 00:19:13.980 of Jesus Christ. Continuing on, verse 20. Therefore, 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:19.619 we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God 00:19:19.619 --> 00:19:23.619 is appealing through us. We plead on Christ's 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:28.519 behalf, be reconciled to God. Listen to that. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:35.140 We are ambassadors for Christ. You think about 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:39.400 that for a second. You, as a Christian, are a 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:44.059 representative, of Jesus Christ. Now, let's talk 00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:46.319 about politics for a second. I know we all love 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:48.779 that, especially in church. But you think about 00:19:48.779 --> 00:19:52.420 every state, and every state you vote on people 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:56.059 that we call representatives, right? And these 00:19:56.059 --> 00:19:59.259 representatives, they go to Washington, and they 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:02.799 represent you and what you want and what you 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:07.400 like and what you desire for this country. But 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:10.730 then you turn on the TV. and you see your representative, 00:20:10.910 --> 00:20:13.210 and he's saying this thing, and you say, wait 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.410 a minute, I don't want that. And he says this 00:20:15.410 --> 00:20:16.869 other thing, and you say, well, I don't want 00:20:16.869 --> 00:20:19.809 that. And everything that he says and does and 00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:24.910 fights for, you don't want. He's a bad representative. 00:20:25.910 --> 00:20:28.809 He's not doing anything he should do. He's not 00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:31.109 representing any of the things that are important 00:20:31.109 --> 00:20:36.990 to you. So what about us with God? We are God's 00:20:36.990 --> 00:20:41.369 ambassadors. We are his representatives. So when 00:20:41.369 --> 00:20:45.710 God looks at us, does he look at us like we look 00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:50.309 at our political representatives? Do the things 00:20:50.309 --> 00:20:52.829 that we do is God saying, yep, that's exactly 00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:56.000 what I want. That's exactly the way I want people 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.420 to act. That's exactly what I want people to 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:00.700 know. That's exactly what I want people to hear. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.220 That's exactly what I want people to see. This 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:05.940 is exactly what's going to get my kingdom growing 00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:08.359 in this world. Is that what God sees from our 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:13.400 actions? Or does he look at us and say, well, 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:16.240 he ain't representing me when he did that. She 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:19.240 wasn't representing me when she said that. That 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.279 doesn't represent my love. That doesn't represent 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:23.680 my compassion. That doesn't represent my grace. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.059 That doesn't represent my son. So what kind of 00:21:28.059 --> 00:21:30.380 representatives are we tonight? We are ambassadors 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:34.500 for Christ. Now, if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, 00:21:34.779 --> 00:21:37.119 there's only two types of ambassadors you can 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.460 be, a good one or a bad one. There ain't no in 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:43.960 -between. So we have to look at our life and 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:47.099 say, okay, when we go out there and we tell people, 00:21:47.180 --> 00:21:51.440 I'm a Christian, well, what do our actions say? 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.059 If you were to go stand in a court of law today 00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:59.819 and you were accused of being a Christian, would 00:21:59.819 --> 00:22:03.099 your actions be enough to get you off the hook? 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:07.059 If you're accused of being a Christian, would 00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:09.720 your actions be enough to call you to be guilty 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:12.240 there? Is there enough evidence in your life 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:16.019 that would convict you? Maybe it is, maybe it's 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:19.599 not. Maybe we say we're Christians and we don't 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:22.700 live like it at all. Maybe we're horrible ambassadors 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:25.880 for Christ. Maybe we're not ambassadors at all. 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:30.799 Maybe we're just pretending. Paul says here, 00:22:30.859 --> 00:22:36.240 look, you are called to be ambassadors for Christ. 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:42.279 Certain that God is appealing through us. We 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:46.700 plead on Christ's behalf. What do we plead? We 00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:50.119 plead, be reconciled to God. That is the message. 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.859 We are pleading on Christ's behalf. What are 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:54.920 we pleading to people? We're telling them, look, 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.920 God loves you, but he does not love that you're 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:01.259 living in sin. Your sin has separated you from 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:03.779 God just as my sin has separated me from God, 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.599 but I've got good news. He sent Jesus Christ 00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:09.920 so that your sins could be forgiven. So therefore, 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:13.299 repent and be reconciled to God. That is the 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:18.160 message. And Paul says that we, Christians, ambassadors 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:22.559 for Christ, are to carry that message to a lost 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.670 and dying world. Verse 21. He made the one who 00:23:27.670 --> 00:23:32.670 did not know sin to be sin for us so that we 00:23:32.670 --> 00:23:37.369 might become the righteousness of God in him. 00:23:38.710 --> 00:23:41.630 Isn't that a beautiful, beautiful verse tonight? 00:23:42.509 --> 00:23:47.970 Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He 00:23:47.970 --> 00:23:51.470 took the curse. He took the punishment for our 00:23:51.470 --> 00:23:54.809 sin. He took what we deserved. We deserve to 00:23:54.809 --> 00:23:57.710 die. We deserve that punishment that he experienced 00:23:57.710 --> 00:24:00.390 on the cross. And if God would have allowed us 00:24:00.390 --> 00:24:02.569 to experience that punishment, it would have 00:24:02.569 --> 00:24:04.950 just been the beginning of that punishment. We 00:24:04.950 --> 00:24:07.269 would have been punished on a cross, or in whatever 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:09.430 form we would have been punished, and then we 00:24:09.430 --> 00:24:12.069 would have died and been separated from God for 00:24:12.069 --> 00:24:17.690 all of eternity. That was our punishment. That's 00:24:17.690 --> 00:24:23.450 what we deserve. Because we're sinners. Jesus, 00:24:23.650 --> 00:24:29.700 who knew no sin, took our sin. He took our punishment. 00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:35.880 And with Jesus, it was nailed to the cross. So 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:41.559 Jesus got what we deserved. And in turn, when 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:45.359 we trust in Jesus, we get something that only 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:54.339 Jesus deserved. So that we might become the righteousness 00:24:54.339 --> 00:24:59.849 of God. In him. We have been made righteous through 00:24:59.849 --> 00:25:02.950 Jesus Christ. We don't deserve that. It's not 00:25:02.950 --> 00:25:04.609 like God's going to look down and say, okay, 00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:06.230 you did a pretty good job in your life, and the 00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:08.549 good outweighed the bad, therefore I'll consider 00:25:08.549 --> 00:25:11.190 you righteous. Nope. We are made righteous by 00:25:11.190 --> 00:25:14.589 one thing and one thing alone, and that is the 00:25:14.589 --> 00:25:17.430 blood of Jesus Christ. That he was nailed to 00:25:17.430 --> 00:25:20.470 the cross, that his blood was shed for us, that 00:25:20.470 --> 00:25:24.190 his body was nailed to that cross for us. that 00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:26.569 he was put in a grave, and that three days later, 00:25:26.670 --> 00:25:31.869 he arose. And that is the source of our righteousness. 00:25:32.829 --> 00:25:34.930 Now, if we're living in the righteousness of 00:25:34.930 --> 00:25:37.569 Jesus Christ, praise God, we are a new creation, 00:25:37.710 --> 00:25:41.309 and we are ambassadors for Christ. We are representatives 00:25:41.309 --> 00:25:47.650 of God. How are you representing him in your 00:25:47.650 --> 00:25:50.420 daily life? Let's pray. God, we thank you for 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.339 this good passage and what a challenge it is 00:25:52.339 --> 00:25:55.240 and what a call it is for us to examine ourselves, 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:58.839 dear Lord. And maybe we fail the test when we 00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:01.420 start examining ourselves, dear Lord. Maybe we 00:26:01.420 --> 00:26:03.539 don't represent you good or hadn't represented 00:26:03.539 --> 00:26:06.859 you good. I pray that you would help us to bring 00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:08.880 your grace and your love and your mercy and the 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:12.000 truth of reconciliation through Jesus to this 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.880 world, dear Lord. I pray that you would help 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:17.759 everyone here and listening. To be a new creation 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:20.640 in Jesus today that the old would pass away and 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.319 that we would know that it's passed away and 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:25.299 that we would rejoice in knowing that we are 00:26:25.299 --> 00:26:27.359 in Jesus Christ. God, if we have received the 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:29.599 righteousness of Jesus Christ today, we thank 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:32.180 you that our sins have been forgiven and I pray 00:26:32.180 --> 00:26:34.819 that you would help us to live in that righteousness. 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:38.559 I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.