Good morning, everyone. It's good to see each one. We're thankful to be here this morning. We are thankful and excited to declare to you the Word of God today. If you will turn with me, take your copy of God's Word and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The section of text we will endeavor to look at this morning is verses 18 through 21. So let's read that together. 2 Corinthians 5. beginning in verse 18. 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 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. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Having now, over the past couple of years, worked our way verse by verse through several of the Apostle Paul's letters, It's clear to see that at the very foundation of the apostle's faith, Paul believed that God Yahweh, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Paul believed He was and is everything. And so he lived out his God-given faith, by declaring to everyone, everywhere he went, the gospel of his God, which is, as I've repeated hundreds of times, Christ is everything. And he must be everything to you, or he is nothing. And you might be wondering why I keep repeating that phrase. Well, loved ones, I do so because if this is not the foundation of your faith, if Christ is not truly everything to you, you will soon find out just how hopeless and helpless you are without Him. You will soon find out just how everything He truly is. So is Christ Jesus everything to you? To you. personally. Is Christ Jesus the Christ of the Bible, of course? Is He everything to you? Is He really your one and only hope of acceptance before God Yahweh, your Creator and your Judge? Not your religion and Jesus, and not even Jesus and your religion, but Jesus, the Christ of this book, It is Him, plus nothing, Him, minus nothing, or He indeed will be nothing to you. It is as just as He said, Jesus Himself in Matthew chapter seven, if He is not everything to you, He will say to you on the day of judgment, depart from me, I do not know you. So is he truly everything to you? Well, he is everything, and he must be everything to you, to me, to all of us. And the thing is, that is not just some religious jargon. That is not just some religious mumbo-jumbo. That's not just something that a preacher is supposed to say. No, there is a very specific and logical reason that Christ is everything and that He must be everything to all of us. As I've told this before, God is logical. His logic is high logic, but He is logical. So there is a very specific reason why Christ is everything and He must be everything to you. Actually, we just read it. Christ Jesus is everything and He must be everything to us for, by, and because of reconciliation. Actually, before we get to or as we come to the doctrine of reconciliation this morning in our passage. We've already seen several times in this letter the vulnerability of the Apostle Paul. Remember, Paul is writing this letter to a church that had previously been all but convinced that he was really a hypocrite, full of selfish pride and arrogancy. But the way that Paul wrote and the way that the Holy Spirit led him to write this letter in a very open and vulnerable way should have clearly showed them and us that Paul was not a hypocrite. He was not full of selfish pride. The reality of the Apostle Paul is that he had no other ulterior motive in his life and ministry than simply to love God, to serve God, and to declare his gospel. Christ was everything to the Apostle Paul. Case in point, in the previous verses here in chapter 5, Paul has revealed to them and to us some astounding things and mysterious things, mysterious truths about our present lives and even our eternal futures. And he has done so in a very... I mean, he even used the words, I know. We know. He's done so in a very matter-of-fact way. Even here in chapter 5, He even defended Himself to this church in a way His accusers could have well said, See, we told you. Look how prideful, look how boastful He is. But now here in verse 18, even before His enemies can get their accusations against Him out of their mouth, He says, Now all of these things, are from God. Basically, I know I may sound like I know something. I may even sound like I'm boasting and bragging, commending myself, but that's not true. I know nothing. I am nothing. God is everything. All that I know, all that I am is by the grace of God. God Yahweh, He has done it all. And for the next four verses, He's going to declare to them and to us what God Yahweh has done, what God Yahweh has given, what God is doing, and what God will do, all because of His grace. Namely, in, by, and because of His grace of reconciliation. So, let me ask us, what do you know about reconciliation? Do you know the whys of reconciliation? Do you know the hows of reconciliation? Do you know the absolute necessity of reconciliation? Do you know the only means of reconciliation? And if you do, do you know about reconciliation personally? Do you know about reconciliation experientially? Have you been reconciled? And if so, are others learning about it, about reconciliation from you? So as I ask you all of those questions, I would imagine in all of those, there is room for growth in every one of us, right? the hows, the whys, the necessity, the only means, and personal, experiential reconciliation, not to mention others learning about it from us. So, may the Holy Spirit give us ears to hear and minds to understand. May He help us to understand the wonderful grace, to see and understand the wonderful grace of God in reconciliation. So first, let's all learn more about the miracle of reconciliation in verse 18. Notice, now all of these things are from God. Paul is saying, all the things I just told you, they are true. They are not fantasy. They are not me boasting in myself. They are true and they are all from God Himself. They are all from His grace. Notice how he continues here. All these things are from God. who reconciled us..." We know who He's speaking to here. He's speaking to a congregation of believers. So the us here is believers. "...He has reconciled believers to Himself through Christ." All these things are from God who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. I wonder if we all realize just how miraculous this statement is, that God has reconciled us to himself through Christ. Let me illustrate it like this, and I'm sure I've used this illustration before, but in the beginning, there was God Yahweh and his creation. Before he created, there was only him and his triune, eternal being. So, as He created, there was God, Yahweh, and there was His creation, including His crowning work of creation, mankind, human beings. He created everything else for them. And God and mankind, they were like this. They were in communion. They were in fellowship. They were in oneness. It's described in Genesis, the opening chapters of Genesis, by Adam walked in the cool of the day with God. They were in communion and fellowship with one another. But then the tempter came to mankind, and he brought with him distrust. suspicion of God. Hath God really said that? That's not really what he means, Eve. Well, he knows something that you don't know. And in that distrust, he brought rebellion. And sin entered upon mankind. And what was once together, sin broke apart. Sin broke apart Sin brought separation. Sin brought alienation. Sin brought a breach of hostility. Sin brought wrath. Sin brought war between God and man. Between God the Creator and His crowning work of creation that He created for His own glory. And instead of glory now, because of sin there was war. And this breach here, this gap, as far as man was concerned and is concerned, is totally irrecoverable because of who God is and because of the state of sinful man because sin came upon men. All men, for all have sinned. Because of who God is and because of the sinfulness of man, this gap, this breach, this war, this hostility between God and man, as far as man is concerned, is totally irrecoverable. Not only are we not able to recover ourselves, but we are also not, naturally, we are not willing to do so. We're not. This same apostle put it like this in his letter to the Rome church in chapter 8 verse 7. Listen, because the mind is set on the flesh, he's talking about the natural mind of man, the mind that all of us are born into this world with, that mind is hostile towards God. Some of you may have it as at enmity against God. For it does not subject itself, that natural mind, you and me in our natural born condition, we do not subject ourselves to the law of God. For that mind, it is not even able to do so." You remember that Jesus said, no man can come to Me. Not no man may come to Me. No man can. No man is able to come to Me unless the Father draw him. So, with that mind, we are in hostility towards God, at war with God, and we are not able or willing to do anything about that. And so, verse 8 says, those who are in the flesh, in that natural mind, cannot please God. In that natural mind, you cannot please, it doesn't matter how religious you are, how pious you are, you cannot please Him. Even your works of religion, even your works of piety, even your works that would be deemed as good works, do not please God. In that natural mindset. They cannot please God. So, can we all hear, can we all feel the desperation of the human plight in that verse? I hope you can. Because the reality of that, Paul states it in another way in Ephesians chapter 2, we are all naturally dead to God in this state. dead to Him, in our natural mindset, in our natural state, left to ourselves. We are dead to God. We are at war with God. God's wrath abides upon us, Jesus says in John chapter 3. But God, but God who is rich in mercy, but God who is rich in grace and love, but God who is the God of salvation. Paul tells us here in verse 18 that He has reconciled. Okay, so here we are, but Paul tells us God has reconciled. You watch me, okay? This is where we are, but this is what has happened. This is God. This is us. God has reconciled. God has brought us together again. God has bridged the gap. God has mended the breach. God has ended the war, and He has reconciled us, us fallen, sinful, unworthy, unable human beings. Notice in the text, in verse 18, He has reconciled us, not to religion, He has reconciled us out, what? To Himself. He has reconciled us to Himself. But why did He do this? Why did He seek to reconcile us? Well, what does Paul say? All these things are from God. So what does that mean? God sought to reconcile us. The why is He sought to reconcile us because of His grace. He sought to reconcile us by His free favor alone. Alone. His grace. All these things are from God. That's why. His grace. And how did He do this? You see it? See it? Through Christ. Through Christ and what? What does it say? God has reconciled us to himself through Christ and what? Nothing. Through Christ and nothing. Remember, if Christ is not everything, He is nothing. He has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. That's how He has done it. But why is this the case? Why or how did God reconcile His people to Himself through Christ? Why was it necessary for Jesus to be involved? And how was He involved? Well, notice verse 19. Most translations begin, namely, or that is, which gets our attention that there is about to be a reiteration of what he just previously said. So notice the reiteration here. Actually, notice the marvel of God's gracious miracle of reconciliation. Namely, verse 19, that is, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. So let's break this verse down a little here. Notice three things just quickly. Notice the position in this verse. Notice the people in this verse. Notice the purpose in this verse. So God, in His mercy and grace, has set out to reconcile an irreconcilable people. But He, He Himself, He has accomplished this work in verse 18, Paul says, through Christ, through Christ Jesus. And notice here in verse 19, in this reiteration, He gives a little more detail. He says here that God has accomplished His work of reconciliation in Christ. In Christ. So God has reconciled sinners through Christ by giving these reconciled ones a new position, and that position is in Christ. In Christ. In other words, God has given them, these reconciled ones, a position of oneness with Christ, in Christ. If I could say it like this, when God thinks of them, He thinks of them in Christ, through Christ. When God deals with them, He deals with them in, by, and because of Christ. According to Romans 8 and verse 39, this apostle writes, He even sets His sovereign, saving, eternal love on them in Christ. So what this means is, just as these people were once, in Adam, fallen and dead to God, even to the point of eternal separation and condemnation, that's the reason all of us are natural born. enemies of God, because we have all fallen in Adam. David said that he was conceived in sin, that he meant from his birth he was sinful, from even his conception he was sinful, because the death of Adam had fallen upon him, the death of Adam had fallen upon us. So just as these same people were once in Adam, dead to God, even to the point of eternal separation and condemnation, now, By God's gracious, reconciling deliverance, He has placed them in Christ Jesus, His Son, unto eternal life and salvation. In Christ. See the position? So we see the position of reconciliation in Christ Jesus. Then notice the people of reconciliation. Who are the people that God has graciously chosen to reconcile through Christ by giving them a new position in Christ Jesus, His Son? Look at verse 19. That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. So the people of God's reconciliation, Paul calls them the world here. And I know this word world here might cause confusion in some and consternation in others, but there's no need for either, because Paul defines who these people, who this world is, right here in the next phrase. God's reconciliation, in, by, and because of Christ, listen, is not merely an offer. It produces real results in its recipients. What is the result? Do you see it? Still in verse 19. What's the result of this reconciliation? God does not count or account or charge their trespasses, their sins, against them. Okay? So this world here that Paul speaks of, let me ask this. Is he speaking of people without exception? In other words, when he uses the word world here, when he says God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ, by Christ, is he speaking of everyone, every single person, in every single place, in every single time, in every single age? Is that the world that he's speaking of here? That's what a lot of people think of when they see this English word world. But just think through this. Think through this. If the result of this reconciliation is that he does not charge this world with their sins. So, God no longer charges human beings, any human being, with sin. If this world is every single human being and every single age and every single place, then that means Paul's saying that God no longer charges human beings, any human being, with sin. Is that true? Has God boarded up the doors of hell? When Jesus warned people about the judgment of hell because of their sinful unrepentance, was He just bluffing? The book of Revelation, the end of it, when sin and death and sinners are cast into the lake of fire, is that not true? And if that's not true, can we trust any of the Bible? You see how an incorrect interpretation I have a lizard catcher here before it goes up somebody's pant leg. You see how an incorrect interpretation makes confusion out of the whole Bible. It's just a small lizard. Y'all just don't scream very loud. So, This world here that Paul is speaking of cannot be everyone, every single person in every single place in every single time. I assure you Jesus was not bluffing when he warned over and over and over and over about the torments of hell where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die. He was not. So when Paul speaks of the world, he can't mean people without exception. Because there are sinners in hell right now who are paying right now for their sin. There are. Matter of fact, as I mentioned in John 3, Jesus in His own ministry, In the time of His own life, He said that in your sin and unbelief, the wrath of God abides presently upon you. If that's every single person, in every single place, in every single time, then there is no wrath of God. Because God is no longer charging people with sin. No. Isn't it much more likely that this Jew, this Jewish man, writing to a predominantly Gentile church when he speaks of God reconciling us, this Jew and Gentiles together, that this world, when he uses this word world, he means the world that he is referring to is people without distinction. People without discrimination. Or as we see in Revelation 7, at the consummation of it all, it is a people from every nation and every family and every language. A people of the whole world. A people from every age and from every place. These are the world, these are the people, the recipients of God's gracious gift of reconciliation in Christ Jesus. And speaking of God not charging the trespasses of these people against them, We can see the position of reconciliation in Christ. We can see the people of God's reconciliation. And with just a little bit of thought, we can understand what He means here. And we can see this world of people without distinction, Jew and Gentile, bonded, free, male and female. And we can't, also, we can't miss the purpose of God's reconciliation. The purpose of God placing His people in Christ Jesus. Do you see the purpose? We're still in verse 19. What's the purpose? Not counting their trespasses against them. Not counting their trespasses against them. Y'all don't worry about that little lizard, he'll be fine. For sure, for sure, don't let it distract you from what's been said in God's word here. This is so important, y'all. What's the purpose of God's reconciliation? Not counting their trespasses against them. So our God, God Yahweh, He is a good judge. He is not an abominable judge who justifies the wicked, nor does he condemn the righteous. He is a good judge. He is inherently good. He is righteous, and he is absolutely just. So how is it that he can, and he absolutely does, to justify or declare as if we never sinned sinful human beings like us. Matter of fact, know this, this is exactly what he does to reconcile us to himself. Again, in his letter to the Rome church, this apostle writes in chapter 5, verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace. The warfare of our sin is gone. The rebellion of our sin is gone. This piece he's talking about is reconciled. Reconciliation. We have reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, having been justified, having been declared, just as if we never sinned, We have peace. We have reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, how does God remain to be good, even God Himself, and at the same time justify, reconcile sinners? Or as Paul puts it, not counting their trespasses against Him. How does He do that? How does He not count their trespasses against them? On what basis can God be just and yet not charge us sinners with sin? That's the question. On what basis can God be just and not charge us sinners with sin? Do you know? You need to know. You need to know, listen to the Apostle Peter on the same subject. For Christ also died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, that He might reconcile us, having been put to death in the flesh. but made alive in the Spirit." Did you hear that? For Christ also died for sins. Listen to the writer of Hebrews in chapter 9, verse 26. But He, Christ Jesus, He has appeared once for all, once for all times, at the culmination of the ages, listen, to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. just as people are destined to die once and after that to face the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him." By the way, those who are waiting for Him are these ones that He has taken away their death, their sin, and removed their death by His death. And then, just look down here at verse 21. He, being God the Father, made Him, Christ Jesus, who knew no sin. God made Him to be sin on our behalf. God made the sinless Christ, the sinless Jesus, the impeccable Jesus. He knew no sin. But God, in this grace of reconciliation, so that God might be just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus, God made, excuse me, God made the sinless one to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You've heard me say many times that the absolute only way that any of us can have any hope of acceptance, peace, oneness with the sinless, just, holiness Himself is absolute perfection. And how many of us are perfect? Let me just answer that for you. Not one single one of us. There is none righteous not one single one. There is none good, not one single one. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But yet for any of us to have acceptance before God, even right now this moment, you must be perfect. absolutely perfect, absolutely sinless, absolutely righteous, absolutely good. And none of us are. But how many of us today have a perfect Savior who loves us and gave Himself up for us as a God-ordained, grace-given sacrifice, appeasement, satisfaction, of our wretched sinfulness. And how many of us here today are trusting fully, trusting alone, trusting only in the perfect righteousness, the meritorious merit of Jesus Christ? How many of us here today are trusting only and alone in the person and the work of your risen Savior? None of us are perfect. You need to know that you're not perfect. You do not meet God's standard. You yourself, if you stand before God, if I stand before God, there will be one word for us. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty. But I have a Savior who is not guilty. I have a Savior who is righteous. and whose righteousness God has imputed to me to reconcile me to Himself. And if that's you as well, if that's you, if you have that Savior, that perfect risen Savior today, if you are trusting alone in Him, in His merit, in His righteousness, in His work, if you are trusting alone in Him, rejoice. Rejoice, Saint of God, for you are a recipient of the free grace of God. And He has reconciled you to Himself through Christ Jesus, His Son. He has given you a new position in Christ. And you are one of this world that Paul speaks of here. And though your sins are like scarlet, in, by, and because of Christ Jesus, through faith in Him, God has removed your sin with all of its enmity, with all of its condemnation, and God has justly justified you before Him in peace and oneness and freedom and rest and joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is the miracle. This is the marvel of the miracle of God's reconciliation. And by the way, speaking of miracles of God, has it occurred to anyone else that God is speaking of this miracle of reconciliation to us in all three of our services? I want to tell you something. The message I preached this morning, which was what? About this. I prepared for that weeks ago with no clue of where I would be on this day here. Not even a thought of it. God is watching, though, to perform His work. In our Exodus study, He's actually showing us the picture of His purpose and careful watchfulness, His desire and absolute precision to bring about peace and oneness and fellowship in a word, reconciliation with His people, with us. We picked back up our Psalm study this past Wednesday night, and the very last thing we saw in Psalm 11, without any regard of this message today, I hadn't prepared for this message then, but the last thing we saw was, because of the Gospel, which is because of reconciliation, because of oneness with God, no evil, No matter how great can ultimately overcome us, even in times of the greatest of all evils, God's people, we can rejoice in the Gospel. We can rest in the Gospel because saints being reconciled by God through Christ. Understand, we will. If you are reconciled today, where you sit, By God's grace, through Christ Jesus, if He has given you a new position in Christ Jesus, you will fully and finally and forever be spiritually and even physically reconciled. Matter of fact, we noted Wednesday night, just as sure as Christ Jesus is alive this moment, and He is, Just as surely as He is, all that God has planned and purposed and purchased will be fully realized. Saints, God has been whispering the sweetness of His grace of reconciliation to us in all of our services. I didn't plan any of it. How great is our God, Eligro. How he must surely love us. You know, it won't be but just a little while, I will have been pastoring for 30 years. And I've preached in a lot of different ways over those 30 years. Preaching as I do now, verse by verse through books of the Bible. When God puts these things together, you gotta listen. We need to pay attention. God is speaking to us. This is how he speaks to his people through his word. And he's speaking. Can you all hear how much he loves us? He's whispering to us about the glory of His reconciliation. What He has done to have fellowship with you, Saint. What He has done so that He could draw you near to Himself and hold you in His arms as a father holds a child. What He has done, the trouble, if I could use that word, the trouble He has went to. so that He could be near to you and you could be near to Him. That's what He's been talking to us about in all three of our services. How He must love us. How He must want to encourage us. How He must want our hearts to be drawn out to Him. How He must be drawing our hearts out to Him with these cords of love. What a miracle. All of this is. What a miracle. So can we all see the how, the why, the absolute necessity, the only means of reconciliation? Can we all see it here in God's Word? Can you hear God speaking of the wonder of His grace of reconciliation here? That's what He's doing. He's speaking in the power of His Holy Spirit through this Apostle. Can you hear Him too? Can you hear Him? Is it marvelous in your eyes, as they said in Psalm 118, that God would love you, though you wage war against Him? Yet with cords of love, He broke down the separation between you and Him. with cords of love. He ended the war. He crossed the gap. He mended the breach. He did it. He did it. He purposed it. He brought it to pass. He watched carefully every minute detail in saving your wretched soul. Because you would be saved. You were His. You've always been His. He set His love upon you and set out to save you from yourself. Can you hear the wonder of His grace of reconciliation? Are you reconciled? You must be. You must be. There's no other way for you to find acceptance with your creator. Apart from this reconciliation, the only thing that awaits you is eternal separation and the torments of hell forever. Are you reconciled? Are you reconciled to God through His Son, Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ your Savior? Do you have hope, faith in Him alone to save you from your... Maybe you need to understand that you're lost and undone before God. Oh, I don't really believe it. You will. You will. I guarantee you, if you were lost, you might push back and pull the truth down, suppress it, just as God says in Romans chapter 1. Let's suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Ah, that ain't religious. I ain't listening to that preacher. I'm just here because I gotta be. I'll be glad when this is over. You won't be glad when it's over. You won't be. Are you reconciled? You must be reconciled to God. There's no other way. This is not about religion. This is not something a preacher has to say. This is fact. Fact of God. This is what God has done so that sinner and he can be joined back together. Reconciled. Are you reconciled? You must be. You must be. Believe in Christ Jesus. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved is what the scripture says. That saved means reconciled. You must be reconciled to God through faith in Christ Jesus. Through the person and the work of Jesus Christ alone. Alone are you reconciled. I don't know. You need to know right now. The only breath that any single one of us here is guaranteed is the one we just had. And if we have not another breath, know when you leave this world in death, you will either be with the Lord because you've been reconciled to Him, or you will be forever separated from Him. That way. You need to know right now, this moment. The vast majority of people who die every single day in this world did not set out that morning to die. Are you reconciled? Be reconciled. Believe God's Word and believe in the provision of His Son to save you from your sins. Believe and you will be reconciled. through faith in Christ Jesus. You must be reconciled. Be reconciled to God. Don't wait another moment. Don't push it down and hold it off. Today, believe. Today is the day of salvation. Today may be the only day you have. Are you reconciled? Not religious. Reconciled. Are you reconciled to God? Be reconciled. Well, we're out of time. And if you're paying attention, I'm sure you have realized that we're not anywhere near through with this text of Scripture. Maybe you've noticed here, this miracle, this marvel of reconciliation, it includes a ministry and a message as well. And this ministry and this message is so important to us now, so important to us today, I don't want to rush through it. So we will look forward to that next time. But until then, I do want to give you a little homework. I want to give you something to think, something to ponder about. Do the believers here today know that you have been reconciled through Christ Jesus to God Yahweh? If you have been reconciled to God by His grace through the person and the work of His Son, and if you have been justified through God-given faith in Christ, And in the righteousness of Christ, you have been made fit for heaven. And if God Himself is longing for us to be with Him, do you realize that He is? Let me say that again. God longs for His people to be with Him. The Psalms tell us that precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of His saints. Precious, of very high value. He longs, He wants us with Him. It's why He's reconciled us. It's why He's justified us and reconciled us. That's why He has us. So that we can be with Him. So saints, since all of this is absolutely true, Here's your homework. Why are you still here? Why are you still here? Why doesn't God just save us and take us home? He's reconciled us. He wants us to be with Him. So once He saves us, why doesn't He just take us home? Why are you still here, Saint? Do you know? The Bible does. The Bible that God does. God does, and He tells us exactly why. He tells us exactly why, Saint of God, you're still here. He tells us exactly why he doesn't just save us and take us home. He tells us exactly why. You wanna know? You wanna know why? Come next Sunday morning and then we'll learn about it together. Until then, rejoice. in the great grace, God's great grace of reconciliation in, by, and because of Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the God of salvation. Rejoice in His willingness and in His ability to save, to reconcile all those that come to Him through faith in Christ Jesus, His Son. Rejoice, reconciled ones. There is so much to rejoice about. There is so much more to rejoice about, Reconciled Ones, than there is to grouse about, than to worry about, than to fret over, than to gossip about. Rejoice in God's glorious gift of reconciliation. He chose you to be with Him and performed every single detail to accomplish that. Rejoice in Him.