All right, so this is the 14th lesson in our series on the sum of saving knowledge, October 27th. And I try to remind you each week where we are, because it may be a little confusing in terms of the outline of the book. But we're in the third chapter of the book, which is about warrants for our belief, how can someone who is hearing the gospel or someone who already believes and is re-hearing the gospel have an knowledge that the grounds for belief are sure that God will accept me as I cast myself on him in Christ. So last week we looked at the first of the warrants and special motives as they call them and this week we're looking at the second which is about reconciliation. So let me make just a couple of points about the way the The sum of saving knowledge is structured. You'll notice at the top that it says This these are warrants and special motives to embrace christ and believe in him which you might think are therefore not relevant if you already trust in christ, but in the The syllogism a little bit of reasoning at the end. They say hence may a weak believer strengthen his faith so you might say that uh You could think of this as a dual purpose, but really in this part of the book, it is for strengthening our faith when we have doubts and we're encouraged and reflecting on the gospel that we've already believed and strengthened in our faith through that. Specifically today, the special warrant and special motive is the earnest request that God makes to us to be reconciled to him in Christ. So the word for the day is reconciliation. And I thought I would ask at the beginning what The word reconciliation means not in a specifically theological sense, but just in a broader sense and Our common usage when you hear be reconciled or talk about reconciliation What is that what does that mean to you or what does it mean? Get right, okay So it implies some kind of relationship that's been somehow broken or distorted or corrupted. Yeah, that's a good word for it. Yeah, so this came up in a Presbyterian meeting this last week. Reconciliation is person to person, is an important thing in the church. And it's difficult. There's no hiding the fact that reconciliation is very difficult. So the glory of this chapter is that this part of the sum of saving knowledge is that it speaks of God's call to be reconciled to him because he is the one who has established the reconciliation in Christ. And there is a difficulty involved, and it is, you might say, resolved in the giving of his own son for us. And that, of course, is therefore the fundamental foundation for all reconciliation that takes place in the church, which is not really the point of the lesson today, but rather the point is the glory of God's reconciliation to us. did a search. It's nice to have electronic versions of the Sum of Saving Knowledge. The word reconciliation or reconcile or something similar occurs 37 times in this short book. And I had kind of wondered, admittedly, at the very beginning when we were talking about the the forensic results of Christ's death, so you expect them to talk about justification. There's a short list, just three, but one of the three that they listed, this is in chapter one and the fourth part of that chapter, that one of the forensic benefits is that he reconciles us and makes us friends to God who were before enemies to God. They treat reconciliation very seriously. They reword the name of the covenant of grace to be the covenant of free grace and reconciliation sometimes. So I wonder if that's what you think of when you think of the covenant of grace, if you think in terms of that relationship with God. The restoration is still a legal, a forensic thing. It's based on the work of Christ. And yet it's making us friends to God when we were enemies to God. It's just a wonderful way to think about what God has done for us. You know, reconciliation might involve, OK, well, we were in conflict. We're not in conflict anymore, but you stay over there and I'll stay over here. That might be one way people could define reconciliation. But God makes us his friends. God calls us to himself really in fulfillment of the original promise of the covenant of works, that life, eternal life, which is fellowship with God. He didn't just tolerate it. It doesn't just tolerate us. He doesn't reconcile us because we were lovely and to be, oh, I'd love to be reconciled to that person. We'll come to that. But that's right. It doesn't just tolerate us. And I'm afraid sometimes we can think of reconciliation Or we can, especially if we're struggling in these matters, think of it as if God is just tolerating us. And I think that's one of the strengths of this study, especially today, is that it will not let you think in that way. God richly and graciously restores the relationship. And it's all on him in terms of the work as we'll see what I mean by that as we go along. I want to talk a little bit about a possible misunderstanding of reconciliation, but do you have any other thoughts just on the category of reconciliation as a way of thinking of the work of Christ and its fruits for us? Any other thoughts? It is different than forgiveness, right? Right. It's separate. Right, and Romans 5, which is the first passage we'll look at, connects it to forgiveness, but it is separate from it. So this book by John Murray that I mentioned before, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, we studied the second part of the book when we did the summer book study years ago. The first part of the book talks about the different aspects of the atonement. And reconciliation is one of them, but there are others like propitiation that is satisfying the wrath of God. So they're distinct, and yet they're all connected together. In God's goodness, he doesn't just forgive us and say, no, I never want to see you again. But he draws us into friendship. OK, good. So let me. make a couple of comments about how we think of reconciliation. So in a relationship, there can be displeasure both ways. The scriptures use the word enmity, right? So that's kind of a focused, Hatred, a focused dissension between two people. And when we think of reconciliation, we might first think of our hatred toward God and our need to be reconciled toward God because we naturally hate God. We're enemies of God in the sense that we're actively opposed to God. And we might think then of the work of reconciliation as our therefore dropping that and seeking after God. But that's not actually what the Bible emphasizes in talking about reconciliation. I mean, we don't really want to hear about this, but we are alienated from God because of our sins, right? And God is a holy God, and he therefore hates sin. And so reconciliation is primarily and ultimately God's work of putting away that enmity, or if you like, putting the punishment of it on Christ. Reconciliation is ultimately God's holy enmity against sin being put away so that he can draw us into a relationship with himself. Oh, sorry. We do have verses this week, and the first one. Would someone like to take the first one so they can read it right away? OK, let's pass it down. And then, yeah, I'll keep passing it around because there are other verses. Oh, wait, you just took the first one. OK, so. Oh, sorry. That's OK. No, you get it. Yeah, I'm sorry. Last week, we didn't have any to pass around. This is the end of our bank first sponsorship. I'm not going to suggest you go elsewhere. But anyway, sorry, Rachel. Yeah, when you have a second time, could you read Isaiah 59? Now I've lost my place. This is Isaiah 59, 1 and 2. 1 and 2. Thank you. Yes. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. So there it is. It's our sins that have caused God's face to be hidden from us. It is a reconciliation needed because God's anger is toward us. So that's a very important point of view to have. It's disturbing. No one wants God to be our enemy in that sense, and yet that's the reality. That's the preparation for the gospel, right? To understand the seriousness of the situation. And it also underlines the greatness of God's salvation toward us. So ultimately, we're going to look at 2 Corinthians 5. But I'd like for us, before we do that, to turn to Romans chapter 5. And we'll look at verses 6 through 11 just briefly to underline this point. I mentioned this book by Murray is a really helpful discussion on this particular point and related matters to reconciliation and that redemption accomplished and applied. But Romans 5. Right, this is obviously after Romans 3 and 4, Paul has talked about our justification by faith. Romans 5 starts with having been justified by faith, so he's drawing out the consequences. And I'll pick up the reading in verse 6 of Romans 5. For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved through his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So there's the word reconciled, I guess, three times in the space of three verses. or two verses, and you see the contrast that we were enemies to God, but then we have been reconciled to the death of his son. So it doesn't really make sense if when we were enemies to God, we reconciled ourselves to him. That is, we changed our attitude toward God. No, this passage is all about what God has done and his, you might say, his look upon us. When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. How? Well, through the death of his son. The wrath that was rightly ours was poured out on the sun. And then having been reconciled, there's the richness that we will be saved by his life. So there's a lot we can say, and we'll say more of it in looking at 2 Corinthians 5. But you can see, again, the way Paul exalts in the salvation that we have received. This is a glorious truth. And this is, I think, why the writers of The Sum of Saving Knowledge wisely put this in here as an encouragement to weak believers. Just sit back and think of the richness that God has been reconciled to you, although you were his enemies. And though his wrath was rightly upon you, yet he took it upon himself. We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. So it's a marvelous truth, and here connected specifically to go back to what you were asking about, Daniel. So having been justified by his blood. So it's in that context of justification and the forgiveness of sins that this reconciliation is described. I wanted to read also, before we actually get into 2 Corinthians 5, related to that glorious truth, what the sum of saving knowledge says. This is actually in point eight, when they're talking about the way the ministers plead with God. But I think this is a good summary of the whole point of their use of this. They say, now there cannot be a greater inducement to break a sinner's hard heart than God's making a request to him for friendship. For when it became us who have done so many wrongs to God to seek friendship of God, he, okay, so the original says he preventeth us. Prevent used to mean like go ahead of. He went ahead of us, he preceded us. And oh, wonder of wonders, he requesteth us to be content to be reconciled to him. What they're saying is that the sweet invitation of the gospel is not see if you can make God pleased with you, but it is God richly goes ahead of you, although it's on you to reconcile yourself to God, that is to make him pleasing, which is an impossible task, it is he instead takes the initiative. And as they say here, it's a wonder of wonders that he requests us to be reconciled to him. So that is, I think, a good encouragement to us to think of this category of reconciliation more. And you can think of our reflections in 2 Corinthians 5 as being fodder for that reflection. Any thoughts just generally about reconciliation and this great truth? This passage kind of reminds me of Ephesians 2, being alive together with Christ when we were still far off. That's right, yeah. There again, it's God's initiative to bring us close. Yeah, that's another good parallel. I mentioned, by the way, the Sum of Saving Knowledge likes to talk about reconciliation. They also like to talk about friendship, and friendship that is between us and God, which is, so I don't know if I could call it, maybe it's a bold category, because we're not used to thinking of God that way. If we focus only on where we were as sinners, and yet that's the glory of what God has brought us into. OK, so let's turn together to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is the passage. I mean, those guys back then knew how to do it, so they have how many points it is. They have nine points plus a syllogism on what they included only as three verses in 2 Corinthians 5. So they knew how to meditate on a passage. I'm going to read a little bit more, backing up to verse 12 of 2 Corinthians 5. For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their sins to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though we were pleading, as if, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. This is a beautiful passage. It talks particularly about the way our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous because of what's usually referred to as imputation. The New King James uses the word imputation in verse, or imputing in verse 19. And yet if you step back in 2 Corinthians, you realize this is not like a theological treatise. It's not even like Romans where Paul is developing the truth of the gospel. Paul is talking to people who doubted his qualifications to be an apostle and didn't really like his ministry because they preferred someone else's ministry. So much of 2 Corinthians, it's very some, but much of it is about Paul explaining what the ministry of the gospel is and how he has carried it out, okay? So is that somehow different from the gospel of reconciliation? Well, no. I mean, all the more he's saying this is the glory of our ministry, that God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. You might see it as in contrast of the ministry of building yourself up as the great leader of the church that everyone thinks, you know, thinks is the best guy ever, the super apostles, you know, that he had to contend with. You know, he's saying, you know, if it's a super ministry, it is because of the super truth of who Christ is. It is because of the richness of the ministry. And this whole section then that I read is really a call to them not only to reflect on that ministry, but also to accept the gospel of reconciliation and how it works out. So the New King James has a section, at least in my Bible, the heading is Be Reconciled to God. He's writing to a church, and yet we always need to reflect on what reconciliation means. In other words, Paul is speaking about the glory of his ministry, not because he is such a great minister, but because of the greatness of the message. We are ambassadors for Christ, right? God is the one who has sent us. But having said that, it's important to realize that this is in a specific context. He's ministering here, defending his ministry, and calling the Corinthians to consider the richness of the truth they have received. So I want to go through this more or less in order. The sum of saving knowledge, as I said, they make a lot of points on this, and I'll try to incorporate some of them as we go along. But just notice, especially in verses 18 and 19, God's initiative. Okay, so we already saw this in Romans 5, but 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself. Okay, verse 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. Okay. Maybe easier to forget that point, right? This is not a 50-50 deal. We'll come to the table together and see what we can work out. This is God taking the initiative by sending his own son. And that is part of the glory of the message of reconciliation. It's God's work. And keep in mind, it was God who had every right to be angry with us. It was God's enmity. His face was hidden from us in the verse that Rachel read. And yet, it is God who takes the initiative here. And you can think about what that means in human reconciliation. Again, that's not the point for today, but it's worth reflecting on that truth. The second point I guess I'd make before we get to some of the more specific imputation in terms connected with reconciliation is the scope of the reconciliation. So the Apostle Paul has already said in the previous verses that he is speaking to the believers there, and he refers to us repeatedly. So notice, for example, in verse 18, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. So the apostle is not saying that every single person who ever lived has been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, and all they need to do is realize it. There are churches that teach something like that. Church I grew up in taught when they taught, at least implied something like that. That is not what he is saying. And that's important because when in the next verse he refers to the world, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, he can't have in mind every person in the world without any exception, okay? So he has already said he has reconciled us to himself, and that would imply then in verse 19 that every person who ever existed in the world is therefore reconciled to God. But that's definitely not what the Bible teaches. That's not what Paul is teaching in here. But it is, so having said what it's not, it's important to realize what it is. It is an important truth. It's not just the heirs of Abraham and the promises to Abraham. It is a worldwide ministry, which Paul exemplified, right? Because he especially went to the Gentiles. He went to the Jews first as he could, but then he went to the Gentiles. But I think it's probably most helpful to understand the world there as meaning without distinction of Jew versus Gentile, without focusing on this particular class of people. It didn't just go after like the upper class or the poor or whatever. The gospel is a gospel that's preached without distinction, as we've already seen. The proclamation is then consistent with the truth that God has saved men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, as it says in the Book of Revelation. Not even sure I got the complete list from what it says there. So is that clear enough? You could be put off by the word world and get caught up in this like, well, for whom did Christ die? But don't forget, this is part of the glory of the truth. It's not like just this person, I pick out that, you know, it's like this kind of person that God is interested in, only the Jewish people. But it is something that is proclaimed and God has actually worked to reconcile people from all kinds of backgrounds, all nations. The sum of saving knowledge also adds that this truth extends through all ages, a point they made before. It's not as if in the Old Testament they were reconciled to God some other way and they had to wait for Christ to come to be reconciled, or no, it is something that then extends through time as well. So let me pause and see if that makes sense when I brought that up about the scope, the word world. Any thoughts about that? Okay, so now let's focus on what the Sum of Saving Knowledge focuses on to some extent, and that is that this reconciliation is founded on the work of Christ. Okay, that's a well-duh comment, like what else would you expect? But let's not forget that, right? Because it's not as if God could somehow say, oh, I'm not angry against sin anymore. No, he has chosen to save us through Christ. And so verse 18, he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. Verse 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. Okay, so. Outside of Christ, we face only wrath and condemnation. We need to remind ourselves again and again of the preciousness of being in Christ and His being our salvation. This was God's good plan. So the sum of saving knowledge at this point goes back to the covenant of redemption because they like to remind us how this was planned from the beginning. But for just a little bit before we get there, let's let's think about how this reconciliation is then accomplished through the work of Christ. So the word that's used, or the phrase that's used often in theology is that this is through a double imputation. And if you say that wrong, it sounds like you're cutting off limbs or something, but this is a double imputation, and this is one of the passages that actually closely pairs the two imputations that are meant by that phrase. First, in verse 19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. So that's saying that because of Christ, our trespasses, our violations of God's law, have not been imputed to us. That is, they have not been, so it's a counting language, reckoned to us. They have not been counted as ours before a holy God. And that's spelled out a little bit more in verse 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Now, if you take that the wrong way, not in terms of imputation, but in terms of transformation, that would say that Christ became a sinner. which is not true. Christ is sinless. So to say that he became sin for us means that our sins were imputed to him. He was reckoned as a sinner, if you will, before the judgment of God, not for his own sins, but for our sins. I know this is a familiar truth, but This is the gospel of reconciliation. This is why reconciliation is possible, because Christ bore the wrath that was rightly due to us, that was keeping, if you will, God angry toward us, however you want to express it, because of God's enmity toward sin. So that's the first of the double imputation. So our sins are not imputed to us, but imputed to Christ. And the second is that his righteousness or his obedience, however you wish to phrase it, is imputed to us. And that's especially implied, I think, clearly implied in the last part of verse 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So it is true that Christ died for us so that we would be holy people, that is, we would live holy lives. But that's not what this is saying. Becoming the righteousness of God in Christ refers to Christ's righteousness being imputed to us. That is, our being viewed by God as righteous in His sight, as no longer under the condemnation of the law, true, but also as having fulfilled the law, as having fulfilled all righteousness in Christ. That's our standing before God. That's the basis for our justification, right? That we are not only forgiven of our sins, but we are accounted as having kept the law because of Christ's righteousness. So again, this is, I think, a familiar teaching. But it's really important not to think of reconciliation in merely sort of in terms of relationships and human relationships, where thankfully, most of the time, we don't actually commit a physical sacrifice of an animal to be reconciled to each other. So that doesn't happen. But we need to realize that. As I said at the beginning, reconciliation is a difficult thing. How can a holy God be reconciled to those who have trespassed his law? It is because Christ bore our sins and because his righteousness is imputed to us. There is no hope without that. That's the glorious foundation of reconciliation. That's what Paul is saying here. So, just a little bit to step back before we talk about how the, they, Our authors developed this in terms of the covenant of redemption. One of the references was from Isaiah 53, a couple of sections of Isaiah 53. Yeah, I didn't give you much warning. So let me step back and say, people have studied this whole part of 2 Corinthians 5. The people who do this kind of thing, they look at it and then reflect on the Old Testament background. They've especially identified Isaiah, the middle part of Isaiah, like the making all things new. There are various references here in this part that show that Paul was reflecting on Isaiah. And in particular, Isaiah 53 gives us helpful Categories helps us foreshadowing of a prophecy of what this is about. So Isaiah 53 I'm only you could read the whole chapter but picked out I Guess three verses. So Isaiah 53 verse 6 Yes, yeah verse 6 first, yeah Oh So there's the idea, which would be familiar to those who knew the Old Testament sacrificial system, right? The priest would lay his hands on the sacrifice, and the sins would be upon the sacrifice who would die. And here the sacrifice is the servant, the one who's spoken of there as pointing forward to Christ. Sorry, a little commentary then, and then verses 10 and 11. Yes, it was the will of the Lord to crush He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquity. So there again is a reference to bearing the iniquity, but also maybe a little less clear, you'd have to study the context more, that he is the righteous servant who enables them to be accounted righteous. And I'll just make the comment that the verse 10 refers to, in that translation, a guilt offering, which people have pointed out the particular nature of that offering, sometimes called I guess it was trespass offering, asham is the Hebrew word, is that it is restitution for, right, there's, when you offend someone, oftentimes you have to make restitution to them. And so this, Christ's offering himself was a making restitution to God in the sense that he was fulfilling the law that we had failed to fulfill, not only that we had broken it. So there's, what I'm saying is that there's maybe more, connection with 2 Corinthians 5 than you might on the surface of it see. One of our co-authors, James Durham, as I said before, preached 72 sermons on Isaiah 53. So it's really rich stuff. So if you want more background, you could enjoy reading. How many sermons did you say? 72. And so I don't remember how many verses. 11 is at the end of the chapter. But yeah, it's not like there's 77 verses even. And I say 53. Or 72. 12. So that's six sermons per verse. Yeah. I mean, on average. That's what they did back then right and he died young like he was in his late 30s when he died So he managed to do all this wonderful stuff anyway Not to talk about Scottish Church history so here again, I want to This this stuff is too good that it's easy to get carried away. So let me let me point you to what our authors say in terms of the The connection with the covenant of redemption that we talked about before They say it is agreed between so reflecting on this this gospel call, they say, it is agreed betwixt God and the mediator, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, surety for the redeemed as party contractors, that the sins of the redeemed should be imputed to innocent Christ. And he both condemned and put to death for them upon this very condition, that whosoever heartily consents unto the covenant of reconciliation offered through Christ shall, by the imputation of his obedience unto them, be justified and holden righteous before God. For God hath made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, saith the apostle, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So what they're doing is pointing us back to the fact that this is the purpose of God from the foundation of the world. This is the point of their talking about the covenant of redemption. This is not God's sudden whim. You know, we've had problems for a while. Let's see what we can do to patch this up. And that's part of the beauty of Isaiah 53, right? In fact, it refers to God's good pleasure. God's will was from eternity to accomplish this. And it was prophesied ages before Christ came that the suffering servant would do this. So again, I want to take us back to our purpose for studying this. These are great truths, but they are especially for those of us who struggle, can God really receive us? Is this gospel of reconciliation for me? And the glory of this truth is that this was God's purpose from eternity past to save sinners this way. This is not as if God, you know, thought one day, well, I'm kind of tired of this, you know, I think what I can do about it. No, this is God determined to save sinners this way. He gave Christ, in terms of the covenant of redemption, and Christ received this commission, if you want to put it that way, to be our surety, and therefore we can be sure that he will receive us that way. Okay. Yeah, I have like four more points, which we're probably not gonna get to it. Any thoughts about that, that reflection on double imputation? Okay, let's, at least I want to get to one of these, which is, of course, the original context for Paul saying all this. This is the glory of the gospel that has been entrusted to Paul, right? And that's the way the passage turns, right? Verse 20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. So again, they're trying to encourage those who might struggle, whether God would receive them. And he's saying, you know, not only did God accomplish this in Christ, but he sent human beings to tell you the truth, right? He didn't send an angel, he sent someone like you to proclaim this gospel of reconciliation. And what we're supposed to do is plead with you, as though God were pleading through us. And we implore you, it says in verse 20 also, be reconciled to God. So the encourage again is not as if God is saying, take it or leave it, you know, I set this up, I don't really care. No, he through the spirit pouring out the gifts gave men to be ambassadors for Christ, representatives for him. And they weren't supposed to say take it or leave it, they were supposed to plead with people to be reconciled to God. So that's the glorious truth that this says. And a couple of other passages just to underline this being sent from God. So Romans 10, 14, and 15, and then the Ephesians 4. I don't know where those landed. Okay. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Good. So how is it possible for this glorious message to be heard? It is because God He didn't hope someone would catch the message and send it. No, he is the one who has sent them. Did anyone get Ephesians 4, 20 and 21? Oh, looks like Henry's got it. Thank you. Yeah, I think quite a bit, because he crossed out what came next and then filled it in. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Right. So earlier in Chapter 4, the gifts given by Christ are poured out by the Spirit to, in particular, give men to minister the gospel. But there he says, In effect, in hearing the gospel, you have heard Christ. You have heard him, and you have learned from him directly. And that's the fact that if you poke the ambassador in the eye, you just poke the president or king or whatever in the eye. That's a bad thing to do, right? And this is the way Paul is underlining the seriousness of the call, but also the graciousness, because this ambassador is pleading. The king, the great God of the universe is pleading with us. And that's the earnestness that comes through. Again, the sum of saving knowledge points that out. And I read that at the beginning. There cannot be a greater inducement to break a sinner's hard heart than God's making a request to him for friendship. And he pleads with us. He calls on us. So, yeah, there are a couple of other points we could look at, but let me just point out then this concluding bit of reasoning they do often. They want us not just to sit in the study, but they want us to actually think about it. So, hence may a weak believer strengthen his faith by reasoning from this ground after this manner. And okay, I'll read this, I guess there's some repetition here. He that upon the loving request of God and Christ made to him by the mouth of ministers, having commissioned to that effect, hath embraced the offer of perpetual reconciliation through Christ, and doth purpose by God's grace as a reconciled person to strive against sin, and to serve God to his power constantly, may be as sure to have righteousness and eternal life given to him, for the obedience of Christ imputed to him, as it is sure that Christ was condemned and put to death for the sins of the redeemed imputed to him." You can be sure, as sure, of your eternal life as it is sure that Christ was condemned for the sins of the redeemed imputed to him. The call then, the qualification is embracing the offer of perpetual reconciliation with, of course, a purpose to live as a reconciled person. That's the definition of reconciliation then is that you are a friend of God and that will be who you are. And then, so I won't read the rest of the little syllogism, but the, you know, the believer says, well, I have done that, and therefore I may be assured to have righteousness and eternal life given to me for the obedience of Christ imputed to me, as it is sure that Christ was condemned and put to death for the sins of the redeemed imputed to him. So that's the glory of reconciliation. It's that God not only, God was looking on us with enmity because of our sins, and yet He took the initiative. He gave us His Son in purpose, consistent with His purpose from eternity past, and He gave us ambassadors to plead with us to be reconciled, to be friends of God. Thoughts, reflections on that? Yeah, there. It does kind of put a pretty interesting context around the concept of reconciliation between people. It's just enormous what you're talking about. Right, yeah. It does put my dispute with my brother into some pretty petty terms. Yeah. Whatever it is that I think he's done to me. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Reasons I can't be reconciled because of this or that. Yeah. I mean, you can think of all the exhortations to reconciliation in the New Testament. You know, if you're offering something at the altar and you remember your brother has something against you, you should go, okay, that sounds like something really hard to do. And it can be really hard to do. Think of what God has done for us, how he provided the means for reconciliation, not only with God, but with our brother, right? That's part of the package is that we can then be reconciled to one another. And that's the context here, right? Because Paul is writing to people who did not like him, right? And they thought that there were other people who were better. And that's why he's repeating, one reason he's repeating this message is that they should realize the greatness of the reconciliation they have received. I mean, it's, he has a lot of purposes in mind, but it's certainly in the context of people who didn't receive his ministry kindly and thought maybe others could do a better job. Yeah, other thoughts or reflections? Okay, let's close in prayer.