Good morning again, everyone. Turn with me in your copy of God's Word to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. A glorious text of Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Actually, our text section today is the same as last week, so let's read it again together. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and we pick it up again in verse 18. Now all these things, all the previous things Paul has been discussing, writing about in this letter, all these things are from God. who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So there once was a man, we'll call him his name this morning, Fib, Fib. Fib was the king's grandson, who upon the king's and Fib's own father's death, Fib became the lone heir to the throne. But a new king, A king of another royal family came to power instead of Fib. And the thing is, it was common in Fib's day that when a new king took a kingdom, if there were descendants of the previous king, well, they would often be killed to suppress any opposition to the new king. And this was certainly the right of the sitting king. The monarch owned all authority and all rights. But this new king that took this kingdom, he wasn't like other kings. This new king, he was a good king. This new king, he was a godly king. And he did set up a search for Phib, but not to kill him, but to honor him. and to exalt him. And so when this good king found Phib, he brought Phib back into the kingdom. He brought Phib back into the palace. He brought Phib and gave Phib an honored seat at his own table. And what that means in our words, This good king, though as a monarch, he owned the right to eliminate any competition to his throne. This good king, instead, he vowed to protect and provide for Phib as long as he lived. And he did just that. You see, this new king knew something about the teaching of our text. He knew something about the miracle and the marvel of reconciliation. Matter of fact, this new king, he actually wrote this. He wrote, King David, in just the demonstration of the heart of this miracle upon Phib, Bephibosheth, greatly blessed him. Matter of fact, Phib, as you know now, Bephibosheth, he was handicapped. which in his day, in Phib's day, would not have brought sympathy, but shame. But because of this, of the good king, because of reconciliation, the shame was removed and honor was given instead. And Phib's life was so much more than he could have ever even hoped for. This is the blessedness of the great miracle of reconciliation. And so I hope we have all returned this morning looking forward to learning more about this great doctrine of reconciliation from the Apostle Paul's letter to this Corinth church. Last week we began to consider this text. As we began to consider the text, we saw the great miracle of reconciliation. You might remember how I illustrated sin had separated God and man. Like this. Sin had created this gap. Sin had worked this breach, this separation, irrecoverable separation between God and man. But God, God chose in His mercy and grace to work reconciliation. And this is what God did with this breach. This is what God did with this gap. came to man. He ended the breach. He crossed the gap. He mended the breach. He ended the war of our sin. He reconciled the separated. And all of that is the absolute, He did an absolute free grace. Now all these things are from God. The free grace of God. God didn't do it because of any of us. God did it, matter of fact, He did it in spite of all of us. He did it because of Him, because of who He is, because of His will, because of His choice, because of His purpose and because of His plan. That is the miracle of reconciliation. Get that picture. Separated, irrecoverably separated. Us here, no way to get back here. The only thing, the only way we had was the impending wrath of forever, the forever wrath of God upon us. But God, God bridged the gap. He ended the separation and the war. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God in Christ Jesus our Lord. the miracle of reconciliation. We also saw the marvel of this miracle. God performs this miracle of reconciliation, not because of any of us, not because of any merit in us, or any worth in us, or any ability in us, but God reconciles the sinner, verse 18, through Christ Jesus. Through Christ Jesus, by giving the sinner, verse 19, a new position. And what is that position? In Christ. So the miracle of God's grace of reconciliation is accomplished, and it is given one way, in, by, and because of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. The marvel of reconciliation. Then we saw why this is the case, why Christ is involved. We saw the means of reconciliation. It's in verse 19, "...not counting their trespasses against them." The means of God's reconciling grace is the free pardon of the sinner's sin. And the only way that this can and did and does happen is described so succinctly in verse 21. He, that being God the Father, in His mercy, made Him, that being Christ Jesus His Son, Him who knew no sin, God made Him in His mercy to be sin on our behalf, So that in God's free mercy, or in God's free grace, we might become, that might is not maybe, that might is ability. We might become, we might be able to become the righteousness of God in Him. So in mercy God imputed, God charged the sin of His chosen people to Christ, and Christ took their sin and died for their sin, and received the wrath of God for their sin, for our sin, saints of God. He did so in our stead, instead of us. And then, with our sin removed, with our account brought out of the red, with our account brought out of spiritual bankruptcy to zero or to even, then God's free grace excelled even more to impute, to account, to credit the perfect, justifying righteousness of Christ Jesus to our accounts. And the result of this amazing transaction In Christ, the people of God, they are the righteousness, the pure, spotless, perfect, God-satisfying, sinner-justifying, sinner-reconciling righteousness of God. So sinner saved by grace, this is your reality. You're reading about your reality here in this text. This reality by the power and the life and the faith of the Holy Spirit is why we believe and trust in the person and work of Christ Jesus alone unto salvation, right? This reality. It's this reality that moved us, that moves us to turn from unbelief to faith and from the love and rebellion of our sin to love and repentance towards God. It's this reality of reconciliation by God's free grace in Christ Jesus through the free pardon of your sin and the imputed righteousness of God. This saving love of God is what arrests our minds and arrests all of our life to love, thankfulness, and worship, right? Yes, absolutely. But, no, not but, but and, and, and. We should all see here in this text in the Word of God, in the Word of Truth, this is not all. There's actually more. There's more grace. There's more goodness. There's more wonder and marvel to the miracle of reconciliation. God has given us something else. How could God give us something else? How could there be anything above reconciling us to Himself through Christ, in Christ, not accounting our sins against us, but giving us the perfect righteousness of Christ that we might be accepted by? How could there be anything more? Well, there is. There is. By the authority of God's Word, I can tell you there is. God has given us something else with our reconciliation, saints of God. He's given us something else than just the salvation of our own souls as if that in itself was not super abundant to begin with. I mean, my lips can hardly say that God has given us something else with the salvation of our souls. Something else above the salvation of our souls. Not above, but yeah, He's added more and more to it. Like that, above. What is it? Look at verse 18. You see it? What has God given us with this gift of reconciliation? He has given us, He has also given us the ministry of reconciliation. The word ministry here translates to the Greek word diakonoia, which means servant or aid. So being reconciled, says God, with our own reconciliation, God includes also the privilege The grace of being His servants. The privilege of being His aid. The aid of His reconciliation to others. Now get this. Understand the marvel of this revelation, saints. The absolute, greatest, I mean, I can't even really come up with a word to describe it. The absolute most phenomenal, now that falls short. The absolute most phenomenal work ever known to both heaven and earth. The reconciliation, the bringing back together of sinful men and holy God. That work, every other work, even the work of creation, is temporary, but not this work. This work is forever. And God has given us, God has given you, me, saints of God, us. God has given us a part in this glorious work. He has called us, He has commissioned us to be His servant, His aides, in His work of reconciliation, in His work of salvation. And remember how we saw last week how that verse 19, in it beginning with namely, or that is, we understand by that that what Paul says here in verse 19 is a reiteration of what he just said in verse 18, and specifically about the ministry of reconciliation. Well, look at what he says. Look at how he reiterates about this ministry at the end of verse 19. At the beginning of verse 19, he says, mainly, or namely, or that is, or we might say, what I mean by that is this, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against Him. Now, here it is. And He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So when he talks about He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, Reiteration of that is, what I mean by that is, He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So God, in His amazing mercy and free grace, has reconciled the world to Himself, not world without exception, but world without distinction, a people of every nation, every family, every language, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female, without distinction, and those that He is reconciling throughout the world, He is also giving them the ministry of reconciliation. And see Paul's reiteration of this ministry here, saints. He, God Yahweh Himself, in Christ Jesus, He has committed to us, He has entrusted to us, literal languages, He has placed in us the Word of reconciliation. He has placed in us the word of reconciliation." So this ministry of reconciliation involves the message of reconciliation, right? Yeah, do this. It is. But more. But more. Get this. This word, word, word of reconciliation, translates the Greek word logos, Logos. In the Greek language, the word logos is a word that contrasts, it's a contrasting word, and it contrasts the word mythos. Y'all hear the root of that word that we use in our English? Myths. Myths. Logos in the Greek language, so that's what this was translated out of, that's where we've got to go to. Logos is the opposite of mythos. Logos is the opposite of mythos. So Paul, the Holy Spirit, is telling us here this ministry message that God has gifted, that He has entrusted to us, that He has placed in us, is not just another message. No, it's not just another message. It's the opposite of just another message. It's the opposite of mythos. It's logos. He placed the logos in us. He placed the truth in us. He has given and entrusted us with the real, absolute truth of reconciliation. God has given us, He has entrusted us, He has placed in us the Gospel of how God saves sinners in, by, and through and because of Christ, of Christ Jesus His Son, and that is not..." Listen, listen, this is such Glorious news! What a glorious gift God has bestowed upon us that He has entrusted us, that He has placed in us this gospel of how God Yahweh saves sinners through His Son is not just another religious message. No, it's the only message! It's the only truth of God's salvation. It's the love of us. The only truth. It's not a myth. It's not a myth of a million others. No, it's the one truth of how God saves sinners. Saints, God has put this message in us. It's in us because we have been reconciled to Him just exactly and only this way. It's in us because the same and only way that He has reconciled us to Himself by His free grace, through Christ Jesus, through the substitutional reconciling work of Jesus, it is the exact and only way He reconciles all of His people to Himself. He has put the truth of His salvation in us. He has put the truth of His gospel in us. He has put the truth of His good news in us. We have been saved by it, and now we have been entrusted with it. Do you know that? Do you know that that came with your salvation? With your reconciliation? Oh, hold on then. That means this salvation stuff, this isn't just about fire insurance. Not at all. It's never been about fire insurance. It's about, it's always been about God, reconciling you, not from hell, to Him, through His Son, the only way that any sinner could ever be reconciled. That's what it's always been about, and God has put this message in us, saints of God. And so, notice how it continues in verse 20. Therefore, therefore, because of this miracle, this marvel, the means, the ministry message of reconciliation, therefore, we are, We are ambassadors for Christ. Oh, I want to be an ambassador. No, that ain't what that says. Oh, I wish I was. No, that ain't what that says. Well, when I get time, that ain't what that says. We are present, active. We are ambassadors for Christ. So we all know what an ambassador is, right? It's someone who leaves or is absent from his own country to go to a foreign land to represent and to do the business of his own country or of his own king in that foreign land. And saints, we are just that. You own a profession in Christ Jesus this morning. You need to know that this is what you are if you are truly in Christ Jesus. You are an ambassador. You are here in this foreign land. Aren't we told in scripture that this is not our Our citizenship is in heaven. This world is not our home. We sing songs We we know that that's what scripture teaches, but I don't know if we know that's what scripture teaches We are here in this foreign land our citizenship is not here our citizenship our home is in heaven But we are here to represent and to do the business of heaven. You hear that? We are here to represent and do the business of our homeland. which is heaven. We are here to be the ambassador for who? Do you see it in verse 20? Look at it. Everybody look at it. Everybody see it because it's what you are, child of God. You are an ambassador because of reconciliation. You are an ambassador for Christ. You are an ambassador for Christ. And just look what that means. We don't have to wonder what that means. It's in the text. It's in the text. Just look at the part God has given us in His work of reconciliation with this ministry message. We become the messengers of God Himself. It is in a very real sense that we become His mouthpiece. Look at verse 20 again. Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ as though God, God Himself, were making His appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. As an ambassador for Christ, that means we are the messengers of God Himself. We become His mouthpiece. So the appeal of God, the exhortation of God, the call, the command of God, for instance, come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. The appeal of God, like this one, come unto Me, all you ends of the earth, and be saved. The command of God, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Saints, reconciled one, in His appeal, God commissions our lips as His own to declare what? Why? God, in His appeal, as His messenger here, as part of His gift of reconciliation, it's part of it. It's part and parcel with it. God commissions our lips as His own to declare the sweetest, most significant, most important words men's ears have ever known. The Word of Salvation. God has entrusted the Word of Salvation, His salvation to you, Saint of God. You are His mouthpiece on earth. In His appeal, in the command of the Gospel, God commissions our lips as His own, as though God was speaking through us, is what Paul says. God commissions our lips as His own to declare not only the sweetest, not only the most important, not only the most significant, but the most powerful words. Men have ever known the Word of Life. We hold in our possession as His ambassadors, saints of God, the most powerful message that has ever been known to man. It is, y'all know, the Greek word is our English word, dynamite. That's what we hold in our possession. We hold God's dynamite. It's able to break the stony heart apart. It's able to tear the rebel will of man down. The Word of Life, it's able to impart life to those who are dead. Just this moment they're dead, and God uses our lips as His own to declare to them the Word of Life, and this moment, out of death, life is brought. God commissions our lips as His own to declare the most powerful words human beings have ever known, the Word of Life. And God, in His gospel calling, He uses our lips as His own to declare the most truthful words that men's ears have ever heard, the Word of Truth. Y'all should know, I'm not drawing those titles out of thin air. They're all in the Scripture. That's what His Word is called. That's what the Gospel is called. This Word of salvation. This Word of life. This Word of truth. This is absolutely astonishing. What a miracle! What a marvel this grace of reconciliation is, right? Yes, absolutely. It is. Like I said, Paul is telling them, telling us that this is part and parcel with your salvation, with your reconciliation. So, then the question. Saints of God, all you who profess Christ, Are you a faithful ambassador of Christ? Do you truly esteem this gift of reconciliation as you should, and are you using it as God intended? Are you as happy about being reconciled to God as you are of escaping hell? you ought to be more happy about it. Are you a faithful ambassador of Christ? Matter of fact, we should all notice in verse 19, Paul states, one, he states who we are as reconciled believers, ambassadors for Christ. That's who we are. That's who you are, Saint of God. And then he states exactly what faithful ambassadors do. Through the obedience of the faith, they what? They, just like him, they beg others on behalf of Christ, through, in, and by, because of Christ, to be reconciled to God. So we who have been reconciled, that God Himself has reconciled unto Himself. With this reconciliation, He's given us the ministry message of reconciliation. He's put it in us. So ambassadors of Christ, are we being obedient to the faith? Are we faithful ambassadors for Christ? Is our life and our living spent to beg people on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God? And understand here, the apostle here is not just talking to preachers. He's talking to and about reconciled believers. He's talking to church members. And he's using words like we and us. This faithful Christian says, listen, I know I'm an ambassador for Christ. Is that you, Christian? I know that God has put in me the message of reconciliation. Do you know that, Christian? Because the letter is, the inference here is, I am, Paul is, I am, he's saying, and you are. This is what comes with our reconciliation, this great salvation that God has imparted to us. This is it. So, as we come to the end of our time together today, Let me remind us of just a couple of things here, okay? First, I want to remind us of the context of this passage, of this text, okay? So in the previous verses of this chapter, in Paul's previous breath, as it were, Paul has told them and us, he has told them such things or such truth as things like this, everything that we see with our eyes is temporary. Actually, he said that it's all momentary and only that which is seen with the eyes of faith is actually lasting and eternal. And understand, it's not just him saying it. It's not just some mythos. No, it's Logos, because he's writing under the inspiration of the Spirit. So everything that we see with our eyes is temporary. Everything we see with our eyes is momentary. And the only thing that it will really last is that which is seen with the eyes of faith. That's the Logos. It's not a mythos. It's not just another religious message. No, it's the truth. And to that end, just before telling us about this miracle of reconciliation, he told us in the very previous verses, he said that old things were passed away and everything has become new. Especially, he goes on to say in that same phrasing, he says, especially the way that he viewed people. Remember, he talked about knowing Christ in the flesh, he no longer knew Him in the flesh. And I told us there that what he was talking about, what he was getting at was, he didn't just see people as people anymore, he viewed them all as living souls. Now that we've come to verse 18 and following, you should understand where I got that interpretation from. Because immediately after saying that, that all things were new, and he didn't see people as being just in the flesh anymore, that he realized that they were all eternal souls. Immediately after saying that, he began talking about this miracle, marvel and means, and ministry message, and being a messenger of reconciliation. In other words, what he was really getting at, which was also In his defense of his emphatic, unyielding, Christ is everything or He is nothing ministry and message, he is saying here, listen, everything around us is momentary. Everything around us is momentary. Time is exceeding short. Our lives are just but a moment. Our lives are just but a blink. And in our short lives, we are surrounded by people. In our very short lives, you, me, all of us, we are surrounded with people with eternal souls. Who, for the most part, because of their sin and unbelief, they are under the abiding wrath of God. For the most part, the majority of the people that come through our lives on a daily basis, for the most part, they are lost and undone and on their way to eternal separation from God. if they just knew our God. If they just knew our amazing Savior, instead of being separated from Him, separated from His mercy, separated from His grace, separated from His goodness, instead of suffering the hopelessness, instead of suffering the horror of being without Him forever, a horror called hell, if they could but know Him, they could be and they would be saved to glorify Him, rescued to glorify Him for all of His worth forever. And I know us old Sovereign Grace Baptists, we don't like that kind of talk much, but that's the fact. If they could see Him, Yeah, God will have to enable them to see Him. Yeah. He will have to give, yeah, yeah. But none of that erases our responsibility to the free offer of God's salvation to all who will believe. None of that does anything to this text of Scripture. If they could but see Him, if they would see Him, they would be saved. from the whore called hell. If they could but know Him, if they could but know Him, they could glorify Him for all of His worth forever. And so Paul says, knowing this, understanding this, knowing what is actually true, and He's telling it to us in the power of the Holy Spirit. He's basically saying, you can hear it in the tone of voice, if you will, I was them. I was them. I was all of these souls out here, hanging in the balance between heaven and hell. I was them, but God rescued me. God reconciled me to Himself through His Son, Christ Jesus. Is that you? Did you have that testimony? Yes, Paul says, I don't see anybody anymore in the flesh. I realize that everyone around me, and me included, we are all eternal souls. And that was me. I was headed for hell. The wrath of God was abiding on me, but God rescued me. God reconciled me to Himself. I beg them, he says. My whole life is spent, my whole life is lived begging them as a faithful ambassador for Christ. Please, for Christ's sake, please, please, for Christ's sake, be reconciled to God. So can we all see how this section fits with the rest of the context? Our lives are short lives. Three score in 10 and maybe just a little longer. Some of us won't make the three score in 10. In the reality, y'all know I don't have to snap my fingers, it's that fast. We'll all realize how fast it really was. We already do, don't we? I'm, well I'll be 56 this year. I remember when I was, I remember when I was running around church. I remember when I was sleeping on the pew. Y'all remember that? You know how long ago that's been? It seems like that. Cause it really was in the Hope School. It's even faster than that. In the real perspective of everything. So in our short little lives, our lives are filled with living souls, hanging in the balance between heaven, between God Himself and hell, eternal separation from Him. And saints at some point, get this, at some point God sent His messenger, God sent His ambassador to us. who begged us to be reconciled to God. And by God's grace and by the power of His Spirit, we heard and we believed and we were indeed reconciled to Him through His Son. So now, will we be the faithful ambassador to those who are perishing? If you are saved by the grace of God here this morning, You are truly saved by the power and the grace of God here this morning. You are proof that God's way works. That he does really save and he does save through his gospel. Now, would you be the one to take that forward? Will you be the faithful ambassador to those who are perishing? Will we esteem and use this gracious gift of God that we have been given? Will we? Will we? Well, then second and finally, I hope we can all see how this ties to the preceding context. And then, At the end of the message last week, I gave us all some homework, remember? Something to ponder over. Y'all are kind of like the Sunday school class over there. When I talk about homework with them, you've kind of got a deer-in-the-headlights sort of look. I ask all of you, I'll give it to you again. You can rehearse it here a minute. I ask all of you believers, all of you saints of God, why are you here? Why didn't God save you? and immediately take you home to be with Him? I think it's a really fair question. Because Scripture tells us that to be home with the Lord is, what did Paul say? Far better. That's the Holy Spirit talking. To be home with the Lord, it's a fact. It's far better. Scripture also tells us that the Lord Himself desires us to be there with Him. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his sons. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come and receive you unto my son. He wants us to be there. He wants us to be with him. So why are we still here? Why has He left us here? Why? What's the answer? Well, first we should all know what is not the answer. There are several, let me give you three. God has not left us here so that we could exalt ourselves over everyone else by the glory of our own religious superiority. That's not, our self-righteousness is not why we are still here. I know many Christians think it is, it's not. It's not. And as well, here's another one, this'll get all of us. God has not left us here to see how many earthly possessions we can gather in the short time that we have. You remember our Savior told us, he actually warned us, not to focus on that, on earthly possessions, but to focus on what? His kingdom first. Matter of fact, you'll remember what he called the fella who built the barns and built more barns to hold all of his stuff. You know, he had a storage unit business that he was taking up all the space. That guy, he called him a fool. You better listen. When Jesus calls somebody a fool, we do well to listen. So, the Lord's not left us here to see how many earthly possessions we can gather in the short time we had. I think someone has said it many times. None of us are gonna be taking a U-Haul. They ain't gonna bury us with a U-Haul. Obviously, also, God has not saved us and left us here for us to live like and continue to be consumed by this world or conform to this world. That may be one of our greatest dangers in the day that we live. I don't know that it's just in this day. Paul wrote the first letter to this church for that very reason. So if none of those things, we're not left here for those reasons, what's the answer? Well, it's right here, y'all. It's in this text. Saints, why are we all still here? Can we see it? Well, let me answer it like this. First, here's why we are still here. Who are we, reconciled ones? Who are we? And what are we to be doing? Let me read it again. Therefore, we are the ambassadors for Christ. That's who we are. And here's what we are doing. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. That's what ambassadors for Christ do. So this faithful apostle of Christ here is telling them and us that in the short lives that we all have left on this earth, as a citizen of heaven and as a citizen of Christ's kingdom, living in this fallen foreign land of living souls, everything we do should revolve around the ultimate purpose of, here it is, knowing God to make Him known. Let me say that again. Everything that we do, according to what Paul is saying here, everything that we do should have in it the ultimate purpose, the ultimate intentional purpose. Remember, we are intentionally the ambassadors for Christ. So everything should have the intentional, ultimate purpose of knowing God to make Him known. Y'all realize that's why you're here this morning? Yes, to worship God, but also, you have to know Him before you can worship Him. You're not gonna worship Him by accident. You have to know Him, worship Him, and then your love for Him should overflow as you are the ambassador for Christ. Or as this apostle said in another place, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, for the elect's sake, if you know it from the other translation, so that they also may obtain, they also, you understand what he's saying, like me, may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal life. Glory. You see, saints, this is why we are still here. And I know, man, it's just how fallen we are. When we hear that, we start thinking about, well, does that mean I gotta give up this? Well, do I gotta give up that? Well, do I need to do this or do that? Maybe. But as you're doing that, you know what else you're doing? You're forgetting. What a glorious gift. You talk about a life being a gift of God? I mean, a real gift of our life, saints of God. This life, our God-given days, as His reconciled ambassadors, entrusted with His Word, entrusted with His work of absolute, eternal consequence. What a life that is! Everything, everything that you see with your eyes, that you're clamoring for and trying to put your hands on in this life, it's all going away. But not those eternal souls. What if you can work for that which lasts forever? What if your work really does have meaning? This is the work He's giving us. It does last forever. It does have meaning, ultimate meaning, the glory of God Himself through the eternal ages that He will receive from those that He brings into your lives that you do your work as an ambassador of Christ before. That's living, y'all. That's living for something real, living for something lasting, living for something worth it. So don't look at, oh, well, I may have to give up this, I may have to give up that. If you're that confused about it in your mind, will you not give it up for Christ? Maybe you do. I'm not saying you do. Maybe you can use that in the work for being an ambassador for Christ. Maybe you can't, but don't fool yourself. But don't overlook this gift, this wondrous gift of His grace. You are an ambassador for Christ. saying of God, and it is as though God himself speaks through you his word to others to reconcile them to himself like he did you and then they become an ambassador for Christ and the kingdom of God is brought in and Christ comes And the kingdoms given over to God in all forever glory, forever and ever and ever, is given to God just as He so deserves. So may He help us not to misuse or abuse or neglect His gift. May He help us all by the power of His Holy Spirit upon His Word, even today. May He help us to be faithful ambassadors for Christ, to actually live to be who we actually are. Ambassadors for Christ who are living to herald the message, this message, sinners. Sinners, through Christ Jesus the Lord, through the person and work of Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God. There is a way for this breach to be mended, for this gap to be covered, for this separation to be reunited. Be reconciled to God. He has made the way through the person and the work of His Son. Believe upon Him. Trust in Him for the salvation of your soul. Trust in Him for the righteousness, the perfect righteousness that all of us must have to be accepted by God. Be reconciled to God. Stop working yourself and look to Him who has worked and has finished His work. and is the Savior, the real, living Savior who can reconcile you, sinner, to the holy God of heaven and earth. Be reconciled to God. May the Word of God be made effectual to our minds and to our lives this morning. Let's pray.