1/24/21 - The Great Salvation / AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

Our God reigns. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, good news announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness. Our God reigns. How God reigns. It was our sin and guilt that bruised and wounded him. It was our sins that brought him down. When we like sheep had gone astray, our shepherd came and our God reigns. Our God reigns. Amen.

God bless you. Shall we look to the Lord, our God and our Father? We thank you that you are the God of peace and that you want to use us to proclaim that message of peace throughout the world. May it be so for each one of us. Stir our hearts, we pray, as we open your word in Christ's name. Amen.

So we're looking at reconciliation, that aspect of salvation that deals with the fact that we're enemies of God in our hearts, alienated from Him in our minds by wicked works. And so God has moved through Christ, presenting Christ to us, lifted up on the cross of Calvary, the very Son of God, showing us that God's love is toward us even while we were still in our sin, even while we were enemies of God.

We mentioned also that, you know, you don't necessarily feel that you're an enemy of God, but it's true. It's a statement of God. God says, "No, no one seeks after Him, no, not one." God is the one that is seeking for us. We don't trust God. That's what sin does. That's why we don't seek for Him. Why would you seek for someone you don't trust? And then your trust, your distrust of God, it grows and it becomes enmity against Him because if He doesn't want our well-being, at least that's our thought, then we should oppose Him. And so we live in a world in opposition to Him.

Even when our Lord Jesus came into the world, He said, "For my love they gave me hatred. They hated me without a cause." How tragic. But that's what the human race is, of what you are a part. That's what's in your heart, that's what's in my heart outside of Christ: enmity toward God. But God is a God of peace. Hallelujah!

And He doesn't need to be reconciled to us. He loves us. We need to be reconciled to Him. And once we're reconciled, it becomes our responsibility to be ambassadors for Christ, to carry the message of reconciliation to the world around us. So in all of these aspects of salvation, there's responsibility. If I've been forgiven, I'm to forgive others. If God has justified me, I'm not to judge others. If I've been redeemed and liberated, then I'm to use my life to serve God. And now if I've been reconciled, and I have by grace, then I am to proclaim the message of reconciliation as an ambassador, to represent God in this world.

You know, seven times in the epistles, God is called the God of peace. And when the Lord Jesus was born, the angels from heaven said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men." This is God's desire. He wants to bring men into His fellowship and peace with Him, and He wants to use us now to carry that message.

In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9, in the Beatitudes, the last one, the seventh one, the Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the children of God." God wants us to make peace on His behalf with people, to convince them that there is peace that can be had for them, that they can be reconciled to God. They just have to raise the white flag of surrender.

So I'd like to turn to II Corinthians chapter 5, Second Corinthians chapter 5, and that very familiar verse, verse 17: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ..." So if you've been reconciled, you're in Christ. You're not brought back to the place of innocency like Adam in the garden before he sinned. You're in Christ, you're accepted in the beloved, you're a son of God. You have this exalted position. Hallelujah! Even now, "if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. All things passed away; behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God." This is God's plan, this new creation. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ."

Once again, it's all on God's side, all on God's side. It's all His plan. He has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. His love has overwhelmed us. Hallelujah! We love Him because He first loved us. "And hath given to us," listen, "the ministry of reconciliation." That's this is the apostles talking, but it's it's it's ours now too.

Verse 19: "That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." You see, God came into the world to win back the hearts of men who distrust Him. He wants to win back the hearts of men to Himself. He wants to convince them that He's for them and not against them. Oh, what a wonderful message that we have to this ministry of reconciliation, this word of reconciliation, "reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

Verse 20: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, ambassadors for Christ." Listen, in Philippians chapter 3, it tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. We're citizens of heaven even now. And so God has chosen us as His citizens of heaven to come into this world and to represent Him as ambassadors for Christ.

You know, to be chosen as an ambassador is a place of dignity. What a high and lofty position to be an ambassador and to represent your country in another country. Now notice, when you're an ambassador and you go into another country, it's not your job to change that country. You're not to be involved in their politics and the things that how they run their state or their nation. You're there to represent your own nation.

We're called into this world to be in the world but not of the world. We're not called to try to change the world. The world won't change. This is a Christ-rejecting world. The world's alienated from God by wicked works. They're enemies of God, enemies of God, enemies of God. They're not going to change. It only changes when reconciliation, which God does, comes and is their own, when they receive Christ, when their hearts are overwhelmed by God's love. Otherwise, the world remains as it is, and it will until judgment.

So we're not called to come into this world to change the world. We're called as ambassadors to represent our homeland, heaven, to represent our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, when the Lord Jesus was in the world, there was the ministry of reconciliation in action. Everything He did was to win back the hearts of mankind, and He went about doing good, healing them, all them that were oppressed by the devil. Everything that He did was to touch the hearts of humanity, to call them back to God, to trust in God.

Of course, it required Him going to the cross and taking our sins and our judgment there, that that alienation and that enmity within our hearts could be dealt with and judged and put away. Hallelujah! And the love of God could come into our lives and overwhelm our lives, we hope. And so we've been given the ministry of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, "as though God did beseech by us, we pray in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

This is our message. We go into the world and we are to preach peace and reconciliation. I tell you, I'm reminded in Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10, verse 15. I'm starting 14: "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 or an ambassador? And how shall they preach except they be sent?"

Well, we just read, we've been sent as ambassadors representing our homeland in heaven. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel, the gospel of reconciliation." As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach," listen, "the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things." Do you see that? We are called to be ambassadors. We are called to be preachers of reconciliation, the gospel of peace, that you don't have to, men don't have to oppose God because God's on their side. Wave the flag, the white flag of surrender, and come to Him that loves you with an inestimable, inestimatable, with a large love, a great love indeed. How great is His love!

But listen, it's amazing to me how few Christians really take this seriously. How few Christians are known in their community as those that are over the top for Jesus. When I was growing up, they called them "Jesus freaks," right? I mean, how many people in your community, in the Christian community that you know, including yourself, are recognized in your community as those that present the gospel of Christ, that stand for Christ, that are always calling men to be reconciled to God?

Now, we're not talking about being obnoxious. We're talking about being ambassadors. Ambassadors can have a place of dignity. So it's to present Christ to a lost world that is at enmity against Him, against God and against Christ, but it's to do it with the dignity of our position. So it doesn't mean that we're pushing people and threatening people, not at all. We're representing our country, our God and our Savior.

In fact, the character with which we're to have, we could find that in Peter, when Peter talks about the wisdom that comes from above in First Peter chapter 3 and verse 17: "But the wisdom that is from above..." Now, that's where we're from, we're ambassadors from above, so we're to carry this wisdom with us. "The wisdom that is from above is first pure." It's first pure, "then peaceable."

Well, why is peaceable not first if we're going to be peacemakers? Because someone could be so kind-hearted that they give up the truth in order to make peace. That's not God's peace. Peacemakers first of all are pure. They've got to be pure in their own lives, pure. They've got to judge themselves. But the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure, that it's peaceable. So we have to understand, the world needs to understand that sin is sin and that they're alienated from God because of their sin, and then the offer of peace is offered to them. How wonderful is that?

You know, when you look in the book of Acts, I think there's a great picture of how to reconcile with the Apostle Paul with the young man Eutychus. Eutychus, you remember, had fallen asleep when Paul was preaching. Paul didn't hold it against him. He was in the third floor and Eutychus fell out the window. Didn't fall in, he fell out because he's probably looking toward the world. So what does Paul do in chapter 20 of Acts and verse 10? "And Paul went down and fell on him."

Now, he didn't jump on him from the third floor. That's not the way that ambassadors are going to win people for God, or are going to win people for Christ, or to represent our home from heaven. We've got to go down. So he went down to him. We've got to meet people where they are. We can't have self-righteousness. They can't perceive that we're self-righteous or condemning to them. We've got to meet them where they are. And so Paul went down and he fell on him, embracing him.

So first we meet them where they are in their deep need and seek to convince them that God cares about them, that we're there representing Him, that God is on their side and He loves them so much. And then to embrace them, to let them know that this is our God, this is the God of peace, of love, of joy, of reconciliation, of relationship, to embrace them. How wonderful is that!

And so we also are reminded of a peacemaker. "Blessed are the peacemakers," right? We're to be peacemakers, not just to talk about peace, but to know how to make peace. And that's why it's needful that we have first of all pure in that our wisdom, and peaceable is next, that we get down to people at their level and we embrace them, that we try to win them over because this is the love of God that's working through the ambassador, that people might see that God indeed loves them.

You know, in First Samuel 25, there was a great ambassador in a woman that was married to a man named Nabal. Now Nabal was a fool, but he was married to a woman named Abigail. This is First Samuel 25. And Abigail's name means "a father's joy." I think about that. She's going to be an ambassador, she's going to be a mediator, and she's going to stand between David and Nabal. And her name means "a father's joy." It is the joy of God the Father's heart when we are ambassadors for Christ, when we beseech souls, beseech people with our hearts, not just without emotion, but with our very being. Let them know that God does love them and we love them, and we want them to be reconciled to God.

And so Abigail, a father's joy. You remember Nabal had offended David, and David right away, you know, this is what happens sometimes when you're not expecting something in your life, you're not prepared for it, you don't have on your armor as Ephesians 6 says, and something takes place, it catches you off guard. And David's men were offended by Nabal's, the way he dealt with them. And David in verse 13, "And David said unto his men, Gird on every man his sword." They girded on every man his sword, and they went. They went after Nabal, whose name means "fool." And 400 men, and 200 men are both by the stuff. Now imagine this, 400 men, that is a big group of men. They all got their swords on, they are an army. And Nabal's back at home, he's shearing his sheep, and now he's having a big party. And David and his 400 men are coming.

Abigail is warned, and so she goes to David, and she is going to be a peacemaker. She is one that's going to make peace. She's going to be an ambassador from heaven. Hallelujah! And so in verse 18, "Then Abigail made haste, took 200 loaves, and two bottles of wine, five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, 100 clusters of raisins, 200 cakes of figs, that laid them on asses." And so she came and she had all this food.

You know, it requires some wisdom, real wisdom, to deal with people and the problems that they have in their lives with others and with God. How difficult it is to really come into a situation and be without partiality and be able to bring peace, to be an ambassador as it were. And so Abigail understands the first thing is she brings a peace offering. She convinces David through her actions that she's on his side. And we need to do that too. We have to convince people that we are on their side. We are, but without question, without hesitation, we're on their side, as ambassadors for Christ.

So she comes to David, and now listen to what she does. Verse 23: "When Abigail saw David, she hasted, lighted off the ass, and fell down before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground." So she honored David. We have to do that if we're going to present the gospel of peace, if our feet are going to be beautiful in that way and bring that gospel of reconciliation, "Be ye reconciled to God," to men and to women. Then we need to honor them. We need to bring a peace offering, convince them first that we're on their side, and then to honor them, not to judge them. She bowed down before David, treated him as one that was superior to herself, and fell at his feet and said, verse 24, "Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be, and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid."

So she's brought, she's brought this food to David and his men. She has humbled herself before him, and now she asked to be able to speak. That's so important. You can't just barge in. I can't just barge into somebody's life and expect them to listen to us. We have to ask them for permission to speak to them. "Would you like to hear about my Savior? Would you like to hear about my Lord?" And you know, there's something so attractive about someone that loves the Lord and comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, and God has arranged this appointed time, this appointed meeting with this ambassador from Christ and this one that is still at enmity with God. And wonderful things happen, wonderful things happen.

And so she goes on, and this is so important, she brings to David a remembrance of who he was, of who he was. "Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withheld thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand. Now let thine enemies and they that seek thine evil be as Nabal." She understands that David is the appointed one, and so she even stands with David against her husband.

Listen, the Lord said that He said, "I didn't come to bring peace in the world, I came to bring division." There will be division in families, fathers against sons and sons, and mothers against daughters. There will be division depending upon where you stand with Christ. So Abigail stands with David, the anointed king of Israel, against her own husband, but she's doing it in intercession to save his life as well as all those that were a part of their family and their property.

And so in verse 27: "Now this blessing which thine handmaid had brought unto my lord, let it be given unto thy young men that follow thee. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy handmaid, for the Lord will certainly," listen, "make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord." She had told David that David has not committed a sin yet. "Don't do it."

You know how many times in sitting with married couples and they're having problems, and they even speak of divorce, and you stop them, you say, "No, no, before you ever commit this evil before God, let us consider these things. Let us seek to be reconciled to one another." And I tell you, usually relationships that are broken are broken because there's not reconciliation between each individual and God Himself. It doesn't begin with the individuals and their problems. It begins with a problem between them individually and God. "Be ye reconciled to God." You have a problem in your marriage right now, you have a problem with someone in your life right now, you'll be reconciled to God, and God will bring His love into your life and there will be a change of heart that will be quite wonderful.

So she stops him before he does this sin, and then she reminds him of his dignity as the anointed king. And that's what we need to do. We need to tell people that there, show them that they're living in a way that is below or far below what God has intended for them, that God has a plan and a purpose for their lives, and that if they come to Christ, that they can come into that plan and that purpose. They can be reconciled to God. They can understand that if they don't, they stand with those that rejected the Lord Jesus, and there's no hope for them, no hope. But we offer hope, a wonderful hope of reconciliation through Christ.

And so she goes on and she has this confidence in verse 30: "And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and thou shalt have appointed thee ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my lord." He says, "Listen, God has a purpose for your life, David, and when you're placed as king, you won't have to look back at this sin that you're about to commit." How important it is when we call people to be reconciled to God that we point out to them that listen, if they continue on, there will be more and more sin, more and more sorrow and heartache that will come into their lives and the lives of others. But if they come to Christ now, that when they receive Him and come into the dignity of their relationship of sons of God in Christ, a part of that new creation, they're reconciled to God and that they don't have to look back anymore. There'll be no more of those ugliness of failure, but now as sons of God, they can go out and represent God and be ambassadors for Christ. Hallelujah!

And so, just in closing, let's consider each one of us: what are we doing in relation to this call to be ambassadors for Christ? Are we really representing our heavenly land? Are we really calling upon men to be reconciled to God? Don't be saying, "I don't know my Bible." Get to know your Bible. If you're a Christian, you must know the love of God, or you wouldn't be a Christian. And so convince people through the love that's in your heart to God and the love that He's placed in your heart toward others. Be reconciled to God. Implore, beseech men to come to Christ. Your feet will be beautiful as you carry the gospel of peace and become a part of the ministry of reconciliation, carrying the word of reconciliation, that men can be reconciled to God.

And how? Second Corinthians 5:21, we didn't read it, but it says, "He who knew no sin," the Lord Jesus, "became sin for us." The very evil of our hearts, the very enmity and hatred of God in our hearts, He became that. He took the wrath of God, the terrible, fierce wrath of a holy God, eternal God, a God that has no beginning and no end, but is holy, holy, holy in all His ways. He took the wrath of God when He stood in my place, and that judgment He received. Why? "He who knew no sin became sin for us, why, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

You see, that's what an ambassador is. He's a man, a woman in Christ, accepted because of what Christ did for him on the cross of Calvary, and now called as an ambassador to go forth into the world, the very righteousness of God demonstrated in our lives. Imperfectly, yes, but still our desire, our earnest desire, that God's righteousness might be seen in our lives.

Help us, O Lord, O God, by Thy Spirit, we pray that You would help each one of us, that the righteousness of God, that position that we have in Christ, that it might be lived out more and more perfectly in our lives with each passing day, and that we might have a heart for souls, be ambassadors to come into this world representing our heavenly home, that multitudes, multitudes might hear this great word of reconciliation. We might proclaim it, we might demonstrate it in our lives. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.