Getting Out Of The Stands

Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. Ron Hutchcraft, in his book called The Greatness, talks about his time as the chaplain of the New York Giants football team. And he says when I would speak for chapel services for the New York Giants, it was obvious who the football players were and which one was the speaker. I could look some of them in the eye only when they sat down. But I'm grateful for the many opportunities I've had to speak at NFL Chappell's over the years. Ron Hutchcraft says he says the chapels are optional, usually held on Sunday morning before the team meal. And often surprisingly well attended. The players are very attentive and receptive. But it's also obvious that they are very focused on game day. Some come to chapel with their playbooks. Some of them are all of them, ranging mood from tense to intense. After all their careers, their bodies, their futures are on the line for just 16 game days each season. The Giants have always been kind enough. He writes to give their speakers two tickets to the game as a thank you. Since those tickets are hard to get, that's a great thank you. During my visits to the Medallans stadium, the Giants home field, my first impressions are always of the fans having all those tailgate parties in the parking lot. They're cooking their hot dogs on little grills, laughing loudly, acting macho, downing their six packs of beer, many are wearing the number jerseys of their heroes, hoping I suppose to somehow become a hero vicariously. Each time I go, I'm struck by the obvious contrast between the intensity of the players I was just with and the party-hardy attitude of the fans who've come to watch them. The contrast becomes even sharper as those fans enter the stadium and the game begins. As soon as a player makes a mistake, fanman is bellowing expert advice, boisterous criticism and demands for the player to be traded to some other team. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of the players, especially some who have become good friends. It occurs to me that all the heroes in the stadium are on the field, not in the stands. It's so cheap to be a fan. It's so easy to criticize when you're in the stands. For the spectator, it's no risk, no pain, no sacrifice, no sweat, just a party. That makes me want to stand up and say something to Mr. Fanman with his big mouth and free advice. Hey buddy, why don't you get out of the stands and get in the game? If he took me up on the offer, I suspect he would be a permanent part of the astroturf in about 30 seconds. Well, I wonder if Jesus isn't looking into the stands filled with his fans thinking and saying the same thing. You see, Jesus has lots of fans, millions of fans. We go to his meetings, we believe his beliefs, we give to his work, we sometimes cheer for his team, sometimes criticize those who are on the field. But in the desperate battle to rescue people who are on the road to hell, Jesus needs people who are out of the stands and on the field. He doesn't need fans, hollering from a distance, either approval or disapproval of those who are playing the game. Jesus needs people on the field of action. Every believer, I believe the Bible teaches, every follower of Christ is given a position to play on a rescue team. You have a position, you have a position, you have a position, I have a position. We all have a position to play on a rescue team. Every believer in Jesus Christ is divinely, providentially positioned to rescue somebody in your world, in your area of influence. You are to be the voice to someone for whom Christ has died. Everyone in this room who knows Jesus is to be on the playing field, engaged in the team effort to rescue people who are dying and going to hell. We cannot sit in the stands, we cannot just cheer on other people as good as that may seem. Certainly, we can't criticize those who are making the effort to reach people for Christ. This contest, this game, if you will, this life or death contest is being waged in your marketplace where you work, in your office, in your school, in your neighborhood, in your world of influence. That's the field that God has called you to rescue people on. He doesn't want us sitting in the stands, he wants us involved in the conflict, he wants us involved on the field. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, the last words Jesus ever spoke to his disciples before he left and went back to heaven, notice these words. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Notice these last words Jesus would speak are not an option. This is not a question. Jesus is not saying, would you consider being my witnesses? Would you be interested in signing up for the team? Now Jesus says, you're already on the team. Now we need to be out on the field, you will be my witnesses. This is not an option. And so I take this to be a very important part of what it means to be a believer. There's no option here. And so there's no option of sitting in the stands, we've got to be on the field of action. In fact, this is not only a major purpose for individual believers, for those of us who know Jesus, it's a major purpose for the church. We've been looking at the purposes and for you Virginia Tech fans will get off of the West Virginia football stadium here real quick. We've been looking at the major purposes of the church and we found that the heartbeat of the church is worship. This is where we have to begin. This is loving Christ and that becomes the heartbeat that leads out to everything else we do. If we do not love Him, might as well forget the rest of what the church is supposed to do. Because loving Him is at the core of the heartbeat of what we are to be and do as His people. And then we have seen that also involved in coming together as God's people, this fellowship. When we worship, we love Christ. When we fellowship, we come together with Christ. And that's a very important part of sharing our lives together and caring for each other. But also as we are together, we are to be growing in Christ and discipleship is the next circle that we move out to. When we worship God, we love Christ. And then we come together with Christ, come together to share our lives. Then we must also be growing deeper in Christ. The discipleship, growing to become a learner and a follower in the context of relationships as we saw last week. But this is where we begin to move outward. All that we've talked about thus far is the heart and the inward involvement with other believers. But now we move out to the next circle and the Bible teaches not only should we love Christ and come together with Christ and grow in Christ, but we need to go for Christ. And that is evangelism. Jesus would phrase it this way in the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. And His very last words are, you shall be my witnesses. So evangelism and then the last purpose which we'll see next week, ministry go together, but they are the outreach of the church. They are the going of the church. We're going to talk today about the fact that Jesus is calling us out of the stands to be a part of the team in action on the field going with the gospel to tell other people about Jesus. Now here's the playbook. If we're going to be on the team, we're going to be on the field. We've got to know what to do. So here's the playbook. We're going to look at two major passages this morning. There'll be some others that will reference quickly on the screen, but two major passages I want you to turn to. The first is first Peter chapter three, where we find a biblical pattern for witnessing. A biblical pattern for witnessing. And we're talking here about personal witnessing, not church-wide evangelism, but I want to emphasize before we look at this verse that both are important. It is very important that as a church, we plan and have a heart for outreach that we be an outreaching church. There are numbers of ways that we need to do that, and we are doing it. We can do even better job of doing it. Target ministries, although they pull people to our facility, have always been since they've begun here, have always been an evangelistic thrust. And there are numbers of you who have come to this church and even to Christ through a ministry that reached out and met a need that you had, whether it was divorce care or grief share or mobs or some other target ministry. Those kind of ministries that are designed to get the gospel to people who otherwise might not come to a church service are very important. But then we also as a church practice community outreach, and that is reaching out into good ministries with good ministries, partnering with them in our community to get out and serve and show the love of Christ in very practical ways. It would be our desire and heart, and it should be that as we do that, that we also involve other people with us, take a neighbor with you, take a coworker with you when you go on a community outreach, and spend that time being able to share Christ with them and letting them see the love of Christ in action through you. So as an evangelistic outreach, that can be a great outreach. And then we want to promote more and more GO teams. For several years we've had teams that go out to the mission field and take the gospel and help our missionaries, many different ways this summer you just heard about the construction team, the Papua New Guinea. That will be a great opportunity. That's a GO team. It's a team that is fulfilling the great commission to go global outreach to go into all the world. So there are numbers of ways we try to do that as a church. But what I really want to focus on this morning is us as individual believers. As followers of Christ, we personally individually need to be on the field of play, on the rescue teams that are seeking to get the gospel to people. It's not enough just to say, well, that church ministry will do that. Those are wonderful church ministries I've just talked about. But the Bible teaches that every one of us as followers of Christ need to be involved in going with the gospel, not just inviting people to come to our church. That's wonderful. Do that. But we all need to be going into our workplace and our neighborhoods and our schools and our places of influence with people that we know. Going with the gospel and here is a biblical pattern for witnessing. First Peter 3. Look at verse 15. But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. You can see that there are three separate statements in this verse. The verse breaks itself down very easily for us. What we have in the first statement in verse 15 is the foundation for witnessing which is our lifestyle. Our lifestyle. Sometimes this is called lifestyle evangelism. Now there's a misunderstanding of lifestyle evangelism which goes something like this. All I have to do is live a pretty decent Christian life and everybody will see how to get to heaven. I never have to open my mouth to anyone. Tell them about Christ. That's a misrepresentation of lifestyle evangelism. That's certainly not what I mean by lifestyle evangelism. By lifestyle evangelism we're saying that our lives form the basis that gives us credibility to then tell others about Christ. And in fact our lifestyle will generate some questions that give us those opportunities to share the gospel. Notice how Peter says this happens. How our lifestyle becomes the foundation for witnessing. He says in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Evangelism begins in your heart and in my heart. And it begins by setting apart Christ as Lord. Now what does that mean? It means that we purpose to live only to please and glorify Him. It means that the thrust of our lives is to be obedient to Him. He is the Lord. He is the master. We are the servants of His. And so He calls the shots. We live in obedience to Him. Setting apart Christ as Lord in our lives means that I fear displeasing Him more than I fear displeasing anybody else. And you see when it comes to evangelism most of us are more afraid of what others will think of us than what Jesus will think of us when we give an account to Him in heaven someday. Part of setting apart Christ as Lord in my life it means that I am more concerned about what He thinks of me than what anybody else thinks of me. And I would fear more displeasing Him than making a fool of myself in front of anybody else. As Michael card says in so much of his music I would rather be a fool for Christ than to be considered a fool by this world. It doesn't matter what the world thinks of us we need to be a fool for Jesus Christ. Set Him apart as Lord in our lives. What that means is that I want to serve Him with all of my life, all my heart, all my being, and that I will not fear man as much as I fear Him. And what it will be like to stand before Him someday. That's setting apart Christ as Lord in our lives and when that happens when we do that that leads to a lifestyle of hope. You see later in the verse when he says other people will ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have. If you set apart Christ as Lord in your life if He really is the master and you're living to please Him and not others and you're living an obedience to Him and you're concerned more about what He thinks of you than what others think of you. So that's the case that will lead to a lifestyle of hope. Now in the Bible hope is not an uncertain thing. Hope is not, I really hope it's going to get nice this week, especially by Saturday when we're moving to Princeton. I hope it's going to be nice this week and we're not going to get two feet of snow this week. I hope, okay, that's a very uncertain thing, isn't it? This is a very uncertain thing that we're hoping for this week. That's not the meaning of the Bible word hope. The meaning of the Bible word means that you have an anchor set in heaven that it is sure and to live a lifestyle of hope literally means that you live a lifestyle that has its eyes fixed on heaven. So a lifestyle of hope means I live by heavenly values. Living a lifestyle of hope means that I live by trusting God in times of difficulty and not sinking into despair because I have a hope, I have one in heaven who's promised to walk with me through those times. So that's a lifestyle of hope. Living a lifestyle of hope means that I'm not going to live to get everything I can get down here because I'm going to lay treasure up in heaven. That's a lifestyle of hope. You see when you set apart Christ as Lord in your life, it changes the way you see things, it changes the way you live, changes your priorities in life and your life begins to be characterized by a heavenly mindset. That's hope. So the foundation, the foundation for witnessing is our lifestyle, a lifestyle that is centered on Christ and on heaven. But Peter goes on to say there is also a method of witnessing that is important. Not only a foundation, but there's a method of witnessing that's important and it's this, it's our normal conversation. Look at what he says there in verse 15. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Now here it is, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Now before you can give an answer, Peter is presupposing people are asking some questions. And before people start asking questions about your lifestyle, your lifestyle has to be one where you've set apart Christ as Lord and you're living with a heavenly perspective. But when you live that way, your life is so counter-culture, it is so the opposite of the way the rest of the world lives, people are scratching their heads saying, what's up with that guy? What's going on with her? I mean how can they respond that way? And nurses and doctors will ask you in the hospitals, how can you have such peace when you're going through what you're going through? People at work will ask, how come you're not always criticizing the boss like the rest of us? You see people will see a difference in your lifestyle and when they do, they start asking questions. So maybe the question we need to ask ourselves today is does anybody ever ask me any questions about why I'm different? Is anybody ever asking about the hope that I'm living by? Does your life, does my life ever raise any questions? Does your lifestyle ever create any curiosity, any thirst on the part of others? Does anybody ever ask you why? You do the way you do, feel the way you feel. Does your lifestyle ever convict anyone around you? Make them want to ask questions? Because Peter says if we're setting apart Christ as Lord, if we're living with that heavenly mindset and hope, then people are going to be asking why? They're going to be asking for a reason for the hope that is in us. And when they do, he says be ready to give an answer. Now the word answer here is Greek word apologiah, which we get our English word apologetics from. The science or the theology of defending the faith. But I want you to know that Peter is not talking about a structured theological program of defending the faith. Although that is very important, there's certainly a major place for that. That's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about in your life and my life when people start noticing a difference and asking why there's a difference, we are ready to give a response. We are ready to tell why our lifestyle is different. Notice he says always be prepared to give an answer to everyone, keywords, always and everyone, which indicates what he's talking about is in the course of normal conversation. When people start asking questions about what we do and why we do it and how we live and all of that, then we are to be ready to seize that opportunity to tell them how Christ has made a difference in our lives. That's the apologetic that he's talking about here. It comes out of a lifestyle that creates thirst and questions on the part of unsaved people. And then when those questions come up, we are ready always, no matter where it is, in the normal context of lifestyle, we are ready to give an answer. We're ready to give the reason which is Jesus Christ. That's the method of witnessing. That's called lifestyle evangelism by some. I simply call it biblical evangelism. It's living the kind of lifestyle that creates curiosity and seizing the opportunities to answer the questions about why. And it involves servitude. It involves the kind of lifestyle that reaches out to people. Man by the name of Charlie was a neighbor to a guy who was an unbeliever. Charlie had tried to witness to him and bite him to church. And finally his neighbor said, Charlie, I've had enough of that. Nobody in this culture with any sense or understanding or education would ever believe in the myths you're talking about, like about Jesus Christ. Nobody would believe that stuff. Just leave me alone. I'm not interested in what you're saying. I'm not interested in your church. Charlie was very discouraged by that. And so he began reading up on Josh McDowell and Robbie Zacharias and all the apologetics guys to say, okay, I'm going to get my answers down. I'm going to get my apologetics ready. And so when he begins debating with me, I'll know exactly what to say. And again, please understand, there's a place for that. And there are people who need that bridge to be able to get to into place where they're listening to the gospel. But as it happened, one day Charlie just noticed that his neighbor's gutters were full of leaves. One day he was talking in the yard to the neighbor's wife. And the wife just mentioned to him, you know, my husband would clean out those gutters because he was afraid of heights. He just scared the death to get up on a ladder and try to do that. And so Charlie got a ladder, went over and cleaned out his neighbor's gutters and never said a word. The very next Sunday his neighbor and his whole family were in church with Charlie and his family came on their own. And in a brief period of time that neighbor came to know Christ as his savior. What was it that drew him? A lifestyle, a serventhood lifestyle. It was a lifestyle of hope, a lifestyle that had heavenly values ahead of earthly values. A lifestyle that said, I will set apart Christ as Lord in my heart and I will show you the love of Christ in a way I can. That's what did it on a personal level. And that's what will do it for many, many people in our world. Method of witnessing our normal conversation, our normal speaking with people and the lifestyle around them. But Peter goes on to talk about our attitude in witnessing. You see it there in verse 15. But in your heart set apart Christ as Lord, that's the foundation. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. That's the method. But notice this, but do this with gentleness and respect. That's the attitude in witnessing which is our approach. How do we approach people? Peter says, you approach the people ought to involve two things. Number one, approach them with gentleness. In other words, when we witness to people, when we share with them Christ, we are not to be arrogant and belligerent and know it all kind of people. We're witnesses. We're not prosecuting attorneys. A witness is someone who has experienced or seen something and is willing to share it with someone else. And we're to do that not in a better than you kind of fashion, not in an overbearing fashion, an arrogant fashion, we're to do it with gentleness, not arguing with people, but presenting Christ in a loving way. So do it with gentleness. And then secondly, Peter says, do this with respect, not running over people, not condemning them, not indicating that I'm better than you are, not calling them a sinner and pointing the finger at them. You know how the Bible says this in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. When you start pointing your finger at people and calling them a sinner without including yourself, you're coming across with the exact lack of respect that Peter says you don't want to have. Respect for that other person, gentleness as we witness to that other person, will make sure that they understand we are all sinners including me, the one who's telling you this. I'm not coming across and we don't need to say this, but we need to evidence it in the way that we can. We need to witness not coming across as someone who is better than you, holier than you. We are all sinners, all of us fall short of the glory of God. And I'm in the same boat as you are. And everybody does the same things. I've often, in talking with people, used this very simple illustration. It's like a poll vaulting contest in track and field. The best in the world can jump over about 20 feet with that poll vault. I couldn't get off the ground. But let's say that the bar is set at 50 feet. Nobody can meet the standard. The best in the world wouldn't even get halfway there. And so you see, it's not a matter of how good you are, what kind of person you are, all of us miss the glory of God. The standard is too high. None of us can reach that. No preacher in the world, no missionary in the world, no finest Christian in a church in the world can meet that standard. All of us are in the same boat. We've all sinned and we all fall short of God's glory. So when we witness to people, we need to make sure that we don't come across as arrogant with a lack of respect or domineering or condemning. But we do, we do what we do, we share what we share with gentleness and respect. So that is the biblical pattern for witness Peter. Peter gives it to us right here in this verse. The foundation is our lifestyle. The method is our normal conversation with people as opportunities arise. And the attitude, our approach is to be one with gentleness and respect. But there is also a biblical plan for witnessing. And I want to move next to second Corinthians chapter five. You see, part of being prepared to give a response to people who ask questions. Is to think through how you would share the gospel with someone if those questions do come up. How would you share the gospel with, how would you present the good news about Jesus Christ? One of the best ways obviously is to share your own testimony of how you came to know Christ with gentleness and respect. That's great. Maybe you've taken some evangelism training and you have a plan down pat for how you would share Christ with someone if you had the opportunity to do that. Maybe you've been through evangelism explosion, evangelism training and you've got a plan. Maybe you've been through campus crusade, you've got the four spiritual laws. Maybe you've been through contagious Christian training and you've got the bridge illustration. There are lots of different ways to have a plan in mind to share the gospel. I grew up learning in Sunday school and vacation Bible school, the Romans rode several verses in Romans that present the plan of salvation. Maybe you have a plan in mind. But in case you don't, I want to give you one this morning. It's four very simple truths that you need to have in mind that you would share with someone. And as I give you this plan, what I'm going to do is I want to give you this plan as though I were witnessing to someone and telling them this plan. So there's a twofold method to my madness here. If you do not know Jesus as your Savior or you're not sure you're going to heaven, I want to present to you very simply what it means to be a believer. For those of us who know Jesus as Savior, I want to give you a very simple way to present the gospel to someone. And it's very biblical, but it's also very culturally relevant because it has to do with relationship with God. And people in our world today are crying out for solid, genuine relationships. Many, many people in our world today are come out of broken relationships and broken families and their relationships have hurt them and damaged them. And so they want to know what a real relationship is all about. One of the ways you can share Christ is in the context of what it means to come into a relationship with God, one that will never fail you as we heard this morning. That kind of love will never fail you. So what is this biblical plan for witnessing? Step number one, there's a relationship you are made to have. God made you to have this relationship. If you look at verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says all this, all that he's talked about before about becoming a new creature in Christ and so forth, all this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Now just focus for a moment on those words, reconciled us to Himself. Salvation is about a personal relationship. There are lots of other ways of viewing salvation and Paul does some of those transactions that take place in heaven judicially and so forth. But one of the ways to see salvation is entering a relationship with God. There's a relationship you were made to have and that relationship was with Him. He wants to bring you to Himself, reconciled you to Himself. There's a relationship you're made to have and until you have that relationship, there will be an emptiness, a longing in your life. Colossians chapter 1, Paul says at the end of the verse, all things were created by Him and for Him. You were made for this, you were made to have a relationship with God. God made you to have that relationship with Him and there will be a hole in your heart, there will be something missing in your life without that relationship with God. If you don't have that relationship, there will be something missing in your life. This is one relationship you cannot do without and God loves you so much. He's gone to great extremes to make it possible for you to have that relationship with Him. There is a relationship you were made to have and that's a relationship with God. God filled you or God built you with a hole inside your heart that can only be filled by a relationship with Him. If you try to fill it with all kinds of other things, again, thank you, Judd, for setting this up so well. If you try to fill it with other things, you will be disappointed. There will just be empty. Try to fill it up with pleasure, try to fill it up with education, try to fill it up with work, try to fill it up with things and you'll still be empty. Because there is a God-sized hole inside of you that can only be filled by a relationship with Him. This is a relationship you were made to have. But the second thing about the gospel is this. This is a relationship that you do not have. You're made to have it, but it's a relationship that you don't have. Notice, if you will, verse 19 of 2 Corinthians 5, all this is from God, verse 18, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. The whole idea of reconciling is that you are apart from God and there is a change which must take place. The word reconciliation literally means change. And that change that must happen is God brings someone who is distant, far away from Him, back to Himself. That's the whole concept of reconciliation. God's bringing you back into relationship with Him. But that presupposes you don't have a relationship with Him now. And the reason you don't is because of what He mentions there in verse 19 about sins. Men's sins have to be dealt with before this relationship can be established. You see, the reason why we feel so lonely and incomplete and confused about life's purpose is because we were created to live for Him, but by nature we live for Me. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6 states it so beautifully. Isaiah says, we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Notice the next phrase, each of us has turned to His own way. What an amazing description of what it means to be apart from God and living for yourself. We have turned to our own way and the Lord laid on Him Christ, the Iniquity of Us all are sinned. But we have a natural tendency to live for Me. We all come into this world with the natural tendency to live for Myself, to try to run My own life when God intended that He would run it. That self-rule, that self-centered life, God calls sin. That's what a self-centered self-ruled life is. It's sin. It's disobedience to God. It's rebellion against Him. We're made to live for Him, for Him to control our lives. And when we pull away and say, I want to run My own life, I want to control My own life. That's rebellion against God. That's sin. And so we all have a tendency to make My way decisions with our temper. My way decisions with our sexuality. My way decisions with our tongue. My way decisions with our relationships. My way decisions with how we treat others and on and on the list can go. My way decisions with our possessions. We all have a natural inborn tendency to run our own lives and to pull away from God but we were made for God to run our lives. It is this sin, this self-centered self-rule kind of life that the Bible calls sin and it is that sin which breaks our relationship with God. Look at this verse, Isaiah 59 and verse 2. But your iniquities, your sins have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. You see, this relationship you were made to have, as you come into this world, you don't have because sin has separated you from God. And unless something is done to take care of that sin, there is an eternal consequence to that broken relationship. And that eternal consequence is this, you will be separated from God forever. Romans chapter 6 in verse 23 says it this way, for the wages of sin is death. Stop right there. The wages, what you earn, what you deserve because of your sin is death, eternal separation from God. You see, a relationship you were made to have, you do not have until something is done about your sin. And the problem is none of us in this room can do anything about our sin. The offense is too big, the payment, the penalty is too high. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 say it this way, for it is by grace you've been saved. Through faith, this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. There is nothing you can do to make satisfactory payment for your own sin. To clean up the mess of your own life. There is nothing you can do to say, okay, God, look here, I've joined the church, I've gotten baptized, I'm trying to turn my life around the best way I can. Now, I present this to you, this is my ticket to heaven, right? I can get in now, can I? No. There is nothing you can do. The debt is too much, the payment is too high, you cannot work it off if you live a perfect life, the rest of your life, you cannot do enough to pay off the debt of your sin. So this relationship you were made to have, you don't have until something's done about your sin because that separates you from God. But here's some good news, it's a relationship you can have. This relationship you were made to have, but a relationship you do not have because of your sin. This relationship with God, it's a relationship you can have, you can have it because there has been something done about your sin and my sin. And that which was done is a free gift of God. If you look again at verses 18 and 19, all this is from God who reconciled us, who brought us back to Himself, notice the next two words, through Christ. And then verse 19, God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, verse 21. God made Him speaking of Christ, who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. You see God loves you so much that He said, I don't want you to be separated from me forever. I want you to be in relationship with me, I want you to be in my family, I want you to be my child. And so I'm going to take care of your sin problem, I'm going to pay off that debt, I'm going to take the penalty and I'm going to put it on my son. And so Jesus, the one that Paul describes as having no sin of his own, the one who knew no sin had no sin never committed a sin perfect spotless lamb of God. Jesus came to this earth for the express purpose of dying, paying the full penalty. Remember the wages of sin is death. He paid the penalty for your sin and mine when he died on the cross. He actually was a substitute for you. And while he was there on the cross, dying, God was pouring out on Him, His wrath, His judgment for your sin and my sin. And then God said, I am completely satisfied with that payment for your sin. So he raised his son from the dead. The Bible tells us that God's proof that Christ's payment was satisfactory. There's nothing you will do or I'll ever do that God put his seal of approval on like that, but Jesus's death, He did when He raised him from the dead. And so you can have this relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. Your sin can be erased from God's record books because of what Jesus did by taking the penalty for that sin when He died on the cross. So this is a relationship with God that you can have, but fourthly, it is a relationship you must choose. The Bible makes this very clear. There's no one in this room and he's stronger on the sovereignty of God and God's work and salvation than I am, but the Bible also makes it clear. This is a relationship you must choose. Notice what Paul does next in verse 20. After talking about this provision that's made for us to be brought back into relationship with God, verse 20, he says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. As though God were making, notice this, God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. The very fact that an appeal is being made and we are imploring other people to make this decision to be reconciled that God indicates that God has given man a responsibility to accept the provision that Christ has made for you. And so you must receive, you must accept the offer of salvation that God's given you. In John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, John said it this way, he came to that which was his own Jesus coming to his own people, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, notice the word accepted, received him to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become the children of God. You have a God given, God enabled responsibility to accept the provision that Jesus has made for you. There is a decision that you must make to accept God's offer. You must say, yes, I will accept. I can't earn it, I can't do anything to pay back for it, but I accept as a free gift the provision God has made for my salvation. And when you do that, my friend, you're placing confidence in what Christ has done for you, not in what you do for yourself, but confidence in what Christ has done for you on the cross to be payment for your sin. It's simply accepting it, it's not working for it, it's not trying to earn it, but accepting, but that is a conscious decision you must make. You don't kind of grow into heaven. And you don't get into heaven because mom and dad took you to church when you were young or because you kind of got interested in this Christianity thing and started going to church on your own. The Bible teaches that Christ died for your sins, you must believe on Him, trust Him as your Savior. If there's never been a point where you've done that and you think you're okay because you're in church, you need to examine your heart to make sure that you've actually placed your faith in Christ as your Savior. And not that you're trusting anything else to get you to heaven, but you've placed your confidence in faith in Christ. You've said, yes, I accept the provision that is made by God through Christ for my salvation. That's what it takes. Now my friend, if you're not saved this morning and by that I mean if you are not sure that your sins are forgiven and that you know you're going to heaven. If you're not sure then you can be sure today. And I don't mean that in an arrogant fashion. Oh yeah, I know I'm going to heaven, if anybody gets there I'm good enough to get there. No, no, no, no. That violates everything we just talked about. What I mean by being sure is that you can know this relationship you were made to have but that you don't have now because sin has separated you from God. You can have through Christ who died for you if you will receive him as your Savior. That's what I mean. And if today for the first time you've clearly understood I need to trust Jesus as my Savior. In a moment we're going to close the service with a closing song. There will be pastors here at the front. And you're certainly welcome to come and talk to one of the pastors and though if need be if you need to understand a little more we'll take you to another room back here and talk with you about what it means to know Jesus as your Savior. Or there will be at least one pastor remaining at the front after the service this morning. Please, if you want to trust Christ as your Savior please come talk to that pastor this morning. Just come up to the front after the service you want to he'll be glad to spend whatever time is needed to help you understand what it means to be saved. Trust Jesus as your Savior today if you've never done that. But then for all of us who know Jesus is Savior we have a responsibility. Paul says in this very very passage. He is our Christ's ambassadors God is making his appeal to us. He says he has committed to us this message of reconciliation. Again this is not a question this is not an option. He is already saying you are on the team now get out of the stands on the field you are on the team. You have committed to you a message and a ministry of reconciliation. Everybody in this room has had that committed to you. It's not an option. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to say okay I'm going to live such a lifestyle of hope that people will start asking questions. And I'm going to seek any opportunity I have in my world of influence in the mission field God's given me to share the gospel with other people. I'm not going to back away. I'm not going to be timid. I'm going to be on the field. I'm going to be on the line. I'm going to be making the hits that are necessary to be in the game. I'm going to engage myself in going for Jesus Christ. This is not an option. It's already committed to you. Jesus has said you will be my witnesses. The question is are we going? Are we going? Cross the room. Cross the street. Cross town. Maybe even across the world when God gives us the opportunity. Are we going? Going for Christ. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, thank you for the provision you've made for us to be reconciled to you to be brought back into your family. Thank you, Father, for the death of Christ. His payment for our sin. And I pray if there's anyone here this morning that needs to receive Christ and say, yes, I accept that free gift that they will do that this morning before they leave this building. And then, Father, I pray for those of us who have been committed have been given the responsibility of this message and ministry of pleading with others on your behalf. Be reconciled to God. Help us to take that seriously. Help us to take the opportunity to reach out to neighbors and co-workers and friends, acquaintances, people that you providentially bring across our path. Be faithful to share the gospel when we can. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.