2 Corinthians 5

0:00 Today is our second sermon in a three-week series in 2 Corinthians. And as Warren mentioned, I am not Greg Gilbert. I am Ryan Robertson, one of the elders of this church. And while Greg's on sabbatical, a number of us are taking turns preaching in this pulpit, praying for our brother that he would get good rest in this time, and also wanting to minister the word to a congregation that we love. And so it's a privilege to be with you this morning and share with you that of 2 Corinthians 5.

0:37 As an immigrant who found sanctuary in America, I am forever grateful for the ideals and values that this country stands for. Now those aren't my words. They're the words of another immigrant, Henry Kissinger, who was born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1923 and faced with increasing persecution and danger as the Nazis took control of his country, the Kissingers fled to America in 1938.

1:09 Given tremendous opportunities in his new home, he served in the U.S. military in World War II and would eventually earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and he would serve his new country as its national security advisor and as its Secretary of State. Now, I've been studying this as a Canadian to make sure that I understand the roles correctly, but it appears to me that the role of Secretary of State is the lead ambassadorial role for you Americans. The Secretary of State carries out the foreign policy of the President of the United States through the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States.

1:49 Though his term in Forest Service was marked with various controversies, we're not here to talk about those today, Kissinger has been acknowledged as one of the key government officials during the second half of the last century. Rescued from Nazi Germany, given a new home, Kissinger, I think, was uniquely suited to represent these United States and its ideals to the world. I understand that. I was born in another country, and I think us immigrants have a unique perspective on what makes America what it is, having come from another land.

2:29 I often say that to my friends. I think I appreciate what it means to be American more than you appreciate what it means to be American. As Christians, oh, as Christians, we have been rescued from another kingdom. given a new home in a new kingdom and we have been offered a new role and new responsibilities as an ambassador to our king. Our text today is 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Please turn with me there. We're going to start in verse 1. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made from hands, eternal in the heavens.

3:20 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing

4:22 the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died and he who died for all that those who live may no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised from now on therefore we regard no one according to the flesh even though we once regarded christ according to the flesh we regard him thus no longer therefore if anyone is in christ he is a new creation

5:22 the old has passed away behold the new has come all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:09 I think the main point of this text is that Jesus's work has changed everything, Everything for the Christian. We're going to look at this passage in four separate but connected points. Number one, Christ's work as our mediator of a new covenant. Christ's work as the mediator of a new covenant. Number two, the Christian's new home.

6:43 Number three, the Christian's new relationship. And finally, number four, the Christian's new role. So new covenant, new home, new relationship, new role. First, let's take a look at Jesus' work as our mediator. It's important to slow down and see what God has been doing all throughout redemptive history for us to understand what is being declared to the Corinthian church and to us.

7:17 Before we can understand the benefits of the new covenant, we need to understand Jesus' work on our behalf. Our reconciliation has been mediated by Christ. He was our mediator in a new covenant that we are under as Christians. He was our representative. Paul writes in verse 14 of our text that one has died for all, therefore all have died. So we're going to unpack exactly what that means and how Paul can say that.

7:52 Apart from Christ, we are separated from God. In order to understand how one can die as a representative for others, which is what Paul's saying, we need to take a few minutes and understand the idea of someone acting as a covenant representative. That's what Paul is talking about. It's the key to understanding a lot of the language here in 2 Corinthians 5. In Eden, God made a covenant with Adam. And in that covenant, God demands personal, entire, exact, and ongoing obedience.

8:32 As our head, as our representative of that first covenant, Adam was representing all of humanity with his life. All of his future offspring. In exchange for obedience, God promises eternal life. symbolized by the tree of life in the middle of the garden of eden and what is god's command that he requires obedience to we see that in genesis 2 16 and 17 and the lord god commanded the man saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the knowledge of good of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die so you can eat of any of these trees but don't eat this tree and obey me and the reward for that obedience is long and good and eternal life god demands obedience and in genesis 3 we see the consequence of adam's breaking of the covenant in eden when adam ate of the tree he

9:33 was commanded not to eat he brought on the covenant curse not only on him but on everybody that he was representing death came not only to adam but on all of his offspring that's what romans 5 15 means we we just read it for if many died through one's man's trespass because of adam's sin we are born in sin fallen man has an inability to live righteously he is dead in his sin. That's why we cannot bring ourselves back to life. That's why every religion all around the world that seeks to somehow earn the favor of God is a false religion. Worshipping a false God through a false means.

10:22 Psalm 51 verse 5 says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. Which means that Adam's sinful nature has been passed down to all of his descendants. Any son or daughter of Adam, would inherit his sin. But along with God's covenant curse in Eden, he gave a promise that one of Eve's offspring shall rise up and crush Satan. We can see this as a redemptive promise about Jesus and a foreshadowing of a new covenant. When Jesus was born of Mary, The words we use are incarnate of the Virgin Mary.

11:03 He was not conceived by Joseph. That's a very, very important thing to understand. Mary was a virgin, which means Jesus was the descendant of Eve, but not born of the seed of man, so not a descendant of Adam. He had no earthly father, and therefore he did not inherit a sinful nature because Adam did not represent him. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us humans and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and that was made man.

11:58 Those words come from Third Avenue Baptist Church Statement of Faith, which starts with, together with the church in all the ages. Those words actually come from a confession from long ago. The early church had to be so very clear on these issues and mark off some necessary and fundamental doctrines that are necessary to articulate the true gospel. So we believe that God is truly man and truly God. Truly God and truly man. The kids sang last year, Totally God and Totally Man at VBS.

12:31 That's what we're talking about. That belief is fundamental to understanding that Jesus didn't inherit sin and how Jesus could live a perfect life. He was truly God and truly man, uniquely qualified, therefore, to serve as our representative of a new covenant. And in our passage today, we see the outworkings of Jesus representing a new group of people. A group that his actions would bear some consequences for, good ones.

13:09 And the new covenant that he brought forward carried blessings to all of those people that he represented. Romans chapter 519 tells us that by one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. it's important to recognize that it's Jesus' work that brings to us new covenant blessings as Christians. As sons and daughters of Adam, we were incapable of saving ourselves. Because apart from Christ's work on the cross, we're dead in our trespasses. After Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, the fall, sin came into the world, and death came with sin.

13:51 And now because of Jesus' work, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. It's a new Edenic language, a new creation. The old inherited by our old representative Adam in the Garden of Eden, first man created. That old has passed away, and now a new has come. as Christians we still live in a fallen world with fallen bodies but Jesus has inaugurated his kingdom with a new covenant when Jesus returns he will completely consummate his kingdom so kingdom inaugurated but not yet fully consummated when he returns he will completely consummate his kingdom and us as christians will receive all of the fullness of the covenant blessings of god theologians often refer to this period

14:52 that we live in right now as the time of the already but not yet so let's now turn to understanding these blessings that we have those blessings are going to be our three and final points. First, as Christians, we will receive a new home and a new body. All throughout our passage today, we feel the anticipation of the consummation of all of God's promises. And in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians 5, we see that we can eagerly await our new home, a resurrection body.

15:31 Have you ever lived in a home that you couldn't wait to move out of? It's just my family. Maybe it's got mold or not enough rooms for a growing family or a kitchen that's just not right. Or it's in an unhelpful location. And maybe you have the opportunity to move into a new home. One that seems to be just perfect, perfect size, perfect look, perfect kitchen, perfect location, everything, just how you want it, but you can't move in yet.

16:12 So you put down a down payment, maybe on one you buy from somebody else, maybe one that you are going to build. You put down a down payment, and then you eagerly await the day that you can move out of your old home and into your new home. The fact is, many of us can resonate with the desire to move houses, to improve our habitat. And Paul alludes to that type of anticipation in the first section of today's passage. But he's pointing out something that's eternal, not about an earthly residence.

16:47 He contrasts the tent of our earthly bodies with the immortal and eternal bodies that await us. Bodies that have been built by God, a heavenly dwelling. There's a few things that we can note about these resurrection bodies. Hopefully I stir you up with some excitement for what awaits us all one day. First, they're eternal and not temporal. Paul contrasts the temporary with the permanent when he describes our earthly bodies as a tent. Paul was incredibly well acquainted with tents and their temporary nature because he was a tent maker he was born in Tarsus Tarsus was renowned for its trade in tent making and he would join others throughout his ministry at various times making tents for others and I'm sure the temporary nature the rapidly depreciating nature of tents was on his mind as he used that word tents he uses the word tent three times in these first three verses verse one the tent that

17:49 is our earthly home verse 2 in this tent we groan verse 4 while we were still in this tent we groan being burdened the tent is our earthly home and while we live in it we long for our heavenly dwelling it's the body we're in today is mortal and day by day we feel the effects of its mortality and christians it's not just physical mortality that we feel the effects of we are aware of our sinful flesh and we strain and we toil to put it to death.

18:26 Let's be clear, our earthly bodies never ever gave us the slightest hint of immortality. Parents, do you remember some of the early medical struggles of your kids, whether it was skin rashes or jaundice, whether it was eczema, a number of different conditions that are brand new babies the newest humans hold they're physically ailing from the very beginning through the first verses of these chapter paul starts mixing metaphors first he talks of our bodies as dwelling places and then he mixes in the metaphor of our bodies as clothing we long to put on our heavenly dwelling see how he mixes the metaphor we don't talk about putting on a house we live in a house but here he's he's got our minds already thinking about putting on a heavenly dwelling verse 2 then he says by putting it on we may not be found naked verse 3 we groan

19:27 being burdened not that we would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed verse 4 and he's using this next metaphor in order for our minds to start imagining a building as if it we're clothing. When we die, our souls are temporarily stripped of a dwelling place. Our fallen, sinful bodies are buried. Scripture is clear, however, that our soul does not die, nor does it fall asleep. For the Christian, their soul immediately goes in the presence of God.

20:02 This is what Paul speaks of when he says we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord in verse 8. Jesus also speaks of this fact on the cross when he speaks to the thief on his side and he says, today you will be with me in paradise. The non-Christian soul immediately enters into eternal punishment in hell. We see that in Luke 16. Both the bodies of Christians and non-Christians will be raised on the final day of judgment. In Acts 24 15 Paul speaks to Felix of the resurrection of both the just and the unjust. The bodies of Christians reunited with their souls in a perfect imperishable body that is glorified and the bodies of non-Christians reunited with their souls to kneel before Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord before they stand before his throne of judgment and received their final judgment. Revelation 2014, then death and

21:05 Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And it's in that lake of fire that they are eternally punished for their sin against their Creator their rebellion if you're a non-christian here today I would encourage you to listen closely today to what the Bible has to say for your current future state and I would encourage you to listen to what the Bible has to say for the hope that awaits the Christian as we talk about about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, I want to ask you, would you come to Jesus today?

21:57 Would you repent of your sins and follow him? All of these benefits that I'm speaking of today, they can be yours if you repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I encourage you to talk with whomever you came today or if you didn't come with anybody and you just happened to walk into Third Avenue Baptist Church today, Just find someone around you and say, hey, can you explain to me a little bit more of what Ryan was talking about? We would love to talk with you when the service concludes. Lord, Christians, I want to point out also that our eternal and glorified bodies, eternal, perfect.

22:37 I think about that often as I'm watching races, 100-meter race. Last week, I watched the Prefontaine Mile out in the West Coast, and I watched these guys running like 340 miles. And I'm thinking, is my resurrection body going to be able to run a 340 mile? The Bible doesn't give me the answer. But man, I don't think I'm going to struggle with endurance. I can only imagine. But our eternal and glorified bodies aren't just going to be incredibly amazing, infinitely amazing.

23:09 They're also divinely sourced. We see in verse 1 that our promised, glorified, and eternal bodies are from God, not made from hands. And we're reminded of Jesus' words when he said that he would destroy the temple that is made with hands. And in three days, he would build another not made from hands. So we see some parallel language there. And three days after his death, Jesus rose from the dead, the first fruits of the resurrection that's promised to Christians. Jesus is the first fruits.

23:42 And additionally, we've also received the down payment for them. the guarantee as the Father has prepared for us our eternal home purchased by the work of Jesus on the cross, the Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee, as a down payment that all of God's plans will be brought to completion. Turn with me to Romans chapter 8. Please, we're going to start in verse 9.

24:16 Romans chapter 8, verse 9. Paul writes, you, he's talking to Christians, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of God does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body, the temporary tent we're talking about, is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

24:56 That's the power of our guarantor. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the promise to us who lives in us as Christians that all of what's promised to us about our eternal home will be secured. What else does the Holy Spirit do for the Christian? I just want to dwell on this very quickly. Let's look at verse 26 of Roman 8. A little bit down further. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

25:28 For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

26:01 Those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. Those whom were made righteous, very last verse in 2 Corinthians 5 that we're talking about. We'll be glorified, receiving our eternal dwellings, which is what Paul's talking about in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians 5. So the Spirit is our guarantor, living and active in us, interceding on our behalf, groanings too deep for words, filling in all of the gaps in our prayers. Our prayers in and of themselves aren't complete, and the Holy Spirit is petitioning on our behalf what a promise hope that's an encouragement for you when you're struggling in your prayer life oh i don't know what to pray for pray and trust that god by his spirit will continue to intercede to the father on your behalf so god who prepared us for this very thing that we're talking about our eternal life our eternal body clothed in christ's righteousness

27:04 with immortal, perfect bodies, who sent his love on us and adopted us and called us and glorified us and justified us and glorified us, gives to us the spirit who works in us for us to be able to conform into the image of Christ. And as he's working in us, he's testifying to us that our sanctification is a testimony to our future glorification. Christian, as you look in your life? Do you look more like Jesus today than you did a year or two ago? Praise God. You're being sanctified. You're becoming more and more conformed into the image of Christ. And that very fact is just a taste of what it's going to be like when we are glorified.

27:58 Yes, our eternal bodies will be perfected physically. Again, I don't have all the answers on how fast we'll be able to run, but I'm sure we'll be able to run faster than today. There'll be no more sickness. There'll be no more pain. But even more than that, our sinful flesh inherited from Adam, that flesh that we still toil with in our life, it will be replaced with a new spiritual flesh, a physical flesh to be sure, but one that is incapable of sin. hallelujah I can't go for a few minutes without just struggling with my flesh and one day I will receive a resurrected body and I will never sin again we prayed this morning for our sister Melody and we're recalling of our own physical bodies and the struggles of our physical life

28:59 as we pray together. Friends, we have sickness in this world. But I don't want us to get stuck on the physical nature of our bodies. It's very, very important to understand that the greatest struggle that we deal with in this life is not our physical mortality. It is our spiritual state. As Christians, we don't just receive a new home, but we also receive a new relationship.

29:31 That's our next point, a new relationship. We are reconciled to God. As sinful human beings, we have rebelled against our king. Paul writes in Romans 5 that we were his enemies. We see in 2 Corinthians 5.18 that God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus. That's the language of mediation. Paul writes in Romans 5.10 that while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

30:08 Did you ever think about how good it is to be reconciled? Sometimes Aaron and I will argue. It's true. And it's a strain, and I hate it. And in those moments where we have sinned against each other, there's like a hole in my stomach. And I'm very fast to want reconciliation. Man, I want it so bad.

30:39 And I'm like fighting with my flesh. I know I've got to apologize. I know I've got to confess. But oh, it is so sweet to be reconciled. To say the words, I'm sorry. And to hear the words, I forgive you. That is a sweet thing. Some of us are thinking right now of family members that we're estranged to or friends that won't talk to us. And we feel this strain of not being reconciled. And it should feel like a strain.

31:11 It should not be okay to be unreconciled. But we're talking about horizontal relationships there. Apart from Christ, we cannot be vertically reconciled with our holy and just creator. Again, non-Christian, you need to be reconciled to God. What does Paul mean that while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of its son?

31:47 It means that our sins are no longer counted against us because Jesus took our place on the cross. It's what Paul's alluding to in verse 21 when he writes, For our sake he made him to be sin. Jesus took on sin. The perfect creator sent his son to live a perfect life. Born of Eve, not of Adam, that we could not live. and died as a perfect sacrifice, bearing our sin.

32:19 The whole system of sacrifice had been pointing to this. Jesus bore our sin as a perfect lamb so that our sins are no longer counted against us. We are reconciled to God and also we're united to Christ. Verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, in other words, united to Christ, he is a new creation.

32:53 The words in Christ appear all over Paul's writings. Over 160 times, Paul uses these words in Christ. If you ever want to know what to do for some private study time, that's a pretty good exercise. Go through and find all of the in Christ's and look at what has been done on your behalf and all of the rewards that come to you because of your uniting to Christ, because of you've been united to Christ. We don't have time to go through all of those today, but Paul uses the phrase to describe our union with Christ.

33:28 In 1 Corinthians 12, he describes how we as the church are united to Christ. We as the body and him as the head. The benefits that we read of here in our text today is the benefit of unity with Christ. In regeneration, we are a new creation. A new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. We're also justified, declared righteous. In verse 21, when Paul writes that we become the righteousness of God, he's showing that Jesus is perfect record.

34:07 Undefeated, never sinned. has been applied to us. We are clothed in Christ's righteousness. That means that we're not morally neutral in God's eyes. God could have stopped at moral neutrality and that would have been undeserved, not guilty. Wow, we didn't deserve that. But he went infinitely above and beyond that when he says, not only are you not guilty, but you are perfect and righteous because of the work of my son.

34:40 Jesus, our covenant representative, truly God and truly man. Our mediator has earned for us an eternal life with a resurrection body and a new relationship. We are reconciled to God. We are united to Christ. We are declared righteous. And as Christians, this is my final point, we are given a new role.

35:16 We're ambassadors, entrusted with the message of reconciliation. As recipients of God's grace through the new covenant, which was mediated by Jesus as our representative, we are now able to represent our king. So Jesus represents all of the people under his new covenant, and then all of the people in his new covenant now get to act as his representative, as his ambassadors. God, in his wisdom, has chosen the very people he has redeemed to be his earthly representatives so that we can call others to follow him.

35:55 This is why it's so important to remind ourselves of what we once were before Christ and now who we are in Christ. Because as we're stirred up by the good news and by these doctrines that we should be rejoicing in, We want to go and tell people there is good news. Verse 18, all of what has been given to us is from God. All of it, none of it earned by us. So all given to us, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

36:30 So now those who have been reconciled have been recruited into the very work of reconciliation. that's amazing we represent the reconciling king as recipients of god's grace we are uniquely qualified and situated to represent the goodness of his grace and we proclaim his gospel and seek to persuade others verse 11 we've been entrusted with the message of reconciliation verse 19 as a local church we are an embassy of the king and we always run the lookout to cooperate with other local churches to see churches established in places where there aren't local churches we want to send out ambassadors to establish new embassies all throughout this city and all throughout this world are local churches we prayed for a couple of them this morning capitol hill baptist church washington dc

37:31 Bangkok City Baptist Church, Bangkok, Thailand. There are churches all over this world that represent Jesus as embassies and they're handed the keys of the kingdom. They're given authority from king, from the king. We exercise those keys here at Third Avenue Baptist Church when we recognize somebody's profession of faith as credible and then we baptize them so that they can then serve as a mutually accountable ambassador in this kingdom.

38:06 We'll shortly be celebrating the Lord's Supper this morning. That's a covenant meal, a new covenant meal. Inaugurated by Jesus to be celebrated by his ambassadors in local churches. So friends, we get to live as ambassadors. We get to live as representatives of our king. And we get to do it together. We don't only live as ambassadors, but we also live as new creations. This is, in fact, something that should stir us up by way of reminder that we are a new creation.

38:43 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Verse 17. As you examine your life in the days and weeks ahead in light of this passage, as you examine your life, do you live with an eternal perspective? Do you recognize that this world is not our home or do you seek to accumulate immaterial things that moth and rust will destroy and thieves will break in and steal? Is that where your treasure is?

39:16 Or are you living as a new creation, in anticipation of your eternal home? How are you doing in the area of holiness? are you fighting sin are you growing in sanctification when you look at your life do you look like a representative of king jesus or do you look like an ambassador for the world meaning do you live as the world lives or do you live as someone set apart from the world a couple days ago i was hanging out with my friend rob rob works in the State Department. He works on the Middle East Affairs desk. He represents the United States. And as I talk with him and I ask him questions, he never gives me confidential information, but as I ask him questions about the state of the world, he distinctively talks like an American. When he goes in and talks to the United Nations or to other foreign governments, he rightly

40:19 portrays the American position and represents being an American. It would look really weird if he went in there and started representing another kingdom, another government. In fact, he would get fired. So friend, do you represent King Jesus well in your life? One of the books that I recommend on the subject of holiness is Kevin DeYoung's book, The Hole in Our Holiness. He wrote that in this time of the young resurgence of reformed people.

40:51 We were all geeking out on the sovereignty of God and what it meant for us. And all these doctrines we're celebrating this morning. And Kevin had a bit of a concern that there wasn't a ton of talk about our holiness. He writes in that book, holiness, as he's defining it, is the sum of a million little things. The avoidance of little evils and little foibles. the setting aside of little bits of worldliness and little acts of compromise, the putting to death of little inconsistencies and little indiscretions, the attention to little duties and little dealings, the hard work of little self-denials and little self-restraints, the cultivation of little benevolences and little forbearances.

41:37 So we are declared righteous, but we are still straining for that day where we will be glorified. Every day we are seeking to be conformed more and more into the image of Christ. We're striving in our sanctification. We're pursuing holiness. And one of the things that I'm concerned of when we talk so much about the glories of justification is it sometimes makes people think that the way that they live their lives doesn't matter. I'm forgiven.

42:08 I'm declared righteous. but we should seek to be more and more like christ putting to death sin day after day after day we do that to glorify god and we also do it to represent him so how are you doing in the area of holiness as you seek to represent your king i'd like to encourage you to take some time this week and ask yourself if there are patterns in your life that are more representative of the kingdom of the world than the kingdom of Jesus. Other patterns. That's what Kevin's talking about when he's talking about the accumulation of little things. We must also be careful that we don't fall into legalism. We could fall into the ditch of not caring at all about our holiness, but we could also fall into the ditch of legalism. Remind yourself of the gospel. Friend, I guarantee you after this sermon at some point in the foreseeable future, you will sin.

43:11 What I don't want you to do is to go put on sackcloth and ash on your forehead and go into mourning because that's when you need to remind yourself of the grace that is yours in Jesus Christ. But you also, that sin, you need to want to put it to death. And what we shouldn't see is a repeated pattern of sin in our lives that are more representative of the kingdom of darkness than the kingdom of light. every human being will give an account for how their life is lived. We will be judged for what we have done in this body, whether good or evil. We see that in this text. As Christians, we've been justified, forgiven of our sins, but we are responsible to work hard for the Lord. We don't passively serve as Jesus's ambassador. Again, if my friend Rob never went to the office and never went into meetings, he'd be fired. You don't just get the title ambassador and go, okay, it was a pretty cushy job. No, you actively work for reconciliation.

44:18 We work actively on the advance of the kingdom of our God. Friends, I believe that one of the reasons that Henry Kissinger was such an effective representative of the United States of America was that he was once a citizen of another country. Another country that was ruled by a brutal regime. And then he was transferred in 1938 to a new country. As a Jewish man, there was no life and liberty for him in Nazi-occupied Germany. The knowledge of what could have been fueled him as he saw millions, millions of his ethnic brothers and sisters murdered.

45:02 Kissinger was intimately familiar with what would have happened to him in that kingdom of darkness, and then yet another kingdom brought him in. I think that knowledge that he had helped him to represent his new country effectively. And regardless of your stance on his policies, he was an effective statesman over a long period of time. Christian, you have been transferred from one kingdom to another.

45:34 Your former kingdom was also ranked with death and sin and destruction. and your new kingdom is full of life and joy and the promises of an eternal and indestructible and perfect home. As much as Kissinger thought America was better than Germany, heaven is infinitely better than hell. Does your ambassadorship reflect the thanksgiving and understanding of the grace that you've been shown?

46:10 Let's pray. Father, we have just walked through some scriptures that remind us, that stir us up of your goodness to us. Even while we were your enemies, you reconciled us through your Son. God, as we turn now to singing your praises, God, I pray that our voices would represent thankful hearts.

46:51 Lord, for those of us who do not know you, who are not reconciled, God, I pray that you would reconcile them to yourself. That you would stir in them a desire to follow you. And that even today we would see non-Christians transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, able to go forward representing you as your ambassador. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.