This arm. One of your legs. Which arm do you want? Which leg do you want? You know, we had an argument. We had an argument. We had an argument. We had an argument. We had an argument. We had an argument. We had an argument. We had an
argument. We'll sing hymn number 37, How
Great Thou Art. There's still some folks moving
around, so just carry on and find your seats during the song,
please. Number 37. Oh, Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider
all the world's silence has made. I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. Then sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee Thou great Thou art, Thou great Thou art It sings
my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down from lofty mountain
grandeur And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze It sings, my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! It sings my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When I think And when I think
that God His Son not sparing, set Him to die, I scarce can
take it in. ? That on the cross ? ? My burden
gladly bearing ? ? He bled and died to take away my sin ? Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come with shout
of acclamation. Take me home, take me home. and
take me home. What joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration. ? And there proclaim ? ? Our God
and Lord and King of all ? ? Then sings my soul ? ? My Savior
God, dear Thee ? How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! We ain't never begun to understand
how great He is. In the ages to come, He shall show the exceeding kindness
of His grace toward us through Jesus Christ. That's what we're
going to do. We're going to thank Him for
the exceeding grace God give us through Jesus Christ. When He comes with a shout of
acclamation, Take me home. This place is not
my home. This world's not my home. People
say, how's the world treating you? It never, ever treated me
any good. Never. But oh, God, how good. We ain't touched the hem of the
garment yet, have we, brethren? We ain't touched the hem of the
garment. But here's my dear, dear preacher brother, my dear
friend, Pastor Todd wrote a great church. You've been there 30-something
years, 40 years, son? Long, long time, yeah. Will you
come bring the Lord's message, would you? Somebody wrote recently saying,
I've enjoyed listening to a message until I saw that you named the
church after yourself. And I thought, how arrogant of
you. And I said, would you turn to John chapter 13,
verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever
I send receiveth me. He that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. If I would come up to a man who
had never heard the gospel and bring him the message I'm going
to attempt to bring you this morning, unless God gave him
faith, if he didn't say it, he'd think it. This is unbelief. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Believing the Unbelievable. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me. Now, I need
to make a couple of comments about this before I go on. You know, this has been used
to teach of the Pope. This has been used by preachers
to put a difference between them and everybody else. I'm God's
man. You need to hear me. If I come with that attitude,
I've come with a bad attitude. That is not what the Lord is
saying, but there is such a thing as Christ sending a man. There was a man sent of God,
whose name was John. When the Lord says, verily, verily,
that ought to catch our attention, shouldn't it? Verily, verily,
I say unto you, truly, truly, I say to you, He that receiveth
whomsoever I send. This one I send does not come
in his own name. I sent him. He doesn't speak in his own authority. All he says is what I have given
him to say. Now, I want to listen to that,
don't you? No part of his message is from
him. He speaks with the authority
of the one who sent him, me. Is that not what an ambassador
is? He is not there to negotiate. He comes with the message of
the country he represents. not to negotiate. If I am an
ambassador for the United States, I only say what I am instructed
to say, and if someone rejects it, it's not me they're rejecting,
it's the United States of America. That's what an ambassador is. The Lord said, he that receives
the one that I sent, here's who they're receiving, me. And he who receives me receives
him that sent me. He said in Luke chapter 10, verse
16, when he sent the 70 out to preach, he said, he that heareth
you, heareth me. He that despiseth you, despiseth
me. Now as I contemplated this, my
mind was brought to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Would you turn with
me there? Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors. There's the word. We are ambassadors
for Christ. as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you, in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. He's reconciled to you. For he
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. He is completely
reconciled to you. There is no ill will. There are
no skeletons in the closet. There's nothing from the past
that he's remembering. He's reconciled to you. Everybody
he's reconciled to, he's reconciled to. You be reconciled Now, the
one he sends is his ambassador, and I claim that this morning,
this is not my word, but his. Not my doctrine. It's his doctrine. Every believer is an ambassador
of God to this world. And the thing of it is, when
I make a claim of being an ambassador of God, I don't have to say,
believe it because I say it. See if what I'm saying is in
the scripture. That's the only thing that counts. You can verify
whether or not I truly am what I say I am by seeing if what
I say is the message of God's holy word. You know, believing the unbelievable
as God's ambassador. And like I said, every believer
is an ambassador. If somebody tries to make a difference
between them and the, I'm really, I'm my own ambassador. But the
words, the adjectives that you might try to use to describe
what you're wanting to say, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. If you can believe it, you're
called upon to believe the unbelievable. Somebody says, why would you
want me to do that? Well, I hope you'll understand by the end
of this message. Believing the unbelievable. These are things
that we would not and could not believe if they were not written
down in this book. Now, jump up to verse 16 of 2
Corinthians chapter 5. Wherefore, henceforth, from now
on, know we no man after the flesh. We know no man according
to the flesh, according to fleshly maxims and principles and worldly
philosophy, the way the natural man thinks. We don't seek to
appeal to the flesh. There's nothing in the gospel
that is appealing to the flesh. We know no man after the flesh. Paul said, I certify you, brethren,
the things which are preached to me were not after man. They
were not derived from any human source. We're not trying to package
and market the gospel to make it appealing to the flesh, make
it less offensive to the flesh. We know no man after the flesh. There was a time when we saw
Christ in a fleshly way. No more. No more. Verse 17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, that's where I want to be. Matter
of fact, this is the greatest desire that I have. Oh, that I may be found in Christ. I don't want my fingerprints
to be on anything. I just simply want to be found
in him so that all God sees when he sees me is Jesus Christ. Nothing else. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. What's that mean? Not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the
righteousness, which is of God by faith. If any man be in Christ,
that's where I want to be. The reason nothing can separate
us from the love of God is because it's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He has made us accepted in the
beloved, in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. He is a new creation. He is something
new that he was not before. by a creative act of God. Any man being Christ, he's a
new creation. He is something that he was not
before. All there was, was God. Don't understand this. Before
creation, all there was was God. There wasn't matter, there wasn't
time, there wasn't space. There was just God. The three
persons of the sacred trinity, fellowshipping one with another,
happy, perfectly happy, perfectly content, no needs. Then he created
the universe. And something was there that
was not there before, brought on by a creative act of God. God didn't consult me or you. We're part of the creation. He didn't see what you would
allow him to do or what you of your free will would let him
do. He created. You are a new creation. Something that was not there
before in Christ That's what happens when God gives the new
birth. A new man is there that was not
there before. Paul said, we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. New creatures. Look what he says next. I said, this is too good to be
true. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. Old things have passed away. If I said to you that I don't
have the same old man that I've always had, that is just as evil
and just as vile and just as ungodly as it's ever been, if
I said I'm not like that anymore. Old things have passed away.
You know what I'd be? A liar. Anybody that makes that claim
is a liar. Lost all credibility, don't believe
anything else they say. They're being dishonest. They're
trying to manipulate you into something. If I said I'm different
than I used to be, well, I've got a new man, a new creation.
Thank God for that. But the old man is just as sinful
and he hadn't got any better. What's he talking about when
he says old things have passed away? Well, my old standing of being guilty
before God has passed away. You know, when we talk about
somebody being dead, we say they passed away. I've got a new history. And it's all good. It's all perfect. You look at every day of my life
from the time I've been born, and it's nothing but perfect
obedience to God. Perfect law keeping. I've got
a new history, a history of perfection in God's sight. Now, in God's
sight, maybe not in my sight, but in God's sight, I have a new name. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. my name. I know it says in the 23rd chapter
of Jerebiah, this is the name wherewith he shall be called
the Lord, our righteousness, but go on reading the same thing
and said, this is the name wherewith she shall be called the bride,
Lord, our righteousness. I have a new nature. Peter said,
partakers, of the divine nature, begotten of God, the very seed
of God, this new creation that was not there before. That God
birthed me, God fathered me. That's the new birth, the seed
of God that cannot sin. I've got a new standing before
God. God is altogether pleased with
everything about me. Now, that's hard to get hold
of, isn't it? But it's true in Christ Jesus, perfect in Christ
Jesus, wherefore by one offering he hath perfected forever in
their sanctified. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. Verse 18. And all things are of God. Now, in the immediate context,
all things in the new creation are of God. In the first creation,
your free will wasn't consulted, was it? Was it consulted in the
new creation? No. A creative act of God. He brought something from nothing. Only God can do that. Something from nothing. Well,
as that's true in the first creation, that's true in the second creation.
There wasn't nothing there. He brought it forth. All things are of God. The idea of man contributing
in creation is offensive. It's absurd on any level. All things are of God in creation. All things are of God in providence.
Whatever's happening is his will being done. I don't care what
it is. It's his will being done. Somebody says, are you making
God the author of evil? I hate when people say that.
I'm saying God's God. I'm saying whatever happens is
his will being done. That's what the Bible says. Known unto God
are all his works from the beginning. There's not a sparrow that falls
to the ground on the other side of the world without your heavenly
father. He's the first cause of Everything,
the lot is cast into the lap. That seems like a lot, doesn't
it? But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. All things are
of God in providence, whatever happens, it's His will being
done, and most especially, all things are of God in salvation.
He is the one who saves. Salvation is of the Lord. Verse 18, all things are of God
who hath, not he will, if all things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. Isn't it a blessing in this life
when people who are at odds are reconciled? They're at odds for
whatever reason. They quit holding their grudge
and they embrace one another, putting aside hurt feelings,
pride, and embracing. Life's too short to hold a grudge.
Life's too short for this. Isn't it a blessing when people
embrace? Completely reconciled one to
another. Now, the reconciliation spoken
of here is not like that. I mean, I love talking about
people being reconciled. This reconciliation is not like
that reconciliation. In this reconciliation, God did
nothing to offend us. And we did everything to offend
Him. And we did not want to be reconciled
to Him. And He reconciled us. Somebody says, who's the us?
Everybody he reconciled. If God be for us, who could be
against us? He hath reconciled us to himself. Turn back to Romans chapter five, verse 10. For if, when we were, what? Enemies. That's not good. We were reconciled to God. And do you hear what's being
said? When we were enemies, we were. reconciled to God by the
death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. Now, the reason for separation,
our sin has been removed by the death of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? The reason
for separation by sin has been removed by the death of Jesus
Christ. Listen to this. Colossians 1,
20 through 23 says, having made peace by the blood of his cross,
by him. to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say, and you that were sometimes enemies,
alienated in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
through death, through the blood of his cross, through death,
to present you holy, and blamable, and unreprovable in his sight. Verse 18, he, all things are
of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and
has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what
gospel preaching is. This is what's going on. The
ministry of reconciliation. Now here's what this means. Verse
19, to wit, namely that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world to himself. Now, God was in Christ because
Christ is God. I love saying that. Jesus is
God. One of my favorite things to
say. It's just powerful. Jesus Christ
is God and God was in Christ. Reconciling the world to himself. How does he do that? By not imputing
their trespasses unto them. If I commit a horrible crime
against your family, or against you, and I'm apprehended and
brought to law, and the judge says, well, I'm not gonna impute
it to you, What do we say about that judge? Get rid of him. He's
a corrupt judge. He's an unjust judge. How in
the world does God not impute iniquities? Because there's none
to impute. That is the heart and soul of
the gospel, what Jesus Christ accomplished. You know, Luke
9, 31, they speak of the deceased, which he would accomplish. Oh,
the accomplishments of his death. When I die, all it says is I'm
a sinner and I'm a failure. There are no accomplishments
in it. Oh, but when he died, what glorious accomplishments. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And the only reason God doesn't
impute sin to me is because there's nothing there to impute. Gone. That is the ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. I love the way he uses the word
world. Does that mean everybody? Well, as long as there's a hell,
obviously it doesn't mean everybody. He's not reconciling people in
hell, but this world that hated him so, this world that didn't
know him, God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Christ is called the Savior of
the world. I love that title of our Lord,
don't you? The Savior of the world. And
he was in Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
he had committed to us this word of reconciliation. Verse 20 now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. That is, we include every believer
when it comes right down to it. We are ambassadors. We're bringing the message of
the gospel. We are ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you by us. Now, I don't even know
what to say about that. God beseeching the sinner? Yes, he does. As though God did beseech you
by us. Be ye. reconciled to God. Could me and you be holding an
unconscious grudge against God because we think not everything's
well? You know, I don't know how many
times people have tried to, maybe they were in
trouble and they were talking to me about something terrible
done in their life and I found whenever that happens, they don't
like me more after that, once I know, because they know I know
it. And it creates problems. If you know something bad about
me, I'm always thinking when I see you, they know. They know. And I don't like it. Could it be that you and I are
thinking God has something against me? It's not all right. There's something wrong. No, there's not. He put away all sin. We don't sing, Jesus paid a half
the other half I owe. Jesus paid it all, all the dead
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. And you'd be reconciled to God. Don't hold a grudge against God. If we think somebody, if we think
somebody's got something against us, we got something against
them, don't we? That's awful that we're that way. Lynn tells
me quite frequently, you're a grudge holder. I am so evil. Be ye reconciled to God. All reasons for separation have
been removed. He is pleased with you. You're holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight. Now you'd be reconciled to God.
Quit holding your grudge. Draw near. Come and welcome. Then we have this amazing statement
in verse 21. Now, then we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. You know, when I read something like
that, I think, I don't know how to explain it, just bow. What else
can you say? God beseeching me? That's what
it says. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead as his ambassador, be ye
reconciled to God, for he hath made him. Notice, too, is in italics. That
means it was put there by translators. And it's not in the original. Read it without the two. For
he hath made him sin. What does that mean? I don't
know. That's so far above me and so
far beyond my understanding and my grasp. I don't know. You know, when somebody tries
to argue over this verse of scripture, I think get your sacrilegious
hands off of that. When he, for he had made him
sin, so much so that he cried, my God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me? He was made to cry, I'm a worm.
not even fit to be called a man. That's why he sweat great drops
of blood in Gethsemane's garden because he knew he was going
to drink the content of that cup and be made sin and be separated
from his father and be cut off and bear the full equivalent
of an eternal hell. For he has made him sin for us. For who? Everybody that believes
the gospel, all of God's elect, everybody for whom he died. You say, well, how can I know
if he died for me? Quit thinking about whether or
not he died for you. Believe on him right now. That's
God's command to you. Not to try to figure out if you're
one of the elect. You look to him right now. He commands you
to. You look to him, he died for
you. He put away your sin. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin. He was getting ready to know
it in its shame and its filthiness. Now that doesn't mean he started
committing sins or became a sinful person when he was on the cross.
No, he's always holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. But this is worse than what I was speaking. He was made
sin. What is sin? Look at the cross and there you'll
see. That's what sin is. That we might be made what? the righteousness of God. Not a righteousness that is just
like God's. Not a righteousness that is equal
to God's. The very righteousness of God. Just as truly whatever it means
when he was made sin, whatever that means, That's what it means
when it says we are the righteousness of God in Him. Believe the unbelievable. The righteousness of God? I'm
the righteousness of God? Believe the unbelievable. You
know, if it was believable, it wouldn't even be true, as far
as the gospel goes. I mean, this is beyond, beyond,
beyond. This is other. Believe the unbelievable. Every
believer is nothing less than the very righteousness of God. Now, if that's the case, then
it is. You be reconciled to God. All reasons for disfavor have
been removed. you be reconciled to God. Wonderful morning. What a wonderful
morning. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about
that name. Master, Savior, Jesus. like the fragrance after the
rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all
heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms will all pass
away, but there's something about that name. Thank you, brethren. Thank you
very much. Well, our ladies, we've got to
have a meal here. And when they open that door
and holler at you, time to eat. And until then, do whatever you
want to do. They just opened the door. Well,
I tell you what, this is what we're going to do. We're going
to let the old folks go first. Well, that just about takes care
of most of it. Well, whoever wants to get in
line, go ahead.