That All May Know | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from AXT church. We hope this message

will light up your team. How many of y'all know the team for this

year in ext church? That all may know? Okay, that all may

know. So what I'm endeavoring to do right now is, uh, look

for scriptures that really talks about it's basically talking about evangelism, or that all

may know is a call to evangelism. Okay, So you have my slides,

and there are many scriptures that mixed reference to evangelism in the Bible.

And you know, I think that's enough for me to prepare a whole year's

worth of message. So what I'm what I'm doing is I'm going uh step

by step uh, and then I'm looking for those scriptures by the same time

I want to I want to do a Bible study from not just one or

two verses, but for us to understand. I think it's important that we

understand contexts when you read the scriptures. You've got to read it, not

just pluck it out versus a few verses and then you know, dwell on

it. But I think it's good to understand and see a bigger picture.

And so today I'm going to be emphasizing from Matthew chapter nine and ten,

and also Second Corinthians chapters five and six. Okay, it's a lot of

scriptures. I'm not going to be reading every single one of them. Don't

worry, But I encourage you when you go back after hearing what I have

to say, don't think what I have to say as the gospel truth until

you read it for yourself as well and have that understanding. But I want

you to know that that all may know. Basically, evangelism, it does

start in the Gospel. It does start in the good News, and it

starts with Jesus himself. And Jesus actually does tell us why we need to

do it, and he also shows us the way of doing it. That

is from my understanding of the scriptures, and I'm going to go into it

today. We're going to delve a little bit more into some details. But

okay, why the first question is why? Why must we preach the good

News? And how do we do it effectively? That's the question. Because

I remember, just about a couple of weeks ago, we were at the

campus conference or the camp. Okay, it's a conference with all the campus

students and again that all may know is the team. And many, many

people understand, they understand evangelism, and so we ask them, okay,

what is evangelism. They're like, oh, go out and share the word,

share Jesus with my friends and different ones and strangers preach the word,

but they don't quite know how to do it. And then they realize,

what does share Jesus really mean? What am I sharing? What is the

content of the message in which I sharing? Again, real and honest questions

that our campus students were asking because we task them, and we told them,

look, we want to equip you and we want to send you out

no longer. Can you look at your university is just mainly as a mission

field. It is a mission field. Everywhere we go. There's a lot

of mission fields. But we realize in the church what we do have is

a mission's force. We actually have people who are believers, and believers are

the ones that will go out and share what they believe ultimately, and so

we painstakingly ran through many scriptures, through the different sessions to tell them and

teach them what is it that they are supposed to share? Okay, so

I think I'm going to be touching on some of these things here today.

Why and of course how very important these two questions? So why must we

preach the good news? And how do we do it effectively? Okay?

Have that as the underlying question, then it's easier as I share. It

won't go past all of your Okay, Matthew Chapter nine, Mathew chapter nine,

the first two verses that you read, Matthew. In Matthew chapter nine,

we actually read about a paralyzed man who was brought to Jesus. Because

in verses one and two he reads as such, Jesus climbed into a boat

and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to

him a paralyzed man on a man seeing their faith, Jesus say to the

paralyzed man, be encouraged, my child. Your sins are forgiven. Okay,

Now why did Jesus deal with the sins of the paralytic rather than only

his sickness? Ever? Ask yourself that question. Is quite a strange thing,

right, Someone brings someone who is sick, and then you have please

say your sins are forgiveness. Quite a statement to make. I mean,

I believe in this man's case, his suffering and his sin were there was

a correlation. It was directly related, and that's why Jesus dealt with it

that way. You don't always see Jesus dealing with matters in this manner straight

away, for giving sins immediately. But I believe for this man's case there

was a direct correlation. But on top of that, what I noticed about

Jesus from this passive, this uh scripture passage, is this Jesus could always

diagnose perfectly. He is probably one of the best doctors around. He diagnoses

perfectly. UH. And he was a doctor to people, and he saw

straight into this man's disease actually, and he dealt with the cause. He

didn't deal with the symptoms. He dealt directly with the cause, and he

dealt with it straight away. And he said to this man's son, your

sins are forgiven. It's an amazing, amazing statement to make. And then

to prove that he had dealt with the problem, Jesus actually released him from

the consequences by actually telling him, now get up, take your bait,

go home. And he did exactly that. Okay, you see the key

factor here for us to take note off is that you know, it's third

opposition. It did stir some opposition because some of them were in a bit

of an uproar. It's not the fact that he healed a paralyzed man that

they were like up in arms, Ah, why did he Why did he

heal a paralyzed man? No, it was the fact that he dealt with

sins. You see. In other words, if Jesus had only stayed on

dealing with physical ailments and melodies and sickness, I think it would have been

perfectly all right. People would have been happy with him. Of course we

wouldn't have the Cross, but things would have been fine. And you know,

he could have just remained on this earth as a physician. He could

continue healing people. And I think there would have been a wonderful mission in

Jesus's life if he did that. He could go on healing people and it

wasn't it is a noble thing. I mean, we all know doctors have

a noble profession. But Jesus, we know, came not just to save

people from sickness, but to save them from sin. And that is something

that we need to grasp because he was essentially claiming a divine prerogative, prerogative

a divine right to forgive, since it's not something that anyone can do.

It's divine. That means it has to be only God who can forgive.

Since and then it's why people hated Jesus. They actually hated him. And

then we carry on reading, go on reading, and you realize as you

read on in chapter nine, you arrive at verse nine, and here we

read about Jesus hanging out with text collectors. Okay, so best all these

things, I will, I will bring it into some understanding. Chapter Verse

nine of chapter nine says, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a

man named Matthew sitting at his text collector's booth. Follow me and be my

disciple, Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

So imagine what it was like to be someone like meth you uh. He

he's actually a social outcast. Another name for Matthew is actually Levi okay Levi

Matthew he was a text collector. Basically, he's like an accountant, okay

uh. And I don't think anyone of us like the text collectors. In

Malaysia, they are known as people from LHDN. Lambaga has damnagrie or nagara

or something like that, right if you agree. Yeah, So they're the

text collectors. So whenever now it's time, you're better sami or text.

If you haven't sami or text is Yeah. By the end of this miner

and of this man, submit text. As much as you hate the text

collectors. Ok By Jesus straightened out a man like that, and the minute

he did that, he became unpopular. You know what he did, He

called this man who from collecting texes became a man who actually started collecting stories

about Jesus. Because it is because of Matthew that we have this gospel today.

He is actually the author of this gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.

And who was Mathew metthew was a text collector, a Jewish text collector.

But we have the Gospel of Matthew because Jesus straightened this man's life out.

Apart from the text collectors, there was also another group of people you actually

see Jesus hanging out with and you carry on reading, and they were also

another group of social outcasts, and somehow the scriptures just referred to them as

sinners. The sinners. Okay, he hung out with sinners, because in

verse eleven there was this statement where the disciples were asking, are not disciples?

I think the Pharisees asking this question verse eleven. But when the Pharisees

saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with such

scum? Nltier and lt use quite strong words. Soon. I know you

know you talk about seners. You'll be like, but all of us are

sinners, right, you know? Yes? But the word sinner in this

UH scripture, in this context is used to mean people who are excommunicated from

their local synagogue. Okay, not not sinners in general. It's those who

Jewish people who go to the synagogue and then they realize very hard to keep

the ten Commandments uh, and and they're like, we don't think we can

keep the ten commandments. So they're broken the laws of God. And because

they've broken the laws of God, Uh, their community has told told them

that you can have no part uh in this community. So they were actually

outcasted uh sinners. So there are two groups of people who had difficulty mixing

in the ordinary society. So there are a bunch of marginalized people, Okay,

sideline, and then what happens is mett. You threw a party for

them, you read on, That's what happened. He threw a party,

He invited them or to come, and Jesus was right in the middle of

this party. Okay, Jesus always the life of the party, right in

the middle of it. And just from these few passages, you will take

note that Jesus is bordered about sin. You will take note of that one.

You can run away from this fact because if only he had stuck to

healing, he would have been all right and we will never have the cross.

But he was borthered about sin. And not only that, the other

problem was that he would be borthered about sinners. Okay, So Jesus came

to deal with sinners, and he came to deal with sin. That is

something that we must accept because if not, he means nothing to any one

of us. And that is why we have the responsibility of telling everyone the

good news of Jesus. What do you think the good news of Jesus is?

The good news of Jesus is telling people that this is a god who

is bordered with sin, and he's bordered with sinner. And so when we

say all may know all must know about sin, and all must acknowledge that

we are sinners before the Lord. And then it's one of the reasons why

it's so hard to witness and share the gospel. Right, But let's read

on that. Let's read on because when we arrive at the end of chapter

nine, you will discover the biggest problem that the early believers were facing,

and it's still the same problem till today. Verse thirty five, it's entitled

the need for workers. Sounds so miliar. Verse the device says, Jesus

traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogue

and announcing the good news about the kingdom. And he healed every kind of

disease and illness. When he so all the crowds, he had compassion on

them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He

said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few.

So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, asked

him to send more workers into his field. See until today, since back

then there was always very few people who were willing to go out and witness.

But how are we going to see that all may know come to pass

unless we, using our feed, start to go out and do it.

And so the next chapter you have Jesus in chapter ten, showing us how

all may know. And the answer is this by simply sending the disciples out.

Basically, go is the instruction that was given. And go is the

same instruction that's given in Matthew chapter twenty eight, where we get the great

commission, go therefore and make disciples. It's the same instruction verse five of

Matthew ten. Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with this instructions. Don't go

to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel,

God's lost ship. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is

near. Heal the sick, raise the day, cure those with leprosy,

and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received. Okay,

you see this was a real turning point in Jesus' ministry where his disciples became

apostles. Okay, it's a big difference. That's a difference between the two

words. What's what does an apostle mean? A disciple is a follower of

Christ, An apostle, and you want to give it a shot, sorry,

try and evangelists. Okay, but it's actually two different officers. If

you read Ephesians an apostle. Another word for apostle is the scent one scent,

okay ah. So basically, those who have been called to be with

him, those who have been called to study him, now they are actually

called to deputize him. It's a big difference there. When you are disciples,

you are following. You're called to follow Jesus. You're looking up at

him, observing what he's doing, learning from him, studying all that he's

doing. Now Jesus is saying, now you deputize for me, means now

is your tan you go. And so they were actually sent out to do

what Jesus had already been doing. That was the transition that took place.

And then was a real turning point in Jesus' ministry because he told them that

they were to preach and to heal as they had seen him do it,

but without him being physically present. And that was a big change. And

he gave them certain commands no which they were to follow. He told them,

no, you are to take nothing for yourselves, No, money,

no spare cloths, no brain. I'm not sure why they were sent out

with nothing. Possibly it's for them to learn how to depend on the people

that they went to for food, for change of clothings, for money.

But I think deeper in that thought is the fact that they are to learn

how to depend on God and trust him. When he sends them out,

he's saying that don't worry. Yes, the people that you reach should be

taking care of you, but more importantly, I'm going to take care of

you. And so with that, I know it was a big test.

But off the disciples when and became apostles, you see actually that transition taking

place. And he says, no, you go and preach that the Kingdom

of Heaven is at hand. Sounds simple enough, but he says, go

ahead. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the day, cast

out the demons. And then he also wants them that persecution will follow.

Yeared, you should not fear people, but fear God. That was the

command given. And that's why in verse twenty eight of chapter ten you actually

read in the scriptures, says don't be afraid of those who want to kill

your body. They cannot touch your soul. Fear only God who can destroy

both body and soul, or soul and body. And so Jesus actually is

teaching them and telling them, Look, you may find yourself in a tight

corner, you may find yourself in the dark because you belong to me.

But if you are there in my name, I want you to not worry.

Please don't be afraid of men, because the Holy Spirit is going to

be there with you, and the Holy Spirit is the one that's going to

be giving you words. It's going to be putting words in your mouth.

And that's why when you carry on reading the scriptures, you read of amazing

examples of different characters from Steven to Paul, from Peter to James to John,

and all of them when they were put on the dog, a lot

of them actually ended up in trial. And when they were put on the

dog and called to be a witness, literally to be a witness, they

all had the right words to say about Jesus. They witness Jesus working in

their lives to others so that others may know who this God is. And

so that is the reminder. Let the fear of the Lord take away the

fear of people, because in every situation, you will find that the Holy

Spirit is there to help you. Amen. Amen, Okay, overview,

let's go deeper, someone deeper. Okay, we look into the epistles,

now, into the letters that Paul wrote to the Choring Church. And I'm

going to be reading verse eleven of chapter five all the way to verse two

of chapter six. It's a lot of scriptures. Bear with me, but

I will explain it so that we get an understanding. Okay, So this

one is simply entitled we are God's ambassadors, and yes we are. If

you ever wondered what does it mean to be God's ambassadors? Well, let's

hope we draw out some truth from today. Verse eleven says this, because

we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.

God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this too.

Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a

reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about

having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we

are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are

in our right minds. It is for your benefit. Either way. Christis

Love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also

believe that we have all died to our own life. He died for everyone,

so that those who received his new life will no longer live for themselves.

Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for

them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.

One time we taught of Christ merely from a human point of view. How

differently we know him now. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has

become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has

begun verse eighteen. And all of this is a gift from God, who

brought us back to himself, true Christ. And God has given us this

task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ reconciling the world

to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them, and he gave us

this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christis ambassadors. God is making

his appeal to us. We speak for Christ when we plead come back to

God. For God made Christ, who never sin, to be the offering

for our sin so that we could be made right. We've got true Christ

chapter six. As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous

gift of God, God's kindness and then ignore it. For God's says,

at just the right time I hurt you on the day of salvation, I

helped you. Indeed, the right time is now. Today is the day

of salvation. Okay, I'm gonna break it down and we're gonna look at

it. Okay. You see, one of the things that people find objectionable

about Christians is that we just cannot keep our religion to ourselves, right,

I mean, you be honest. Uh. Somehow Christians always insist that others

got to come along, uh, and people find that offensive. How many

of you all, I don't know. I mean we are all want pre

believers, Okay, not all of us, no one, No one is

born a Christian. Okay. You know, if you go to a new

office and then you sit down, and then next to you is this quebicle.

You look one time, Oh this one Jesus, Living guy God.

Posters of Jesus cross everywhere, and you're like, oh man, life is

going to be happy because this guy is probably going to be shoving his Jesus

down my throath? Have you ever thought like that before? We all have.

The question is why do Christians do this? Why can we not rest

content with having our own faith to ourselves? Even though I know it's how

us do rest content we're having our own faith to ourselves. But that's not

what we are supposed to do, because we are called to be ambassadors.

And Paul actually gives two reasons, two motives why we don't keep our own

faith to ourselves. He says, the two things are this, the fear

of the Lord and the love of Christ. It's as simple as that.

The fear of the Lord and the love of Christ. That is why we

do it. And these two things must go hand in hand. They go

together. Just to go out and seek to persuade people through the love of

Christ is not enough, and just to do it true the fear of the

Lord is not enough. Hand in hand, they happen together. And so

the one thing that we aim to do in life is to please Christ.

And we are afraid of displeasing him. But sometimes people may ask, no,

well aren't you afraid of displeasing people? Yes, we are It's a

very natural answer. We are. Nobody wants to offend others, Nobody wants

to upset them, nobody wants to disturb them. You know, I don't

stand up on the stage and preach the gospel message just to piece your no.

But do I end up doing that? Yes, sometimes it is offensive.

The gospel message can be offensive, but that is not my motive.

That is not my intention. I don't set out to upset people and disturb

them. But the Scripture is essentially telling us that we are to be more

afraid of Jesus, of displeasing him by not telling them about him. And

this is the motive that overrides all other motives. We would hate to break

the heart of the one who loves us so much. And the only reason

he has left us here in this world after we became believers is because he

has a job for us, which was to tell the whole world about him.

If not the meaning you are safe, you are in heaven. Really

ever wonder why you're still here? I know how you'll be like, Yeah,

I wish I don't have to be here. Save ready, God,

take me home, Take me home, Jesus. I don't live with people

here anymore. No, he couldn't have done it. Yes, he could

have done it, but it's not happening. And that means that we are

here, and that means there is a purpose for us being here, and

that purpose is not abandonment. And I know some people are like, the

Lord abandoned me, left me here, left me for the dogs. No,

there's not abandonment. We know the fear of the Lord must always be

matched with the motive of the love of Christ compelling us. It goes hand

in hand. We know the fear of the Lord, and therefore we persuade,

and it is the love of Christ that then controls us. That's what

the scripture is saying. Read it slowly, read it carefully, and you

will see it. It is both you don't want to break his heart because

he loves us, or he loves you, and his love compels us to

go out and love others. And that is why we do it, even

though we don't do it sometimes or we don't do it enough. But I

pray that we have and we understand this motivation. Because if you go out

and you talk about your religion, most of the time people will say that

you are crazy. Gila you're a man You're a maniac. That's what they

call paul Actually, you're a maniac. And Pauline is telling the Corinthians,

I don't mind if you think I'm mad, but I'm mad for God.

And one point of at one point, even Jesus was taught to be mad.

You'll realize that this is a carpenter thinking that he can save the whole

world way and the claims that he made. Everyone looked at Jesus and told

him, you are mad. How are you going to convert the whole world?

Well, we know he did. The fear of the Lord and the

love of Christ will lead you to do things that some people may say you

are mad, But we do it because the love of Christ and the fear

of the Lord compels us to do them. The love of Christ controls us

because we discovered that love at the Cross. And everybody here, if you're

a believer of Jesus Christ, you discovered his love at the Cross. It

is there that you understand what true love really is. Because if you really

want to know if Jesus loves you, please go to the Cross and say

that he did that for me. If that doesn't do something to you,

then something is fundamentally not right in your belief system, because the love of

Christ compels us because when we look at the cross, we see that not

only was I involve. So whenever I look at the cross, I realize

that I'm involved in the cross definitely because he died for me. But then

I realized also that he died for all, and that means it's not just

me that is involved, it is all that is involved. That's why that

all may know then makes sense because sometimes when you bring this whole death,

all may know, some people be like, let the all settle themselves.

I settle myself, But no, the commandment is all may know because on

the cross, yes I am there, but so are the rest of everyone.

Why did Jesus die on the cross? Why did Jesus die on the

cross? Again, now, let me tell you this. We need to

understand the message as well, because a lot of times when we tell people

or you need to witness, they're like, I don't know what the witness.

And basically you witness how good God has been in your life. There

is a message that we go So why did Jesus die on the cross?

Because our entire faith is placed on the cross. And I believe Jesus died

on the cross to promote a personal revolution in everybody's life, so that the

center of their thinking, the center of their feeling, the center of their

behavior is no longer the capital eye, but it is now shifted to Jesus.

That is, Jesus takes center stage. That's what the cross is about,

because since Jesus died the purpose of every human life on earth is to

live for Him, not self. That is what believers believe. If you

say you're a follower of Christ, that means not my will, by yours

be done, Lord, your will be done. Now let us go a

little further. See we have explained the motive and why Christians just will not

keep their faith to themselves, well because they were more stivated by the love

of God and the fear of God. But now let's look what should the

message be then? And we have reached this. It's crucial. It's important

because we found out that a lot of our campus students where we tell them,

go go and win your campuses for Jesus, and they're like, what

uh. And it's a natural thing. It's a natural thing we are all

learning. But I pray that we understand our faith. And that's what Paul

has painstakenly done here. So he is now giving us the message. You

see, human beings are always judging each other. He's good, he's bad,

she's normal. It s flur a bit strange, you know. He

no, we say all these things. No, But when you have been

to the cross, you don't judge people from a human point of view any

longer. You look at the man and you don't look at his clothes,

you don't look at the size of his bank account, you don't look at

his belongings. Instead, you see some one who Jesus died for. That's

the reality of it, and you see them from Jesus's point of view.

It is a revolution in your outlook when you can look at people that way,

because a lot of times we don't right. But if you are to

go out and share the good news, basically you are doing it because they

need to know that is someone that Jesus died for. You just see sinners

for whom Jesus died for, which is the thing that makes all human beings

equal. And that's the reality of it. We are not equal in dignity.

A lot of times we think we are equal in dignity, But the

truth is we are all equal in depravity. All of us are depraved,

but there is potential for dignity. That is the message. But we go

around thinking that we are all equal because we are all we're all there,

men, we're all there, but we're not. We're not. We're all

deprave. And there were people who look at Jesus when he was on earth

and they judge him from a human point of view. They said he's just

a carpenter. But they were wrong, because a carpenter can't raise the day.

A carpenter can't heal the sake. A carpenter can only make coffins to

put the day in and maybe baits for the sake. So you can look

at Jesus and just judge him as a human being, and I'm sure you

will come to this conclusion that he was a great human being. Actually he

lived may awesome life, but that wouldn't change your life. Right if he

was just a great human being, and I'm sure you have met some great

human beings before, it doesn't change your life. We therefore no longer look

at Jesus or anyone else, just from a human point of view. That's

what the scriptures are saying. Don't look at it from your point of view,

don't look at it from the human point of view. Because he has

died for all and he is the union evel so savior. We see no

one is too far off gone for Jesus to save one. We see no

body disqualified from repenting and believing, even though sometimes know that's how we function.

Or the Chinese who like to say that means cannot save one, that

flir you know, cannot save, cannot save and no matter how much we

share, so you know, until this is not a good testimony. But

I I was a rascal when I was young. Uh, And if I

meet all friends today and they realize that I'm actually a pastor in the church,

they wouldn't believe it. Of course they they They probably be thinking,

how can this satan, no, they call you satan, like how can

this son of the devil be doing what he's doing today? And sometimes we

come to that judgment as well, and that's the reality of it. No,

we like, oh, this person is disqualified. They cannot no matter

how much the person repent and so can be safe. But that is not

the case with Jesus, because nobody is disqualified from repenting and believing. You

can go to anyone at all and you can see Jesus loved you enough to

die for you, and that person is capable of becoming a new man,

a new creature in Christ Jesus. That is what the scriptures are talking about.

And that's why Paul is challenging us. This is the message. Now,

how do you look at people? Now? If any man is in

Christ, he is a new creation. And this is all of God.

Because only God can create. Only God can make something brand new. All

things have passed away and something new comes about. That is the nature of

God. That's why when you read in Genesis, what did God do?

He spoke and he created something out of nothing. And then it's why I

believe God can make somebody out of a nobody. If you think you are

a nobody, and many of us think that way, especially when we are

all depraved, we are nobodies. But I'm telling you God can make you

a new person because only He, being that creative God, can create something

out of nothing. But how does it all start? How does God create

new life in me? How does it all start? Well, it begins

by being reconsult with God. You see the word reconsult here and he's there.

Okay, I'm not making this up. Go and read the scripture slowly.

But the word reconsult simply just means to turn your enemies into your friend,

and that is what God in Jesus was doing. By nature, we

don't like God. We might go to church out of a sense of duty

routine, but not because we love him. We dislike him telling us what

to do. Right. Wow, open the Bible ten com moments. I

got six hundred and thirteen regulations, a lot of things that he's telling us

to do. No, go to do this, do this, do this.

We want to make our own decisions. We want to be ourselves.

We want to be our own God. Sometimes, no, we read his

word and we're like, oh, leve it, take us. All the

commments are very boring. We find it boring or we find it so difficult

to understand, so challenging, and we don't want it. And it's so

difficult to persuade men and women to actually accept the love of God, because

honestly, even we as believers, we were once like that, we were

enemies to God. We didn't like him, We didn't want him to have

anything to do with us. Is God therefore an enemy of men? No,

but God is an enemy of sin. He hates it, and he's

very angry with it. Is as if you spend a lot of time,

a lot of loving care concern, you create something extremely beautiful, and after

you have created it, and that some thoughtless vandal comes and destroys it.

How would you feel someone comes and spoil everything that you have created? How

would you feel? That is what we have done to God's world? And

that's why he hates it. He hates sin. Now, somehow that had

to be dealt with right. The glorious good news I have got for you

is this, God found a way to take away the hatred in his heart

against our sin. He found a way, and that way was the Cross.

And that's why I'm so grateful for the Cross today. That is why

as Christians, people in whom Christ lives in, we now therefore become ambassadors

send to tell others about this offer of peace that God is offering us.

You see, the good news, the message of the Cross is an offer

of peace. You may have forgotten the wrong things you had done, but

God never does, and he doesn't forget until he forgives for us. Sometimes

you're like, we got shut the memory. Everything is forget. But God

doesn't forget our sin until he forgives. And here we are told that God

has found a way of dealing with us in peace. He says, we

can forget all of that. Now I'm offering you peace and I want to

be your friend. This is God finding the solution for our mistakes. It's

amazing, it's crazy. And therefore our role as an ambassador is to present

the message and say we reconcilet to God accept the offered friendship. The barrier

on his side is gone because of the Cross, and he can now overlook

everything wrong you have done. He can now forgive and forget, and you

can accept his love because that is essentially what God is offering to us today.

How can God do such a thing is the question that we will all

ask. And we now come to the heart of the passage in verse twenty

one of chapter five, and we see this statement. Jesus was perfect.

He knew no sin, and we know that was the verdict of everyone who

met him. And if you study his life with a view of finding fault

with him, you'll be quite disappointed. And I've read books about people who

you know, trying to prove that Jesus is actually not a good person,

he's a bad person, that he's not someone that we should be following,

someone that we should be worshiping, because he did wrong things when he lived

here in this world. And I know many, especially lawyers, who study

all the evidence of what the scriptures talk about Jesus, and eventually they cut

all of them will come to this place where they acknowledged that he is actually

someone with no fault. Doesn't mean that I believe in him, but I

can't find fault in him. And that is the verdict of most people.

In fact, there was what point Spilt concluded as well. At Jesus' chrial,

he says that I find no fault in him. So it was the

verdict of a lot of people, most men, but not only men.

It was also the verdict of Satan. Even the devil who tried to slender

Jesus couldn't find anything to pin on him. He tried, tried really hard,

tempted, he did everything, but couldn't pin a single fault on Jesus.

It was also the verdict of Jesus himself, because he was the one

who said, who asked, which of you convicts me of sin? Above

all, it was the verdict of God, the Father on Jesus, because

he is the one that said, this is my son, who I am

well pleased. And for the first time in all history, God looked down

from heaven and he saw a perfect life living here on earth, and that

life lived perfectly right from the beginning all the way to the end. And

that life is Jesus. It's amazing. So Jesus was put to death as

the worst criminal on earth. What was happening? What was happening? Why

did God allow such a perfect life to end like that? Was it an

assassination? No, it wasn't. It wasn't anything like that, because it

was Jesus who chose to go to Jerusalem to die. But why because at

the cross you actually see two things. You see sinlessness and you see sin

in the same person. Does that make sense? Him who knew no sin

was made sin by God. That is what the scripture says. And I

know science when we read it the first time, we're like, when the

world is it talking about? But then you realize This is Jesus, who

did not sin in his life, but yet at the cross, both sin

and sinlessness was upon this man because he took it upon himself, the sins

of this wild and God the Father treated Jesus, his son like a sinner.

Jesus was going to have to face God's rap, he was going to

have to face God's anger, God's condemnation. And I want you to understand

that God the Father was treating Jesus as God's holiness must treat a sinner.

He who knew no sin, he made to be sin. Why because the

third fact is this, that we might become the righteousness of God. See,

we have always been a part of this picture, me, you and

everyone else. It is a totally unfair exchange. But it is as though

Jesus now says to us, I took your sin, Will you have my

righteousness? I took all your badness? Will you have my goodness? I

took all God's anger? Will you have his love? And that is why

everybody in your town or city, everybody in your workplace, everybody in your

schools was involved in the cross, because he died for all. But it

doesn't work automatically, because a person needs to remove the hostility in our own

heart and accept this reconciliation, this piece with God. Get right with God

now is the plea of the scriptures. There is an urgency about this.

I'm almost coming to an end. You see, since Jesus died, you

can get right with God. So now is the day and we are living

in it. We don't need to wait as they had to wait in the

days of the Old Testament, the Old Testament that were promises of Jesus.

He hasn't come, so they had to wait, wait, wait, wait,

and then eventually the promise came and the promise was fulfilled. But no

longer are we living in those times where we are waiting. And that's why

the scripture goes on to say now or today is the day of salvation.

That's what it's men in the scripture. Nobody needs to have any unforgiven sin

on their conscience, not me, not you. But if now it's the

day of salvation, then there will come a day when it will be too

late. That is what the scripture tells us, and it is reminding us.

And that is why I always tell people that we are living in the

day of salvation. We are living in this time where we know Jesus Christ

as our Lord and savior. But there will come a point in our lives

in the future where He will appear again, and that time he will come

as a judge. My prayer and my hope is we meet him as our

savior. And that is why we continue as believers to share this. Now

is the day he is talking about, this day he's speaking to you now,

and therefore, as ambassadors for Christ, I am pleading with you except

the peace offer now while it is still being offered, because that's the only

way that all may know that we as believers go out and share this truth

that Christ has taken it all for us. Basically, he took the bullet.

He took the bullet from mankind. And if we don't find an experience

love from the Cross, I I don't know what else, what else can

actually compel us to love God. And so this is my hope and this

is my prayer, and I pray with the understanding of the scriptures, that

we realize that we all have this mandate in our lives. It's not just

live it to the pastor or live it to doctor Daniel, live it to

Joel or one of the leaders. Don't let them be the ones that go

and tell others who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in their lives.

No, I, if we are doing that, we are essentially saying that

Jesus has not done anything for me. I don't think any of us here

can sit down and say that we are believers and say Jesus has not done

anything for me, because he has done it all for you. That's why

we are seated here, and that's why we are a new creation, a

new creature made right in God's eyes. All we ever want to do is

there is to be in the right relationship with him. But it first comes

with acknowledging that we are sinners, and Jesus came to save us from sin.

And that's why today, when we have that relationship with him, no

longer are we bound by sin. No longer are we bound by the penalty

of sin, which leads to death. No longer are we bound by the

power of sin, which leads to death. No longer are we bound by

the fact that the presence of sin is in our lives, because all of

sin always leads to death. But if we are here and we are saying

that we are a new creature and a new creation in Christ Jesus. It's

because God has taken that sin away from us and given us a new hope

and the future. I pray that all of us here, if we are

believers, that we understand that this is a mandate that is placed upon us.

I know sometimes it's hard, yes it is. It's not easy.

I'm someone who is shy. I'm someone who finds it hard to share or

to tell others. I want to keep it to myself, but don't don't

keep it starting because if you have something good, you will want to share

that something good with the people that you love. I assure you of that,

you will not keep something good for yourself only. Well, okay,

sometimes we do that. Course you're selfish. But you know what I mean.

If you are a father, if you have money and you have wealth,

I mean I want to be able to send my kids to school,

you know, make sure they get a good education. I want to share

it. As believers of Jesus Christ. We have Christ in us. If

that is not worth sharing, I don't know what else is worth sharing in

our lives. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information

on our church, please visit as church org. We are also active on

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week, a hit for you. God bless