So excited to see everyone here this morning. And I'm just excited that we get to worship today and we get to worship together. Hey, David, guess what? I got your cheat sheet right here that you usually follow. Sorry.

I got extra coffee, though. I'll get it to you next service. Hey, what are you doing Monday morning about 6 o'? Clock? Some of you might be sleeping, but can I challenge you?

As we're pressing into this year of focusing on reaching, praying, preparing and participating that we started the year off with a week of prayer. And we're going to keep doing that every first Monday for the rest of the year, and that is tomorrow morning at six o'. Clock. Now, I know you're like, wait a minute, I got to be at work at a certain time. You know what?

That's okay if you can come from 6 to 6:30. Come on. But we promise you that we'll have you out of the door by 7 o' clock so you can get kids to school, get to the Waffle House, wherever it is you got to be. We'll get you out the door. And this morning, right down here at my right, your left, are some prayer cards.

And let me explain these. We have a stack that we started accumulating back in December. And when you come in tomorrow, those prayer cards will be all over the stage and the front pews. They are ongoing prayer requests that you have submitted for people to pray over. Maybe something's come up in the last month if you would take and fill one of these out and just drop it at my seat.

I got a little basket over here where you. We will add these to the prayer cards starting tomorrow and it's dated. So then we know, like what we really want to hear is that when you submit a prayer request to come back and say, this is how God has answered my prayer. Do you believe God answers prayer? Now?

He may not always answer the way you want him to, and he may not always do it exactly like you expect, but I can guarantee you God will answer prayer. Do you believe? And so today I want to invite you to turn to Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, and I'm going to read 20 and 21 in just a moment. But this message today is a message of talking points. You've often heard that in the media that they have been given talking points.

I'm giving you some talking points. The whole intention was for me to give you some points on your study guide that are very easy to regurgitate, that when you're in that moment and somebody asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have in Christ. You've got some talking points and that's what we're going to do. Last week, remember, we talked about the problem we dug into like why? What is it that is wrong?

What's the worst problem in my life? And we talked about sin and how sin is our greatest problem. And it's a problem because sin leads to what? Say it again. Don't be afraid to say the word death.

That's what it. That is the curse that came about because Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. And because we are in the flesh, we are all sinners. We're not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. And what we live in is a world that's full of uncertainty.

In fact, six years ago this month we were introduced to a word called Covid. And it really brought about something actually spectacular because it made us realize the things that we put our focus in and our hope in is temporary. What God is inviting you and us today is to wrestle with this question about the uncertainty of life. Because if the wages of sin is death, that's a very uncertain place to be. No one in this room knows.

Most of you don't know how you're going to die. You don't know when you're going to die. And if Jesus delays his coming, you don't know when that time is going to come. I remember six years ago sitting in the finance office at the Honda Place signing papers for the new to US CRV as the finance manager was on the phone with his wife and she was asking him to go by Home Depot to get more masks. We've come a long way in six years.

But toward the tail end of 2020, there was a psychiatrist at the University of California in San Francisco that made some very cool observations, said this uncertainty is not knowing what's going to happen. And when you combine that uncertainty with unknown threat, you get anxiety. Anxiety is an emotional response to a perceived threat that's not actually there in front of you. Now here's where I'll disagree. There is a threat in front of you and that threat is death.

And why do we have death? Because of sin. Our greatest problem. I want you to imagine with me that you are a mother or father. I know some of you in this room haven't had that blessing and that may not be yet, but I just want you to think about a mother.

In fact, I want you to think about a mother with a five year old and a one year old and is pregnant with the next child. You know how hard it is to be pregnant with a one year old. I mean, we had three to four year gaps between our kids. But I do have a friend who got pregnant pretty close to the birth of one of her children and wow, I think she pulled all of her hair out. It was insane.

But I want you to rewind the tape. About 50 years, about 50 years ago, when the nation was engulfed in a war, well, that there was political assassination, drug trafficking and war kind of monopolized the headlines as we saw social upheaval, threats of war, betrayal, national and personal trust being broken. That was just 50 years ago. It almost sounds like today, does it not? I mean, like what is buying up the airtime right now?

The threat of war, political threats, social upheaval, drug and human trafficking, all of those things. It would be enough to drive one mad. And as a young mother, 50 years ago, this lady confessed, what in the world am I thinking? I have two young children I've brought into this world and I've got one more on the way. She said the drug culture at this time 50 years ago was in full swing and thought had, existential thought had just saturated all aspects of American thinking.

Cities were seething with racial tension and the God is dead pronouncement she said had giggled its way through our educational system. It's amazing, guys, that 50 something years later, we're still in the same stuff that happened 50 years ago. And that mother was worried about the future her children. There was uncertainty.

Are you uncertain today about your future? Are you uncertain about the things going on in your life? Does the stress and the tensions that wrap in your life right now cause you to take your eyes off what is coming, promised in the future and focus on the situation that you are in now? You see, we've been talking about the gospel, the good news and why it's good news. Two weeks ago, we were reminded that the good news is good news because God loves us and he proved that by sending his son.

Last week, when we looked at the root problem, that we are sinners, the good news was that the good news is that Jesus bore the wrath of God on himself that you and I deserve. That's good news because I don't know that I want to bear the wrath of God. Do you? Because at the same time that God is fully loved, God is fully righteous. And because of his righteous standard, you and I are judged guilty.

We talked about that. We are in debt to sin. There's got to be a solution that doesn't hinge itself on this world, the world systems that does not hinge on man. And that my security, my certainty is, is not wrapped up in whatever the media is putting in front of me. Do you want a solution that's out of this world?

Let me stand with me in honor of God's word. I want to read these two verses to you and then I want to back up and put it in a little bit of context. Verse 20 says, Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. That means to be brought back in unity with he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Father, speak through your word today as we worship. Would you be with us? And God, if anyone in this room today or joining us online does not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Lord save them today in Jesus name. Amen. So I want to ask you to back up with me for just a moment to verse 14.

Paul is talking to the Corinthian Church and he makes a couple of statements. In fact, if you look at verse 11, he's talking about the Gospel. He says, knowing that the fear of the Lord we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God. And I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. See, Paul is having to argue for his ministry.

He's having to argue about his calling. The Corinthians have decided to reject him in some senses, and he's reestablishing that. It wasn't the Corinthians that give him his ministry, it's God. And he does so in verse 11 out of the fear of God. But then look at verse 14.

He says, for the love of Christ controls us. For the love of Christ controls us. Whose love is it? Is it love for Christ or is it Christ's love for us? I would lean toward the latter.

How would I defend that, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. We can't put our confidence in ourselves. We can't put confidence in what we do. But he says that the love of Christ for us controls us. It lives and exists.

It's that this is a transition in my life, that when I've given my life to Christ and I've accepted the good news of Jesus Christ, there is a new controlling factor inside of me. And says, and he died for everyone. His death was sufficient for all the deaths of all time. Of all humans. That takes someone more than an ordinary human to do that.

That takes more than a pastor, priest, or anyone else. It takes the very Son of God. If Jesus had not been the Son of God, he never could have bore the sins of mankind on the cross. He's more than a prophet. He's more than a teacher.

He's the son of the living God. C.K. barrett wrote as he proposes this idea of evangelistic living, in other words, living, bearing out and sharing the gospel. Said if we merge verse 11, the fear of the Lord, with verse 14, the love of Christ controlling us, then we have the two necessary motives for apostolic evangelism. That the fear of God and the love of God.

One relates to Jesus role as judge over our lives, and the other his role as our Savior. And so he plows forward to verse number 18. And in verses 18 to 20, the word reconciled or reconciliation appears six times when a word is repeated. It's important, he says now, all these things are from God. What things?

That our lives are different because of the love of Christ. In our lives, we are a new creation. The old is gone and new has come. Your life has changed. God has applied his solution to.

To your life. That life of sin that I'm supposed to repent of is gone. It's behind me. And here's where people get stuck in their salvation. They say they repent of their sin, but they stay focused on their sin.

They think somehow, if I can just try a little bit harder, I won't be as bad a sin. Now that I'm a sinner, now that I'm a Christian. And I'll stay focused on the sin rather than the doorway that now I've got this beautiful gift. See, I think it's like you can summarize it with two gifts. When you get saved, there's two things that he gives you.

One is the Holy Spirit. That, as with the old covenant, men received circumcision as the mark of the old covenant. Now all of us have received the Holy Spirit, which is the mark of the new covenant, the promise that God has made to give us eternal life. But he gives us something else. And it's the solution to the problem in our life.

It's the very thing that allows us to enter into the presence of God, and that is his righteousness. You and I see, we're in sin debt. Like, it's too big. I can't pay it back. But in righteousness, I'm bankrupt.

I don't have the currency. Like, I may go, you know, What? I'm about 20% good in my righteousness. That righteousness, as Isaiah 64 says, is filthy garments because we are sinners. The best work that I could muster up does not measure up to the righteousness of God.

I am bankrupt when it comes to righteousness. I'm in debt when it comes to sin. I need somebody to come and rescue me. I need someone to bridge the gap because I absolutely cannot do it. And so he says, now all these things are from God.

The love, the fear, the new life, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us this ministry of reconciliation. You and I come to the table. Our sin has offended, angered a righteous God. And I have nothing in which to negotiate with. There's nothing in my bank account.

There is no score keeping. I don't even have stats. I can't. I can't bring anything. But he says he reconciled me to Himself.

How? Because of Jesus. Therefore, he says, we are ambassadors. Ambassadors of what? The good news.

That as the representatives of one who has received this reconciliation, this mending of the relationship, having peace with God. Now, I am called to make an appeal to you, to look at you today. Some of you in this room, you've been in Church for 50, 60 years. Some of you joining me online have claimed to know Christ, but you have not known him in the free pardon of sin. You have not repented of your sin.

You have not died to that part of your life and taken on the new. You're still stuck and lost in your sin because you haven't humbled yourself before an Almighty God. Recognize that you are a sinner in need of saving. You cannot save yourself. You can't read the Bible enough to save yourself.

You can't pray enough prayers to save yourself. The only thing you can do is ask God to save you. And he does the work for us. That is the solution. His name is Jesus.

His name is Jesus. And my question to you today is, do you know Him? Do you really know Him? Have you been forgiven of your sins? And have you received His Holy Spirit?

Have you received the righteousness that he freely, freely gives? Because if not, you're lost. You are either dead in your trespasses or living in Christ. You are either forgiven of God of your trespasses or under the wrath of God. There is no gray area, folks.

We like to camp out in the gray, but there is no gray in this. You either is or you is not. So walk with me very quickly through these points and I won't read every verse, but again, these are Talking points that lead us to a major question that you must answer today. Number one, is this the problem we've already discussed. We are dead in our sins.

Just a reminder from Ephesians 2:1. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. How does that look? Well, he says, you walked according to the world, according to the prince of his heir. You were under the slavery of sin, and therefore under the slavery of Satan.

Colossians 2:13, verse 8. The first part of that says, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, folks, you're dead one way or another. You are either dead to sin or you are dead because of sin. What choice do you make as a believing Christian if you are still living your life according to sin, you are still living in death. You either die to sin or you die because of sin.

Which one are you going to die? Number two, the need that we have is we need righteousness. Why? Because we're all righteously bankrupt. Isaiah 64:6.

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. Paul looks at the the Romans and he's talking to the Jewish Christians who think that they're better than the Gentile Christians because they're Jew. And he corrects them and say, what then? Are we better than they? Not at all.

For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin. For it is written there is no one righteous, not even one. In Hebrews 12:14, the writer makes it very clear that we need to pursue peace with men and the sanctification, the purification of God, without which no one will see the Lord. You and I are bankrupt. Regarding righteousness, you have the wrong currency.

You can't pay your way out of it. You have zero. There's no meter. You have none.

But the key is Jesus. See, Jesus is sinless. I didn't use the word was. He is sinless. And that's important.

Back many years ago, over 20 years ago, there was a guy by the name of Dan Brown who wrote a book called the Da Vinci Code. And in that book he proposed that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene. Now it's a fictional book and people are like, ah, it's fiction. There's no danger in that. But some people pick that up because if they can diminish the person of Christ, they can reject his message, the call to repent and believe.

Many Christians, so called Christians will meet today and they will worship a Jesus that does not Exist. We worship the Son of God who is sinless. Look again at 2nd Corinthians 5:21. He made him. That word Made is the same word we get workmanship from.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. You talk about carrying a heavy load. He carried the sin of every man to the cross, and God cannot sin. John 1:5 says, God is light, and in him there is no darkness. First Peter 2:22 says, as he's quoting the the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 9, talking about Jesus, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

He's quoting, if you want to hear that quotation. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was not a rich man in his death because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. Hebrews 4:15. For we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who who has been tempted in all ways, yet without sin. John wrote, and the Word became flesh, and we saw his glory.

Glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. I said it last week. Let me say it again. If God is all love but no justice, it's cheap. If he's all justice and no love, it's unjust.

But because he's both, he's given us a solution to our problem. Because Jesus is sinless, he can take away all of my sin. Do you believe that today? The fourth one? Is this the solution?

He died to forgive sin and was raised to give life. Can I just read Scripture? Can I just read Scripture? Just hear what the word of the Lord says. Romans 6:4.

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life. He died to take our sin away, and he was raised again to give us life. When you look back at Colossians 2:13, it goes on to say that he had made us alive together with him, having cancelled out and forgiven our transgression the certificate of death debt, and along with that death, and he had it nailed to the cross. First Corinthians 15:1 5. If you go and read that, Paul lays it out that Jesus died according to Scripture and was raised again according to Scripture and appeared to the apostles and others to verify he was alive and he's alive today.

He goes on to say that if Christ had not been raised, your faith is worthless. If he's not the Son of God, he couldn't have been raised. And the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives inside of us. If I know him, that same spirit brought Jesus back to life, dwells inside of me. See, that's what frustrates me when I hear stories from some of you about growing up in church.

And they scared hell into you to get you to come down to an altar and make a profession of faith. And you're like, look at there. I got my Monopoly card, I get out of hell free card. But you're still focused on your sin, and you're not focused on his righteousness. See, the result of salvation should be that we receive his righteousness.

Romans 4:22 says, Therefore, talking about Abraham, it was credited to him as righteousness, what he believed, the promise of God. Justification. It's a big word in scripture, but you know what it means. It doesn't mean to give an excuse for an action. It means to be made righteous.

First Corinthians 1:30 says, but by his doing, you are in Christ, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So if you're going to boast, boast in the Lord. Romans 5:18 through 19. So just as through one transgression there resulted condemnation, even so through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life made right unto life. See, here's where you're stuck.

Look at me. This is where you're stuck. You know the danger, you know the uncertainty of life and death. And you focused way too long. Your sin, your sin has been forgiven.

It's as far as the east is from the west and in the deepest part of the ocean. You keep living by it and you keep digging it up. You're focused on this. What if today you decide to turn your attention, you repent metanoia, change your mind and turn your focus instead on the righteousness of God and submit yourself to his goodness and stop focusing on how bad you are. The truth is, we are bad.

But he loves you so much in your badness that he gave you his goodness. Come on, guys, that's good. That's why we have life. It's what would drive Paul to say, more than anything, I count all things a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, whom I have suffered a loss of everything and count them rubbish, that I may be found in him. What, not having righteousness of my own, but that which is only in faith in Christ.

Are you righteous today? It won't be because of your doing. It won't be because of your work. It will be because of his. Because the choice you have before you today is this.

We either die to sin or we die for sin. We either die to sin or we die for sin. Romans 6, 11. Even so, consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Again, I want to challenge you to go back and I want you to berean those verses.

These are talking points for you. The gospel today is good news because of his death and his resurrection. Paul said it best. In First Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 2. He said, I only know one thing.

Christ and him crucified. The only solution to the greatest danger in your life and the uncertainty of life is Jesus Christ, buried and raised again. Can I remind you of something? He's alive. You know that, right?

He's not dead. He's not dead. He's alive and he's ascended to the right hand of the Father and he's making intercession. You in this room today, joining me online. Jesus is praying for your salvation right now.

He is wooing you and opening your heart to understand what he's done for you. And he's beckoning you. He's calling you to turn from your sin and put your faith in him so that your sins can be forgiven and give you the Holy Spirit, give you his righteousness so that you can experience his abundant life. That mother that I told you about brought a young man into this world by the name of Benji.

She thought, what in the world am I thinking? So she sat down with her husband, who had been fighting mononucleosis, had left his job three years before to go into ministry full time. And she's like, what were we thinking? Here we are with three kids, you're sick, you're depressed, like, what do we do? And she sat down with him and she pinned some words to a song.

It says this. How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he brings. But greater still, the calm assurance this child can face uncertain days because he lives. Do you know this, Jesus? Today because he lives, I can face tomorrow because he lives.

All fear is gone because I know he holds what the future and life is worth the living now in the face of uncertainty, because he lives. Do you know this, Jesus? Today when Gloria Gaither sat down and wrote those words, it means different now, doesn't it? You'll never sing that song again. The same way, without thinking of a mother with a five year old six year old and a one year old and birthing a child, scared for the future of her children and had a moment of faith to recognize the only certainty I know that is that Jesus Christ was dead and was raised again and lives today.

And that, my friend, is the solution to whatever problem you have in your life. So I'm going to invite our deacons to come down at the front at this time. What better way can we celebrate that he lives than to come to the table and worship him and celebrate him? Yeah, it's going to take a few minutes. It's okay, right?

It's all good. We've had some great stuff in this service. We get to see a missionary sent back out in a few minutes. We're going to get to celebrate baptism. But because of his broken body and his spilled blood, today you and I have been forgiven of our sins.

We have been cleansed, which means we have received his righteousness. Therefore, I can ascend, as the psalmist wrote in Psalm 24, that I have clean hands and a pure heart. And now I can ascend the hill of God. But as we get ready to to partake today, I want to invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Because I also know that Paul taught us to not take this in an unworthy manner.

So first of all, I want to say this to you. If you're lost, don't take this supper. It's not for you. You can just let it pass you by. But I don't want you to let the invitation pass you by that what this represents, his broken body, bruised and beaten, was for your healing.

And his blood was shed so your sins could be forgiven. This is the gospel on this table. If you're here today and you're a believer, I think you need to 1st John 1:9 right now and say, confess your sins because he's faithful just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from unrighteousness. So that when you take that bread and you drink that juice, you're taking it in a worthy manner because he's made you worthy, not because you've made yourself worthy. Appeal to him today and ask him to wash you.

So, gentlemen, would you mind. Go ahead and distribute the bread. Matthew wrote that while they were at the meal, the last supper that we call the Passover meal, Jesus took some of the bread and after a blessing, he broke it. He gave it to the disciples and he said to take and eat this, because this is my body. This is my body.

He said to do this in remembrance of me. To look upon this bread. As you look upon this bread, look upon a savior who was beaten and whipped and scorned. And he did it to bring healing to us. So, gentlemen, if you would go ahead and serve our people.