SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 today for the message.
SPEAKER_00: And do you know anybody who is not afraid to share what is on their mind?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are, how many of you would say, I am one of those people?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how many of y'all like two hands?
SPEAKER_00: Like that is me, right?
SPEAKER_00: I I understand.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, why am I gonna beat around the bush?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Others of you that you're not like that, you're like, can you just warn me first before you're gonna say that?
SPEAKER_00: We all know this.
SPEAKER_00: We all know there's one group of people that are not afraid to share what's on their mind.
SPEAKER_00: Kids.
SPEAKER_00: So a while ago, one of the uh, how do I say this?
SPEAKER_00: Sweet little angels that come to FCC.
SPEAKER_00: They they came up and and I was talking, I was asking them about school.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, You're getting so tall.
SPEAKER_00: And they looked at me in the most genuine, sweet, innocent way.
SPEAKER_00: They looked over at me and they said, Well, you're short.
SPEAKER_00: So I looked up at them, grabbed them by the collar.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids say like whatever's on their mind.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if God spoke his mind and told you exactly what he thinks about you, what do you think he would say?
SPEAKER_00: Now, now here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have to guess.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're gonna be in a passage of scripture, 2 Corinthians 5, that will tell us exactly what God thinks about us if we have trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And he thinks about us in a word we're gonna unpack.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the word the word is righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say righteous, ready?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I were to ask you, are you righteous?
SPEAKER_00: You might say, Well, if you're grading on a curve, then I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Or you might think, it depends on who I'm standing next to.
SPEAKER_00: Because compared to them, I'm righteous, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe, maybe like, actually, how's your name?
SPEAKER_00: I read the verse of the day multiple times this week on the Bible app, and one day I shared it on my social media, so that counts as double.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show you something today.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna discover this together in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that really is completely paradigm shifting.
SPEAKER_01: And for some of us, we won't even believe.
SPEAKER_01: It's that in the gospel, your righteousness has nothing to do with what you do or don't do.
SPEAKER_01: That in the gospel, your righteousness has nothing to do with what you do or don't do.
SPEAKER_00: We're in week two of the series entitled Revolution, the power that changes everything, and we are talking about how when we understand and embrace the gospel and its implications, it literally changes everything about you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel, very simply, is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see that because of the gospel, we are righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the word righteous that we're gonna see is actually used over 90 times in the New Testament, and it's the word dicaosini, which means the state of being in a right standing.
SPEAKER_00: And in case you're wondering, yes, I said that word exactly right.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, not doing it.
SPEAKER_00: After you say it, Sherry, then I'm gonna say it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's the state of being in a right standing.
SPEAKER_00: So when God sees us, he sees us as righteous.
SPEAKER_00: He sees us as standing as righteous because of what Christ has done.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why today's message is standing, not striving.
SPEAKER_00: The title of the message is Standing, Not Striving, because for some of us in our lives, if we're honest, we are striving to be righteous.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, man, if I could just like like read the Bible more often or like stop cussing or stop losing my temper or stop doing all these things, and I strive and I work hard, then I'll be righteous.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna see in the text that righteousness is something we stand in, not something we strive for.
SPEAKER_00: And this changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: You say, How is this even possible?
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that you asked.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: If you're ready for it, would you say amen?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old has passed away, and see the new has come.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why we can have a righteous standing with God is because we are a new creation in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We have a new identity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how do we have a new identity?
SPEAKER_00: Well, verse 18 says this it says, Everything is from God who has reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: Reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a word we use a ton, but we have reconciled, he has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: What is reconciliation?
SPEAKER_00: Being reconciled, it means we were apart and we came back together.
SPEAKER_00: It means that enemies became family, being reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in Romans chapter 5, it says, For if that while we were enemies apart, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say we're reconciled to God because we come to the 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: service at first Christian church.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't say we're reconciled to God because, well, we downloaded the Bible app and we read it a couple times.
SPEAKER_00: No, we're reconciled to God through the death of his son.
SPEAKER_00: Let's learn more about this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19 of the text, it says, that is in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.
SPEAKER_00: And he has committed to he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, whenever you see the word therefore in scripture, it's always ready for it.
SPEAKER_00: It's always therefore a reason.
SPEAKER_00: So it's saying, in light of these previous verses, now it's about to tell you something in light of that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So in light of the fact that we're a new creation in Christ, in light of the fact that we have been reconciled to God through Christ, therefore now we are ambassadors for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Since God is making his appeal through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: Like come back to God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 21, it says, He, this is God, made the one who did not know sin, that's Jesus, to be sin for us, so that in him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: So we are righteous because we've been reconciled, and because we've been reconciled, we are new creations in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I just lost some of y'all.
SPEAKER_00: But it brings up a question that some of you have wrestled with, and some of you are wrestling with right now, and some of you're gonna wrestle with in the future, and it's very simple.
SPEAKER_00: It's this can I ever be enough for God?
SPEAKER_00: Can I ever be enough for God?
SPEAKER_00: Now some of us think, um, you know, I I can be enough for God once I kind of like get myself together.
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe you look at some of you like they have themselves together, they're good enough for God, but me, I'm a hot mess.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us are like, man, once I start doing enough stuff, then then I can like be enough for God and do enough.
SPEAKER_00: And it makes sense because as a human, our default is works-based righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: So naturally we think we're righteous because of things that we do.
SPEAKER_00: And if we earn and we do certain things, then we get certain things.
SPEAKER_00: So that's your work.
SPEAKER_00: If you work hard and you show up on time and you don't call in sick, you're gonna earn a promotion.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be a good employee in your family.
SPEAKER_00: If you do certain things for your family and you're not selfish, you're selfless, and you do all these things, you do all that, then you're a good family member, and then like things work better in your house and there's more peace.
SPEAKER_00: So in every area of our life, it's based on our works, like what we do.
SPEAKER_00: So it's natural to bring that over into a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the problem: a problem is that if we think our righteousness with God is based on what we do, then we'll never do enough.
SPEAKER_00: And we're always gonna be striving.
SPEAKER_00: And this will always lead us to one of two places: pride or despair.
SPEAKER_00: Pride because of what we've done, or despair because of what we didn't do.
SPEAKER_00: And if we think our righteousness with God is because of what we do, then we're gonna spend all of our time focused on everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00: And thinking, like, man, did I do that right?
SPEAKER_00: Did I say that right?
SPEAKER_00: Could I have done that different?
SPEAKER_00: Instead of focusing on Christ and what Christ has done for you.
SPEAKER_00: And really, what this is, it's like a form of pride because we think our righteousness is based on what we can do.
SPEAKER_00: God, look at what I did for you this week.
SPEAKER_00: I served on a serve team.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: God, look at what I did this week, man.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, I went to the prayer next step spanners.
SPEAKER_00: I was honest and I prayed.
SPEAKER_00: I needed prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But God, I'm I'm growing, God.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you proud of me?
SPEAKER_00: I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_00: But you know the verse that we just said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: It says, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say that in our behavior we become righteous, we become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say in our like being a good dude or being a good mom, that's how I become righteous.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's in him.
SPEAKER_00: He might be like, Okay, so so Nate, so you're telling me that my standing with God is not based on anything that I do.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, no way.
SPEAKER_00: That's just like that one random verse.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I saw a video that there was this random cult leader, and he took this verse out of context, and he said, and then people start doing crazy stuff off of just one verse.
SPEAKER_00: If it's just one verse, I don't know, Pastor Nate, is that what this really means?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it's not just this one verse, it's a theme all throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you two more places.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter number five.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, the word justified means declared righteous.
SPEAKER_00: That's the same word that Sherry was trying to get me to say again, but I'm not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same word.
SPEAKER_00: We have been justified, we've been declared righteous by faith.
SPEAKER_00: So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ in Romans chapter 3, verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: It said God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that we would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does this mean that that God's not aware of our sin?
SPEAKER_00: No, he's aware of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And what this means is that yes, he's aware of our sin, but Jesus already paid the penalty for that sin.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus paid the price for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: It was fully dealt with when he died on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: So Christ's righteousness has to be credited to your account.
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of like this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever gotten pulled over before by a police officer?
SPEAKER_00: Any honest people in the room you got pulled over before?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you, how many of you would say, I've gotten pulled over more than one time?
SPEAKER_00: Keep your hands up if it's more than two.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your hands up if it's more than three.
SPEAKER_00: If it's more than that, you're just embarrassing yourself publicly right now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh man.
SPEAKER_00: How many got Steve?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're not, no, I'm not shitting out today.
SPEAKER_00: He started putting up two hands and let's say you get pulled over because um let's say you're speeding.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, not that any of you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever speed.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, no, you know, we don't do that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you're speeding and you saw the blue lights behind you, and you're like, oh my gosh, can you get come on?
SPEAKER_00: There's like bigger things to like do out there, Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Police Officer, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, you gotta pull me over.
SPEAKER_00: I know you gotta make your monthly quota, but you get pulled over because you're speeding and he's gotta hit his quota.
SPEAKER_00: He's had a bad morning, he didn't get his donuts, so he uh gives you a ticket.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: We love police officers.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: You broke the law, you owe the fine, and if you don't pay it, then there's consequences.
SPEAKER_00: But let's say, because I'm such a nice guy, I come along and I say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know that you were a knucklehead, but I'm gonna pay your ticket.
SPEAKER_00: He would say, Pastor Nate, you're my new best friend.
SPEAKER_00: Which I also want to remind us real quick, this is a very hypothetical story.
SPEAKER_00: Very hypothetical.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say I paid your fine, and now you don't have to pay it.
SPEAKER_00: Now the the penalty still had to be paid, but the difference is you didn't have to pay for it because I paid the penalty for it.
SPEAKER_00: There is a penalty for our sin, and Jesus paid the penalty.
SPEAKER_00: So all of our sins were placed on him, and all of his righteousness was placed on us.
SPEAKER_00: It's something called the great exchange.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what this means: your standing with God doesn't fluctuate week by week.
SPEAKER_00: Your worst day doesn't unrighteous you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you've trusted Christ, your righteousness is not a goal you strive for, it's a gift you stand in.
SPEAKER_00: This is where you stand.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, guys, here's why this matters so much.
SPEAKER_00: Because Satan in Revelation chapter number 12 is called the accuser of the brethren.
SPEAKER_00: He's called the accuser of the brethren.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what Satan's constantly doing.
SPEAKER_00: He's constantly bringing things up in your mind.
SPEAKER_02: When you stay awake at night, and you're like, man, I can't believe I did that again.
SPEAKER_00: When you're alone in your thoughts, and you're like, I'm such a failure.
SPEAKER_01: When you promise God, I will do this again.
SPEAKER_01: And you do it again.
SPEAKER_00: What the enemy does is he hurls accusation after accusation after accusation.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what you did.
SPEAKER_00: You are nothing but a failure.
SPEAKER_00: You are you did this thing again, you don't belong.
SPEAKER_00: What is your problem?
SPEAKER_00: But friend, if you've trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, when God sees you, he doesn't see you by everything that you do or you don't do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's interesting that when Satan tempted Jesus in Luke 4, this is what he tried to do.
SPEAKER_00: He tried to redirect the attention of Jesus from his standing with the Father onto everything that Jesus needed to do.
SPEAKER_00: Satan said, Well, if you're the son of God, then do this over here.
SPEAKER_00: If you're the son of God, then do this, turn the stones into bread.
SPEAKER_00: Basing his righteousness on everything that Jesus needed to do.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I believe: I believe Satan's primary strategy is to make you question what God has already declared about you.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy attacks your identity.
SPEAKER_00: He whispers, you did this, you failed.
SPEAKER_00: You're nothing but a, you'll always be a.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, for some of us, we are constantly looking at everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just say at a foundational level, that's a form of pride?
SPEAKER_00: Because you are making yourself the focus.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have a failure from your past, and it's always you're always reliving it and rehearsing it, and you think that you're being humble because you're like, Whoa is me.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just lovingly challenge that and say if your eyes are always on your sin and your failure and your performance, that's actually self-centered, and that's pride?
SPEAKER_00: Because price, pride stares at what you've done, humility looks at what Christ has done.
SPEAKER_00: And and some of us are on the other side where we're like, we're we look at ourselves like, I have myself together, Nate.
SPEAKER_00: Like all these other people here, they got issues.
SPEAKER_00: But me, like, bro, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm competent, I got a good job, I got lots of zeros on my bank account.
SPEAKER_00: I live in a nice place, I drive a nice car, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just say that if that's where you are, maybe when you're on top, you feel secure, but when you're not on top, you struggle and you're all up in your head because your identity rises and falls on your performance and everything that you can do, and that's pride too.
SPEAKER_00: And self-condemnation and self-congratulation are both forms of self-obsession.
SPEAKER_00: Can we get that up on the screen?
SPEAKER_00: They're both forms of self-obsession.
SPEAKER_00: And when it's about you, it is pride.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the gospel says your worst day doesn't make you less righteous, your best day doesn't make you more righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Your righteousness is a gift you stand in.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something that you strive for.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we have to do, folks.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all, we have to be people that will preach the gospel to ourselves and will say, say, my righteousness doesn't come from what I do or don't do, it comes from what God has declared over me in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings up our second question, and we're done.
SPEAKER_00: Is how does someone become righteous before God?
SPEAKER_00: In verse 19, it says, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.
SPEAKER_00: It says, in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So the bridge that reconciles us to God is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The bridge is not your church background.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Pastor Nate, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: I went to like four different denominations.
SPEAKER_00: I I gotta be in.
SPEAKER_00: I will I went to the Methodist church, I went to the Lutheran church, I went to the Episcopalian church, and I went to the Baptist church, Pastor Nate, because I heard you went to a Baptist church back in the day.
SPEAKER_00: So I got my basis covered, so I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, friend.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in scripture does it say that your church is the bridge that brings you back to God.
SPEAKER_00: First Christian church can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: It's only Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's this in Christ, God was reconciling the world with himself.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, Pastor, now you understand.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like the world's greatest Catholic.
SPEAKER_00: I did all the different things.
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, but the Catholic Church can't bring you to God, it's only Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There is no church that does.
SPEAKER_00: This and in every verse you're gonna read in scripture, we are reconciled to God by Christ, by me understanding that because of my sin there's a gap between me and God, but Jesus took the penalty and he makes up the gap.
SPEAKER_00: And in this text, look at what Paul says to those of us that have not yet been reconciled to God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 20, it says, We're ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it says, We plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: We plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, if you've never trusted Christ as your Lord and as your savior, if you're holding on to your quote unquote righteousness, if you're holding on to your church membership, if you're holding on to the fact that you do good things and you say, God, I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_00: I should get in the kingdom, I should get in heaven because of what I do.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: I plead with you, be reconciled to God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because one day you will stand before God as either righteous because of Christ and because you've been reconciled or as condemned because you have not been.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to the person in the room that maybe you're like, okay, this whole God stuff is for other people.
SPEAKER_00: Like this whole, like I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, you might be good right now, but one day you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you will not be good.
SPEAKER_00: You may have it all this side of heaven, but one day, one day on the other side of heaven, you will remember.
SPEAKER_00: You will remember I had opportunity to turn to Christ by faith, but I rejected time after time after time again.
SPEAKER_00: My apathy said, I'm good, I don't need him.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, friend, I plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: Be reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, if you've never trusted Christ as your savior, can I just say be reconciled?
SPEAKER_00: He loves you, he's for you.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of us that have been reconciled, this is what this verse says it says that therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to be ambassadors telling other people about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And for a lot of us, when it comes to making Jesus known, we are less like ambassadors and more like undercover spies.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to challenge those of you that know Christ, your faith is in Christ, you've been reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you to be an ambassador and to do it in a very specific way.
SPEAKER_00: In six weeks from now, we have a big Sunday, and that Sunday is called Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: If you're anything like me, I never know what Sunday Easter is because it like changes every year.
SPEAKER_00: And I also want to know who's the person that gets to decide what Sunday is Easter Sunday, right?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody asks me when I want it, right?
SPEAKER_00: We have Easter Sunday, and here's what I want to challenge every person to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge every person to grab some invite cards and invite five people to Easter Sunday over the next six weeks.
SPEAKER_00: That's like less than one person a week.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why Easter is only a big Sunday if people are reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to fill up a room.
SPEAKER_00: We want people to know the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if we'll be ambassadors for Christ, if we'll let people know, here's what we believe, God's gonna bring a great harvest of people entering a relationship with God through Christ on that day.
SPEAKER_00: I have two questions, and then we're done, and then we're gonna have a baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Here's my first question: Have you been reconciled to God through Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Has there been a time in your life where you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation?
SPEAKER_00: I know they're walking up here and it can be distracting, but if this is you, hang with me, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Focus in.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He died for you.
SPEAKER_00: And if your next step is put your faith and trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior, we're gonna have people at the next steps and prayer banners after the service.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be down here at the front.
SPEAKER_00: We would love to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: Second of all, here's my other question Is will you be an ambassador if you know Christ and invite five people to Easter services April the 5th?
SPEAKER_00: Will you say, hey, I've been reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_00: I my faith is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Nay, I've been kind of like an undercover spy.
SPEAKER_00: So over the next six weeks, here's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gonna be undercover anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say, who can I invite to Easter Sunday?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna I'ma think about my friends, my family, my neighbors, social media followers.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm I'm gonna be an ambassador.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing if you will be an ambassador, God is going to use you to help others to be reconciled to God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Today, we don't need to strive for righteousness, we need to stand in it.
SPEAKER_00: And when we stand in our righteousness, it's gonna cause us to be an ambassador and let other people know that they can be righteous before God too.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a word of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Let's bow our hands.