[0:00] Now I am very conscious that it's not that long, just a couple of months since we concluded these sections, chapters 1 to 5 of 2 Corinthians in the prayer meetings, looking at that part of that particular letter.
[0:13] So for some of you I know this chapter was looked at comparatively recently, but I'd like us to focus tonight on one particular verse and look at that verse, not so much in isolation, but rather that and its context and focus on the particular message of that verse.
[0:29] That verse is verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's day, be he reconciled to God.
[0:45] Now obviously in the context here, Paul recognizes that those, not only apostles, although that's the original context, but in the wider context, all those who are called to follow Christ, become ambassadors on his behalf.
[1:02] We speak for the master. We speak for the sovereign in that sense when we speak with his authority. It doesn't mean that everything we do for ourselves or as a private individual, that God automatically is speaking through that.
[1:16] But when we act, when we behave, and everything we do, we do hopefully as a Christian, we do representing our sovereign. We are representatives, as it were, in a strange land on behalf of our sovereign.
[1:32] We are ambassadors for Christ. And the message which we as ambassadors are to give is that God is beseeching the world, mankind, through us, his people, and we are beseeching it in Christ's day.
[1:49] Christ is no longer physically in the world, but we are in the world for now. We beseech in God's place that in Christ's day be he reconciled to God.
[2:01] This is our task. This is our purpose, is to bear witness to what the Lord has done. And this is one reason why the Lord continues to have his children, his people, his converts in every generation.
[2:16] Because every generation needs to be evangelized. In every generation, the Lord will have his people. And one of the means that he uses to bring his people in is the witness of others.
[2:27] Therefore, ambassadors for Christ are an essential part of this work. Now, if you think about ambassadors in general, you can imagine that an ambassador can only ever represent his or her government.
[2:43] That is the ground of his or her authority, his powers, and his dignity. See, if, as we say, he speaks or acts as an individual or a private citizen in a personal capacity, then his words have got no authority.
[2:58] They've got no strength. You know, if the ambassador, say, to Washington or to Paris happens to say, well, my golf handicap is such and such. He's not speaking on behalf of the Queen then.
[3:09] If he happens to say, oh, I much prefer custard creams to ginger nuts or whatever, he's not expressing the opinion of the Queen. But if he then comes to the government residences in those countries and say, Her Majesty's government requires me to say this.
[3:26] Then he is speaking on behalf of his sovereign. Then he comes with authority. He can't just say, oh, this is the guy who prefers ginger nuts to custard creams or whatever. This is the guy with a golf handicap or whatever it is.
[3:37] No, this is the person representing that government. If you offer insult or slight or neglect to this ambassador in his or her position, you are slighting or embarrassing or neglecting that government, that sovereign nation.
[3:54] They act as the representative of that sovereign, of that government. They've got no authority, no dignity, no power outside of that purpose.
[4:05] And yet, of course, in a sense, the ambassador for his or her country at all times is always really on duty.
[4:18] They are always representing their nation, their sovereign. They're always on duty. Supposing the ambassador to some country happened to go out on the town one night and perhaps got himself or herself into an inebriated state and was photographed in various poses or guises or doing various things that were of an unsavoury nature.
[4:41] And all this is splashed across the papers. People are not just going to say, oh, well, he was on his own time then. You know, that's okay because it was his day off. Or because, you know, he'd finished office hours.
[4:52] You know, it was after five, so he's acting in a private capacity. No, there's going to be questions asked back home in the home capital and the home nation. What on earth have we done? They're not sending this person to that capital who behaves in this way.
[5:06] And they're not going to say, oh, that's okay. He was off duty then. It's okay. It doesn't really matter. Because at all times and in all places, he or she represents the government back home, represents the sovereign.
[5:19] They are representatives of that sovereign nation. And therefore, whatever they do, in private time or in public duty, they are always that representative.
[5:31] If they behave in a disreputable manner at whatever hour of the day or night it may be, whatever circumstances it may be, they bring dishonour on their sovereign.
[5:43] If they behave well, well, probably nobody will notice. And if they do their duty faithfully, nobody will raise an eye. But if they happen to slip up, everybody will see. And everybody will recognise that this is the representative of that country.
[5:57] Look at how they behave. We are, if we are ambassadors for Christ, we are on duty at all times. We represent him at all times. We are his people at all times.
[6:10] We make fools of ourselves in public. We behave in distraught in all ways. It brings disrepute upon the Lord, upon his cause, upon his kingdom. Even if in a private capacity we say we are doing these things, it will always bring dishonour upon the Lord.
[6:26] We must be his representatives at all times and in all places. That we show forth only ever the good and the nobility and the faithfulness of our sovereign.
[6:40] So an ambassador can only ever be representative of his or her government. They cannot speak in a private capacity with any authority. They can express private opinions.
[6:51] But they can only ever speak with authority when they speak on the behalf of the sovereign. So likewise, if, say, a preacher of the gospel, whether a minister or a lay preacher or whatever, and he gets into the pulpit and he just spouts his own opinions, and people say, well that's very nice, okay, that's fine, but it doesn't actually have any clout.
[7:10] But if he goes by the authority of God's word, then you have to listen. People have to listen. They can say, this is what God says. This is the sovereign speaking through their representative because this is his word.
[7:22] Look, we can check it. We can see what is written. We can see what is said. That is the grounds of the ambassador's authority. It is the authority of his or her sovereign which they show forth to the world.
[7:36] Second thing we need to recognise is that much as we may love to be so, you cannot be an ambassador in your own home country.
[7:46] Now this may be stating the obvious, but, you know, an ambassador, if you happen to be in the civil service, then to be an ambassador, you've got quite a good job to have. But you can't be an ambassador in your own home country.
[7:59] In order to serve in that capacity, you must, by definition, be in a foreign country. If you're going to be in post, if you're going to do that duty, you must do so living, working, representing your sovereign in a country that is not your own.
[8:20] And that is exactly, of course, what we are called upon to do. Just as Hebrews tells us, of course, remember, chapter 11, verse 13, we read, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, embraced them, confessed, that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
[8:41] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And surely if they had been mindful of that country from once they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
[8:52] but now they desire a better country that is unheavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city and in chapter 13 of Hebrews we read in verse 14 for here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come of course we are Scottish or English or Irish or whatever we may happen to be here upon earth but that is not our ultimate identity that is not our primary identity when we become a believer in Christ when we profess what we believe and when we stand up for Christ publicly we are stating he is our first sovereignty he is our first king he is the first claim upon our citizenship here we have no continuing city we may be resident here for a while but we are no longer native to this earth and its soil our citizenship is in heaven our citizenship is elsewhere we are ambassadors for Christ but as ambassadors on duty on public service representing the sovereign we do that like any other ambassador in a country that is foreign to us this foreign world is not our home it is not where we belong it may be one we are very familiar with and an ambassador if he is to do his or her job well they will have an empathy with the country they go to they will perhaps know the language they will be very familiar with its customs and heritage and be immersed in all the things that they need to know about it but they represent a different country altogether and so likewise are we called upon to do you are a representative of your sovereign in a country that is not your own and we speak not for ourselves when we speak in this foreign country where the Lord has placed us we speak for Christ and the message of this king of this sovereign of this heavenly country is a message of good news of reconciliation already accomplished previous verse to which that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself the world which is not at present reconciled to God the world and all the people within it all the men and women boys and girls in it they are not at present reconciled to him they are at enmity with him there is a state if not of warm and certainly of hostility between the world and the Lord that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them hath committed unto them unto us the word of reconciliation this is our purpose to declare it now then we are ambassadors for Christ you see this is this is not our home the opening verses of this chapter we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens that's like the ambassador saying well I know that when my term of duty here is done in whatever country I'm in
[12:07] I'll be recalled I'll go back to London to Edinburgh whatever I'll go back to my own country and then I'll retire I'll do whatever I do there but when my term of duty here is over I will no longer dwell here for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven if so be that we being clothed we shall not be found naked for we that are in this tabernacle would be grown being burdened not for that we may be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality that is death might be swallowed up of life this is the message this is what we are to proclaim life reconciliation because at present the world is not reconciled to God all the men and women in the world are not reconciled to God some are those that are are ambassadors for Christ declaring the truth of that reconciliation that's not what we're saying is not you know we ambassadors for Christ as though God did deceit you by us we pray in Christ be reconciled to God that doesn't mean you know you do the reconciling you get yourself reconciled to God but rather
[13:18] God is already propitious looking favourably upon being favourable towards fallen mankind why? because of what Christ has done it is the death of Christ upon the cross which has made God caused God to look favourably upon fallen man and to invite mankind if we can say him in the genetic sense to respond to that offer to receive that forgiveness because Christ having died upon the cross God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself through the death of Christ not imputing their trespasses unto them in other words imputing them unto Christ and the wages of sin is death and Christ is paid for those sins with his death upon the cross not imputing their trespasses have committed unto us the word of reconciliation you see the offer is there the reconciliation has been made but we are called upon to respond now if you can think of an example if you think about a few years ago the Queen opened up
[14:29] Buckingham Palace to the public so that you could have a wee tour of Buckingham Palace you could pay too much money you could go around some of the public rooms and see into all the rooms of state and so on and all these things and that's an opportunity that any tourist in London presumably can take up but you know if the Queen throws open the doors of Buckingham Palace and says right it's now open to the public here's the glossy programmes here's the tour guides everything's ready and nobody in the street says I don't care I'm not going in forget it I've got better things to do I've got a queue for my newspaper I've got to get my coffee I've got to get my taxi I've got to go back business oh Buckingham Palace forget it and you can do that that's their inalienable rights to do that and the doors are open the palace is ready to receive whoever may choose to come in and walk its corridors and look in its rooms and soak up the royal atmosphere and you can do that and you're free to do that if you want because the offer is there but nobody's going out with the changing of the guard with a bayonet point bringing them in and saying go around Buckingham Palace or we'll shoot you nobody's going to do that the offer is there to come in if you want to behold the Queen's Palace see all the rooms and soak up the atmosphere if you want it's there it's open it's done you don't have to do anything except respond to it but nobody's going to be forced at gunpoint in to see all this splendour and magnificence nobody's going to be made to come in in that sense and likewise the Lord has thrown wide the doors of salvation the King has opened his home the palace of his grace to the world in general declaring it to men and women everywhere the doors are open come in to the palace come in and receive the blessings
[16:23] I have laid up for sinners come and be reconciled to me the reconciliation has been made now come and see that and of course we know that Buckingham Palace has queues of people out there loads of people wanting to go in but nobody makes them do it nobody forces them in they go because they want to go and of course across the world and all the different countries of the world and continents there are in fact you could see queues of people queuing up to receive the salvation and the grace that the Lord freely offers hundreds of millions in China nowadays in Asia those are the Lord's people are growing in the face of persecution in so many countries the world here in the formerly Christian west we have grown so cold and dead and in a stupor stupid in that sense that we walk by on the other side and let go this opportunity of grace but the palace doors are thrown open the offer of reconciliation which is already made in Christ is there to be received but they've got to want to come in this reconciliation is not only for those who have never ever known Christ it is not only for those who are formerly unbelieving sinners and first timers as it were but rather it is for believers too we all need to be reconciled to God day by day we need this constant washing of blood constant being drawn again to Christ it's as though if a married couple were to say on their wedding day yes I love you yes I love you back if it ever changes
[18:07] I'll let you know and 50 years later they never told each other they never love each other because they said well we never needed to we just didn't talk about it anymore we're going to be upset at once and that's all you need that relationship I think is going to go cold because you need the constant communication you need the constant affirmation that love has to be constantly reaffirmed in the way that you live in the way that you love in the way you talk to one another it's an ongoing intimacy of relationship so likewise with the Lord that reconciliation we need it day by day now it's not as the old medieval catholicism used to teach is that this oh yes this is a reconciliation Christ has done once so you receive Christ you get baptized to acknowledge Christ as your saviour and that's your sins that are past dealt with but now now that you're a professing Christian now that was only your past sins that are dealt with by Christ's blood now from now on you've got to do your penances you've got to do your pilgrimages you've got to pay so much into the confessional box you've got to keep on confessing you've got to work out your own salvation you've got to do it yourself now it's down to you and your penances no this reconciliation is for all and it is ongoing now some of you know in the Stepping Stones Fellowship you know last week we were talking about this aspect of the forgiveness of sins that are past
[19:36] Romans 3 verse 25 when God hath set forth to be a propitiation that is one who causes to be favourable through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God and what we said in the discussion there was all sins are sins that are past there is no sin that you have committed in the future there is no sin that you have done next week you haven't done it yet you haven't committed it yet you're not guilty of it yet you may be guilty of things now as we speak in your mind but the minute you've done it that's a sin that has passed things you did yesterday that's a sin that has passed things you did this morning that's a sin that has passed all sins are past if they're actual sins and this is the propitiation for sins that are past this is what Christ has done the minute you've committed them the minute you've done them and repented of them sins that are past through the forbearance of God
[20:42] Christ has reconciled you through his precious blood this is what he has done and this is what he invites you to enter into and this which we have from Christ we are empowered by him to let others know and it is good news it is a good message that we bear on behalf of our sovereign Romans 10 verse 15 how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace that bring glad tidings of good things now that's a peace reconciliation God is reconciled to fallen man through the death of his son Jesus Christ now Romans 10 there Paul is quoting Isaiah to say a message of reconciliation right through the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Isaiah 52 at verse 7 how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation the saving of sinners that save unto Zion thy God reigneth because it is good news of salvation good news of the forgiveness of sin the forgiveness of sins yes of Christians of believers because we all sin we need constant forgiveness but also those not yet professing not yet believing that they too may enter in and receive and go on being forgiven this is good news for everyone because we are all sinners and yet not everyone will respond
[22:26] Isaiah goes on at the beginning of chapter 53 who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed and then goes on to describe how there was nothing in the Messiah in and of himself that would make people respond he had no form nor comeliness that we should desire him and we hid as it were our faces from there's nothing in Jesus personally the man that is going to make us say oh yeah that's the Lord's Messiah look at the strength look at the athletic build look at the way he carries himself oh yeah see his personality this is why it must be the Messiah there was nothing that we should desire his power is because he is God the Son his ability to draw men and women unto himself is something probably people couldn't put their fingers and say how is it he's got this power they wondered at him he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes they marveled at him this magnetic pull is not the force of his earthly personality it is the power of God
[23:29] God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation be reconciled to God now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ then be reconciled to God God the sovereign is urgent about this plea he is urgent about letting people know God did beseech you by us you can't get a stronger turn there it is an urgent plea it's not just well you know if you like to that's fine and if not shrug it off doesn't matter no it's a beseeching it's a pleading it's almost a desperation that souls should not go to a lost eternity God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead because he's not here in the flesh anymore we are yes he's there at the right hand of God in glory yes he's here by his spirits we want by faith not by sight we can't see him we can't see his spirit but we can feel his presence we can see him at work we can see the effects of his work but he is not here in the flesh but his ambassadors are just as in Spain or France or Argentina or America or whatever it may be the queen is not there in the flesh but our ambassadors are there they are there they represent her they represent her government they represent whatever they speak the government speaks on the queen's behalf the ambassador speaks on their behalf if the governments of those countries want to give us a ticking off whatever they summon the ambassador they give him or her the ticking off and they convey it to their government they represent their sovereign we represent our sovereign but we represent to others not well I've heard this theory
[25:22] I haven't known it myself but I've heard other people tell no we declare what we ourselves have experienced you cannot be an ambassador for Christ unless you have first been born again yourself unless you have first known the power of God to change your life that is the first requirement if one is to be an ambassador for Christ as 1 John tells us in the beginning that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ a believer as an ambassador for Christ to say I've seen this
[26:24] I've known it I've seen the change in my life I've felt the change I've sensed it I've seen it it has worked in my life it has changed me that which I've seen I've heard I know to be true that's what I'm telling you about that's what I want to bear witness to that's what I'm an ambassador for as we've said an affront offered to an ambassador is an affront to the sovereign nation and is an affront to the sovereign they represent it doesn't follow of course that if as we say the ambassador does something indiscreet or badly behaved then it doesn't follow that automatically people would say oh well we mustn't touch them because they represent a sovereign nation we mustn't do anything we mustn't think ill of them you know Peter speaks about this 1st Peter chapter 4 he says verse 12 beloved thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy if ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of for on your part he is glorified but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God on this behalf for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him and well do it as unto a faithful creator if we were on the brink of war with another country and they were to say well they are now expelling our ambassador and all the staff from the embassy in that country and saying right you're being chucked out the ambassador is being told go home we're breaking off diplomatic relations with this country or whatever the country may be then they're not going to be doing it because they don't think much of his golf handicap or because they like different biscuits to what he thinks or they don't like the shape of his face or whatever the case may be it is because they are now on the brink of war with the country he represents he is being expelled because his country is in a state of hostility with the home country so he is being expelled as an act if you like of affront a statement of hostility against the home country when a Christian is attacked for being a Christian when they are despised or rejected as many are in this country many are Christian loses their jobs or simply don't get given jobs in the first place because they are Christians they get ridiculed they get despised they get maligned whether in a press or in rumour or innuendo or whatever the case may be and in other countries of course they are brutally persecuted and sometimes exterminated because they belong to Christ it's not because of the clothes they wear or the way they do their hair it's not because of the tea or coffee they drink or whatever the case may be or because of the difference of their accent it's because they belong to Christ an affront offered to them because they are Christ's is an affront offered to the sovereign to Christ himself and that will be reckoned with as Peter says you know if judgment first begin at the house of God where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear if the ambassador when he comes home has to give a debriefing an account for how he has behaved whether he has provoked this in any way
[30:25] but at the end of the day he'll be welcomed home but the country that has so affronted him and so insulted the home sovereign nation there's probably going to be a state of war now with that diplomatic relations have been broken off so what are they going to do well it won't happen immediately if you think about the second world war you know when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk most of the American Pacific Fleet nobody 24 hours later said look we got away with it nothing's happened look they haven't hit back yet this is great a week went past still nothing this is fantastic we must have won nobody was so stupid as to think that they would have known that a power of the strength and riches of that country was going to rebuild that fleet is going to resend soldiers and sailors and marines and so on to take away the aggressors empire island by island step by step relentlessly it wouldn't happen within a day but it was going to happen after the kind of affront and attack that had been offered against that nation now America could have shrugged its shoulders and said it's only Hawaii it's only Pearl Harbor you know it's miles away it doesn't really matter no they're not going to deal with that they're going to respond and they're going to respond with massive retaliation as of course they do some of you will know that I've used the illustration before about the Romans and when they forced a crossing of the Danube River now the Danube is a massive river mighty river which flows through a great deal like two thirds of Europe now if you think about how a river is fed a river is fed by all the little tributaries streams and other rivers that flow into it by the time you've crossed like two thirds of Europe think of all the rivers that are flowing into that river think of the size and the strength of that river by the time it's been inflowed by all these other rivers that's the kind of strength we're looking at the massive volume of water in the Danube which formed for the Romans a natural barrier the Rhine and the Danube formed a natural barrier between their empire and what they saw as the barbarians on the other side now in eastern Europe what is now eastern Europe roughly where Romania is now there were tribes on the other side of the Danube who from time to time had either attacked or offered resistance against the Romans but they couldn't lead an expedition against them because the Danube was in the way this massive big river obstacle and the other tribes knew it they knew that as long as they had that river in the way they were safe from Roman attack what did the Romans do?
[33:16] well some of you have told this story before so some of you will know they started building a bridge they built the bridge they put the pilings into the river they put stone in they started making the archways across and it took years two years maybe more before they finally worked their way across this massive mighty river with their engineers and no doubt slave labour and soldiers going at it day after day every day constantly so many hours a day day by day for years but they kept on going why?
[33:52] because the building of the bridge which the other side could see the tribes and the others could see this bridge getting nearer and nearer and nearer across the river this was part of the message and the message was judgment is coming and once it does there is no escape once that bridge is complete the Roman legions would pour across it and those tribes would never raise their fists against Rome again now judgment is coming judgment shall begin first at the house of God Peter says and when it does where shall the unrighteous and the ungodly appear Paul himself writes as being an ambassador in bonds Ephesians chapter 6 and for me the utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds he was a prisoner in chains at the time he writes this now what kind of a front is it to put the ambassador of the king in chains there's going to be an answering for that they eventually beheaded Paul there's going to be an answering for that revelation particularly speaks about those who have been beheaded for the gospel sake a couple of years back
[35:10] ISIS took 20 I think it was Egyptian Christians and one from Sudan or Nigeria or further south they marched them onto a beach in Libya and they beheaded them in front of the cameras they weren't big powerful men they were ordinary construction workers people who had come to Egypt after Libya looking for jobs they were living in porticabins or in shoddy accommodation sort of building site accommodation and the terrorists turned up in the middle of the night with their trucks and their guns and demanded to know which ones were Christians and they took out the ones that wouldn't deny Christ they marched them onto a beach and they cut their heads off in front of the cameras none of these men were big powerful businessmen they weren't powerful kings or presidents they were ordinary you could say lowest of the low in terms of economic status of society but what are they going to be in glory they will be on thrones in glory because they will be amongst those who have paid the ultimate witness and testimony for their sovereign but the fact of what was done to them will be remembered and will be required and the bridge is being built across the river and the judgment is coming and the insult afforded to every ambassador of Christ he is going to require it at the hands of those who have done it just because the retribution is not within a day just because it is not within a week does not mean that it is not coming does not mean that it will not happen and every day such persecutors draw a day near to meeting their maker in eternity when an account must be rendered for all that they have done to offend and to brutalize the ambassador is to attack the sovereign territory belonging to the whole nation it may be a completely different country but that little piece of floor space in the embassy belongs to the nation that sends the ambassador it is their territory it belongs to the king the sovereign that they represent and so we as we discharge our duty and our witness as we seek to live out our position our purpose as ambassadors for Christ that means that our life our heart our home such territory as we occupy or represent or have authority over becomes in this world a little piece of sovereign territory of heaven a little piece of the king's ground in this foreign soil for this is not our home but what we make our place of witness as ambassadors for Christ becomes a little patch of sovereign territory for the king it means that those who seek citizenship with the country of an ambassador where do they go?
[39:01] they go to the embassy if you happen to be a national of that country and you're in a foreign territory you go to the embassy you hopefully get in you get processed yes you get eventually all the paperwork for your passport but that's where you go you don't make the journey all the way to the home country across the sea and ships and airplanes and so on most people can't afford to do that they can't go all the way they go to the embassy they go to those who are in their country when people have questions or interest or a seeking about Christ they cannot go to heaven to ask the questions they cannot go to the throne itself and stand before God and say look I've got questions about this saviour Jesus I'd like to know more about him they can't do that what do they do?
[39:47] they go to the embassy they go to the little piece of sovereign territory in this world they go to where the ambassador is they go to the likes of you and me and they ask what is this that you represent that you believe what is this good news you speak of what is this salvation that you say that I need they will go to what is available to them that's why we're here because we are to be available to those who have not yet been reconciled to God that we may beseech them in Christ's stead that we may be made available to them on Christ's behalf that our territory our home our heart our presence becomes a little piece of sovereign territory in the midst of an alien land now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in
[40:48] Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God all entering in upon this relationship enter now into that fellowship here within this foreign land here within this place that is not our home they enter this little piece of sovereign territory and they know when they come to Christ in that context in that atmosphere of welcome and reconciliation they know that whatever nation upon earth they may be in when they have come to Christ they have come home for a the the the the the the the the the