I did choose thee, Lord, for, Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert.

In John chapter 14, this is part of the Lord's last discourse with his disciples. You can read about it in John chapters 13 through 16, and then chapter 17, his prayer for his people. But in John chapter 14, verse 19, he said to his people, his disciples, that's all he was speaking to at this time, He says, yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more.

He said, in a little while, because he knew that in just over 24 hours, he would be nailed to a cross, and he would die, and the world would see him no more. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but you see me. Because I live, you shall live also. Because I live, here's the reason you're gonna live. Because I live, you shall live also.

Now, in a little while, the world sees me no more. Now the world is that group that does not believe the gospel. Everybody that is not a believer is of the world. The Lord said in John chapter 17 verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me. He was praying for his elect, all of his people. but not the world.

Now, the Lord says, the world in a little while, the world will not see me anymore. Now, the world only saw him as a man. They knew his mom and dad. They knew his brothers and sisters. They knew what he did for a living. The carpenter, the carpenter's son. They knew his address. Many believed him to be a good man, people of the world. Even a powerful man by the miracles he performed. They were eyewitnesses to his miracles. They saw what he did and it was inexplicable to them, a man that God had greatly empowered. Certainly different from other men, an influential man. Never a man spake like this man, but still only a man. That's how the world saw it. A great man perhaps, but only a man.

And all who are comprised of the world have this in common. They believe Jesus of Nazareth to be nothing more than a man, a good man, a great man, but still just a man. Now he said to his disciples, you see me not like the world sees me. You see me, yes, as a man, but you see me not as a mere man. You see me as the God man. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's everybody's Lord. He's Lord both of the dead and the living. Somebody says, He's not my Lord. Yes, He is. You just don't know it. You're in His hands and He has absolute control over you, everybody, and everything else.

Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. The Pharisees were right when they said, you're not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? And the Lord said, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And the Jews then took up stones to stone him. They were so upset at this claim because he's saying, I am the one who spake to Moses from the burning bush, the great, I am that I am. He said in John chapter eight, verse 24, if you believe not that I am, you'll die in your sins. The Lord said to Philip, after Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. He said, have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And that's what the Lord said. You see, Jesus Christ is God. God the Son, and all we'll ever see of God the Father is God the Son.

John 1 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God as a distinct person, and the Word was God. Jesus Christ is the God-man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I love saying this. Jesus is God. That's who He is. The second person of the Blessed Trinity. God is one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God.

Now before His incarnation, There was a day when he became flesh. There was a day when he became a one celled being in Mary's womb, when he was conceived of the Holy Ghost. And he spent nine months through the process of gestation in Mary's womb, in the darkness of Mary's womb. There was a certain day he was born. We don't know what day it was. It wasn't December 20th, I don't think, but there was a certain day he was born. And there was a time before his his creation that he was not a human being. He was eternal God, God a spirit. That's who he was, the eternal God and he was made flesh as the God man.

Now let me try to say this glorious truth with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has two distinct natures in one person. He is 100% God, absolute deity, just as if He were not man at all. And He is 100% man, a human being, just as if He were not God at all. Now, He came in time. He became man, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and this was God's eternal purpose. He's called in Revelation 13, eight, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And the reason God created the universe was so the Lamb could come and be slain in time to accomplish God's purpose.

Now this one, not two, but one said, because I live. You shall live also. This one who, he said, the world sees me no more after I'm dead. They don't know who I am. They think he's gone. But you see me. You see who I am, the God man. This is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. A believer really believes that Jesus Christ is God. That's why they can trust him completely. 100% God, 100% man. He is able to do whatever he intends to do. Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. It's because of who he is. He's the God man. He's able to save me with no help from me. I can simply trust who he is and what he did and not look to anything I do, but only to what he has done because of who he is.

And this one said, because I live, you shall live also. Now, I love the simplicity of this statement. He says to his disciples, because I live, you shall live also. The reason you shall live is because I live. Now he could be speaking of their life in their earthly existence right now. If you live, it's because he wills for you to live. If you, the last breath you took is because he willed for you to take it. That's how much control he has over every event. If there's a sparrow that falls to the ground, it's because he willed it. Whatever takes place, he's in absolute control of it. When he says, because I live, you shall live also, it's because of who he is. The reason you live right now is because of him. But I have no doubt that he's speaking of his life after his death. He was going to die in around 24 hours. and three days later he was going to be raised from the dead. Let me read a verse of scripture to you from Revelation 1.18 when he appeared to John. He said in verse 18 or verse 17, John says, and when I saw him, I felt at his feet as dead. This vision he was given of the Lord Jesus Christ, there wasn't anything for him to do but hit the dirt. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And if you and I ever see who he really is, we'll do the same thing. We'll fall at his feet as dead.

And he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Only God can say that, the God-man. I am the first and I am the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, eternally. Amen. And have the keys of hell and death.

Now John saw the resurrected Christ. I am he that liveth. Oh, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice he says, I was dead. Now, what a great mystery. This one who lives, the God-man, died. He was graveyard dead. When they took him down from the cross, he was dead. When they put him in the tomb, he was dead. He spent three days dead.

Now, one thing in his death that he did that we don't do, he remained incorrupt. We will start decaying the moment we die, but he never went through the process of decay because when he died, he rendered complete satisfaction for the sins of his people and justified them. The scripture says he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. I'm he that was dead.

Now, why did he die? There's only one reason for death, sin. There is no other reason. He died because of sin. The sins of God's people became his sin. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Now this is so glorious. God took the sins of his people. He took them off of them and placed them in the Lord Jesus Christ when He was made sin. And He died because those sins became His sins. He became guilty of them and God's justice put Him to death. This is how God's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly.

Now, if I said, I'm gonna die for you, I'm gonna die for your sins, can't be done. You can only die for your own sins. You can't die, or you shouldn't have, it's not just to punish somebody for something somebody else did. You'll have to die for your own sins. And as far as I go, if I said, I'll die for your sins, it wouldn't do any good because I got sins of my own. I couldn't do anything for you.

But the God man, Christ Jesus, He could put away your sins and make them not to be and make it so when He's raised from the dead, you're justified, your sins are all gone, they're blotted out, they're canceled, they are no more. I am He that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and death.

That means my eternal destiny And your eternal destiny is in His hands. You don't have any control over this. I don't have any control over this. He has all control because He said, all power is given to me. Now, this is good news. Somebody says, you mean I don't have any control? That's exactly what I mean, but this is good news because if you did have any control, you'd mess it up. You would not be saved. I would not be saved if I had any control because I'm sinful. I'll mess it up. But thank God, he has purpose to save a great multitude of sinners. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and death.

Now, I want to read you a verse of scripture from Romans 5, verse 10, that gives us some light as to what he meant when he said, because I live, you shall live also. In Romans 5, verse 10, we read, for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more. being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And notice the language. If, when we were enemies, did you know that you were born into this world and I was born into this world, an enemy of God, God's enemies, those who hate God, those who would put him out of business if we could. Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind is enmity against God. And the great proof of that is the cross. When men were left to do what they wanted to do, they nailed God, the God-man, to a cross. And somebody says, I didn't do it. You would have, though. That's what God sees. God holds all men responsible for the murder of his dear son.

Now listen to this. If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Question, when were we reconciled? Well, when I believed. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior and opened my heart to him and let him in. That's foolishness. When were we reconciled? If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. When was I reconciled? When I was an enemy. Well, how was I reconciled? If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Jesus Christ took my enmity in his own body on the tree. First Peter 2.4 says he, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And on Calvary's tree, when he died, all the sins of all the people that he died for was eternally put away and every believer was reconciled to God by the death of his son. God doesn't have any reason to be angry with me. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. I'm sinless by what he did.

If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. When he died, all my sin was put away. That's what he meant when he said it is finished. All of salvation is complete. Full reconciliation has taken place. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more. being reconciled. We shall be saved by His life.

Now, His life is my life before God. He said, I am the way, The truth, the life. My life is the only life that God will accept and my life is the life of every believer because their life became mine on the cross and I bore their sins and put them away. And just as truly as I bore their sins and put them away, my life is given to them as their personal life before God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, Paul said, then shall we appear with Him in glory. His life is my life.

Listen to the words of Paul, Galatians chapter 2, 20, I live Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Because I live, you shall live also.

He has life in himself as independent God, As the Father raises the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. He gives life. I love the thought of Him having independent life. He's dependent on none, on no one or nothing. He has life in Himself. And as he has life in himself, he gives his life to his people. So we understand something of what Paul meant when he said, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And this also speaks of his intercession. There is a man right now, while I speak, seated at the right hand of the Father, the man Christ Jesus. And he's there to make intercession for his people as their advocate.

In 1 John 2, verse 1, John says, these things have I written unto you that you sin not. Every believer ought to make this resolve. I'm never going to sin again. These things have I written unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, you're going to sin. If any man sin, that word if is also translated when any man sin, when you sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Now this is speaking of Him as our eternal lawyer, representing us. We have an advocate with the Father, we being every believer. He's not everybody's advocate. There is a place where men will be punished for their sins, but He's the advocate of every believer. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's no corrupt lawyer. He's Jesus Christ the righteous.

Now, let me tell you something about this lawyer every believer has. He's never lost a case. He's never lost a case. When you want to have a lawyer like that, Not only has he never lost a case, the judge is his father. And here's what this righteous one does. He makes all of his clients plead guilty as charged. There's no one who's guilty that he tells them to plead not guilty. No, every one of his clients plead guilty as charged. That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Yet this advocate. He causes all of His people who plead guilty to be justified, declared by God Himself just. It's God that justifies. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It's Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

He died. What good would it do us if he lived and never died? It would do us no good at all. What good would it do us if he died and stayed dead? It would do us no good at all. Romans 5, 10 says, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more. Being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, his intercession. There's a man in glory right now who still has the scars of his death upon his body. Now, what's the significance of that? Well, his scars are his marks of glory, what he accomplished by his death. And when I'm brought into heaven, I'm not even going to, I don't understand this, but I'm not even going to remember what it was to be a sinner. The former things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I'm not even going to remember, but I will know this. When I see his scars, I'll know the only reason I'm there is because of him. Because I live, you shall live also. He is my representative. He is my life. He is my intercessor before the father. All he does is show the father his hands and his feet. Nothing else needs to be said. I am complete, perfect, accepted in him.

I love the scripture in Hebrews chapter seven, verse 25, where it says, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost. that come to God by Him. Now, if you're somebody that comes to God by Him, not in your works, not in yourself, the only way you come to God is by Him, in Him. As He comes to the Father, you come to the Father. You're saved to the uttermost. Salvation to the uttermost, to the infinite. There is a great choir in heaven, as I speak, singing the praises of the Lamb, and they are saved to the uttermost. Now, if you're a believer, you are just as saved to the uttermost as they are right now. You're, as a matter of fact, already seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. If He's there, you're there. You say, well, I don't experience it. Well, we believe it though, because the word of God says that. And every believer is saved to the uttermost. I can't get any more saved or holy or accepted or loved than I am right now. And here's why. Because I live, Christ said, you shall live also.

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