Oh 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 1 Corinthians 14, verse 8,
Paul said, For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who
shall prepare himself to battle? There's a distinct sound that
the trumpet gives, and if it doesn't give that sound, defeat
is sure. In verse 9, he says, So likewise
you, except you utter by the word, by the tongue, words easy
to be understood. How shall it be known what is
spoken? For you shall speak into the air. It will do absolutely
no good." I've entitled this message, Words Easy to Be Understood. Now the setting was in the church
at Corinth, they had these gifts of being able to speak in other
languages called the gift of tongues. And they were practicing
this and they were abusing this. This was to preach the gospel
to people in other languages and they were coming in the services
and started speaking in other languages and no one could understand
them. If there was not an interpreter
there, no one could say what they had been saying, and Paul
is rebuking them for this. Now, somebody says, are tongues
still in operation today? Well, if you read Acts chapter
8, the scripture says, when they saw through the laying on of
the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given. The apostles
could lay their hands on people, and they would have these supernatural
gifts, but the people who had the apostles lay their hands
on them, they couldn't lay their hands on somebody else to transfer
the gifts. The gifts were with the early church before the full
canon of Scripture, and they are no longer. But the church
at Corinth actually had these and they were misapplying them
and abusing them. And that is why Paul says, except
I utter by the tongue, words easy to be understood. Now, if
I spoke in Chinese, if I had the gift of tongues and could
speak in Chinese, you'd be impressed. But if you don't understand Chinese,
you wouldn't understand anything I said. You may be impressed,
but it won't do you any good. And this is what Paul is talking
about. I'm to speak with the tongue words, easy to be understood,
marked, clear, definite, distinct words, easy to be understood. Now that is so necessary in gospel
preaching. words easy to be understood. Now, with the Lord's help, I'm
going to bring a message that you will at least understand
what is being said. I want to preach in such a clear
way that you'll understand what's being said. Now, that doesn't
mean you'll believe. That'd mean you'll agree, but you'll at least
hear what's being said. Words easy to be understood. Now, that would be the opposite
of what Paul called the wisdom of words. In 1 Corinthians 17,
he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. Now, when Paul speaks of using
wisdom of words, he's talking about trying to present the gospel
in such a way as to make it more appealing. to remove the offense,
to make it easier to receive. It's to package the gospel in
such a way as it will be appealing to the flesh, to keep from offending
people. And Paul says, in doing that,
I make the cross of Christ of none effect. No one is saved
through that kind of preaching. You see, you're only saved by
the gospel, not men changing the gospel to make it more appealing.
I think of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1 about yea, nay
preaching. He said, our word toward you
was not yea and nay. Yes and no to the same thing.
Is salvation by grace? Why, yes. It's all by grace.
But if you don't do what you need to do, you still won't be
saved. That's yea, nay. Does the blood
of Christ save? Of course it saves. Is the blood
of Christ powerful enough to take away all your sins? Of course
it is. But if you don't do something to make it work for you, you
won't be saved. That's saying yes and no to the
same thing. Now, Paul speaks of words easy to be understood,
and may God give us grace to hear these words that are easy
to be understood. Now, here's my first word, my
first point. The Bible. Genesis 1-1 through Revelation
22-21, all 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the
New Testament. The Bible is God's inspired,
infallible Word. That's what the Bible claims
for itself. All scripture, Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, 16, all
scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now somebody says, how
do you expect me to believe that the Bible is the inspired word
of God? And I can understand somebody
being incredulous when they first hear that. How can you expect
me to believe that this book is totally inspired without any
error? Well, it claims that for itself.
It claims that for itself. And if God can create the universe
from nothing, and that's exactly what he did, he is able to inspire
men to write a book and keep it preserved through the centuries. You see, it's only in this book
we find the true character of God. Anything else is just guesswork,
but it's only in this book that we find the true character of
God. I love the story of the Mount
of Transfiguration. When James and John and Peter
were on the mount with the Lord, you can read about it in Matthew
chapter 17, and the Lord was transfigured before them. And
they saw his face shine as the sun, and his raiment was white
as the light. And Moses and Elijah appeared
with him, and they talked about the deceased, which he should
accomplish. They talked about the accomplishments of his death
at that time. And the disciples saw this, and
here's what Peter tells us about this in 2 Peter 1. He says, we
saw this. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty
when he was transfigured before us. But listen to this scripture.
After telling about their experience on the Mount of Transfiguration,
he says, we have a more sure word of prophecy. This word of
prophecy, this scripture, is better than that experience.
It's more to be relied upon. We also have a more sure word
of prophecy, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. Somebody says, well, here's my
interpretation. No, I'm not concerned about your interpretation or
my interpretation. What's it mean? That's what I
want to know. What's it mean? Somebody says, well, here's what
I think it means. Well, it doesn't matter what you think it means. What
does it mean? The prophecy of scripture is
of no private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now that's what the Bible claims
for itself. God wrote this book. God preserved this book. Scriptures alone are our only
ground and source of truth and information, not what men say.
Not what churches say, not what denominations say. The scriptures
alone tell us who God is, who we are, how God saves sinners
by Christ. We look to the Bible alone, not
the Bible and our programs and our confessions, scriptures alone. Now that is easy to understand. Here's what I'm saying. Now,
you might not agree with it. You might not believe it, but
here's what I'm saying. The Bible claims to be God's
inspired word without error, and it's our only ground of faith
and practice. Now, a six-year-old can understand
that, the scriptures alone. Now, here's the second Easy statement
I want to make, easy to understand. The first is the scriptures are
God's inspired word, and the second statement is God is as
this book declares him to be. Now, the only true concept we'll
have of the living God is to believe what he tells us about
himself in this book. That's why we have the Bible.
It's God's self-revelation. It's found only in this book. Now, there are things we can
know about God without the Bible. I realize that. Paul said in
Romans 1, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse. If you look at the creation,
there's no excuse for you not to believe in God. You can look
at this creation and know someone all-powerful made this, and nobody
made Him. He is eternal. Now, somebody
says, I need more evidence than that, that God created the universe. I need more physical evidence.
Now, if you see a building, do you say, well, I need to have
evidence that somebody built it? No, obviously somebody built
it or it wouldn't be there. Well, it's the same thing with
creation. Creation says God is. He created the universe. Now, we can know things about
God, but we can't really know his character without the Bible. For instance, How do you know
he'll forgive sin without the Bible? How do you know he saves sinners
without the Bible? In the Bible, we learn of his
character. We learn that God is holy, other,
separate from the created universe. Yet the One who creates, holy,
other, there's none like Him. We read of His righteousness
and justice. God is righteous. Justice and
judgment are the habitation of His throne. God is Spirit. He can't be contained in the
physical world. He's not material. God is Spirit. That's why He's omnipresent.
You cannot go anywhere where He's not. We would not know this
without the Scripture. God is independent. He said,
if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. The cattle on a
thousand hills are mine. He has no needs. And what is
so glorious about that is that he doesn't need me or you to
do something before he can save us. He can cause us to do it.
God is independent. According to the scriptures,
God is immutable. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed." According to the Scripture, God is all-powerful. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Whatever He wills, He has the
power to bring to pass. God is sovereign. Now, that word
is not in the Scripture, the word sovereign, but it's taught
on every page. God is sovereign. He doeth according
to His will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Why, he's sovereign over the
free and uncoerced actions of men and demons. He controls everybody,
and that's true. We do what we want to do, but
God is completely sovereign over every action, and he brings good
out of evil. He's the only one who can do
that. Oh, how would we know his faithfulness without the scripture?
Great is thy faithfulness, Jeremiah said. How would we know of his
love, mercy, and grace without the Bible? You see, the Bible
declares God to be as he is. How would you know that God is
one God in three distinct persons without the Bible? I mean, that's
not something we'd figure out. Let me see, what do I think about
God? He must be one God in three distinct persons. We wouldn't
think that. Only from the Bible do we know that God is one God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one God, and He's one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't intellectually grasp
that. I don't see how it is, but I
believe it. This is who God is. He is other,
and he makes himself known in the Bible. Now, here's the third easy-to-understand word I would
like to make. Number one was the Bible is the
Word of God. Number two, God is as the Bible
declares him to be. And the third statement is, man
is as the Bible declares him to be. Well, how does the Bible
declare me and you to be? Well, let me give you some scriptures.
Genesis chapter six, verse five. And me and you are included in
this. God saw. Now remember how God sees things.
That's the way it is, not how me and you see things, how God
sees things. And God saw the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that describes me, that describes
you. We are as the Bible says we are. Ephesians 2, 1 says, and you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead. You can't perform the functions
of spiritual life. I can't perform the functions
of spiritual life. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter
17 verse 9, there's none righteous. I mean, the heart is deceitful
above all things, desperately, incurably wicked. Who can know
it? That describes the heart of every
man, woman, boy, and girl walking on this planet the way they were
born. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And these are the scriptural
declarations. In Romans 3, Paul is quoting
a passage from Psalm 14. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeketh after
the Lord. They've all gone out of the way.
They've together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now, do I see all of this about
myself? No, I don't. Do I believe it
all about myself? Yes, I do. I believe what God says about
me. Man is, as the Bible presents
him to be, totally depraved, totally unable to save himself. Are you talking about good people,
too? Yes, I'm talking about good people, too. I'm talking about
all men. There's no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I believe the Bible's testimony
with regard to man. Now, here's the next word easy
to be understood. Now, like I said, you understand
that. You understand that you might not agree with it. You
might not believe it. But the Bible declares that all
men are completely sinful, unable to save themselves. If God leaves
me with myself, I will not be saved, nor will you. Now, as
I said, that's easy to understand. Maybe not to receive. or to believe,
but that's what the Bible says. Now here's the next statement. Salvation is as the Bible declares
it to be. Salvation, Jonah said, is of
the Lord. For a sinful man to be saved,
this man that the Bible describes as completely sinful, and that's
me, from a God who's totally holy, righteous, and just, Salvation
must be of the Lord. It's not of men nor by man. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, do you remember just a few
moments ago where I talked about how the God of the Bible is one
God in three distinct persons? God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. When we're baptized, we're called
upon to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. When the Lord was baptized, the
Father spake from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm
well pleased. The Spirit descended in the bodily
shape of a dove upon Him. There we have the Trinity. When
God said, let us make man in our own image, there we have
the Trinity. Now this, in this thing of salvation,
all three persons of the Trinity have their work in this salvation,
which is of the Lord. First, salvation is of the Father
in eternal election. Now, I want you to listen real
carefully. According to the scripture, Ephesians 1, verse 4, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Before time began, God elected
a people to be saved. These people were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Listen to this scripture.
Romans 9, verse 11, talking about Jacob and Esau, for the children,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her of the elder
shall serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now, salvation begins with God's
electing choice. It's what Paul called in Romans
11 and 5, the election of grace. Now, this is what the Bible teaches.
God chose who would be saved before time began. Now, you understand
what that means. You might not agree with it.
You might say, well, I don't believe the Bible teaches that. You could
say that, but you can understand what this means. Whoever saved,
they're the people God chose to be saved before time began. And let me remind you, election
does not prevent people from being saved who would have otherwise
been saved. It saves people who would have
otherwise been damned. Thank God for election. Paul put it this way in 2 Thessalonians
2.13, but we're bound. To thank God always for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Salvation is of the father in
eternal election. Salvation is of the son in redemption. Those people that God elected,
this great multitude, which no man can number. He gave them
to his Son to save them. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. He said in John chapter 17, nine, I pray for them. I
pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me.
When Christ came to this planet, He came to save the people the
Father gave Him. We read in Matthew 1, the very
opening chapter of the New Testament, Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Salvation is
of the Son in redemption. Now here's what took place when
Christ came into this world. He came into this world as a
representative of those that the Father gave Him. When He
said to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness, He was talking about all of God's elect. When
He fulfilled all righteousness, all of God's elect fulfilled
all righteousness. You see, I'm saved by the righteousness
of another, the righteousness of Jesus Christ that's given
to me because He worked it out for me. And why did He die? Now, if he never sinned, why
did he die? Well, listen to this scripture.
2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made The righteousness of
God in him. When he was dying on Calvary's
tree, it was because he was a sin bearer. He was bearing the sins
of his people. They became his. He owned them
as his own, although he never committed a sin. When my sin
was given to him, it became his sin. And the proof of that is
He died under the wrath of God, being forsaken by God. And just
as truly as my sin became His sin, His righteousness became
my righteousness. His precious blood put away my
sin. And now, with regard to everybody
He died for, they stand before God without fault. having never
sinned, having lived a perfect life of law-keeping, His law-keeping. Now, salvations of the Lord and
what Christ accomplished on the cross. I love that scripture.
When Moses and Elijah appeared to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration,
the scripture says they spake of the decease which He should
accomplish. His death accomplished the complete
salvation of His people. Salvation is of the Lord. in
redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ, and thirdly, salvations of God
the Holy Spirit. That's what happens when He gives
the new birth. You see those people God elected
and Christ died for? By nature they're dead in sin
and they can't believe. They can't repent unless God
gives them spiritual life to do so. And because God elected
these people, because Christ died for these people, God the
Holy Spirit comes in time through the preaching of the gospel and
begets life in them so that they actually believe on Christ. They
actually believe the testimony of Scripture. They believe the
God of the Bible. They believe what the Bible says
about them as far as being sinful and unable to save themselves.
They trust Jesus Christ only as everything in their salvation. They are saved. They're given
a new heart. That's the heart that believes.
That's the heart that repents. That's the heart that loves.
And these people are preserved by God the Holy Spirit all the
way to the end. They do not fall away. They continue
in the faith because they're kept by the power of God unto
salvation." Now, that is easy to understand. I'm dead in sins
unless God, the Holy Spirit, gives me life. And when He gives
me life, I will believe the gospel. Nothing hard to understand about
that. Salvation is of the Lord. The Bible is the Word of God. That's easy to understand. God
is as the Bible declares Him to be. Only as the Bible declares
Him to be. Man is as the Bible declares
Him to be. And salvation is as the Bible
declares it to be. Salvations of the Lord of the
Father in eternal election, of the Son in successful redemption,
of God the Holy Spirit in life-giving grace. And these people that
God has elected, Christ has died for, and God the Holy Spirit
gives life to, they do persevere in the faith, looking to Christ
only all the way to the end. Words easy to be understood. I hope by the grace of God you
and I understand these words that really are easy to be understood. May God bless you for Christ's
sake. To receive a copy of the sermon
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