Well, if you would, open your
Bibles with me to 2 Corinthians 12. It's been a long time. I can't even tell you how good
it is to see you all. I miss you. I miss being here
in the services. I just can't even express how
thankful that we are to be back House of the Lord. These last
three months, I have endured quite a lot of pain. The rupture
in my disc in my back. I wouldn't have believed you
could be in that much pain unless you're in a car wreck or some
sort of tragedy. I just could not believe the
pain. And, uh, to get done with that
and then to have to have two more surgeries to get my gallbladder
out, three surgeries in three weeks. And it has, uh, has left
me without much energy or stamina, but it is slowly improving, coming
back. It's just going to take some
time. Uh, Janet has, uh, endured. This is not just my trial. She's
endured a lot of worry, a lot of stress, so much extra burden
to take care of me. I told Todd, he and I were talking
last week, and I told him, I tell her all the time, I'm so sorry.
He said, don't do that. He said, she loves you. She counts
it an honor to take care of you. And I said, yeah, she'd probably
do a little less honor. I mean, the burden she's had to take
care of me. So we appreciate your prayers
and so many cards and texts and phone calls that we've got from
you. And I thank God for you. Thank God for you. Now this passage
here in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, The Lord has faithfully fulfilled
this passage of Scripture to me and Janet time and again in
the past three months, and I thought I'd read it to you. 2 Corinthians
12, beginning in verse 1. It's not expedient for me, doubtless,
to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about
14 years ago. Whether in the body I cannot
tell, but whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. Such a one caught up to the third
heaven, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of
the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. How that he was
caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not
lawful, it's not possible for man to utter. It's not possible
for human language to tell the glory of that place. Of such
a one will I glory. Yet of myself I will not glory,
but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to
glory, I should not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should
be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations,
there is given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I have besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart
from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you to be able to come before your throne of grace and for
sinful men and women such as we are to be able to call the
God of heaven and earth our Father. It's only because of your electing
love. It's only because of your great
mercy and grace that we're able to call you our father. And father, how thankful we are
that you brought us again to the house of worship. You brought
us again to the place where we can hear your gospel preached.
And father, I pray you bless your words as preached tonight.
I pray you'd be with our brother Todd, that you'd uphold him with
your spirit. that you'd speak to his heart
and that you'd open his mouth and let him tell the glorious
riches of Christ our Savior. Let him preach Christ so clearly
that we're enabled by faith to see him, to rest in him, to believe
him. Enable your servant to preach
Christ in the power of your spirit, not in the power of human intellect
and oratory, but in the power of your spirit. Bless your words. Father, you promised your word
would not return unto you void, but it would accomplish the purpose
whereunto you sent it. And Father, we pray for a purpose
of grace, that you might strengthen and comfort the hearts of your
people, that you might call the laws to come to Christ, to believe
on him and rest in him. Father, we thank you for the
many blessings in this life, how richly you've blessed us,
materially, in every way how you've blessed us. But, oh, Father,
how especially we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ, that we
have all things in Him. Father, we're thankful. And we
beg of you that you would forgive us for our much murmuring and
complaining and doubting. Forgive us, Father, we pray.
And for those who are hurting and who are sick and in deep
waters, Father, we pray for them. Your promise is that Your grace
is sufficient. And we pray grace for the hour. Now, Father, again, bless us. Bless us as we look into Your
Word. Enabled by You, by Your mercy and grace, to hear one
more time of Christ our Savior. It is in His blessed name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Our speaker here tonight needs
no introduction. Todd Nyberg, pastor of Todd's
Road Grace Church. He's going to bring the message
to us after Tara and Maggie bring us a special song. Todd, when
you're done, if you would dismiss us in prayer. I don't want to
have to do the steps again. I appreciate it. Now fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Raise the mountain fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure, safely
to arrive at home. Jesus fought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, He to rescue me from danger interposed
His precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal
it, Seal it for Thy courts above. I'm just delighted to be with
you, and I'm so glad seeing you back here again, and I know that's
a great blessing to you, and pray for the Lord's continued
blessing upon this assembly. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 1? These are strange times we're
living in, aren't they? And they're all ordered by the
Lord. Everything. Verse three, speaking of Christ. Who? Being the brightness. Of his glory. And the express
image. Of his person. and upholding all things by the
word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down On the right hand, the majesty
on high. I need, more than anything else,
something to be done about my sin. That's what I need. I need my sins forgiven, and
I need them forgiven the way the Lord forgives them. Because
when He says their sins are iniquities, I'll remember no more. I need my sins to be purged away,
blotted out. That is my great need. Now, I've entitled this message,
Sins Purged. Sins. The sins I commit. The sins I think. The sins I do. Sins purged. When he had by himself purged
our sins. Now who is the he referring to? When he had by himself purged
our sins. The Son of God. Jesus Christ,
the Lord. Now let's begin in verse one
of Hebrews chapter one. God. I love the way the writer
to the Hebrews begins this book. God. In the beginning. God. God. Who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Now all the days before the birth
of Christ were the days that God spake by the prophets. And
indeed He did. There was a real thus saith the
Lord. He did speak by the prophets
But in these last days, the days of the, from the birth of Christ
till he comes back as a mighty ruling reigning king with all
of his holy angels, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, everybody's going
to see all the time between his birth and when he returns again
are the last days. And in these last days, the scripture
said he has spoken to us by His Son. You see, Jesus Christ is
the prophet. And He's a prophet like no other
prophet. All other prophets said, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. He's a prophet like no other
prophet. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He is God's final
word. Now look what it says next. This
one who purged our sins is also the one whom He hath appointed
heir of all things." This world has one purpose, His glory. That's the only purpose. Everything
that takes place in time and eternity has all been purposed
by Him for His own glory. He's before all things and by
Him all things consist. Now it says of this one who is
said to have purged our sins is the one by whom also he made
the world. He's the creator. I love thinking
about that. He is the creator. He created
the vastness of the universe. He created the minutia of an
atom. He created all things. He's the
one who said, let us make man in our own image. He is the creator of the universe. And look what it says next. Verse
three, who this one who is said to have purged our sins. This
is talking about his greatness and his ability. All these things
are telling us who he is, that we can understand how he purges
our sins. You see, what he does is dependent
upon who he is. What does it say next? Who? Verse
three, being the brightness, the effulgence, the shining forth
of God's glory. Now I think of this shining forth
the brightness of God's glory. When he appeared to Paul, he
appeared above the brightness of the sun. What about on the
mountain Transfiguration when he appeared? above the brightness
of the sun. It was not enough reflected shining. It came from who he is in his
divine majesty. Who being the brightness, the
shining forth of God's glory. And what next? The express image of his person. I like saying this. Jesus Christ
is not like God. He's not like God at all. He
is God. He is God. The transcript, the express image
of his person. I love what Colossians 2 says.
It says, for in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth. all the
fullness of the Godhead. Who can say what all that means?
In a body residing in his person. And next, it says in verse three,
this one who is said to have purged our sins is the one who
upholds all things by the word of his power. Now, not only is
he the Lord of creation, he's the Lord of providence. And everything
that takes place is according to his will. Everything. He upholds all things. And somebody
once said this word by the word of his power represents simply
by law. Simply by knowledge, he controls
everything and every event by him. All things take place. Whatever
takes place in this temporary thing called time is his will
being done. Now we do what we want to do.
Is that true? We do what we want to do. And
he is completely sovereign and in control over the free and
uncoerced actions of man. Now, how all that can be? Thanks
God. It's easy for Him. It's easy
for Him. Before time, He decreed everything
that would take place. During time, everything that's
happening is His will being done. And He is all, and He purposed
all things. He's the one who said, I have
purposed it. I will also do it. I've willed it. I will bring
it forth to pass. Now this is the one, the ancient
of days, who is said to have purged our sins. Does he have the ability to do
it? That's the question. Does he have the ability to do
it? I love what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12. He said, I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is a How were you persuaded, Paul?
God persuaded you. That's why He was so persuaded.
If I persuade you of something, somebody else can persuade you
of something else. But if He persuades you, Paul
said, I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I
have committed to Him. What did you commit to Him, Paul?
The entire salvation of my soul. If my works enter in, I have
no hope. I put all my eggs in this one basket. does it all. Now, this is the one, this glorious
express image of God's person, the creator of all things, the
one who upholds all things by the word of his power, the heir
of all things. This is the one who is said to
have purged our sins. Now, who is meant by our? when he had by himself purged
our sins. Who is meant by our? You see, not everybody's sins
are purged. There is a place called hell. And there are people in hell. I don't even like to talk about
it. I don't even like to use the word. You know, it's interesting.
Paul never used the word hell. He talked about condemnation
and so on, but he never used the word. He thought the word
was so terrible. The Lord used it quite a bit. But Paul never
used it. And if there's anything that
I find difficult to talk about, it's this thing that there is
a hell. God's just. It's right. I know
that. I can't see it as clearly now
as I will then. There's going to be a time when
I'll see it completely. But I know this. It's God's justice. It's fueled by the justice of
God. And there are people in that
place whose sins have not been purged and they will be there
eternally. There's no such thing as purgatory.
Where people spend perhaps years or 10,000 years or whatever,
and finally, when their sins are finally purged, they get
out. There's no such thing. Who is included in this word,
our, when he had by himself purged our sins? Well, I can answer
that real simply. Everybody he died for. Everybody
whose sins were purged. All of the elect. all of those
the Father gave Him before time began. He said, I lay down my
life for the sins. 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. Now this is so important for
us to understand this thing of Christ dying only for the elect. And the reason we want to make
an issue of that, well, the Bible does. He said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. But if he died for somebody and
they end up in hell, two things that come up to my mind about
it. First, he failed in his intentions. If he intended to save everybody,
and everybody's not saved that he intended to save, then he
didn't get the job done, did he? But here's something that's
real, real, real to me. If he died for somebody that
ends up in hell, I know where I'm going to end up. The only
hope I have is that Christ died for me. I don't have any other
hope. When he had by himself purged
our sins. Now, let me tell you what all
of these people have in common. Whose sins he purged. They need their sins purged. When I introduced this message,
I said the greatest need that I have is to have my sins purged,
blot out, put away, made to be no more. You see, these people
in their own side are all filthy. and defiled by sin. Sinners by birth born that way.
Sinners by nature. Sinners by practice. And there is nothing they can
do about their sins. They are defiled inside and out
by sin and sins and need Him to do for them what only He can
do. Purge! Purge! make to not be their sins. Now, notice the language. When he had by himself purged
our sins. That's all who believe. When
he had by himself purged our sins. Now let me tell you what
he did by being nailed to Calvary's tree. And I want to say this,
I hope I can say this in fear and reverence, but here's what
he did on Calvary's tree. He de-sinned us. He de-sinned
us. Now, Lynn has this stuff called
degreaser. If something's only on the surface,
it can be wiped away. Look good. But when something's
soiled deep down inside and you just can't wipe it away. It takes
that deep greaser to purge it and to put it away. I need my
sins purged. Now, all of the sins of all in
this group, He purged and He did it by burying those sins
in His own body on the tree. Now, this is a great mystery,
but the Scripture says He bore. He bore. My sin in his own body. You know what that means? That
means it left me and it went to him and he became guilty of
those sins. Now, he never sinned. He never
sinned in his person. But my sin became his sin so
that he actually owned it. My iniquities have gone over
my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. Those
are the words of the Lord. My sin actually became his sin. The thing that God hates. He
was made to be. In Gethsemane's garden. As he looked
upon that cup. And sweat great drops of blood. He knew what was in that cup.
He was being called upon to drink. It was the sins of his. He came to bear them in His own
body on the tree. And when He thought about that,
drinking of that cup, sweating great drops of blood in horror
of that anticipation of doing that. Who knows? I don't understand
this. You see, sin... I wish it wasn't
this way, but sin just doesn't bother me that much. We're used
to it. We were born this way. was the
only one who understood what sin is. Me and you don't. He
did, and the horror of being made sin, being separated from
His Father. He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from Me. Now there's something else I
don't understand. We just hear Him say things like that, and
we just fall into His mouth. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. You see, when he bowed his head
on the cross and said, it is finished, all of those sins were
purged, paid for, put away. That means they are no more. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Now understand
this. Justification is not God treating
me as if I never sinned. Justification is, I never sinned. I never sinned. 1 John 3 verse
5 says, He was manifested to take away our sins, and He did
it. In Him is no sin. My sins are not just as if I
never committed them. I stand before God having never
committed them. That's justification. That's
what Christ accomplished on Calvary's tree. And don't miss this important
phrase. when He had by Himself purged
our sins. It would be glorious if it said
He purged our sins, but this is so comforting to me because
it lets me know that I'm not in on this equation. When He
by Himself purged our sins. You see, when He was on Calvary's
tree, He was by Himself. He had no helper. You know, in the garden of Gethsemane,
the angels came and ministered to Him as He swept great drops
of blood. But they're not with Him now. He's by Himself. The Father's
not helping Him. The Father has forsaken Him. He cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? The Father has forsaken him.
He's certainly not helping him. He is totally cut off from his
Father. His people aren't there with
him. They're not saying, we know you're doing this for us and
we love you for it. No, they've all forsaken him
and fled. And he is by himself. In this great work of purging
our sins, He did it by Himself. Not by enabling me or you to
do something that would make what He did work for us. Not at all. Forget doing. Do not think about what you need
to do. Oh, would to God that every one
of us would just strike that from our thoughts right now.
Don't think about what you need to do. If any part of my salvation
is dependent upon me doing something, if my salvation, if the purging
of my sins is dependent upon my faith, Or my repentance? Or my holy living? Or my ability
to stop some sin before I can be saved? I have no hope. None at all. But thank God this
verse of Scripture says, when He had by himself purged our
sins. At a point of time, in a particular
place, Golgotha's Hill, he by himself, with no contribution
from me, with no contribution from you, when he had by himself
purged our sins. What does it say he did? He sat
down. the sitting Savior. He sat down. Now, in the Old Testament Levitical
system, you had a tabernacle, which we know was given to typify
the Lord Jesus Christ. When you entered the courtyard,
there was the altar for sacrifice. And before you could get in to
the holy place, the actual erected structure, you had to be washed
in a laver for washing. Now, I want us to remember that
laver doesn't represent, well, you need to be justified and
that water means you need to get cleaned up and washed out.
No, that laver represents the continual cleansing of the blood
of Christ. That's what that's about. You
don't get in to the holy place by your own works and by how
your life's being cleaned up. Oh, it's only the blood. And
the laver with that water represents the continual washing of His
blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth. Right now, all the time. I need
it all the time, don't you? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now when you got into that tabernacle,
There were different pieces of furniture. There were the candlestick,
Christ our light, the altar of incense, Christ our intercessor,
the table of showbread, Christ our sustenance, the Ark of the
Covenant with the mercy seat, all these different pieces of
furniture. But you know what kind of piece
of furniture wasn't there? A chair. There was no chair. Why? Because
the work of the high priest was never finished. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 10 for just a moment. Verse 11. And every priest, Hebrews 10
and 11, and every priest, without exception, standing daily, ministering
and offering Oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever." Now that is in the perfect tense, perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. That's how complete this work
is. By this one offering, he hath
perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. Look back to Hebrews chapter
9, verse 11, Hebrews 9, 11, but
Christ being coming high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is
to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, But picture this in your mind, but by his own
blood, he entered in once into the holy place. Now, every other
high priest, they bring the blood of an animal sacrifice. This
high priest, like no other high priest, this is the high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. He comes with his own blood and
presents it. to the Father. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once. He didn't
have to go in and out. He entered in once. The job being
completed. He entered in once into the holy
place. Now look at this next statement. Having obtained. I mean, you
got it. Having obtained. Look at the
next word, eternal. Eternal. You know what that means?
Never had a beginning. Means it'll never have an ending.
It's eternal redemption. You see, Christ is a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And this is eternal redemption.
No starting point. You know how long I've been in
Christ? However long eternity is. No
starting point. No ending point. The power of
his blood. Now let's go on reading. For
if by the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an
heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified through the purifying
of the flesh, talking about the ashes of the red heifer, one
of the sacrifices, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God? Purge your conscience. from dead
works to serve the living God. Now, I've got a question. How satisfied was the father with this offering
of his son? How satisfied? Infinitely satisfied. He could ask for no more. Now, going back to the difficult
subject of hell. Hell is eternal. And the reason
hell is eternal is there can never be satisfaction to God.
Murdering His Son. If someone murdered your child,
and they said after 20 years in prison, or 100 years in prison,
or after 10 million dollars restitution, Are you satisfied? You'd say,
no, no. There is no satisfaction. Sin
is such an infinite evil. You're payment because of who
you are, because who I am, we can never satisfy God. But he did. God was completely
satisfied with what he did. He was completely satisfied with
what he did. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. He is the propitiation. He is
the price. And he didn't do half of what
was needed or 99% of what is needed. He shall see the travail
of his soul and be completely satisfied. Just as he saw what he did in
creation was very good, this is why he rested. He saw that
the purging of sins was very good what he did. Completely
satisfied. Left nothing undone. And he sat
down. Because the work was finished. He sat down. Now somebody thinks Okay. What am I to do then? You haven't given me anything
at all to do. What am I to do then? Nothing. Nothing. But believe that God
is satisfied with what he did. And you don't look for anything
else. Do not make resolutions about how you'll change and live
better. Do not think there's something that you must do to
make His work work for you. Don't think that there's something
you could add to His glorious work. Don't do anything but be
satisfied. Satisfied with what He did. God's satisfied. He's satisfied. And you're not? Come on now. That's contrary to resting in
Him. You and I are to find our satisfaction
in the same thing that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit find
satisfaction in. When He had by Himself purged our sins. He sat down. Rest. There's nothing you can do to
add to that. Rest. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
purging of sins accomplished by our Redeemer. Lord, teach
us what it is to rest in him and glory only in his cross. Lord, we pray for your mercy,
your favor to be upon us. We pray for your blessing upon
this assembly. We pray for your blessing on
the health of thy servant. We pray for your healing hand
to continually be upon him. And Lord, unite our hearts together
to fear thy name. We pray for your will to be done
in all this. Lord, we don't understand what
all is going on, but we know you're in control. And we pray
that we might be enabled to walk with you, to rest in you, to
glorify you.