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. I'm reading from John chapter
13. We read in verse 1, now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was
come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved His own, which were in the world He loved them unto
the end. And supper being ended, they
had finished this last Passover supper, the devil having now
put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from
God and went to God, he riseth from supper, and laid aside his
garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. And after that
he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Now, what I want to call your
attention to is verse two, Supper being ended, the devil having
now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray
him. I've entitled this message, The
Lord's Use of the Devil. The title is important. the Lord's
use of the devil. There is a being called the devil,
a real being, and he put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to
betray the Lord Jesus Christ, and it worked. Judas did, in
fact, betray Christ, and it was foretold in the Old Testament
scriptures that this event would take place. Now, why did Judas
do this? He'd walked with Christ for three
years. Why did he do this? Well, because
the devil put it in his heart. You see, he's called the adversary,
and he hates Jesus Christ, and he wanted to destroy him. But
when the devil did this, he was doing, listen real carefully,
He was doing what God predestinated beforehand for him to do. God was completely sovereign
over all of his actions. It was foreordained that the
devil would do this with Judas in order to bring about God's
purposes. Now, the devil and God are not
battling. The devil's a creature. God created
him. He fell. He's doing God's will,
doing God's purpose. He's God's devil on God's chain,
doing God's will. Now, think of the passage of
Scripture in Acts 4, verse 27, regarding the crucifixion of
Christ. of a truth against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." Now, everything that happened to Christ in His
crucifixion, when they drove the nails in His hands and feet,
when they pressed the crown of thorns on His head, when they
lacerated Him with the cat of nine tails. Everything was what
God's hand and counsel determined before to be done. Satan no doubt
inspired them to do this because Satan hates Jesus Christ and
wants him dead. But Satan is God's devil doing
God's will. The Lord's use of the devil.
Now it's my desire to preach the gospel from this. May God
enable me to do it. There is a being called the devil,
the adversary of God, the adversary of believers. Peter said, your
adversary, the devil. The word devil means the accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren. And he is a creature just like
you and I are. He is a creature. He was created
innocent. We're going to consider that
in the next few moments. And he fell, just like Adam fell. He fell. And he's not contending
with God in the sense that there's a Fight between good and evil. He's God's devil on God's chain
doing God's will. Romans 8, verse 28 says, All
things, including the actions of the devil, all things, work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Now, when he put it in Jesus'
heart to betray Christ, he had malicious intent. He hated Jesus
Christ and wanted to destroy him, but he was under the sovereign
control of him who brings good out of evil. Joseph said to his
brothers who betrayed him, you meant it for evil. You didn't
have any good motive in this. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. It was not you that sent me hither,
but God. Now, I do not want to be in any
way dismissive of this being. Let me give you his titles in
the scripture. He's called Satan, the adversary,
the devil, the accuser of the brethren, the day star, the son
of the morning, Lucifer, an angel of light, the tempter, Prince
of darkness, Beelzebul, the evil one, the enemy, the liar, the
father of lies, the deceiver, the murderer, the prince of this
world, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, Belial, the roaring lion, Apollyon, Abaddon, the dragon,
the serpent, the old serpent, the deceiver of the world, the
father of unbelievers. You remember when the Lord said,
you are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father,
you will do. Now concerning this being, the
devil, let me assure you, he's far too much for us to handle.
In Jude verse 9 we read, Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil, he disputed when he disputed about the body of
Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, saying,
The Lord rebuke thee. Even Michael the archangel would
not try to go hand to hand with the devil. He said, The Lord
rebuke you. When I hear preachers say, We rebuke you, devil, I
think he's got you by the nose when you say things like that.
You have no idea what you're talking about. And the Lord said,
in Luke chapter 10, verse 18, to his disciples, I beheld Satan,
as lightning fall from heaven. Now he tells his disciples, I
saw the fall of Satan. And I believe this is what John
refers to in Revelation 12, verses 3 and 4, when he said, Behold,
a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven
crowns upon his head, and his tail drew the third part of the
stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. This is talking
about his fall, and him taking a third of the angels with him. I love the way 1 Timothy 5, verse
21 speaks of the angels that did not fall as the elect angels. The reason they didn't fall is
they were chosen not to fall. They would have fallen with the
fallen ones, with Lucifer, had not God prevented it. They are
the elect angels. Now in Isaiah 14, Isaiah is prophesying,
I'd like to read this, of the fall of the king of Babylon.
No doubt, he's talking about a literal king, but he's also
talking about the true king of the spiritual Babylon. And we
read in verse 12 of Isaiah chapter 14, How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down
to the ground which did weaken nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation and the sides of the north. I will send above
the heights of the cloud. I will be like the Most High. Now this is Satan's desire. I will be like the Most High,
yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. Now, this was Satan's desire. This is why Satan fell. He said
in his heart, I'm going to be like God. I'm going to sit on
his throne. And he was cast down to hell
because of it. Now, I think this is very interesting.
He uses the same temptation that he had with Eve in the garden. Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent,
this was talking about the devil. This was used in the fall of
man. God was in control of all of this. Satan didn't know this,
but he was being used by God to perform God's purposes. In
Genesis 2, verse 17, the Lord said with regard to the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, In the day you eat thereof,
you shall surely die." He didn't say, if you eat thereof. He said,
when you do, you shall surely die. This was all a part of God's
eternal purpose. He is in control of all things
at all times. The devil was under his control
at this time as well. But look at the way he tempts
Eve. Just because he's under God's
control doesn't mean he's not responsible for his actions.
God is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of demons and men. Now here we have Serpent. Now
the Serpent And at this time, he wasn't on his belly. That
wasn't until after the fall. The curse said, you'll crawl
on your belly. At this time, I believe he was
a beautiful creature. And he could talk. And I'm sure that
caught Eve's attention as the serpent. I don't know what he
looked like at this time, but he talked. Now, the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said you
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Now, what I want
us to notice is he changed what God said. He said, did God say
you can't eat of any of these trees? No, he gave a commandment
with regard to one tree. You see, that one tree was the
acknowledgement that you're under my authority. God is saying to
Adam and Eve, you can have all of these trees, you can eat all
the fruit, what paradise, but there's one tree you can't eat
of, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You're going
to see that you are under my absolute authority, even though
you get to freely eat of every tree. Now, here's the woman's
reply, verse two. And the woman said unto the serpent,
we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. God didn't
say you can't eat of any tree, we get to eat of all the tree.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God has said you shall not eat of it, neither shall
you touch it, lest you die. We did have a commandment with
regard to that one tree. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. Now, he contradicts what God
said. You shall not surely die. God's
holding out on you. Here's what's taking place. Here's
why he doesn't want you to eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. For God doth know that in the day you eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as
God's knowing good and evil. You see right now, all you know
is good. You're just following your nature.
God created you upright, and all you know is good. But if
you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you'll know
good and evil. And this is what's gonna make
you like God. You will choose the good over the evil, and that'll
make you like God. You see, there's no moral purity
in you right now. You're just obeying your nature.
But if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
you'll have a free will, and you'll be able to choose the
good over the evil, and that is what will make you like God.
Now, that's a deceptive, deceitful way of tricking her. And the
temptation was free will. You'll have free will. That'll
make you like God. And you know, if you have free
will, that means you're not subject to God's will. That means he's
not in control over you. You're your own free person.
Now, let's go on reading. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat, and their eyes were both opened and they knew
they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. Now, they were naked before they
ate the fruit. And the scriptures say that they
were not ashamed. You see, them being naked was not an issue
because they did not have sinful natures. But now that they've
eaten the fruit, remember God said, in the day you eat thereof,
you'll surely die. And it wasn't physical death.
It was spiritual death. And now they're ashamed of their
nakedness because of their new sinful nature. And they try to
come up with ways to cover their nakedness. That's salvation by
works, to provide your own self with a covering. So Satan's method
of operation was to tempt them in this way, you'll have a free
will." And his work succeeded. Now we read in Revelation 20
verse 10, the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone with the beast and the false prophet are and
shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. That is going
to be his end. But he still tempted Eve with
this and was successful. He tempted her with the same
thing he wanted to do. I'll be like God. You'll be like
God's. Now, everything Satan does is
under the control of God's sovereignty. I'm so thankful when Judas Betrayed Christ, Satan put it
in his heart, and the reason Satan put it in his heart is
because God is absolutely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men and demons. And this was all a part of the
accomplishment of His purpose. Now remember, Jesus Christ is
called in Revelation 13, verse 8, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. This has always been God's purpose,
for His Son to come here and die to accomplish salvation,
to glorify Himself. And Satan is God's pawn at this
time. He doesn't know it. But he's
God's pawn performing God's will. While I'm very afraid of Satan,
I'm a whole lot more afraid of the Lord. And I know this, Satan
is God's devil doing God's will on God's chain. And he can't
do a thing without God's permission. Do you remember how the Lord
said to Peter, Satan has desired to have thee? Literally, he's
asked permission to have you. He couldn't do a thing without
the Lord's permission. Do you remember in the book of
Job, the Lord brought it up to Satan, have you considered my
servant Job? You see, he was going to accomplish
his purpose through what Satan would do to him to teach us more
of the gospel. Satan is God's creature under
God's sovereign control. I'm so thankful for that. I would
be so afraid if that weren't the case. Now, I want us to end
by considering how Satan works. Most people, when they think
of the devil, they think of a red creature with horns and a pitchfork
and a pointed tail and trying to influence people to do wicked
practices like the occult or inspiring Manson-like murders
or dark sexual perversions. And indeed, he is in all that,
but all he's got to do is leave a man to himself. And that's
the direction he'll go. That's the direction you and
I'll go if God doesn't prevent it. But we read more of his method
of operation in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13. Paul says, for
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. and no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light." You know what Satan's
main sphere of operation is? The pulpit. He's transformed
as a preacher, an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing
if his ministers, false preachers, also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. whose end shall be according
to their works." So we see Satan's main sphere of operation is not
in the bars, it's in the pulpit, in churches, bringing his false
message. In this same chapter, Paul says
in verse two to the Corinthians, for I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,
but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Now this is Satan's great desire
to corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ. You see, he
doesn't know whether or not we are true believers. He doesn't
know whether or not we're the elect of God. He doesn't have
any access to the Lamb's Book of Life, so he can examine whose
names are written there. If he knew someone was the elect
of God infallibly, he wouldn't bother with them. He would know
they would be saved anyway. But he doesn't know. And his
great desire is to corrupt men and women from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. Now what does that mean? The simplicity that's in Christ
Jesus. It means the singleness. the singularity, the onlyness
of Christ Jesus. He seeks to corrupt from the
simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. Now, not only is Christ Jesus
all we need, He's all we have. And if we add anything to that,
we have been corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus Corruption from the simplicity of Christ is the introduction
of the word and. Christ and. No longer simple. Now complex. Now compound. That's corruption from the simplicity
of Christ. Christ and. You know, the Lord
said, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. What does that mean? If there's something that came
before him in your salvation, you did something, then he saved
you. Something came before him, it's a thief and a robber. If there's something you first
did that caused God to respond to you, to help you in your salvation,
Christ says it's a thief and it's a robber. It's a corruption
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. If there is something
you must first do, Before Christ can do something for you, that's
a thief and a robber. It's corruption from the simplicity
that's in Christ Jesus. I love what Paul said, he is
before all things. Whatever it is, he's before it
because he's all. Now, Christ is the reason for
creation. All things were created by Him
and for Him, not Christ and Christ is the only reason for creation
for His glory. The reason for God choosing a
people before time began is Christ alone. Not because he foresaw
I'd be good or I'd be a preacher or anything of that nature. I
was chosen in him. Christ is the reason for election. Christ is the reason for redemption.
It's his precious blood that put away my sin. Not something
I did, something that he did only. Christ is the reason for
justification. He was delivered from my offenses
and raised again for our justification. I stand before God as one who
has never sinned. And there's only one reason for
that. Christ only. No other reason. Christ is the reason I'm born
again. I did not become born again because
I decided to become born again. I'm born again because God birthed
me into the kingdom of heaven for Christ's sake. The work of
God the Holy Spirit for Christ's sake. He is the only reason.
Christ is the reason I'm preserved. I'm not preserved because of
my goodness, I'm preserved for His sake. He's the one who's
able to keep me from falling and present me faultless before
the presence of His glory. Christ alone is the object of
faith. Christ alone is what repentance is all about. You repent of anything
other than Christ alone. The reason for forgiveness is
Christ alone. The only ground of assurance
is Christ alone. The only motive for obedience
is Christ alone. The subject of Scripture is Christ
alone. The subject of true preaching
is Christ alone. Who gets the glory and salvation
is Christ alone. And Satan's great desire is to
corrupt us from the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. Now,
what is the simplicity that's in Christ? I have only one reason
why God loves me, Christ. I have only one reason why my
sins are forgiven, Christ. I have only one righteousness,
Christ's righteousness. I have only one hope, that Christ
died for me. I have only one ground of assurance,
Christ only. The simplicity that's in Christ.
Now, this being, Satan, he's real. I'm thankful he's God's
devil on God's chain doing God's will. He is under God's authority. He can't do anything without
permission from the Lord. But I know his great desire and
his great goal and his great end is to corrupt men and women
from the simplicity of Christ and cause them to look to Christ
and. And the moment it's Christ and,
You've been corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus. May the Lord deliver us from
being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. To receive a copy of the sermon
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