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've entitled the message for
this morning, Keeping the Ordinances. Our text is found in 1 Corinthians
11, verse two, where Paul says to the church of Corinth, now
I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things
and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Now, Paul is going
to go on to criticize them. for many things in this book. You could read the rest of 1
Corinthians and you could find many things that he's criticizing
them for. As a matter of fact, in this
same chapter, he says, when you come together, this is not for
the better, but for the worse. So he does commend them for keeping
the ordinances. Now, what is an ordinance? The word ordinance is translated
every other time it's used in the scripture, tradition. Tradition. And quite often this is used
in a bad sense in the Bible. The Lord said in verse eight
of Mark chapter seven to the Pharisees, how be it in vain
do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men. man-made rules. For laying aside the commandment
of God, you hold the tradition of men." And he goes on to explain
what he meant by that. So quite often the word ordinances,
as a matter of fact, every other time it's translated tradition. the tradition of men. And quite
often that's a bad thing, but he also uses it in a good sense.
Let me read a passage of Scripture from II Thessalonians 2, verse
15, which you have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle." You see, when Paul wrote this, the
canon of scripture had not yet been completed. And he said,
listen to what we say, whether it's what we've said orally or
what we've written. But now the canon is closed,
and we don't have to listen to man-made thoughts. And that is
what he's referring to at this time. This is God's Word. I'm
so thankful for the Scripture, and it's a closed revelation.
There will be no new revelations. This is a closed revelation. Now, what does he say I praise
you that you hold the traditions. You remember me all things and
hold the traditions, the ordinances, which you have been taught. Now with regard to public worship,
how much of what goes on is nothing more than a manmade tradition. What about denominations? Where do you find those in the
Bible? Those are human traditions. Now in the Bible, in public worship,
we don't have a manual as to how it should be conducted, but
we have the reading of the word, we have singing, we have public
prayer, we have the preaching of the word, which is what worship
is centered around. I think it's interesting that
in many religious institutions today the worship leader is called
the song leader and not seeing the significance of the preaching
of the word. If something is not in the Bible,
it shouldn't be done. And then there are what is called
the ordinances. These are things with tangible
materials that we use, baptism and the Lord's table. Baptism,
being immersed in water and coming back up. The Lord's table, eating
the bread, drinking the wine in obedience to the commandment
of the Lord. These are the ordinances. Now, Paul, as I said, had been
rebuking them for many things, but he does commend them for
keeping the ordinances, baptism and the Lord's table. Now, In
the Old Testament, there were many physical rites. Look at the tabernacle and all
the paraphernalia in the tabernacle and the temple and the feast
days and the holy days. And there were so many rules
regarding what you could eat, what you couldn't eat, what you
could touch, what you couldn't touch, what would defile you
to where you wouldn't be allowed to participate in public worship. There were so many rites, there
were so many ceremonies, there were so many sacrifices. And
those have all been done away with. When Christ came, they
were all fulfilled. These were all given to picture
some aspect of the person and work of Christ. And now that
he's come, they're done away with. When people try to observe
ordinances they find in the Old Testament, well, let's keep the
Passover. Let's keep the Feast of Booths. Let's do some kind
of Old Testament ceremony. That's wrong. It's all been fulfilled
in Christ. But as I can see in the New Testament,
there are two ordinances that must be kept. Baptism. table. Now, there are some religious
institutions that say there are more than two ordinances. For instance, the Catholic Church
has seven ordinances, baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist,
what we call the Lord's table, penance, confirmation, anointing
the sick, Matrimony, holy orders. There's some religious institutions
that add the washing of one another's feet as an ordinance that should
be practiced in the church. And I think it's interesting
that these things are called both sacraments and ordinances. Now, what is the distinction
there? What is a sacrament? What is an ordinance? What is
the difference between the two? The word sacrament means a means
through which grace is conveyed. In other words, if I am baptized,
grace is conveyed to me through keeping that right, or the Lord's
table. When you eat the bread and drink
the wine, grace is actually conveyed through those acts. Now, my dear
friends, that's just not right. That's not what the Scripture
teaches regarding these things. They're not sacraments. They're
not means of grace. If you are baptized scripturally
and take the Lord's table scripturally, that does not mean grace is conferred
to you through that act. That's just another form of salvation
by works. And that's why it's very important
not to call these things sacraments. Grace is not conveyed through
these things. They are ordinances. like a city ordinance, a city
command. They are what the Lord commands
us to observe. I am commanded to be baptized
by the Lord, and I am commanded to observe the Lord's Supper. There's no saving efficacy in
either. They're not means of grace. Grace is not conveyed
through the keeping of them. They're not sacraments. but they
are ordinances which every believer is commanded to observe. And I love the simplicity of
these two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Table. Baptism
represents me in Christ. The Lord's Table represents Christ
in me. Now those two transcendent, glorious
truths that cannot be separated, the very pith and marrow, the
very heart and soul of the gospel is me in Christ, united to him
and Christ in me. Now, baptism. The word means
immersion. When people are sprinkled, they
are not baptized. You see, baptism represents death.
When someone dies, you don't sprinkle dirt. You put them all
the way under. Baptism represents death. Baptism represents union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who should be baptized? Now,
baptism means immersed. You're brought under the water.
Baptize yourself. You don't get under the water
and get back up and say, well, I've been baptized. That's not
baptism. Somebody must baptize you. You're passive in this thing.
You're held by them. They bring you under the water.
They bring you back up. Baptism is a picture of union
with Jesus Christ. I'm saying that when he lived,
I was in him. That's my only hope, that when
he kept the law, I kept the law. That when he obeyed God's law
perfectly, I obeyed God's law perfectly because I was in him,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. My only hope is that I'm in him
so that when God sees me, he sees me as in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So really all God sees is his
son and he sees me in him. This is what baptism signifies.
I was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who should be baptized? Believers.
There's nothing in the Bible about infants being baptized.
There's so many religious institutions that practice that, the baptism
of infants. And if you do that, you don't
have any scriptural precedent for it. There's not one example
of anything like that, and I've heard people say, well, it takes
the place of circumcision. Well, show me that in the Bible.
The Bible doesn't say anything like that. Baptism is for believers,
and we confess that our only hope is what is taught in baptism. I'm in Him. Now, somebody says,
well, how do I get in Christ? Well, you can't put yourself
in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. The only way you
can be in Christ is if God put you in Christ. And if God put
you in Christ, you've been in Christ eternally, according as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. Now in Christ, when He lived,
I lived. When He kept the law, I kept
the law. Now, what happens in baptism?
You're brought under the water. That represents the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. When he died, I died. When he was punished, my sins
were punished. When he took my sins and made
them his own and was punished, I was punished in him. God's wrath came down upon him
and me and him for my sins. That's why he died. Now, in baptism,
this is so important, when someone is immersed, we don't hold them
under. we bring them back up out of
the water. And that represents the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, not only was I in Him when
He lived, so that when He kept the law, I kept the law. And
I was in Him when He died. When He was punished under the
wrath of God and put to death, I was too. I was crucified with
him. Paul said that. He said, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. This shows both what baptism
in the Lord's table signifies. When he died, I died, but when
he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead, too.
You see, the Scripture says we were quickened together with
Him in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only hope I have.
It has nothing to do with my works. It has nothing to do with
the fact that I'm a preacher. It has nothing to do with anything
that I do or think. My salvation is wholly found
in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what baptism represents. Romans chapter 4 verse 25 says
He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. Now who is the our? Everybody
He represented, all of God's elect. all of those given to
him before the foundation of the world, those he called my
sheep. He was delivered for our offenses.
He wasn't delivered for everybody's offenses because if he was, everybody
would be delivered. Everybody would be saved. This
is talking about his people. Remember Matthew 1 21 says, I
shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins. And that's exactly what he did.
He was delivered for our offenses. Now this is the heritage of every
believer. He was delivered for our offenses.
My offenses, my sins became His. And He was delivered up to death
to the cross. They put Him in the grave. He
was delivered for our offenses. But do you know when He died?
He did something no one else has ever done. He never went
through the process of decay. Why? Because the moment he died,
full payment was made. Full satisfaction was made. And because of that, he was raised
from the dead, and the scripture says he was delivered for our
offenses, and he was raised again for our justification. Now what does that mean, raised
for our justification? This is a biblical word and it's
one of the most glorious words in the scripture. Justification
means I stand, if I'm justified, if he paid for my sins and was
raised again for my justification, I stand before God as one who
has never committed a sin. I stand as one who, before God,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. Everybody that
Jesus Christ died for, that is who they are in God's sight.
Holy. Unblameable. and unreprovable
in his sight. You see, I have the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ as my personal righteousness before
God. Now that's what baptism signifies. You know the passage in Mark
1 where it says, they were baptized of him, confessing their sins.
Now, think of this. Does that mean before they were
baptized, they had to make confession before men publicly of all their
personal sins, all the things they'd have done, and then try
to come clean with God by confessing all your sins? My dear friends,
that's foolishness. You should never confess your
sins before any man. You confess your sins before
God, but you should never confess your sins before any man. And
somebody who wants you to do that, there's something twisted
about that. There's something dark about that. No, you confess
your sins before God. But as far as the confession
of sin, You don't even know what they all are. If you had to confess
each one of your sins individually, there's not enough hours in the
day to get it done, and plus you don't know what they all
are in the first place. So what does it mean they were baptized
of him confessing their sins? It means this. I confess that I am so sinful that the
only way I can be saved is by what Christ did in my behalf,
that when he lived, I was in him. When He was nailed to that
cross, I was crucified with Him. My sin became His sin. When He died, I died. When He made full satisfaction
by His sin-atoning death, that's why God is satisfied with me. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised with Him. I'm so sinful that the only way
I can be saved is by being in the Lord Jesus Christ where He
does it all. Now that is what baptism is. It's The confession of my only
hope is that I am in Him. And really, baptism is the believer's
public confession of Christ, this act of baptism. It's not
walking down the aisle and shaking the preacher's hand and responding
to an altar call. That is, and standing before
the church and telling them all what the Lord has done for you.
No, baptism itself is the believer's public confession of Christ. He is all in my salvation. I love what happened when the
Lord was baptized. I love to think of this when
the Lord comes up to John the Baptist and asked him to baptize
him. And John the Baptist said, I
have need to be baptized of thee. And askest thou me? And the Lord
said, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. And John baptized him. And I
love the way he said, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
When he fulfilled all righteousness, the us is everybody he represented.
And the Lord was baptized to identify. It's not that he was
an unbeliever. He was identifying himself with
us. Our hope is that we're in him, and he's telling us that
is your hope. And when he was raised out of the water, there
came a voice from heaven, this is my beloved son. in whom I
am well pleased." Now notice he didn't say with whom I'm well
pleased, he said in whom I'm well pleased. And if I'm baptized,
water baptism by immersion, I'm confessing that all of my hope
is that God is well pleased with me simply for this one reason,
I am in Him. Now that is what baptism signifies. And if you're a believer, you
are commanded to confess Christ in believer's baptism. This is
your confession of Him. Now the other ordinance with
tangible elements that the churches commanded to keep, and these
are very important because the Lord commands us to do them.
Somebody says, do they save us? No, they don't, but the Lord
still commands us to observe these ordinances. First, baptism,
and second, what is called the Lord's Table or the Lord's Supper. And he instituted this on the
night before he was arrested. And in this, he said, bread,
unleavened bread, wine, not grape juice, fermented wine. It was
done at night. The same night Jesus was betrayed,
he took bread and he took wine. And he said with regard to that
bread, this is my body, symbolically, symbolically, this is my body
broken for you. This do, take, eat, this do in
remembrance of me. And then he took the wine and
he said, this wine is the cup of the New Testament in my blood,
shed for many. Now that wine didn't turn into
blood. It's what it represented. This
cup is the New Testament in my blood. Drink ye all of it. This do in remembrance of me. Now remember baptism is you and
Christ. The Lord's table is Christ in
you. You take this bread into you. It becomes a part of you. It can't be taken away. You drink
the wine and it goes into you. It becomes a part of you and
it can't be taken away. Now that is symbolic. That doesn't
mean the literal blood of Christ goes into me or the literal broken
body of Christ goes into me, but here's what I'm saying. Here's
what I'm saying in taking the Lord's table. I'm saying the
only hope that I have is the broken body and the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it's a celebration.
I'm celebrating this, that everything God requires of me, I have because
of the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
how important is this? He said, this do as oft as ye
do it in remembrance of me. In me, by his grace, Christ in
me. And here's the evidence that
Christ is in me. The evidence is that I have no other hope
but the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If I have some other hope, Christ is not in me. I've not yet been
born again. I've not yet been given a revelation
of who God is and who I am. Nothing's ever happened until
from the very depths of my soul, all my salvation is in the broken
body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think it's,
I don't know if the word unfortunate is the right word to use, but
people use the Lord's table as a means of discipline. If you're
not living right, you shouldn't take the Lord's table. You'll
be having people in churches and they'll be saying, you know,
if you're not living right, if you're not up to snuff, you shouldn't
take the Lord's table. Now wait a minute. Since when does some man have
the ability to judge whether or not some other man ought or
ought not to take the Lord's table? That is, it's the Lord's
table. It's not a church's table. It's
not the preacher's table. It's the Lord's table. And the Lord said, let a man
examine himself. He said this through Paul, not
others. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat. I remember
when I was a young believer, I would read that scripture.
If you eat and drink the Lord's table unworthily, you eat and
drink damnation to yourself. And it used to scare me to death.
And I didn't even want to take the Lord's table because somehow
I thought, well, You need to be good enough. Your life needs
to be right. You need to have some kind of
purity of life before you're allowed to take the Lord's table.
And do you know that that's a complete denial of what the Lord's table
means in the first place? I confess that my only hope is
the broken body of Christ, that He paid for my sins, and the
shed blood of Christ, that His blood actually accomplished my
salvation. And that's what I rejoice in.
That's what I hope in. Now, these are the two ordinances,
not sacraments. Not means through which grace
is conveyed, but these are the two ordinances. Baptism. Baptism by immersion, signifying
me in Christ. All my hope is found in me being
in Christ. I completely understand what
Paul meant when he said in Philippians chapter 3 verse 9, Oh that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking for
me, there's only one place I want Him to find me. Somebody may
think, well, I'd love for him to come and find me reading the
Bible or praying or witnessing or performing some good work.
Paul said, not me. I want to be found in Christ. And that's what baptism signifies.
Oh, that I might be found in him so that all God sees when
he sees me is he sees his blessed son. Baptism. The Lord's table. That's Christ in me. I take the bread, I eat it. I
take the wine, I drink it. It becomes part of me and it
cannot be taken away. And here's the evidence that
Christ is in me. I look to him only. I look to his broken body. I
look to His shed blood as the only reason for my salvation,
and I trust Him. I trust that all God requires
of me, I have because of the broken body and shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The ordinances, baptism, and
the Lord's table. To receive a copy of the sermon
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