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, When Do We Understand? Let me read my text from John
chapter 12, verse 16. These things understood not his
disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified. Let me repeat that. When Jesus
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written
of him and that they had done these things unto him. When do we understand? Now how
many times have you thought to yourself with regard to the Bible,
I just do not understand it. How many times have you heard
preachers preach and thought to yourself, I do not understand. I've thought that so many times. I do not understand. When do we understand? Well, this
scripture I just read tells us, these things understood not his
disciples at first. Now, what are these things that
they did not understand? This is talking about the triumphant
entry into Jerusalem. when the Lord came into Jerusalem
riding on a donkey, and all the people were praising him and
saying, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Oh, they were so excited. And
these same people would soon be crying, crucify him. These ones that were shouting
his praise would just in not much more than a couple of days
be saying, Crucify him. Crucify him. They didn't understand. The disciples didn't understand.
When they saw all of a sudden the Lord having all this popularity,
they were thinking, where's this coming from? They didn't understand. The Pharisees didn't understand.
Verse 19, the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive
ye not how we prevail nothing? Behold, the world's gone after
him. We failed. You see, These people at this
time believed this to be a political movement. When he was coming
into Jerusalem and they were shouting his accolades, they
thought, we have a Messiah that's going to deliver us from Roman
oppression. It's kind of like our party's
winning now. We're in good shape. We'll be delivered from Roman
oppression. We'll be saved from Rome. They
wanted to be saved from Rome, but they didn't want to be saved
from their sins. You see, they thought he was a political Messiah
that would help them. They did not understand. The
disciples didn't understand. The scripture says they understood
not these things at first until Jesus was glorified. That's when they understood. Now, the Pharisees didn't understand. They said, we failed. We failed,
now the whole world's gone after him. They were looking at this
as being something we need to stop to help ourselves politically
so we can keep our nation and our place, but we failed, we've
lost. Now, what's going on during this
time is the euphoria of politics. My side's won. A better day's
coming. And they did not understand the
nature of his kingdom. They did not understand who he
is. They did not understand why he came. They did not understand
what he accomplished. The disciples understood. The
crowd will never understand. The religious will never understand,
but his true disciples understood when Jesus was glorified. The shout of Hosanna came from
Psalm 118, verse 25. Hosanna is the Hebrew for save
now. They thought the Savior has come
to save us from this political oppression from Rome. The Savior has come. Now, he
comes riding on a donkey and John does not give us the detail
that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all give. Let me read what Matthew,
Mark, and Luke all tell about this event. He sent two of his
disciples saying, go ye into the village over against you
in which at your entering in, you shall find a colt tied. Whereon
yet never man set, loose him, and bring him hither. And if
any man ask you, why do you loosen? Thus shall you say unto him,
because the Lord hath need of him. Now, before he enters into
Jerusalem on this donkey, he tells his disciples what to do.
You go loosen. If somebody says, what are you
doing? Say, the Lord has need of him. Well, the people did
ask them that. They answered, and they brought this donkey
to the Lord Jesus, and unbeknownst to them, this was a fulfilling
of a prophecy. Now, notice it says in verse
13, they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet
him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh
in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he found a young
ass, sat thereon as it is written. Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold,
thy king cometh sitting on an asses' coat. Let me read this
passage in Zechariah 9, verse 9. We read, Rejoice greatly,
not simply rejoice, but rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion,
the church, every believer. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. Now here's something to rejoice
greatly in. To everyone who needs a Savior,
thy King cometh to thee. Now I want to come to him, but
I know dead sure that I can't come to him unless he first comes
to me. I need him to come to me. Like the good Samaritan who came
to the man in the ditch, the scripture says he came to him
where he was, in his inability, in his need, in his helplessness. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion, thy King cometh to thee. Now this is something that I
need. I need him to come to me where I am, not where I should
be. I can't get where I should be.
I need him to come to me where I am, dead in trespasses and
sins, and do something for me. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having
salvation. Now this King that's coming is
absolutely just, and His salvation is a just salvation. You see,
if God saves me, my sin will be punished. He's not going to
just sweep it under the carpet and pretend like it didn't happen.
He is absolutely just, and His salvation is a just salvation,
having salvation, a just salvation. And it says He's lowly. The Lord
Jesus Christ is humble, and meek, and lowly. That's why sinners
feel comfortable around him. The Pharisees didn't, but this
man receiveth sinners and eateth with him. They didn't feel judged
around the Lord Jesus Christ. He's meek and lowly, riding upon
an ass, and upon the coat, the fold of an ass. Now, I love the
way this king is just. Just, having salvation. He is
the one who has made the way for God to be just and justify
the ungodly only in the Bible, is Job's question answered. How
then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that
is born of a woman? Now, if I'm sinful, and I know
I am, present tense, right now as I'm talking to you. If I am
sinful, how is it that God can see me as one without sin, one
who has never sinned, one who is clean before him? Now, only
the Bible answers that question. In God making the way to be just
and justify the ungodly, Isaiah tells us that he is a just God
and a savior. Now, this king who is just, And
having salvation is lowly, humble, and meek. And he comes to thee
riding on an ass, on a donkey. Not like a human king and deliverer.
He's not riding on a big white stallion in military pomp, showing
everybody how great he is, but upon a donkey. This is not the
kind of deliverer they expected, is it? They expected a mighty
military king to come in on a white stallion. But here the king of
kings comes, meek, lowly, upon a donkey, just yet having salvation. Now we read in verse 14, and
Jesus, when he found a young ass, saith thereon, as it's written,
fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh. sitting on an
ass's colt. Verse 16, these things understood
not the disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified. That's when they understood.
And you and I will understand when we have some understanding
of this thing of Jesus being glorified. Now, the Lord had
glory before this event took place, and before the event of
His actual glorification. John 7, verse 39 says Jesus was
not yet glorified. You see, He was not glorified
until His death. That's the glorification of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm gonna have to understand,
if I'm gonna understand, how Jesus is glorified by dying. not just by coming to the earth,
but by dying, what he accomplished, what his death said, and what
his resurrection said. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ had
glory before he was glorified. He spake in his great high priestly
prayer for his people, the glory I had with thee before the world
was, before there was time, before there was minutes and seconds
and hours and days and months. He had glory with the Father
in eternity because of who He is. He said, Thou lovest me from
the foundation of the world. You see, Jesus Christ is God
the Son. equal with God because He is
God. The Bible reveals that God is
one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
said this regarding God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who had
glory with the Father before the foundation of the world.
He's described as who being the brightness of His glory. and the express image of his
person. Paul said in Colossians, he's
the image of the invisible God. Now, all you and I will ever
see of God is Jesus Christ. This was the back part of God's
glory that Moses saw when the Lord put him in the cleft of
the rock and proclaimed the name of the Lord before him, he saw
the back parts of God's glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
when Peter and James and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration
and the scripture says the Lord's face began to shine as the sun
and his Clothing became white as light. His deity, His glory,
burst through His humanity and they were given a glimpse of
His glory. This is the glory that John spoke
of when he said, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us
and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the glory
Paul spoke of when he said, God who command the light to shine
out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus Christ had glory before
this glorification that John speaks of. In John 7, verse 39,
it says, he was not yet glorified. Now, how is it that he has glory
before he was glorified, yet he was not yet glorified? He said in John 12, verse 23,
the hour has come. Father, glorify Thy Son. The hour for which the universe
was created is come for Jesus Christ to be nailed to a cross. That's the reason for the creation
of the world. for Jesus Christ to come and
be nailed to a cross. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and now He's coming to be the Lamb
slain in time. Now, I hope I say this with the
most profound reverence, but the death of Jesus Christ, Him
being nailed to a cross, that cross being lifted up in the
air and set in a stand, and Him dying on that cross, the death
of Jesus Christ is the most God-like thing God ever did. Now ponder that. The death of
Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, on the hill of Golgotha,
the place of the skull, is the most God-like thing God ever
did. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
is when He was glorified. Now, he said in John chapter
17, verse four, in his great high priestly prayer for his
people, right before his death, he said to his father, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. The Father gave him a work to
do and he finished it. He glorified God by finishing
the work God gave him to do. He said in John 4, verse 34,
my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and finish his
work. You will remember what the Lord
said or actually cried from the cross right before he gave up
the ghost and died and said, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He cried with a loud voice, it
is finished. The work that the Father gave
me to do Here's his cry, it is finished. Now, what was the work
the Father gave him to do? Well, we read in Matthew 1, verse
21, the very opening chapter of the New Testament. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, Savior is what the name means, for he shall
save. his people from their sins. And that's the work the Father
gave him to do. And the Father did this to glorify himself.
Yes, we are the recipients of the benefits of that. But the
Father did this to glorify Himself. You see, when Jesus Christ was
dying on the cross, He was glorifying His Father. He was glorifying
every attribute of His Father. He was glorifying His justice,
His wisdom in making a way to be just and justify the ungodly,
His power in His ability to put away sin and make somebody who's
unjust absolutely just, having never sinned in His sight. purpose
in doing all this. Every attribute of God is displayed
and glorified in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
why this is his chief glory when Jesus was glorified. That's when
they understood. You will understand the message
of this book You'll understand how God can save sinners when
you see how Jesus was glorified in His death on the cross. Now, I want to read you a passage
from Exodus 33, verses 18 and 19. Verse 18, Moses says, I beseech
thee, he's speaking to the Lord, and he's speaking in humility
and brokenness. He says, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Now, Moses had already seen the
plagues. Moses had seen the parting of
the Red Sea. Moses had seen water from a rock. He'd seen manna come down from
heaven. had seen the giving of the law, and yet Moses says to
God, I have not seen what you call your glory. Show me your glory. You know, you and I won't see
his glory unless he shows us. It's not something we can figure
out. He's going to have to manifest himself to us. We're totally
dependent on revelation. I'm not going to see his glory.
You're not going to see his glory unless he shows you and I. And Moses understood this. He
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And here's God's reply. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
to thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And
I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Now, God calls that
His glory. And the death of Jesus Christ
on Calvary's tree is the manifestation of all three of those things,
God's goodness, God's name, and God's mercy, and God's grace. Now God says to Moses, I'll make
all my goodness pass before thee. Now God is good. He's good all
the time. Whatever he does is good. When
Somebody says, what about when bad things happen to good people?
That's never happened. God's good all the time, no matter
what happens. And I don't understand, well,
how does God let this happen? How does God let that bad thing
happen? God's good. And he brings good out of evil.
And I don't have to understand what his purpose is, other than
to glorify himself, but God is good. And God's goodness is seen
in giving his son to die on the cross. for sinners. How good is God! God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God's good. Oh, and how that's
seen in the death of Christ. Christ being nailed to a cross
says this, God is good. We don't deserve this. We can't
earn this. We can't merit this. But oh,
goodness of God. And then God said, I'll proclaim
my name before you. Now God's name is not just the
verbal articulation of his name. It's not the sound that comes
forth when his name is spoken. God's name is his attributes.
It's the person behind the name. and how we see who God is and
how glorious He is in the death of Christ. This is God's purpose. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. God's always purposed this. This
shows God's justice. God's going to punish all sin.
If you're saved, It's not going to be because of anything you
did. It's going to be because He put away your sin and gave
you His righteousness. God is just. He will always punish
sin. This shows the wisdom of God,
how God has this infinite wisdom that He's made a way to be just,
absolutely, inflexibly just, and yet justify people who are
ungodly and sinful. This was done through the work
of Christ on the cross. This is such that He's made it.
Oh, what glory there is in this. He's made it to where everybody
He died for never sinned and has perfect righteousness. What power God displays in this. What love God displays in this.
Every attribute of God is manifested in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's tree. Oh, He glorified His Father.
You know, when people think of God's reason for doing things. They think, well, God's going
to help us. We talk about man and the good things God will
do for him. Understand this, God does what he does for his
glory. Everything he does, he does for his glory. And it's
only right that it should be that way because he's God. And
how he glorified himself in the death of Jesus Christ, they understood
these things when Jesus was glorified. And then, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. I will show mercy to whom I will
show mercy. How that is seen in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God will be gracious. He gave
His Son. He will be gracious. He will
show mercy. He gave His Son. He will show
mercy. This is because that's who He
is. And I love the way it says He'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. and I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. You
see, this is not ours by entitlement. God says, I'll give it to whom
I will. Somebody says, well, how could that be fair for God
not to give it to everybody? As soon as you say that, you're
saying, how can it be fair for God to not give it to me? You've
entered into God's presence on the basis of your works, and
that's not a place you wanna go. Thank God, he said, I will
be gracious because of Christ's death on Calvary's tree. I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. Now, because of the death of
Christ on the cross, he glorified God. He glorified his goodness. He glorified all of his attributes.
He glorifies his mercy. Now, when did they understand?
They understood when Jesus was glorified. Now, I understand. I do. I understand that God's
purpose is the glory of His Son. Are you on board with that? Well,
you better be. I better be. I understand that
God's purpose in what He does is the glory of His Son. I understand that His finished
work on the cross, fully glorified His Father. Do you understand
that? Oh, what glory there is in the
death of Jesus Christ. And I understand that my salvation
is completely predicated on His statement, I've glorified Thee
on the earth, I've finished the work Thou gavest me to do. Here's the one reason why I have
a hope of beholding His face in righteousness on judgment
day because He said, it is finished. Salvation is accomplished. I did what the Father sent me
to do. When do we understand? We understand
when we have some understanding of Him being glorified. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.