Choose thee. 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 Nyberg. Before I speak, I want to let
you know about a special meeting we're going to have at the Dodge
Road Grace Church next week, Labor Day weekend. We're going
to have four different speakers. preaching the sovereign grace
of God in Christ Jesus. Election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Now, services begin
Friday night at seven, Saturday morning at 10, Saturday evening
at six, and Sunday morning at 10. And we'd love to have you
come out and visit with us and hear the preaching of the gospel. Now, I am preaching this morning
from Matthew 11. I wanna read verses two through
six, and I've entitled this message, Do You Doubt? Do You Doubt? In verse two of Matthew 11, now,
when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, speaking
of John the Baptist. He sent two of his disciples
and said unto him, Art thou he that should come? Or look we for another? Now at
this time he's expressing doubt. Are you he that should come,
the promised Messiah? Or should we look for someone
else? Now the Lord doesn't rebuke John. I mean, John had been given abundant
evidence that Jesus was the Christ. Irrefutable evidence. And yet here he is doubting. And the Lord doesn't rebuke him.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again. Here's what John needs. Go and
show John again those things which you do hear and see. The blind receive their sight
and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the
deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached unto them, and blessed is he
whosoever shall not be offended in me. Do you doubt? Now John the Baptist
did at this time. I'm asking the question to you.
Do you Doubt, I'm not saying it's a good thing, it's not.
It's never right to doubt God, to have any doubts concerning
him. But do you doubt? Have you doubted whether or not
the Bible's the word of God? At least questioned it, of course
you have. Do I really know God? Is there really a God? Am I deceived? Do I know the truth? Do you doubt? I'm not asking you to give an
audible answer, but deep down you know the answer to that question.
Yes, you do. You do doubt. Somebody who says, I never doubt,
is someone who is lying. That's all that can be said.
It's a lie. Yes, you do doubt. Now, we have in the text the
Lord's word to his doubting disciple, John the Baptist. You show John
again those things which you see in here. Now, before we consider
John's question, do you know that when the risen Lord stood
before the disciples, having been raised from the dead. We
read in Matthew chapter 28, verse 17, and when they saw him, they
worshiped him, but some doubted. Looking at the Lord, these are
the disciples, looking at the resurrected Lord, they worshiped
him and they doubted at the same time. Can you understand that? What about the man who had the
demon-possessed son? And he brings him to the Lord
to be healed. He said, if you can do anything,
have mercy on us, do something for us. And the Lord said, if
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And the scripture says, the man cried out with tears, saying,
Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Can those two things exist at
the same time? Of course they can. They did
with him. I believe, help thou mine unbelief. You see, every
believer has two natures. the one he was born with, and
the one he was given when he was born again. That new nature
always believes. That old nature never believes. Hence the cry of this man and
every believer, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now John, at this time, was in
prison. John the Baptist, the same John
that was foretold in the Old Testament and both in the book
of Isaiah and the book of Malachi. He's the only man other than
the Lord himself who his coming was foretold in the Old Testament,
the forerunner of the Christ. This is the same John who, when
he was in his mother's womb and heard of the Christ, leaped,
the babe leaped in his mother's womb. He was filled with the
Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. This is the same John who
witnessed the Holy Spirit descend like a dove upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he heard the Father speak
from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is the same one who baptized
the Lord. When the Lord came to him, he
said, I have need to be baptized of thee. He knew exactly who
he was, comest thou to me? This is the one who said, behold,
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. How did he doubt? What's going
on here? This is the one of whom the Lord
said, of them born of women, there's risen none greater than
John the Baptist. This is the greatest man born
of woman, according to the Lord Jesus himself. Now, how did he
doubt what's going on at this time? Now, John had been in prison
probably about a year. Now, John the Baptist as a youth
was in the wilderness. I don't know if he ever even
lived in a house, except when he was young, because he was
in the wilderness as a youth. He lived under the stars, he
was a free spirit. If you're gonna hear the gospel,
you're gonna have to come out to him in the wilderness. And he was
a man greatly used of God. The Lord said, with regard to
this man, John the Baptist, he was a burning and a shining light. What a man, greatest man to ever
live, as far as men go. And now he's gone from the open
air to a dirty, dark, cramped prison cell. He's been in there
for a year. He's shortly going to be beheaded. He's gonna have somebody open
up the cell, cut his head off, and bring it on a plate to Herod's
wife. He's probably depressed with
his circumstances. I would be, you would be. Very
difficult. He hears of Christ through his
disciples, the things he was doing, and he sends his disciples
to ask the Lord this question. Are you the Messiah? Are you
he that should come, or should we be looking for somebody else?
Now, some people say he's doing this for his disciples' benefit. Maybe they were questioning,
and he's having them go and see for themselves, but I don't buy
that. You'd have to read that into the text. That's just some
man's thought on it. This is John doubting. as he's in prison, he has the
same sinful nature that I do, he has the same sinful nature
that you do, sure he can doubt. We're sinful individuals, that's
what sinners do, they doubt. And he sends them with this question,
are thou he that should come or look we for another? Now, we're given a summary of
the Old Testament message. Art thou he that should come?
You see, the whole Old Testament message is this. Somebody's coming. And everybody was looking for
the Christ to return at that time. Do you remember when the
woman at the well said, I know that when Messiah comes, he'll
teach us all things? Everybody was looking for a Messiah.
Everybody was looking for a Christ. He was promised in the Old Testament
and they knew he would come. Thing of it is, they were not
looking for a savior from sin, they were looking for a savior
from Roman tyranny. They were looking for a political
savior. They were looking for one who could take care of them
physically. They didn't have an understanding
of the need of a savior from sin. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, he shall save his people from their sins. But he asked,
are you the coming one? You know, he said in Psalm 40,
lo, I come to do thy will. Oh God, in the volume of the
book, it's written of me. Listen to this scripture from
Micah chapter five, verse two. But thou Bethlehem, remember
that's where he was born. Thou Bethlehem, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth to me. that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting. Are you that one? The one Micah
told us would come, whose goings forth have been of everlasting,
or should we look for somebody else? John, how can you ask this
question when the Lord has shown you so clearly that he is the
one? The Lord doesn't rebuke him.
I love this. The Lord doesn't rebuke his disciple,
his faithful friend, the one he came to save, but he tells
these two people, you go and show John again, this is what
he needs to hear, those things which you see. And I have no
doubt at that time, he performed these miracles. The blind receive
their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached
unto them, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me. Now, all of these things he mentions
that he demonstrated before these two disciples were foretold in
the Old Testament. Listen to this scripture from
Isaiah 35, verse 5 and 6. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing. There were many prophecies in
the Old Testament concerning what Messiah would do. And he
said, you go show John what you've seen. And at that time they saw
a man or men who were blind. given sight. Can you imagine
what that would be to be blind all your life? And then all of
a sudden you see. You see colors for the first
time. You see trees. You see people. What a miracle. They saw lame people. People
have been lame all their lives, sitting on the ground, unable
to walk. Get up and leap up and walk.
They watch this. They saw lepers cleansed, men
who were full of leprosy. All of a sudden their flesh was
healthy as a newborn baby's. They saw deaf people who had
never heard a voice hear. They saw the dead raised up. I know on at least three different
occasions the Lord raised the dead. There's only three recorded.
There perhaps might have been other times. Maybe this is when
they saw someone dead raised up. And the poor. have the gospel
preached to them, those who have nothing to recommend themselves
to God, those who are debtors, those who are bankrupt. They
have the gospel preached unto them. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Now, the first thing that I would
see from that passage of scripture is a description of everybody,
me and you, by nature, blind, spiritually blind. Unable to
see the true character of God. Blinded by our own false ideas
of God. Blind with regard to our own
sinfulness. Because we've never seen God,
we don't see ourselves. Blind to the way of salvation
by Christ. Seeing no beauty in the way of
salvation by Christ. Spiritually blind. Lame. Unable to walk by faith. Unable to come to Christ because
of a sinful nature. You know, the idea of free will
is just ridiculous. A dead man is dead, lame. A lame
man, what if you said to that lame man, if you decide to get
up, you can get up. Come on, just make a decision
to do it. You'd say, well, that's foolishness.
Free will's foolishness. Your will is controlled by your
nature, a sinful, lame, blind nature. Lepers, cleansed. Now, a lot of time in the scriptures
devoted to leprosy, it's a great type of sin. Leviticus 13 and
14, two whole chapters with regard to a leper and how they're cleansed. But they picture sin. They're
made to cry out, unclean, stay away from me, unclean. The deaf
hear. You may be able to hear audibly
right now, but you can't hear the gospel. You're unable to.
Only the person who has ears to hear, that God's given ears
to hear, can hear. But the deaf hear. The dead are raised. And that's
what happens when God gives a man life. He's dead in sins and God
gives him life. The dead are raised. The poor. have the gospel, the gospel preached
unto them. Those who have nothing to recommend
themselves to God, those who have nothing, they have the gospel
preached to them. Now, these people, blind, lame,
leprous, deaf, dead, poor, and people who are actually offended
by Christ. They have no love for Christ. How can somebody
like that be saved? But the Bible says that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. People like that. Matthew 121 says, thou shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, remember,
he's the one John sent the disciples to ask this question to. He came
to the right source. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the eternal Son of God, He's God. He's not like God. He is God. God the Son. God is
one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. God the Son came to this planet. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh. God
came in the flesh. And in the flesh, he kept God's
holy law. He wasn't spiritually blind.
He wasn't spiritually deaf. He was no unclean leper. He never sinned. He worked out a perfect righteousness
before the law of God. He knew no sin. Oh, the perfection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I think this is so interesting.
The only man to never sin And his brothers and sisters didn't
get it. They didn't understand. The only holy man to ever live,
and they didn't see it. They thought him to be a common
man. That lets me know that a natural
man wouldn't know holiness if he saw it. They didn't see it
in Christ. I've heard people say, I want
people to see Christ in me. Well, I understand the sentiment,
but they didn't see Christ in Christ. the only holy man to
ever live, yet this man, the man Christ Jesus, was nailed
to a cross. Why? Why was he crucified? Now on that cross, he was blind. The whole world was turned into
darkness, and he could not see. Now, the reason he was on that
cross, the Scripture tells us, he was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's why he was there.
Acts 4, verse 27 says, For the truth against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. That covers everybody. "...were gathered together, for
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." The reason Christ was nailed to a cross was because
God's hand and counsel determined before for it to be done. He's
called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The
Lord created the universe for this to take place. His Son to
come and die as the sinner's substitute. Now on the cross,
He became blind in the dark. He became lame when His feet
were nailed to a cross. He became the unclean leper when
my sins became his sins, and he was burying them in his own
body on the tree. He became deaf. All he heard
was silence, no communication from his father, no word from
his father. He was in utter silence. He cried
to God, there was silence. He died. the God-man died. Yes, he was raised from the dead,
but the God-man died and he became poor. You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. Now through what he did, the
blind receive their sight. I now see how God can accept
me because of what His Son did. I see how God can be just and
punish sin and yet justify the sinner through the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What I could not see, I see now. I now see the character of God. Every attribute of God manifests
in Christ being on that cross, His holiness, His justice, His
love, His mercy, His grace, His power, His wisdom. I see who
God is and I see who I am through Him being nailed to the cross.
I am sinful. I am full of sin, and I am so
bad that I would kill Christ. That's what they did. They murdered
His Son. That's what we're guilty of. That's how bad we are. Don't
look within your heart to try to figure out how sinful you
are. Look to the cross. That tells how really sinful you and I really
are. But oh, I now see God's salvation. I see how God saves through Christ,
that glorious work that He accomplished. I'm no longer lame. There was
a time when I couldn't come to Christ. I come now. Just as I
am without one plea, but that thou blood was shed for me, and
that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. the lepers are cleansed. Now
you'll find this interesting if you would read the 13th chapter
of Leviticus when it tells us about the cleansing of the leper.
For a leper to be pronounced clean, he had to be completely
covered with leprosy. If he had any part of his flesh
that was still healthy, still living, not covered by leprosy,
he was sent back to the leper colony. It was only when he was
completely covered that he was pronounced clean. Now, if you
ever hear the gospel, you're going to find out that everything
about you is sin. Everything you do is sin. You're
the unclean leper. And when you see that, that's
when he's gonna pronounce you clean, because Christ put away
your sin. That is the way you are cleansed. The deaf hear. See, there was
a time when I couldn't hear the gospel's good news. I heard it
audibly, but I didn't like what I was hearing. I love what I'm
hearing now. I love God's way of saving by Christ, by his grace. The dead are raised. You really don't understand anything
about being dead in sins until you have life. Then you see you
were dead. Why you're dead, you don't know it. But when you're
given life, you see you were dead in sins. Now, what does
dead in sins mean? Well, what can a dead man do?
Nothing. What can a man dead in sins do
to save himself? Nothing. He's dead. He can't
hear, he can't see, he can't smell, he can't taste, he's dead. Now, when the scripture speaks
of men being dead in sins, it's talking about total depravity. Every faculty under the control
of sin, the will, the affections, the conscience, total depravity. It's summarized in Genesis 6,
5, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination of thoughts of heart was only evil continually.
It means total inability. You don't have the ability to
save yourself. Now here is your only hope. God
gave you life. That's what the new birth is,
God quickening you and giving you life. Now, the poor, those
who have nothing to recommend them to God, have the gospel
preached unto them, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me. Now, notice the wording, they're not
offended in me. What's in Christ? All of God's
favor. all of God's salvation, all of
God's grace, all of God's love, all of God's mercy. It's all
in Christ. It's nowhere else. It's in Him.
Now, the natural man's offended by Christ, or offended by what
he says. We don't like what he says. You
know, when he, they said, this man being a man makes himself
equal to God. Who is this that says he can
forgive sins? They thought, As to whether or not we're forgiven,
it's up to Him. We don't like that. But when the Lord does
something for someone, they're not offended by Christ. They
love being saved by Christ. They are not offended by His
person. They're not offended by His work. They want to be
saved by Him. They say with Paul, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking
for me, I only want to be found in Christ so that all God sees
is Jesus Christ. That's what baptism signifies,
being in Him. When He lived, I lived. When
He died, I died. When He was raised, I was raised.
I want to be found in Him, and I'm not offended by being in
Him. In reality, that's the only place
I want to be. Now, let me remind you of our
special meeting. Coming week, Labor Day weekend, four different
preachers, Friday night at seven, Saturday morning at 10, Saturday
evening at six, and Sunday morning at 10, preaching the gospel of
God's grace. We'd love to have you come out
and hear the gospel at the Todd's Road Grace Church. This is Todd
Nyberg, praying God will be pleased to make himself known to you.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. or you may write or call the
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