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 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 31,
Paul says that according as it is written, and he's getting
ready to quote a passage from the Old Testament. It's found
in Jeremiah 9, beginning in verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him the glorieth, and that word glory is boast, boast, have confidence in, rejoice
in. Let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understands and knows me. Not in his strength,
not in his wisdom, not in his riches, but that he knows me,
that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Now that is a quotation of Jeremiah chapter
nine. And Paul uses that, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, He that boasts, let him glory,
let him boast in the Lord. Now, what do you and I know of
this thing of boasting in the Lord? Nobody likes a braggart. Someone
who boasts in their accomplishments, trying to convince you to think
highly of them. No one likes a braggart, but
there is a good kind of boasting. Boasting in the Lord. Now, what do you and I know of
boasting in the Lord. This passage begins with verse
26. For you see your calling, brethren.
Now he's talking to believers. He calls them brethren. He says,
you see your calling. This is the call of his irresistible,
invincible, effectual grace. Not everyone is called. Whom he did predestinate, them
he also called. Now, Paul says, you see your
calling, brethren. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now he
didn't say not any, but he did say not many. Not many wise men
after the flesh. Now when he's speaking of being
after the flesh, he's talking about the way you and I are born
into this world. We're born in the flesh. They
that are in the flesh cannot please God. That's the way every
unregenerate person is. Someone who has not been born
of God, born of the Spirit, flesh. All flesh is grass. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Not many wise men after the flesh
that God calls, the doctors of theology, the philosophers, the
supposed geniuses, not many of those God calls. Not many mighty, the movers and
the shakers, the influential, the wealthy, the powerful. God passes them by. He doesn't
need them. Not many of them are called,
not many noble, not many high born, not many of those kinds
of people called. This is what the world wants
to be. God passes it by. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. For the most
part, God doesn't call famous people. He doesn't call influential,
powerful people that the world looks up to. Very few. But, Paul says in verse 27, God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise. Now don't miss this term God
has chosen. Salvation does not begin with
our choice of God, but his choice. He said to his disciples, you
did not choose me, but I chose you. This whole idea of Christ
being offered to you but it's up to you to accept him or reject
him as an act of your free will. Bible doesn't teach that. God
hath chosen. God hath chosen. If you're saved
it's because God chose you to be saved before the foundation
of the world. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the mighty the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty the base things
of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen
yea things which are not to bring to naught the things that are
now i'm so thankful for this God chose the foolish Those who
have no wisdom in and of themselves, nothing to bring to the table.
God has chosen the weak, those who have no spiritual ability.
He has chosen the base things of the world, the low born, the
things which are despised, that men despise and have no recognition
of. Yea, the things which are nothing,
nothing. Would you be someone who has
nothing that you could bring to God that could recommend you
to his favor? You have nothing. You're nothing in and of yourself,
but sin. That's the person God chooses
to be saved. You know, God created the world
from nothing. And if you're a new creature
in Christ Jesus, he's going to create you from nothing. Now, why does God do this? We
read in verse 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4,
verse 7, who made you to differ from another? Ask yourself that
question. Do you know the Lord and somebody
else doesn't? Who made you to differ? With
regard to everything about you, are you more intelligent than
your neighbor? Who made you to differ? Have
you had better circumstances than your neighbor? Who made
you to differ from another? God did. And what do you have
that you didn't receive? Do you have any kind of gifts?
God gave it to you. Have you received Christ? God
gave you the grace to do it. What do you have that you did
not receive? Then Paul said, now, if you've
received it, why do you glory? As if you didn't receive it,
like you earned it. No flesh is going to glory in his presence,
but verse 30, but Now let me say, before I read
this verse of scripture, this is one of my personal favorite
verses of scripture. I'm so thankful for this. May
the Lord enable you to hear and me to hear what's being said. May the Lord enable me to preach
exactly what's being said in this passage of scripture. Listen,
now he tells who God does not choose, who he does, and then
he says, but of him, Are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us. God can do this. He can make
Christ Jesus to be this unto us. Who of God is made unto us
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification, or holiness,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. Now, if I'm going
to boast in the Lord, I'm going to have some understanding of
what verse 30 is actually saying. Now, he's made into us. God made him this way. Of Him
are you in Christ Jesus. The only way you can be in Christ
Jesus is if God puts you there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus.
This is not something you can achieve. He's got to do this
for you. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Now This gives a fourfold state of what we are. No wisdom, no
righteousness, no holiness, and no sin payment. I have no natural
wisdom. I'm ignorant of God by nature.
I'm ignorant of his character. I'm ignorant of myself. I am
ignorant. I need wisdom. I'm guilty. Guiltiness before God. I've sinned
against God. I stand guilty before His law,
having broken every commandment. I've never kept one commandment
one time, and I am guilty before God. and I'm polluted, I'm sinful. Not only am I guilty, my heart
is bad. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart
is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, Who can know
it? I'm polluted. That's what God
says about me. And I do not have a sin payment. I don't have anything to bring
to the table. I am bankrupt. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. Now He's speaking to the brethren. He's speaking to all of God's
elect. Not all men are in Christ Jesus,
only the elect. They are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Now, what does it mean to be
in Christ Jesus? Well, the Bible gives us a lot
of examples of that. What did it mean to be in the
ark when God flooded the world? Well, if you were in the ark,
you were safe. If you were outside of the ark, you were destroyed.
When God passed through the land of Egypt, if you were in the
house with the blood over the door, you were safe. If you were
outside of the house with the blood over the door, you had
no security. The firstborn would be killed. Now, I love Matthew 3, verse
15, where the Lord comes up to John the Baptist to be baptized.
And John said, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? He said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us, to fulfill all righteousness. And he was baptized of him. Now,
when Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness, he did so as an
us. He wasn't only talking about
John the Baptist, he was talking about Todd Niver and every other believer.
Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, he
has a people in him. And those in him fulfill all
righteousness. Now that's what it means to be
in him. It means what he did, you did. When he kept the law,
you kept the law. When he paid for your sins, your
sins were paid for. When he was raised from the dead,
you were raised from the dead. That's what baptism signifies.
Oh, to be in Christ Jesus. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Now, this is the work of the
Father alone to put you in Christ Jesus. That's why Paul said,
Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. And then Paul
gives us four benefits of being in Christ Jesus. He's made into us wisdom. righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Now God can do this. He can make
his Son to be to you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And if you and I can get a hold
of that, We'll learn what it means to glory, to boast in the
Lord. Now, like I've already stated, I'm ignorant. I'm ignorant by
nature of the character of God. I'm ignorant of my own sinfulness.
You ask somebody, have you ever kept one of God's commandments
one time? Most people say yes. And they prove by that they're
ignorant of their own character. They're ignorant of their own
sinfulness. I'm ignorant, but Christ has
made to me wisdom. You see, Christ is called the
wisdom of God. And his wisdom is seen in that
he has made a way to be just, to be absolutely just, inflexibly
just, and yet clear people who run just through the gospel.
It's how God can be just and justify the ungodly. And now
God can have fellowship with me in his wisdom. He can fellowship
with me as someone worthy of his fellowship with the wisdom
of Jesus Christ. God has made him to be wisdom
to me. Now, you think about this. The
transcendent, eternal, incomprehensible, omnipresent, all-powerful, eternal,
all-wise God can have fellowship and communion with me for this
one reason. Jesus Christ is my wisdom, and
I have fellowship with God, communion with God, where He speaks to
me, and I understand, and I speak to Him. How? Because Christ is
my wisdom before God. He's made unto us. Secondly,
righteousness. He's made unto us righteousness. Now, if I'm in Christ, that means
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, His law-keeping, His perfect
life, His perfect obedience, His sinlessness. And that's what
righteousness is. sinlessness. You stand before
God having never sinned. You stand before God as having
been always pleasing to God in perfect righteousness. He's made
unto me righteousness. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. Now let me remind you once again
God can do this. I couldn't do this for myself. I couldn't even say, well, I'm
going to make Christ's righteousness my righteousness. I can't do
that, but God can. And here's how he did it. Second
Corinthians 5.21 says, for he hath made him to be sin. And did you hear that? He, God
the Father, hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. Now what all that means, no human
being will ever really understand. The evil of sin, the wickedness
of sin, the enormity of sin, he was made to be. All of the
sins of all of God's people were made to meet on him and he bore
them in his own body on the tree. This is the gospel substitution.
He took my place. He took my sin and my sorrow
and made it his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. For he hath made him to be sin. Who knew no sin? He never sinned. Why? That we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. You see, the righteousness of
Christ is the righteousness of God. And God made him to be