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. In John 7, verse 5, we read these
words regarding the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ had siblings. I realize
that there are some religious traditions that say that Mary
remained a virgin throughout all of her life, but the scripture
won't support that. His brothers and sisters are
named in Matthew 13. But we read this statement with
regard to his brothers and sisters in John chapter 7 verse 5, for
neither did his brethren believe in him. Now these are the people
that he was raised with. These are the brothers and sisters
that grew up in the same house. They did not believe in him. Now, Mary and Joseph believed
in him. The angel had appeared to them. She knew that she had him as
a virgin. She knew he was the Son of God. Joseph knew he was the Son of
God. And I have no doubt that they
told their children who he was, but they didn't believe. Neither
did his brethren believe in him." Now, some of them would one day.
We know that James, the man who wrote the book of James, was
the brother of the Lord. We know that Jude, the man who
wrote the epistle of Jude, was the brother of the Lord. There will be some who believe
one day by the saving grace of God, but right now there's not.
Neither did his brethren believe in him." Now, this is amazing. His brothers and sisters witnessed
a perfect life. They witnessed holiness. They witnessed perfect obedience
to the law of God, and they didn't recognize it. They didn't see
it. You see, a natural man doesn't
really know what holiness is in the first place. They saw
it and had no recognition of it. They did not believe in Him. Now, somebody may ask the question,
why? How could someone be raised in
the same home with the Lord Jesus Christ and not believe in Him? There's a very easy answer, sin. human depravity. Sin renders
a man unable to see divine things, and they could not see the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's see what led to this
statement in this passage of scripture. In John 7, verse 1,
after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee for he
would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.
This attempt at murder had began in John chapter five when he
healed the paralytic man on the Sabbath day and they were offended
that he did this on the Sabbath day. They thought it was wrong
and they sought to slay him. They thought he was demonstrating
no respect for their religion. And this hatred has gone on. Now, we're reading verse two.
Now, the Jews' feast of the tabernacles was at hand. Now, this was one
of three feasts in the Old Testament that the Jews were called upon
to go to Jerusalem to observe. This would last eight days and
it was given to commemorate the 40 years of wandering in the
wilderness when they didn't have a home and they had to dwell
in tents. His brethren, his brothers and
sisters at this time, therefore said unto him, depart hence and
go into Judea that thy disciples also may see the works that thou
doest. Go up to Jerusalem, this is the
place where they were seeking to kill him. Go to Jerusalem
and show yourself. Do your miracles, do your works,
the things you claim to be able to do. Go to Jerusalem where
there'll be a lot of people. There will be a lot of fanfare
and you can show them what you're doing and you'll have more believers,
you'll have more disciples, you'll have more men following you. Uh, you could do more good. You
could have more influence. If you went to Jerusalem to let
everybody see what you are doing for or for, for there is no man
that do with anything in secret. And he himself seeketh to be
known openly. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. Now when they said no man does
anything in secret, wait a minute. The Lord said, with regard to
the Pharisees, all their works they do to be seen of men. And you'll remember in Matthew
chapter six, when he said, when you do your alms, do it in secret. Don't let anybody know about
it. Let not your left hand know what your right hand doeth. Do
it in secret. Your father, which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly. When you pray, don't be like
the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in
the streets that they may be seen of men. When you pray, you
enter your closet in secret. And then when he spoke of fasting,
he said, when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites who disfigure
their faces so everybody can see, they must be fasting. They're
doing what they're doing to be seen of men. But when you fast,
anoint your face and wash your face that you don't appear to
men to fast. When they said, no man does anything
in secret, do what you're doing openly, they were dead wrong
there. The Lord taught us what to do
in secret. You see, all we care about is
what the Lord sees. Not what men see, but what the
Lord sees. His brethren are exposed by the
use of the word, if. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. You remember what Satan said?
If you're the son of God, prove it. He'd heard the father speak
from heaven. This is my son in whom I'm well
pleased. And he says, if you are, prove
it. Command that these stones be
made bread. Give us something we can see.
If you're the son of God, jump off the pinnacle of the temple.
The scripture says, He'll give His angels charge over thee,
lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. If you're
really the Son of God, prove it. Give us some kind of tangible,
empirical evidence that we can see and prove to us that you're
the Son of God, if you are. I think of what the Pharisees
said in John 8, How long dost thou make us to doubt, if you're
the Christ? Tell us plainly, and here's his
answer. I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me
and I give unto them eternal life. Now, there are two types
of people in this world. They're sheep and they're goats. He said, you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. Now, a goat can never become
a sheep. A sheep can never become a goat. Christ has a people called His
sheep. He says, with regard to these
sheep, my Father which gave them me. This is a reference to his
elect. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. That's who he died for, the sheep. He came for his sheep. He said, I'm not sent but to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's who he came to
save. I love John's editorial comment
when they said, if thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
Then John tells us, for neither did his brethren believe in him. Now, perhaps they wanted him
to be famous. Show yourself to the world. Maybe
they thought they could get some kind of personal benefit out
of that. But they did not believe in him. They demonstrated they
did not know why he came in the first place. Show yourself. Seek to be known. You'll have
more disciples, you'll have more converts, you'll have more influence,
you'll do more good. You know, that sounds like the
average church growth campaign, or even how to plan a church.
You know, I had an experience when we first started the Todd's
Road Grace Church. We started the Todd's Road Grace
Church in 1982 in a storefront on Limestone Street. And a year
or so later, hadn't seen much happening, and I read an ad in
the Lexington Herald-Leader of a new reform church that was
going to be started in the Lexington area. Now, all I knew of Reformed
is what is known as the doctrine of grace. And it's what I believe. It's what I believe the Bible
teaches. Total depravity, men are totally depraved, God elected
a people before time began to be saved, Christ died for the
elect. God's grace is irresistible and
invincible, it's saving, and everyone that God elected, Christ
died for, and God the Holy Spirit gives life to, shall persevere
all the way to the end. Now that's all I knew of Reformed. And to be honest with you, now
that I think I've learned a little bit more, I don't even like the
term reform. Reform from what? The truth never needed reform.
There's almost to me a kind of arrogance with the thought of
reform doctrine, like I've got something special. This is just
the basic gospel, the truth of how God saves sinners. After
we had been meeting for about a year or so, I read about this
new Reformed church that was going to be starting, and we
were still in the storefront. And I thought, well, I'll go
and see what it's all about. Maybe we'll just join up with
them. And in that meeting, I'll never forget this. It never was
told what they believed. They said, we're reformed, and
they just left it at that. And then they gave a 10-year
plan as to how to make this church grow. They hired a demographer
to find out where the population was moving and where they were
going to build their church. They had a 10-year plan as to
how to reach families and how to reach people with child-rearing,
how to become friends, how to grow. They had a church growth
thing in the school and so on. And I remember thinking, where's
the Holy Spirit in this? Where is the leadership of the
Lord in this? Like I said, I was always a man
without a plan. I didn't understand how somebody
could just have this. Where's God in this? And I knew
at that time, I didn't want to go in that direction. That's
what his brethren were wanting him to do. Get to where the population
is. Get to where you can have more
influence. Get to where you can have a greater
popularity and a greater presence. Get to Jerusalem where everybody
will see you. And John's comment about all that was, neither did
his brethren believe in him. Now what his brethren demonstrated
at this time was a fundamental ignorance of who he was and what
he came to do. Faith is made of three things. Number
one, you know who he is. You know who he is. Everybody that believes knows
who he is. Everybody that believes knows
he's God. He's the God-man. He's the creator. He's the sovereign
controller of all things. If you know who he is, you know
he's those things. If you don't know that, you don't
know who he is. Faith knows who He is. Secondly,
faith believes what He says. You see, if you know who He is,
you will believe everything He says in His Word. The Bible is
the inspired, inerrant, God-breathed Word of God. Every word in the
Bible is said exactly as He would have it said. You believe what
He said. Faith is knowing who He is. Faith
is believing what He said. And faith is relying on Him only,
what He did, as your only ground of being in heaven. You rely. You rely only on what He did. You're not relying on your works.
You're relying on His works. You're not relying on any payment
you make. You're relying on His payment. Jesus paid it all, all the dead. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. You are depending on his righteousness
as the only righteousness you have. You're depending on his
obedience. You're depending on his shed
blood. Now, these people, his brothers
and sisters, had no idea of who he really was. They didn't get it. They grew
up with him in the same home and they didn't get it. Now this
is a reminder to us is the only way that you and I will know
Jesus Christ is if he makes himself known. We are shut up to revelation. If he does not make himself known,
we will not know him. His brothers and sisters, the
people who he grew up with, they did not get it. They didn't know
him. They just looked at him as their
brother or their, their brother in the flesh. Nothing more. They demonstrated that they did
not believe His words when they used this word, if. If you do
these things. When they told Him that He needed
to show Himself to the world, they demonstrated that they had
no understanding of why He came in the first place. Why did He come? He didn't come to establish a
new religion. He didn't come to get men's affirmation
and approval. He said in John chapter 5, I
received all honor from men. Lord doesn't need man's approval
or man's affirmation. He's God. How many times when
He would perform a miracle would He say to the people that He
performed the miracle upon, don't tell anybody about it. Don't
let anybody know. It seems like he would want people
to know because he would gain more hearers when they all heard
about his miracles. But he would always say, don't
tell anybody about it. Tell no man. Now, why was that? Because Jesus Christ wasn't trying
to get a following. He wasn't trying to establish
a religion. He wasn't trying to influence
the culture. He wasn't trying to win the world
as far as that goes. He didn't come to save all the
world. He said, I pray for them with
regard to his elect. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me, for they are thine. Christ Jesus, now listen to me.
Christ Jesus came to die. That was his purpose in coming. We read in verse five, for neither
did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, my
time is not yet come. Now this is repeated frequently
in the book of John. My time is not yet come." Early
in his ministry, when Mary told him they don't have any wine,
he said, woman, what have I to do with thee? Nine hour is not
yet come." You see, there is a specific hour that he came
for. And he said, woman, mine hour
is not yet come. In this same chapter in verse
30, we read, then they sought to take him, but no man laid
hands on him because his hour was not yet come. the hour He
came for, it was not yet come." In John 8, verse 20, these words
spake Jesus in the treasury as He taught in the temple, and
no man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come. We have numerous murder attempts
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He would pass through their midst. they wouldn't see Him. All of
a sudden, He would be gone. How this took place, I don't
know. Maybe they could not recognize Him because of the work of God
blinding them as to who He is. But look here, even in John 8,
verse 59, "...then took they up stones to cast at Him. But
Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through
the midst of them." And so passed by. Now you picture this in your
mind, they pick up rocks to kill him. And all of a sudden he just
walks through the crowd and there's not a thing they can do. Why?
Because his hour had not yet come. We read in John chapter
12, beginning in verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour is come. And this was shortly before his
death and he knew this is why he came. And he says, the hour
is come that the son of man should be glorified. Now he's talking
about the hour of his death when he would be nailed to a cross. Look in verse 27 of John chapter
12. He said, now it's my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father
saved me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour." Now, you remember in Gethsemane's garden, he said,
Father, if it be possible, let this hour pass from me. He saw the cup that he was going
to drink, the cup of his people's sins. when he bore our sins in
his own body on the tree. Now I don't, and we don't really
understand the evil of sin. We have a little bit of understanding,
but very little, but the Lord knew exactly how evil sin is. And he was going to take it in
his own body and be forsaken by God and be separated from
God and bear the wrath of God as the sinner substitute. And
when he saw this in Gethsemane's garden, his humanity shrank from
it. He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. In John chapter 17, verse one,
he says, Father, the hour has come. glorify thy son, that thy
son also might glorify thee." Now what his brethren did not
know was this, he came to die. That was His purpose. Revelation
13, verse 8, He's called the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Before there was time, before
there was a creation, before there was a universe, Christ
is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. and the world, the universe was
created for him to come in time and to be slain. His brethren did not know why
he came. They were trying to get him to
get more influence and get more notoriety and get more popularity. Go to Jerusalem where everybody
can see you and prove to everybody who you are. He came for this
purpose. He came to be slain. He came to die. Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And that is why He died. Now understand this. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. And he could not accept a sinner
like me and violate his righteousness and his character and his justice
and his holiness What would we think of a human judge who the
criminals brought before him that has committed all kinds
of crimes and he says, well, I'm a loving judge, I'm gonna
forgive you. Well, we'd get rid of that judge, wouldn't we? He
would not be a just judge. God is an absolutely just God. And there is no way he can accept
someone who's sinful and evil and still be God. So Christ came
to make a way for God to be just and yet justify sinful men and
women like me and you. His brethren just didn't understand
any of this. When Peter was preaching on the
day of Pentecost, he said, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. And they did that, but
it was according to God's determinate counsel. He came to die. You see, without his death, there
could be no resurrection. If he didn't die, his life would
do us no good. But when he died, he put away
sins, he was raised again to save everybody he came to save. He didn't come to start a religion.
He didn't come to try to change things. He came to save His people
from their sins. Now, in His death, He completely
glorified the character of God. Every attribute of God is manifest
in His death. And He completely saved His people
from their sins. Now somebody's thinking, am I
one of his people? Am I one that he came to save?
Well, 1 Timothy 1 15 says, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I'm chief. If you are a sinner, he came
to save you. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, one day, at least a couple
of his brothers will understand, and they will believe on Him. May God give me and you the grace
to know who He is, trust what He said, and believe on Him as
all that's needed to make us perfect in God's sight. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyvern at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.