I did 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 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 Nibert. I want to read a verse of scripture
from 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. Paul says, inspired by the Spirit
of God, for the preaching of the cross. The preaching of the cross. is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. The preaching of the cross. Now, when Paul is speaking of
the cross, The primary reference is not the piece of wood, the
stake, or the wooden cross that the Lord was nailed to. You know, if we had the cross
with us today, there's a song called the old rugged cross.
I'll cherish the old rugged cross. I cherish the Christ of the cross,
not the old rugged cross. If we had a cross here today,
the literal cross that the Lord was crucified on, we'd worship
it. We'd make money from it. There's
all kinds of things we would do with it. And it is not the
wooden cross that saves. Now, perhaps you're familiar
with that passage in Numbers where the children of Israel
had murmured at the Lord. And they said, we're tired of
this manna. Our soul loatheth this light
bread. We want something else. And the
Lord sent fiery serpents into the camp of Israel, and they
bit much people. And many people died from this. And the people that were still
alive went to Moses and said, we've sinned against the Lord.
Pray for us that the Lord will do something for us and have
mercy on us. Moses went into the Lord and
said, they're wanting mercy. And he said, take a brazen serpent,
make a serpent in the likeness of the serpents that were biting
the people and put it up on a pole and go out through the camp.
And anyone who looks at that serpent will be healed of the
snake bite. And Moses did that. And everyone
that looked at that serpent of brass lived. And the Lord tells
us, In John 3, that's to picture himself as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Now that serpent was made in
the wilderness. the desert journey, 700 years
later, under the reign of King Hezekiah, they found that serpent
of brass. It had been hidden and now they
found it. And the children of Israel began
to worship that brazen serpent. And Hezekiah had it ground to
powder. and said it's nothing more than
a worthless piece of brass. Now, if we had the cross with
us today, the best thing we could do is burn it and get rid of
it because people would worship that piece of wood. It's the
one who hung on that wood who is to be worshiped. Let me read
a passage of scripture to you from Exodus chapter 20 and the
Ten Commandments. We read, thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above or that's in the earth beneath or that's
in the water under the earth. No likeness of anything is to
be used in the worship of God. It's fleshly. It's fleshly, it's
idolatry. In the church I pastor, we don't
have a cross hanging up anywhere because people will worship that
cross and that is idolatry. The use of a cross is idolatrous. When Paul is talking about the
preaching of the cross, he's not talking about that wooden
cross, but he's talking about that one who hung upon that cross
and what he accomplished, why he was there, what he did, who
he did it for, the preaching of the cross. And that word preaching
is the Greek word logos, the word. the word of the cross. And this word is so vast. This
is the same word used with regard to the Lord Jesus being called
in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and
the word was God. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The Logos, the divine logic,
not human logic, but divine logic. Let me give you some translations
in the scripture of this word Logos. It is the account of the
cross. The cross has something to say.
The cause of the cross. The communication of the cross. The doctrine of the cross. The fame of the cross. The intent of the cross, the
math of the cross, and here in our text, the preaching of the
cross, the question of the cross. the reason of the cross, the
saying of the cross, the speech of the cross, the talk of the
cross, the tidings of the cross, the treatise of the cross, the
utterance of the cross, the word of the cross, the work of the
cross. All of that is included when
Paul speaks of the preaching of the cross. Now listen to this
statement very carefully. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. Let me repeat that statement.
The cross is the whole counsel of God. If I preach the whole
counsel of God, this is my message. The cross, the preaching of the
cross. Now the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ is God's eternal purpose. Listen to this scripture from
Revelation chapter 13, verse eight. Christ is called. the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Revelation 13, verse 8, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Before the creation,
before the moon and the sun and the stars, when all there was
was God and the Trinity of His sacred persons, even then Christ
was the Lamb, literally having been slain from the foundation
of the world. The cross is why God created
the world. That's his purpose in creation. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God didn't provide the cross
in response to Adam's fall. Adam's fall was for the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's eternal purpose,
which he purposed in himself, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the cross is the complete
manifestation of the character of God. I want to repeat that
again. I want you to think about it.
The cross is the complete manifestation of the character of God. Every
attribute of God is fully displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, God's a God of purpose. We read of the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And his eternal purpose
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world in eternity future
when time is no more. What will be the song of heaven?
Worthy is the lamb that was slain. The cross is God's eternal purpose. God displays his wisdom. in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this. God has made
a way. God can do this. You and I can't
do it, but God can do this. God has made a way to be absolutely
inflexibly just and justify someone who is in themselves sinful and
evil and unjust. Now, if a human judge justified
a criminal, we'd want to get rid of it. He's not being a good
judge. But God can actually justify
somebody that is unjust to where they really are just. And that is done through the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ took my sin. and he put it away on Calvary's
tree. And his perfect righteousness
is given to me, so God made a way for himself to be absolutely
just in answer to his character, and yet justify somebody like
me. We see the justice of God. God's going to punish all sin.
Now you can just count on that. There's never been one sin ever
committed in all the history of the universe that God will
not punish. He either punished it in his son, the substitute,
or he'll punish it in you. God is absolutely just and holy. Yet what love God manifests. God so loved the world that he
gave his son. Now think of the love of God
that he would give his son to die on a cross. Do you think
there was anything easy about that? For God to kill His Son? Oh, the love that in Christ Jesus
our Lord, the sovereignty of God displayed on the cross. You
know, on that day there were three crosses. One in the middle,
where a man was dying for sin. The cross on his left hand was
a man dying in his sin, and he would spend eternity in hell
upon death. And on the third cross, there's
a man dying unto sin on the right hand of the Lord. You see, Christ
bore his sin, and Christ could say to him, today you'll be with
me in paradise. Oh, the sovereignty of God is
seen in saving the one and passing by the other as an act of irreprehensible
justice. And somebody says, why didn't
he save them both? Well, he didn't. I don't know what else to say.
Whatever God does is right. Whatever God does is good. And
I'm not going to apologize for God. Everything he does is glorious.
Every attribute of God His power in putting away sin. He makes
my sin not to be. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, only the cross gives
us a look at the true character of man. The cross is God's self-revelation. It's Him showing us who He is. And only the cross tells us who
we really are. Think about this. The cross says
that you and I are so evil, so inherently, intrinsically, completely
evil. that if God took his hand of
restraint off of us, we would and did murder his son. Now somebody says, I didn't do
that. Yeah, but you would have. You
would have. God looks at the heart. Somebody
says, no, I wouldn't have. Well, you may not have crucified
the false Christ you believe in, but when people are confronted
with the true Christ, the living Christ, as He's revealed in the
scripture, what do they want to do? They want Him out of business. They want to kill Him. Now, that's
how bad you and I are. Don't look within your heart
or look at your deeds even to see how bad you are. This is
how bad you and I are, and I'm including myself first. If God took his hand off of me,
I would murder his son. The cross gives us the truth
regarding salvation. I'm saved for this one reason,
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God took my sin, And Christ bore
it in His own body on the tree and put it away. And when He
said, it is finished, my salvation was accomplished. The cross is
how God saves sinners for the glory of His name. It's salvation
not by works. It's not by your doing, it's
by His doing, the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we're saved by works if
we're saved His works. You see, God gave Christ the
people and He didn't offer those people salvation. He didn't invite
them to be saved. He saved them. He saved them. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved.
It's the power of God. That's what I need, a salvation.
I need to be saved from myself. I need to be saved from my sins.
Listen to this scripture in Matthew 121. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. You see, I can't save myself
from my sins. I can't make them go away. But Christ Jesus saved
me from the penalty of sin by bearing it for me. He saved me
from the power of sin by giving me a new nature that can believe,
that can repent. Before He gave me this new nature,
I couldn't believe, I couldn't repent, I couldn't love. I'll
be saved from the very presence of sin in glory. Now, the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Do you expect
me to believe that I need to be saved in the first place?
Yes, I do. Do you expect me to believe that I have to be saved
by the way of the cross? Yes, I do. The preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness. You mean that you
expect me to believe I'm saved by somebody else's righteousness? Yes, I
do. You see, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. There's no doubt about that. But unto them which
are saved, the preaching of the cross is the power of God. Now, what is meant by that? The
preaching of the cross is the power of God. Now God's omnipotent. That means he has the power to
do whatever he's pleased to do. His omnipotence was seen in creation
when he willed the world, the universe, the cosmos into existence. God is absolutely sovereign and
all-powerful. His power is demonstrated in
Providence. Do you know that everything that
happens in time, He's in control of, and He is the first cause
of? Now, somebody is thinking, you're
saying He's the cause of the bad things? Yes, He is. He said, I form the light. I
create darkness. I make peace. I create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Isaiah 45, 7. Now, he never sins. He's incapable of sin. He's holy. He's just. But this glorious
God can take all the things of providence. and it's all going
to be glorious in the end. He brings good out of evil, and
the great example of that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The most evil thing to take place was the murder of the Son of
God, and the most glorious thing to take place was the death of
Christ on the cross. What he accomplished by that,
what power is manifested in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, The cross is so powerful that it was everything in salvation
in eternity past. Before there was time, my only
hope was that Jesus Christ stood as my surety, as my representative,
dying for me on the cross. You know, that means my sins
were nailed to him on the cross before time began. This is God's
eternal purpose. Now, how the power of God is
displayed in the incarnation of Christ. He came from heaven
in order to die on the cross. God became flesh. The Word was
made flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And in the flesh, that blows
my mind. I hope I say that reverently.
Colossians 2.9 says, In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, In a human body, what power that took for God to be
manifest in the flesh. And in the flesh, He did what
no one else has done. He pleased God perfectly. He kept the law perfectly. He never sinned in thought, in
word, in deed, in motive. The perfect man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. What power. Now, think of how
easily you sin. He was unable to sin. That's
the power he had, the Lord Jesus Christ. What power there is in
his life when he completely honored God. and what power there is
in his death. This one who is life. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. He died. The God-man died. Somebody says,
how could that be? I don't know, but he did. He
died on that cross. And I love when Moses and Elijah
are speaking to the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration before
his death. You know what they were talking
about? They spake of the decease which he should accomplish. Now, when I die, it's not an
accomplishment. I don't accomplish anything by
my death. I just show that I'm a sinner. That's what death says
with regard to every man. They're sinners. The reason for
death is sin. In the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he accomplished something. Let me give you two things he
accomplished. Number one, he fully glorified and exalted his
father. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the most God-like thing God ever did. And in him dying, he
manifested every attribute of God. And in his death, he completely
saved everybody he died for. What power, what omnipotence
there is in his death. Now, here's what he did. In his death, he made me to be
what I'm not. And he made me not to be what
I am. He made me to be what I'm not. In and of myself, I'm not holy. I'm not righteous. I'm not pure. I'm a sinner. I'm a wicked man. Everything I've ever done, I've
never kept one commandment one time. And neither of you, if
you think you have, you don't understand the holy law of God.
I'm a sinner. And he made me to be, by his
death, holy and unblameable. and unreprovable in the very
sight of God. He made me to be what I'm not. And he made me to not be what
I am. My sin was completely put away
and I'm made to be the very righteousness of God in him. The songwriter says, "'Tis mystery
all, The immortal dies, who can explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph
cries to sound the depth of love divine. Tis mercy all, let earth
adore. Let angel minds require no more. The power of God is seen in his
resurrection. You can't think of the cross
without thinking of the risen Christ. Yes, he died. But three
days later, he was raised from the dead. And it was the power
of God that raised him from the dead. Only the power of God can
give life to the dead. And you know what he accomplished
in his resurrection? He was delivered for our offenses
and He was raised again for our justification. When He was raised
from the dead, every one of God's elect were justified. They stand
before God as having never sinned because of His resurrection. and what power there is in the
preaching of the cross. This is the message that begets
divine life. The message of the cross. This
is why Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the only message to preach. the message of the cross. And
it's through this preaching that God blesses it to beget life
of His own will, beget, yes, through the word of truth, the
word of the cross. And finally, there's such power
in this message of the cross that it does what the law can
never do. It makes a man love God. If any of my salvation is dependent
upon me, contingent upon me doing something, all I'm going to do
is resent God. And I'm going to secretly grumble
in my mind that he's too hard on me. But when I see what Christ
accomplished on the cross, I love God and I freely serve Him, not
out of hope for reward, not out of hope that things will be better
for me, but because I love Him. The law can never produce that. Only the gospel produces a love
for God and a zeal for His glory. Paul put it this way in Galatians
chapter 6 verse 14. He said this, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching of the cross, that's
the only message. To them that perish, it's foolishness.
They see no beauty. They see no glory in it. But
unto us which are saved, The preaching of the cross is the
power of God unto salvation. Now, we have this message. If
you look it up on the internet, you can get it at our website,
or we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
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
church at the information provided on the screen.