Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nibert. 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 Nibert. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Preaching of the Cross. A preacher from the last century,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, made this statement with regard to
the preaching of the cross. If we confine our preaching to
nothing but the cross, it would prove to be a widening
rather than a narrowing of our ministry. And in reality, if
we look at any passage of scripture without the cross, we have not
understood that passage of scripture. One preacher made this statement,
any message without the cross was a mistake in its conception
and a crime in its execution. And I believe that. The cross
is the whole counsel of God. The cross is in every passage
of Scripture. The preaching of the cross. Now, Paul says in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 17, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Now, when
Paul says, Christ sent me not to baptize, he's not saying people
should not be baptized. If I believe the gospel, I should
be baptized. And baptism is baptism by immersion. There's no evidence in the scripture
whatsoever of infant baptism. Baptism is for believers. And
I would love to baptize thousands of people, if that's what the
Lord's will is. But Paul is saying, my purpose
is not for results. It's not for numbers of baptisms. Christ sent me not to baptize. This emphasis that preachers
and religion has on numbers is altogether wrong. The first thing
people ask about a church is how many people attend. Not is
the gospel preached there, but how many people attend. That
is just wrong. And Paul said, for Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Now, when
Paul speaks of using wisdom of words, he says, I'm not to package
the gospel to try to make it more appealing to the flesh.
That is so rampant in most of what goes on under the name of
Christianity, trying to market the gospel to appeal to people. Paul said, I don't do that. I
preach the gospel in its naked simplicity, and if I try to dress
it up and make it more appealing to the flesh, the cross of Christ
will be made of none effect. No one will be saved by that
kind of preaching. Then he says in verse 18, four,
the preaching of the cross. Now, when he's talking about
the cross, he's not talking about this. People use it as jewelry. It's up in religious buildings. You'll see crosses on the tops
of the steeples and so on. He's not talking about that. As far as that goes, in all likelihood,
Christ was crucified. What we call a cross was a pole,
like the serpent on a pole. And I doubt that it even was
a cross the way we think of a cross, but what he's talking about is
the doctrine of Christ being nailed to a cross. The preaching,
the Word, the doctrine of the cross. Now let me tell you what
the doctrine of the cross is. Substitution. Substitution. The way I can be saved is for
Christ to take my place as my substitute pay for my sins as
my substitute, keep the law for me as my substitute, and He gives
me His perfect righteousness. Substitution is the very heart
and soul of the cross. I remember reading once of a
missionary who was in a very primitive place, and he was trying
to understand if they understood what he said. And he asked someone
of that tribe, do you understand what I've said? And the man replied,
he died or me died. He died. Mino died. He got the
very essence of substitution. If Christ died for me, I will
not have to die. That is what the cross is all
about, how God can be just. and justify the ungodly through
the cross. You know, every attribute of
God is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
attribute, His holiness, His wisdom, His love, His justice,
His mercy, His grace, oh, the glory of the cross. Now, Paul
says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. You tell me that I can be saved
simply because a man was nailed to a cross? Well, that's foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
oh, it, the preaching, the doctrine, the word of the cross, is the
very power of God. In this same chapter, in verse
22, Paul says, for the Jews, require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Now, the Jews,
the religious people, they require a sign. Give me some evidence.
I need my works as evidence that God has done something for me.
I need to see something. I need to be able to feel something.
I need evidence. You can't tell me that if Jesus
Christ died for someone, they're saved. I think the only evidence
that somebody is saved is not by what they believe, but by
how they live, how they perform. I need evidence. I need a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
This is the non-religious. And the wisdom that they're speaking
of, seeking, is not that wisdom that's that fear of God, which
is the beginning of wisdom, but worldly wisdom. Wisdom about
how to make this world a better place to live, how to have greater
health care, how to have better technology, how to have a better
education, doing things to make this world a better place. They
seek after wisdom, but Paul says, but we preach Christ crucified.
That's our message. Jesus Christ, who He is, crucified
what He did, why He did it, and what He accomplished in doing
it. Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. He was put there because
it was his father's purpose for him. He's the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The sins of his people became
his sins. He suffered. He was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
When he died, all sin was put away. The sins of everybody he
died for was put away. When he was raised from the dead,
everybody he represented was justified. We preach Christ crucified. Salvation holy by what Christ
did. Now, to the Jews, that's a stumbling
block. You're going to tell me that
I am accepted by God solely without any reference to my work simply
because of what Christ did for me? That's all that is my acceptance
before God? You're going to tell me that,
well, that'll lead to a sinful life. That'll lead to apathy
and indifference. I won't have any motivation to
live for God if I know I'm accepted in what Christ did without any
reference to my works. Well, that's scandalous. The
Greeks say, why, that's foolishness. That's not going to make the
world a better place. This is not going to improve education
or health care. This is not going to take care
of the problem of racism and every other ism. Why, this is
foolishness to say that this is the message. But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of
God, and Christ the wisdom of God. You see, the cross is the
wisdom of God and Him making a way for Him to be just and
holy and righteous and still justify somebody who in and of
themselves are unjust, but He can make that person sinless.
Sinless. Having never sinned. That's what
justification is. You've never sinned. You've always
done that which pleases God. Now, only the wisdom of God could
make a way for Him to do that, and it took the power of God
to execute it. The power of Jesus Christ to
put away sin. The power of Jesus Christ to
work out a perfect righteousness. The power of Jesus Christ to
raise Himself from the dead. Christ, the wisdom of God, and
the power of God. Now, Paul says in 1 Corinthians
2 verses 1 and 2, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech or of knowledge, declaring unto
you the testimony of God. I wasn't trying to wow you with
my oratory, for I determined not to know anything among you. I made this my resolve to not
even consider anything as important even worth talking about, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, do you understand why Paul
said that? Do you understand knowing nothing is even relevant
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Have you seen such glory in this
message that you won't preach anything else and you don't want
to hear anything else? If somebody would accuse me of
preaching the same thing all the time, guilty as charged.
I want to preach the same thing all the time. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified as everything in the Bible, as everything in God's
salvation, of all that's needed to make me perfect before God. Now, the cross. preaching of
the cross. You know, we don't know much
about what took place before time began. I realize that. But there was a time when there
was no matter, there was no space, there was no time. God dwelt
alone in the trinity of his sacred persons. All there was was God. There were no angels. There were
no planets. There was no sun, moon, or stars.
All there was was God. And even then, the Bible tells
us that Christ was the Lamb slain, literally the Lamb having been
slain from the foundation of the world. Before time began,
Christ was the Lamb slain. Before there was ever a sinner.
there was the Savior. And God's eternal purpose is
Christ coming into the world to be crucified, to put away
the sins of His people, and to save them from their sins for
His own glory. God created the universe so the
Lamb could come and be slain. Now, when Adam fell, Before he
fell, God said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. Talking about him eating of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Now, he doesn't say, if you eat it, you'll die.
He said, in the day you do, you'll die. Could God have prevented
it? Of course he could have. Did
he? No, he didn't. Why? It was all a part of his
purpose. Without Adam falling, there would
be no lamb slain. And the lamb slain is the most
glorious thing there is. Now, I know this with regard
to God. I don't understand why he does
everything he does, except that I know it's for his glory. And
I know this, whatever he does is good, righteous, glorious,
holy. People say, well, how could God
let this happen? How could God let that happen? I trust God's
character. Whatever he does is righteous, glorious, perfect. And here is the glorious thing
about God. He always brings good out of
evil. And the greatest example of that
is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the most evil thing
to ever take place, men nailing their creator to a cross, and
yet it's the most glorious thing to ever take place. Now, Adam
eats, he dies, and he's buried. And right after the fall, we're
given the first gospel promise. He says, the seed of woman, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't have Adam's seed. The
seed of woman shall crush the serpent's head, and the serpent
will bruise his heel. That took place on the cross. And then right after that, while
our first parents had tried to make a covering for themselves,
to cover their nakedness, to cover their shame, made of fig
leaves, God slew an animal, a lamb, and gave him a covering, prefiguring
the cross right there. What's the first story after
the fall? Cain and Abel. Cain brings his
best to God, the fruit of the ground. Abel brings the blood
of a slain sacrifice. Now Abel understood that that
blood didn't put away any sin. He did this by faith, looking
to the coming one. He knew Christ would come and
shed his blood. And the only way he could approach
God is through the blood sacrifice of his son. And that's what this
animal I'm bringing represents. Cain saw no point in that. He
thought, well, this is good enough. Abel knew it wasn't. And the
scripture says God had respect to Abel and his offering. God
was pleased. But to Cain and his offering,
he had no respect. He treated it with disregard.
He knew what it was. Abel was thinking he could come
into God's presence on the basis of his own works, and that's
an insult. That's bringing God down to our level. That's insulting
God. Abel knew the only way he could
approach God is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that
made him acceptable to God. Now Cain got mad at this. He
said, this is not fair. Why is it that God would accept
your sacrifice and not mine? I'm sure Abel explained to him,
God's holy, we're sinful. The only way we can be accepted
is through the blood of the coming one. Abel said, I'll show you
blood. He bashed his brother's head in. And the first murder
took place over the cross, over the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some 2,000 years later,
men were born dead in sins, but wickedness progressed to the
point where 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. And God told Noah, Noah found
grace inside. He was just as bad as everybody
else, but God decided to save him. And he said, make an ark.
Now that ark is the most clear type of Christ. Everybody in
the ark was saved. Everybody outside of the ark
was drowned. The wrath of God poured upon
the ark, but those in the ark were saved. The wrath of God
came down on Christ. Those in Him, those He represented,
are saved. Well, what's the first thing
Noah did when he got off the ark? He offered a sacrifice,
a blood sacrifice. The cross has always been everything
in salvation. There are different dispensations.
The cross is the only dispensation. It's the only way men have ever
been saved. Now, Abraham, he's probably the
most significant man in scripture other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what is he most famous for? Offering up his son on an altar. But let me read you a passage
of scripture in Genesis 22, verse 10. And Abraham stretched forth
his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Why did he do that? God told him to. But God also
told him that he would raise him from the dead. Abraham knew
that. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thy only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold behind him. a ram caught in a thicket
by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered
him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son." Now, that's
substitution. Christ being offered in my stead. Throughout the Old Testament,
we're given reminders of the cross. I think in Exodus, when
God delivered the people from bondage, He said, you take a
lamb, and it's got to be a perfect lamb, and you shed its blood
and put it over the doorposts of the house you're in, and when
I see the blood of that lamb, I will pass over you. Now, everybody
where that blood was not, God destroyed the firstborn. In every
house, With the blood over the door, he had mercy. in the giving
of the law in Exodus, chapter 20, the Ten Commandments. Do
you know in that same chapter, he gives instructions for an
altar for sacrifice? He knew they wouldn't keep that
law. And he said, there's not to be steps to that altar, and
a human tool is not to touch it. Even then, there was a provision
for the broken law. And what is that provision? The
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I think of the
great passage of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 53 about Christ's
substitutionary death. Never forget that the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ is everything in salvation. It's everything
in God's purpose. It's the most God-like thing
God ever did. is to nail his son to a cross
to glorify himself and his attributes and his mercy and his grace and
his love and save people who were not worthy of being saved. Somebody says, what did God see
in me that was worthy? He saw his son. He saw his son. And that's all that's needed
to make me and you worthy in his sight. Now, when John the
Baptist The forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ announced his
public ministry being opened. He said, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. Now he's talking about
all those Old Testament lambs, those millions of lambs that
had been slain. He says, Now here's God's Lamb.
And I have no doubt he's referring to Genesis 22, 8, when Isaac
said, Father, here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the
lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Well, here is the lamb of God's
providing, the lamb of God. Now he had spent 30 years in
obscurity, working in a carpenter shop. Nobody knew who he was. But his father did, and he kept
God's law perfectly in that time. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a sinful motive. He never had a sinful deed. He
never had a sinful word. He kept God's law perfectly. And yet, at the end of his three-year
public ministry, he is nailed to a cross to be crucified. Shortly before this took place,
he said, and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour,
but for this cause came I into this hour. He came to be nailed
to a cross. Acts chapter 4, verses 27 and
28 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, were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Everything
that took place around the cross, was what God's hand and God's
counsel determined before to be done. Don't ever look at the
cross in any other way than that. God's eternal purpose. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. When Peter's preaching on Pentecost,
he says, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken him with wicked hands,
have crucified and slain. God sent Christ into the world
for the cross. Why? Why was he nailed to a cross? Number one, it was God's purpose. All along, it was God's purpose. Number two, he was nailed to
a cross because he was guilty. The sins of His people became
His sins. He became guilty of the commission
of those sins. Now, He never sinned. He's holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He never sinned. Even when He was made sin, He
never sinned. But he became guilty of the commission
of those sins. And when he was questioned by
the Sanhedrin, he didn't open his mouth. When he was questioned
by Pilate and Herod, he didn't open his mouth. Why? Because
he knew he was guilty. Guilty as charged. You see, he
came to bear the sins of his people in his own body on the
tree. When he saw that cup, brought
before him and said, oh, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass
from me. That's the cup of his people's sins that he knew he
was going to drink and become guilty. And he's going to experience
everything about sin, but the commission of it. He felt all
the shame and guilt before his father as the sin bearing substitute. Why was he nailed to a cross?
Because he was guilty. But my dear friends, When he
did that, he said, let me abide in the stead of Todd and let
Todd go free. And when he died, he did something
that no regular human being could do. He satisfied God's justice. God said, I am satisfied. I'm not looking for anything
else. All I require of Todd, all I
require of every believer, I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I look to Christ for everything. Now that, my dear friends, is
the message of the whole Bible, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why am I saved? Is it because
I asked to be saved? Is it because there's something
that I did that obligated God to save me? No, I'm safe for
this one reason. Jesus Christ lived for me, and
he kept the law for me. And Jesus Christ died for me
as my substitute, bearing my sins in his own body on the tree. And when God raised him from
the dead, God said, I'm completely satisfied with what he did and
everybody he did it for. And this is the very glory of
God. of the preaching of the cross.
Now, when Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I make the same statement by
the grace of God. I've determined not to know anything
among you, not to think of anything as even worth saying, if it doesn't
find its foundation in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have this message on
CD and DVD. If you call the church, write,
we'll send you a copy. Look on our website and you can
get this message off our website. 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 a request to
todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. Hmm.