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 message, First
After That. The text is in Hebrews 7, verses
1 and 2 for this Melchizedek. King of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings and blessed him. to whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, After
that, king of peace. Now the writer to the Hebrews
is talking about Melchizedek, that mysterious figure who appeared
in Genesis chapter 14 and met Abraham returning back from the
slaughter of the kings. And it says Melchizedek blessed
Abraham. Now I believe that Melchizedek
is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he's once again mentioned in Psalm 110 when David says, thou
art speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
says concerning this man, Melchizedek, that first, he's the king of
righteousness. After that, the king of peace. Now notice the order. First,
righteousness. After that, peace. Do you know that the only way
that you will have peace Peace with God, peace in your own conscience
and heart, is if the only way you can have this kind of peace
is if you are righteous before God. perfectly righteous. If you're perfectly righteous,
that means you've never sinned. You stand before God sinless. Now somebody says, now how in
the world can you say something like that? Because we're all
men, we've all sinned. I know that. But if Jesus Christ
is my Savior, He has made it to where that I stand before
the holy law of God without sin. You see, He put away my sin,
and He gave me His righteousness, and every believer stands before
God perfectly righteous without sin. Now, it's only as I am perfectly
righteous that I have peace of conscience. And it's only as
I'm perfectly righteous that God is at peace with me. Now there's a divine order. First,
righteousness. After that, peace. Now God is a God of order. Paul said to the church at Corinth,
God is not the author of confusion, disorder. Paul went on to say
to that same church, let all things be done decently and in
order. Now here is the divine order,
righteousness, then peace. I hope by the end of this message,
the Lord will give us some understanding of this divine order. Now this
order, is spoken of by Paul in Colossians chapter two, when
he says to the church at Colossa, I'm beholding your order and
the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. There will be no steadfastness
of faith if we don't understand the divine order. Now think about creation. In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What's
the order? God first, then creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Now, in preaching, there is a
divine order. We don't begin with man and the
good things God will do for him or wants to do for him. We begin
with God, who he is, his character, what he did. We begin with God
and what he does for men, for Christ's sake. And if we begin
with God, you know where we have to begin? In eternity, before
there was creation. All there was was the eternal
God. And if we're going to have the
right order scripturally, we have to begin in eternity. And if we don't, it's false.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning. You know, even with regard to
the death of Christ, We read in Acts 4, verses 27 and 28,
for the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles and the people
of Israel. That covers everybody. were gathered
together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel appointed
before to be done." Everything that happened to Christ in time
was appointed by God before in eternity. Now you take away that,
and the cross of Christ is meaningless. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And that's why He came in time.
When we begin with God's order, we must begin with eternity. Even in what we preach, What
I'm trying to do right now, may the Lord help me. May he give
me words from him and may he give you hearing ears. But even
in this thing of preaching, there's a place where we got to begin.
There's a divine order. Peter said, knowing this first,
this is what comes first. We're wasting our time if we
don't have this. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture came by private interpretation. But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now, this is what comes first.
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. And somebody says, well,
how do you expect me to believe if it was written by men that
it's inspired by God? God created the universe from
nothing. I expect you to believe that, and you do believe it.
If He can create the universe from nothing, He can inspire
men to write a book and keep it preserved. And if we don't
have a written Word as our only authority, the Word of God, all
we have is my opinion and your opinion. And that won't do us
any good. We've got to know first, what
sayeth the Scripture? That is the authority. What does
God's Word say? And there's even an order in
interpreting the Scripture. The Lord said, with regard to
the Scriptures, they are they which testify of me. Here's where
I've got to look first in the scriptures, what's it say with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ? Every scripture testifies of
Him, and what we need is God the Holy Spirit to teach us how
every scripture testifies of Him. Now, all of our information
must first come from this book. I love the way Christ identifies
Himself. This is so glorious. He says,
I'm the Alpha, and the Omega. I'm the first and the last. I'm the beginning and I am the
end. That is God's order. He is before all things and by
Him all things consist. Now what I want us to do is consider
God's order first in creation, then in providence, and then
in salvation. Now if I get the order inverted,
I end up preaching salvation by works. I end up preaching
salvation dependent upon what you do, rather than what God
has done. So may the Lord help us to understand
this divine order. I'm not just trying to be logical,
I'm being scriptural. Now it'll make sense, without
question, You'll see that, but I'm not preaching simply what
I think makes sense or what's logical to me, but what the Bible
actually teaches. Now let's consider first God's
order in creation. Before there was creation, All
there was, was God. In the Trinity of His sacred
persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
one God in three distinct persons, rejoicing in Himself. The Father
rejoiced in the Son, the Son rejoiced in the Spirit, the Spirit
rejoiced in the Son and the Father. God was perfectly happy. He didn't
need anything. But for His own glory, He created
the universe. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And in the creation account,
there is a certain order, six days. Now somebody says, does
that mean six 24-hour days? It very well may mean that. The
scripture also says one day is with the Lord is a thousand years
and a thousand years is a day. And is it six literal days or
does that mean something else? Well, I know this, whatever it
means, that's what I believe. I don't altogether understand
it, but whatever God says in His Word, I believe. And there
was a certain order given. Now, people have argued over
how old the earth is. I've heard anywhere from 13.7
billion years old to 4 billion years old. And then if you just
look at the genealogies from Adam through Christ, some would
argue that the earth is only 6,000 years old. Now how old
is the earth? I don't know. I don't know. But I know this, the Lord could
have created the earth 13.7 billion years old with all the fossil
fuels at the very time of creation. That would not be any more difficult
for him than to create it without anything like that. But whatever
happened, there was a divine order. Six days. And I think
it's interesting that the sun and the moon didn't come across
until the fourth day of creation. That lets me know that God has
a specific order and that time and space and matter came in
his creation. But here's the order. God then
creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. Now the second area I want us
to think of as far as order goes is providence. Creation is God
created and he created everything in his own order. Providence
is everything that happens in time. God is the first cause. When matter, space, and time
came into being, God determined everything that would happen
in matter, space, and time. Providence is everything that
takes place. The events, the sequence of the
events, and the outcome of the events are determined by the
living God who is sovereign. With regard to anything that
takes place in this universe, God is the cause. It's said of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is before all things. Whatever happens, it's His will
being done. He is before all things, and
by Him, all things consist. And let me give you some scriptures
that back this up. Romans 8 28 says, and we know that all things
covers everything, my friend. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose, everything. is working together
for good. And you know who's working it
together for good? God is. He controls everything. Let me read a passage of scripture
to you from Isaiah chapter 45, verse 5. God is speaking. He says, I am the Lord. There's
none else. I am God. There's none beside
me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me. that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there's none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Now that tells me he's the first
cause behind everything. Somebody says, are you saying
God is the author of evil? No, I just read that scripture.
And I know there would not be any evil had not God purposed
for this to be for his own glory. And he always brings good out
of evil. God's God. not the weak God that
wants things that so many preachers preach, but he's God indeed. He is in control of everything
that takes place. He said in Isaiah 46, verse nine,
remember the former things of old, for I am God and there's
none else. I am God and there's none like me, declaring the end
from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. God controls everything that
takes place in time. Psalm 37.23 says, the steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord. The Lord told us there's
not a sparrow that falls to the ground without your heavenly
Father. Proverbs 16.33 says, the lot
is cast into the light, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. Now somebody may be thinking,
well, don't you believe man has a free will? No. You're gonna
tell me that any will is independent of God's sovereign will? Now,
man may have a free will if there's no God, if we're all atheists
and there's no meaning to life, but as long as God is, his will
is supreme. And man's will is not free from
God's will. Now, let me explain to you what
I'm saying. I do believe people do exactly
what they want to do, uncoerced. And I believe people do not do
what they do not want to do uncoerced. People do what they want. People
do not do what they do not want to do. And God is completely
sovereign over all of man's actions. They only do what God has determined
before to be done. God is sovereign and he controls
every event. Here's the divine order, God's
purpose, God's will, then it's done. And God always brings good
out of evil. I love what Joseph said to his
brethren. He said, you men are for evil.
but God meant it for good. When they sold him into slavery,
they were malicious in what they did, and they meant it for evil. They wanted him destroyed, but
God was using it to save all of Jacob's house. You meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good. God is God, and he controls
everything. There's no reason to worry about
anything. God is the first cause behind all things. And yes, there's
an order in creation. God, then creation. There's an
order in providence. God, he purposes everything that
takes place. He's in control of it all. And
there's God's order in salvation. David said in 2 Samuel 23 5,
although my house be not so with God, Yet, hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things. And sure, and this is all my
salvation and all my desire." In 2 Timothy 1.9, Paul made this
statement, he saved us And He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. He saved us and called us. which came first. He saved us
and then He called us. The saving took place before
the calling. You know what happens when the
Lord saves you? You find out He saved you. That salvation
was accomplished before time began. We just read, He saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Christ is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and all my salvation
was accomplished in eternity. Now somebody says, does that
mean he didn't have to come in time to go to the cross? Of course
it doesn't mean that. He had to come in time to do
what he did in eternity. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Now, if my salvation did not
begin in eternity, I'm not going to be saved in time. We read
of an eternal salvation in Hebrews 5, verse 9, a salvation that
has no beginning and has no end. Ephesians 1, 4 says, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. Now look at
this order. Before there was a sinner, there
was a savior. I've already quoted this. He's
called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
before there was ever a sinner, there was first a savior. And
the sinner came after that. Now listen to this real carefully.
This is the divine order. Before there's forgiveness, there
must first be justification. Before God will forgive you. You must first be justified by
him. Now let me back that up with
scripture. I hope I back up everything I
say with scripture. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. Have you heard that? Under no
circumstance will ever God clear a guilty sinner. And what would
we think of a human judge who would clear the guilty? Why?
They would be an unjust judge, wouldn't they? I don't want a
human judge who says, well, I'm a loving judge and a forgiving
judge. I'm going to forgive you for those crimes and put him
back out into society to do even more. God said, he's absolutely
just. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. I cannot be forgiven unless I
am first justified. Listen to this scripture. 1 John
1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
if we confess our sins." Now, it sounds to me like it begins
with your confession. No, listen. Listen. If we confess
our sins, what does it mean to confess your sins? Does it mean
to articulate each one of them? Well, there's two problems with
that. Most of the sins you and I have committed, we don't even
know it. We're ignorant of it. And number two, if we've got
to confess them all, there's not enough hours in the day. What he's talking
about is agreement with God. We take sides with God against
ourselves. We agree with what God says with
regard to our sin. If we confess our sin, it doesn't
say he's merciful and gracious to forgive us of our sin, although
he is. It says he's faithful and just
to forgive us of our sin. He's faithful. He's faithful. You see, he determined then my
sin is going to be put away. He determined that I'm going
to confess my sin. He's faithful to do what He determined
to do. It's God that worketh in you
both the will and to do His good pleasure. The reason I confess
my sin in the first place is because He's faithful. And He's
just to forgive me of my sin. How's that? Through the gospel,
I stand before God just. I stand before God without guilt.
He put away my sin. And the very justice of God demands
the forgiveness of all my sins because they've been put away. If someone is thinking, you're
just trying to be logical. No, I'm being scriptural. It
may be logical, but that's not why we believe it. It's because
it's scriptural. You know, in this thing of the
gospel, most people seem to Check out their brains when it comes
to their religion. They can be very intelligent
people, but they believe things that don't make any sense. But
the gospel makes sense. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. I mean, even in this thing of
faith and repentance. I must believe. I must repent. I will not be saved apart from
faith and repentance. No one can do that for me. I
must believe and I must repent. Do you know what? God's going
to give me that faith. God's going to give me that repentance. Now, the moment I believe, I'm
saved. There's not a separation between
believing and life. The moment I believe, I have
life. chronologically, but you know life has to come logically
before that faith. I cannot believe unless God gives
me life. It's only when God gives me life
that I believe. It's only when God gives me life
that I repent. His work must come before my
work or it's not real. In Romans chapter 10, Paul makes
this statement, and I'm so thankful for it. In verse 13, he says,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I love the word whosoever. But
look what it says next. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? You can't call on somebody you've
never believed. And how shall they believe in
him who they've not heard? You can't believe what you've
never heard. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And
how shall they preach except they be sent? Now here we have
God's order. God crosses your path with a
preacher that he has sent, preaching the truth. You hear what's being
said. You believe. and then you call
upon the name of the Lord. You see, there is always a divine
order. As David said with regard to
his salvation, it was ordered in all things and it is sure. Now let me go back to that first
statement with regard to Melchizedek, first righteousness. After that,
peace. Now if God makes you righteous
in the gospel, after that, and I mean with, righteousness means
sinless, perfect in God's sight. you'll have peace, and He'll
be at peace with you. May God bless this to our hearts.
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