Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. 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. I'm reading from John chapter
3 verses 12 and 13. The Lord is speaking to Nicodemus. And he says, if I have told you
earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man. which is in heaven. Now how does
the Lord identify himself? As the Son of Man. This was his favorite title. The Son of Man. Jesus Christ is God. He's the Creator. He's the son of God. He's the
son of Mary. He's the carpenter's son. He's
the son of David. He's the beloved son. He's the
only begotten son. It was he who said to Moses from
the bush that burned and could not be consumed, I am that I
am. He said in John 8 24, if you
believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. What a name
for God. I am that I am. He is the child born, He is the
Son who was given. You see, that Son was never born
because He's the eternal Son. The child was born, but the Son
was given. He's the one of whom it said
the government is on His shoulders. He controls everything. This man who calls himself the
Son of Man is the one whom the government is upon His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He is the Lion of the tribe of
Judah and the Lamb of God. He's the brightness of God's
glory. Not a flickering candle, but
He's the very brightness of the glory of God, the express image
of God's person. He's the transcript of God. He's the Word who is with God
and was God. He's the altogether lovely one. He's the Christ. He's the Bridegroom. He is the Messiah. He is God's
salvation. And what was his favorite title
concerning himself? This glorious being, this uncreated
being, the only savior of sinners. What was the name that he preferred? He called himself the Son of
Man. He called himself the Son of
Man 87 different times in the New Testament. That is significantly
more than any other title given to him. And you know, the disciples
never called him the Son of Man. They called him Lord and Master. You know, I think it's very interesting
if you look at the disciples' interaction with the Lord. Not
one time when they were speaking to him did they call him Jesus.
They called him Lord. They called him Master. And the
Lord said, you call me Master and Lord and you do well, for
so I am. That's who he is. It bothers
me when people speak of his name in a flippant, irreverent way. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the title that he preferred
was that of the Son of Man. Now, in Daniel chapter 7, it
was prophesied that the Christ would be the Son of Man. Let
me read this verse of scripture to you. In Daniel chapter 7,
verse 13, Daniel said, I saw in the night visions. And behold,
one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and
came to the Ancient of Days, the Eternal God. and they brought
him near before him, and there was given him, this one who is
the son of man, dominion and glory and a kingdom that all
people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." So this title
that he takes to himself 87 different times, We're told in the book
of Daniel, some 450 years before the birth of Christ, that He
would be the Son of Man, the designated name for the Messiah,
the Son of Man. Now, I have no doubt that this
title has something to do with His perfect humanity. You know, somebody says, I'm
not perfect. You're right. Neither is any
man. I think it's interesting when
someone says, I'm not perfect. I want to say, well, I already
knew that. And if you'd say that, I would say the same thing to
you. There are no perfect men as far as children of Adam, but
he is the perfect man, the man with no sin. I love to think
of his first 30 years of life living in obscurity. The only
thing we're told about his first 30 years is his birth, and then
an event that happened when he was 12 years old in Luke chapter
2, where he said to his mother and father, wish ye not that
I must be about my father's business. And that's what he was doing
those first 30 years. He was about his father's business,
perfectly fulfilling God's holy law in every jot and tittle,
the only holy man to ever live. And something that's very interesting
about this is his brothers and sisters didn't get it. They had
holiness living in their home, and they couldn't see it. They
didn't believe him. That lets us know that we don't
really understand holiness. He is the only holy man, and
no one really got it as he walked in those first 30 years of obscurity. and then his three years of public
ministry. Oh, the perfect man. There's
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now this son of man is the one
who suffered as a man. The son of man is the one who
died as a man. The son of man is he who was
raised as a man. He was not always flesh. God was manifested in the flesh,
but for eternity, he's the eternal son of God. But there was a point
in time when he took upon himself flesh as the man, Christ Jesus. And right now, I love thinking
about this. There is a man in glory, seated at the right hand
of the Father, God's darling Son, representing all of His
people. Now, there's a passage of Scripture
in Proverbs chapter 8. I want to read several verses. It talks about Christ before
time began. We read beginning in verse 22,
and these are the words of the Lord. He is wisdom personified
in Proverbs chapter 22. He says, the Lord possessed me
in the beginning of His way, before His works evolved, before
there was a creation. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, wherever the earth was." Now, He is talking
about His existence, His eternal existence with His Father before
time began. We read in verse 29, when He
gave the sea His decree that the water should not pass His
commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was mine. as one brought up with him. And
I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing
in the habitable part of the earth. And my delights," listen
to this, this is Christ speaking, even before the foundation of
the world, before the creation of the universe, my delights
were with the sons of men. even before the creation. He
says, my delights were with the sons of men. Now I want to go
back to our text in John chapter three, verse 13. The Lord says, and no man, no
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. even the Son of Man, which is
in heaven." Well, I'm talking to you on earth right now. I am in heaven. I descended down from heaven,
and I am in heaven. Now, what does he mean when he
says, no man hath ascended up to heaven? Well, what about Enoch?
Didn't the Lord take him before he died? What about Elijah? The scripture says chariots came
down and brought him back into heaven. Now, they were brought
into heaven, but they didn't ascend into heaven. Only the
Lord Jesus ascended back to the Father by his own power. Enoch was brought into heaven.
Elijah was brought into heaven. And when you and I, if we're
brought into heaven, it's going to be because we're brought into
heaven. He brings us there. But the Lord ascended into heaven. Now, what must they have been
thinking? when he said, I came down from
heaven. And I said, and even right now,
as I'm speaking to you, I'm in heaven. If someone said that
to me or you, we would think, you're deluded. You're crazy.
How can you make a claim like that, that you came down from
heaven, that you had existence before you were born, and you
came down from heaven? And when he says, the Son of
Man ascends back into heaven, that's spoken of in the perfect
tense, something that's already taken place. You see, with God,
everything is in the present. There's no past or future with
Him. He sees things as they are eternally. And the Lord Jesus Christ, while
He spake from earth, was in Now, in John 6, verse 31, he said
things similar to this. The people who claim to believe
on him said, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it's
written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat, talking about
the manna that came down from heaven. Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Now here
he says again to these people, I'm the bread of God. I came
down from heaven. I'm the one who gives life to
the world." Well, they didn't get it. Verse 34, then said they
unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. We want bread
that lasts forever so we won't get hungry anymore. We want this
bread. They did not understand the Lord's
speech. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now this is a very important
verse because it tells us that coming to Christ and believing
on Christ are the precise same thing. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst." Now, what does that mean? If I ever believe
on Christ, I will be completely satisfied with Him. Now, I'm
not satisfied with myself, but I'm satisfied completely to be
saved by Him only. I'm not looking for anything
else. I'm satisfied to simply be found in Him. Now the Lord
goes on to say in verse 36, but I said unto you that you also
have seen me and believe not. And these people he's speaking
to, he says, you don't believe me. He knew what was in their
hearts, but that didn't discourage him because he knew some would
believe him. Look what he says next in verse 37. All that the
father giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out." Oh, what wonderful words. Four,
I came down from heaven. Here he says it again to these
people. I came down from heaven." I imagine
they were thinking, what in the world are you saying that for?
Who do you think you are? You came down from heaven. Well,
he knew exactly who he was, God the Son. He says, for I came
down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. I came down from heaven not to
do what I want to do, but to do the will of him that sent
me." He's talking about his father's will. And this is, now he tells
us exactly what that is. And this is the father's will
which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Now here he tells us in no uncertain
terms What God's will for him to do was, it was to save everyone
the father gave him, to save all the elect. Now, when our
Lord came here, his intention was this. Thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. His intention was to save the
elect. He said, this is why the Father
sent me, and I'm gonna do it. I've done it. I'm gonna raise
them all up at the last day. And then he says in verse 40,
and this is a part of this will of the Father which has sent
me, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up. at the
last day. Now notice the order. First he
said, the Father sent me to save the elect. And then he said,
here's the Father's will that everyone that sees the Son believes
on Him. And notice the order. You won't
believe until you see who He is. And if you and I ever see
who He is, we will believe. We won't be able to do anything
else but believe. If we ever see who he is, that's
the issue. What most folks' problems are
that are religious is they've never really seen who the Lord
is. That's why they believe, have such high views of themselves,
because they've never seen who the Lord is. But if you ever
see who he is, you will believe on him, and you'll have everlasting
life, and you'll be raised by Christ on that last day. Verse
41, the Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the
bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he saith, I came down from heaven? This is what they
were stuck at. How could he say, I came down
from heaven? Now, back to our text. He takes
it even farther. In John chapter 3, verse 13, No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, there's
his title, which is in heaven. Now, what an amazing statement. He says, while I'm talking to
you, I am in heaven right now. Now, there is a place called
heaven. It's the place where God dwells. It's the place where
the holy angels are. It's the place where everyone
who's died in Christ is, a place of indescribable bliss and joy. Now, I don't know much about
heaven, but I know he's there. And that's what heaven is, is
beholding his glory, being with him. Now, he said, while I'm
speaking to you here on earth, I am in heaven. Now, what do you think they thought
about that? While he had all the limitations of being a man,
with the exception of the commission of sin, he never lost any of
the attributes of God. Colossians 2.9 says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And included in that
is omnipresence. He is not bound by space. He's not bound by time. He is
omnipresent. Somebody says, how can a body
here on earth be omnipresent? I have no idea. But he is. But there's so much I can say.
How could God lift my sin off of me and put it on Christ for
him to bear it and put it away? I don't know how he did it, but
he did. How could the God-man die? I don't know, but he did. How could the God-man raise himself
from the earth? I don't know, but he did. How
could God be one God in three distinct persons? I don't know,
but he is. You see, we believe what he says. And he says, I am in heaven as
I speak. Now, I do not understand how
Christ could be standing upon the planet earth at a particular
longitude and latitude, an exact point, and yet be in heaven at
the same time. But He is. He's the God-Man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I repeat, this glorious One
who came down from heaven, and even while He was speaking was
in heaven, His favorite title was the Son of Man. Now, I want
to read a number of scriptures to close this message. I'm going
to comment very little on them, but I want you to think about
them. Matthew 8.20, foxes have holes and birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay his head. The
creator of the universe had no personal property. He had no
place to lay his head. When I hear these health-wealth
preachers, I just think, oh, that is so offensive. It's offensive
to the Son of God. He had no place to lay his head.
Matthew 9.6 says that you may know that the Son of Man hath
power on earth to forgive sins. Now, the only one who can forgive
sins is God. The Son of Man is God, and He
has all authority to forgive sins. Whether or not my sins
or your sins are forgiven is in His hand. It's up to Him. Matthew 11, 19 says, The Son
of Man came eating and drinking. A man among men. And they say,
Behold, a man gluttonous, a wine-bibber, the friend of publicans and sinners.
Now that was their slam against it. They saw him eating and drinking.
They said, He's a glutton. He's a drunk. Why? He's the friend
of publicans and sinners. Aren't you glad He is? There
wouldn't be any hope for me or you if He wasn't. Matthew 12,
verse 8 says, The Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord. He's
Lord of creation. He created the universe. He's
Lord of providence. Everything that's taking place
right now, He is the first cause of everything. He's Lord of salvation. If you're saved, it's because
He saved you. It was His purpose. He did it
all. And He's Lord even of the Sabbath. Matthew 12, 40, as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the well's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. He died, and He spent three days
dead, having accomplished the salvation of His people. Matthew
13, 37 says that He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. If you hear the gospel and the
power of His Spirit, here's why. The Son of Man sowed that seed
into your heart. Matthew 13, 41 says, The Son
of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of
His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and
cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth. as the son in the kingdom of
their father. Now, we don't shine as the son
now, but we will in the kingdom of our father. Matthew 18, verse
11 says, the son of man has come to save that which is lost. And
Luke 19, 10 says, the son of man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Are you lost? Are you lost? The Son of Man has come to save
you. That's His promise. Matthew 20, 28 says, the Son
of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give
His life a ransom for many. Matthew 24, 27 says, for as the
lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west,
so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. When He returns, everybody
will know who He is. Matthew 25, 31 says, When the
Son of Man cometh in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before
him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on
his left. We read in Matthew 26-24 where
the Lord says, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man seated
at the right hand of power in absolute sovereign control. I love this scripture. Luke 9-36,
the Son of Man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. He didn't come to condemn men,
but to save them. Men are already condemned. Luke
18.9 says, When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on
the earth? I sure hope so. I hope he finds me believing.
Luke 22.48, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? I love this. The angel said in
Romans, in Luke 24, 6, 7, Well, who delivered him? Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's who delivered Him.
He was no victim. This was all part of His glorious
purpose. For the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third
day rise again. Now, why was there a necessity
to this? Because God purposed it. That's
why. That's why He must be delivered.
Because God's just, and He bore the sins of His people, and God
must punish sin. That's why Christ died. It was
the justice of God that killed Him. Why must He be risen from
the dead? Because justice was satisfied.
Because God loved the people Christ died for, and He's going
to have them with Him eternally in heaven. John 3.14 says, "...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." Those people that were
bitten in the wilderness by the fiery snakes, God told Moses
to make a serpent like them, set it on a pole, and anybody
who looked, lived. If you look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, you will live. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and beside me is none else. Now what a name for the
Savior, the Son of God. His favorite name. Because He
loved men, the Son of Man. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church or write
or look at our website, you can get the copy there. This is Todd
Nyberg praying that God will be pleased to make Himself known
to you. That's our prayer. 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.