Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. 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've entitled this morning's
message, Confidence and Rejoicing in Hope. There are three glorious
words, confidence, rejoicing, and hope. Now these three words
come from our text in verse six of Hebrews chapter three. But
Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Now, I want to be the house of
Christ. The church has called His body,
His dwelling place, His house. Every individual believer is
one of whom it said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I am his house, I am his dwelling
place, I am saved if. Now this if is not a conditional
if, it's an evidential if. Here is the evidence that Christ
dwells in me. Here is the evidence that I am
his house. If I hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Now let me read the verses that precede this verse in Hebrews
chapter three. The writer to the Hebrews says,
wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now here is what he calls us
to consider, every holy brother, everyone that's a partaker of
the heavenly calling, every believer, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house,
Now, what did the Lord appoint his son to do? Matthew 1.21,
the very opening chapter of the New Testament, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And he was faithful in what the
Father sent him to do. He did what the Father sent him
to do, just as Moses was faithful in all his house. Moses was faithful
to record exactly what God told him to record. There wasn't any
creative license, there wasn't any ad-libbing, he was simply
giving what God said to do exactly. And he was faithful by the grace
of God to do that. For this man, verse three, the
Lord Jesus Christ was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he that builded the house hath more honor than the
house. Now, the house, the beautiful
structure that's built, may look glorious, but it can't take any
glory to itself. It was built by somebody else.
It can't take any glory, nor can a believer take any glory
in what he is. He has been made by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he can have no glory. Verse four, for every
house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God,
and he gets the glory in all things. Verse five, and Moses
verily was faithful in all his house as a servant. He, by the
grace of God, recorded everything God told him to say. He wrote
the instructions of the law, the tabernacle. He wrote Genesis
through Deuteronomy, and there was no creative license in him
writing this. He just gave exactly what God
told him to say and write, and he was faithful in all his house. for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after, what he would write, but Christ
as a son over his own house. A servant abideth not forever,
but the son abideth forever. If the son therefore shall make
you free, you're free indeed. Christ is the son over his own
house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now, the first
thing I want us to consider is the hope. The hope. It will not do us any good at
all to talk about rejoicing and confidence in the hope if we
don't know what the hope is. What is the hope that the writer
to the Hebrews is speaking of? It's the hope that every believer
possesses. Now, hope. I hope it won't rain
tomorrow. That's not what the scripture
means by hope. Hope in the Bible is a confident
expectation with regard to the future. And that hope always
is founded in what God has said. The reason I have this confident
expectation with regard to the future is because of what God
has said in His Word. This is not a vain hope. This
is not a hope that I've made up. This is a confident hope
coming from the Word of God. Now, let me give you something
that the Bible has to say about hope, and this is important for
us to understand. Romans 8, 24 says we're saved
by hope. We're saved by hope. We're not
saved by the feeling of hope. Hope's a great feeling, isn't
it? It's a lot better than feeling despair or depression. Oh, how
bright hope is. But I'm not saved by the feeling
of hope. I'm saved by the object of that
hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by hope, but hope
that is seen is not hope. If it's something I can see,
it's not something I hope in. I can't see my justification
before God. I can't see with my eyes that I stand before God
without guilt. As a matter of fact, if I look
within my heart, it seems the opposite. But I have a hope that
I stand before God without sin, holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Hope that is seen is not hope.
For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope
for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for
it. Now I have a hope that on judgment
day, I'm going to hear God say to me, Todd Nybert, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. And let me say this, do I feel
that I've done well and that I'm good? and that I'm faithful.
No, I don't. I know what a sinful man I am.
I don't know how sinful I am, really, but I know this, I'm
a sinner. You are too, whether you know it or not. And when
Christ says to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant,
it's because I'm in Christ. Christ did well. Christ is good. Christ is faithful. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When He died, I died. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. He is all my salvation because
I'm in Him and He did well. He did good, He is good. He was
utterly faithful to His Father. And what is said of Him is said
of every believer. I have a hope that when my name
is called upon in judgment, there will be nothing but perfect righteousness. I've always done right. I've
never committed a sin. It's what the Bible calls justification. This is a lot better than forgiveness.
Oh, I love forgiveness, but this is better. I don't have anything
to be forgiven for in Christ. My sin has been put away and
I stand before God just, without guilt, having kept the law perfectly. And I have a hope that that is
what I'm going to hear on judgment day well done and I have a hope
that everything between now and then as a matter of fact everything
since the day I was born has worked together for my good and
his glory because Romans chapter 8 verse 28 says and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. What a hope. I don't have anything
to fear. My sin is gone. Everything that
takes place, no matter how painful it may be, is God working. And He's using it for my good
and His glory. What a hope. What a wonderful
thing it is to have this hope. Now, let me say this. I want to have a well-grounded
hope. There are many people, and I'm going to give you scripture
for why I'm saying many. There are many people who have
a hope, but they're going to find out when it's too late that
it was not a good hope. Now listen to what the Lord says
in Matthew chapter 7. He says, many, not just a few,
but many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
preached in your name. In your name have we not cast
out devils. In your name have we not done
many wonderful works. Now what I want to point out
about these people is all they had to say is about what they
did. There's the key. Their hope was
in something that they did. And if your hope is in something
that you have done, It's no good. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name? Have we
not cast out devils in your name? In your name, have we not done
many wonderful works? Then will I say unto them, depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. These people
were surprised. They were amazed. They thought
if anybody would be in heaven, they would. And they find out
when it's too late, they're cast off because they trusted something
they did rather than what he did. Now, I don't want to be
like that. I want to have this well-grounded
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second thing I want
us to consider is the confidence of that hope. Now, the word confidence
in our text is usually translated boldness, the boldness of that
hope, the fearless confidence, the cheerful courage, the assurance,
the boldness of that hope. I want to give you some scriptures
where this word is used to give us some idea of what this means,
this confidence, this boldness in that hope. We read in Acts
4.13 when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. Now, Peter
and John preached fearlessly, courageously, at a time when
they knew they were going to be persecuted and punished for
it. And the Pharisees saw this and
they were astounded when they saw their boldness, their fearless,
cheerful courage. When they saw the boldness of
Peter and John and they perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men. There was no worldly reason why
they should have this boldness. They took knowledge of them.
that they had been with Jesus. This is where this boldness comes
from, being with the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 3, verse
12, Paul said, seeing we have such hope, the hope I've been
talking about, the hope of justification, the hope of everything working
together for my good, and that means everything in his glory,
seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness or boldness
of speech. Here's my hope that everything
God requires of me, I have. I'm not getting into heaven by
the skin of my teeth. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay. Fully absolved from
these I am from sin's tremendous curse and shame. Colossians 2.10
says in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
and you are complete. in Him. You lack nothing. You
have perfect righteousness. You have perfect holiness. You
can't get any more love. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more well-pleasing to God. Colossians 1.22 says
that we're holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. Now that's what gives me boldness,
not my courage or my ability to preach or my anything. If my fingerprints are on it,
I have no confidence in it. but my boldness is in what He
has done. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Now, I don't have boldness in
my faith, but I have boldness in the faith of Him. If you don't have a King James
Version, your Bible won't say that. That's why I love the King
James Version. Now, I don't believe the King
James Version is a translation. I've heard people that think
that the King James Version, as it's stated in the King James
language, 1611, is inspired. It's a translation like anything
else, but it's the best translation. And I love the way it says where
our boldness and our access with confidence is by the faith of
Him, His faithfulness. Hebrews 4.16 says, let us come
boldly under the throne of grace. Now, where is my boldness? I'm
coming to a throne of grace, not of works. Oh, my boldness
is this. Salvation really is all of grace. It has nothing to do with anything
in me. It's the grace of God. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should
boast." Now, if my coming into his presence, into his throne,
has something to do with something in me, I have no boldness, I'm
scared to death. But since it's by grace, what
boldness we have. It really is all of grace. Listen to this scripture from
Hebrews 10, verse 19, having therefore boldness, brethren,
to enter into the holiest. by the blood of Jesus. Now my boldness isn't some familiarity that I shouldn't
have. My boldness is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
blood is so poignant to the Father. He calls the blood of Jesus the
new and living way, the freshly slaughtered way. It always is
new and powerful. It always speaks better things
than that of Abel. It's living, it's not some sinful
priest bringing in the blood of a dead animal. It's Christ
himself, the living Christ himself presenting his own blood to the
Father as all that's needed. And that gives me boldness, having
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. First John 4.17 puts it this
way. that we may have boldness on the day of judgment." Now
do you hear what he said? Boldness, cheerful confidence,
courage, standing before the thrice holy God in judgment. Now what would give someone boldness
for that? Verse John 417 says, we may have
boldness on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in
this world. Now this is the privilege of
every believer. This is not the privilege of
all men. If I die without Christ, I'll go to hell. I'll be condemned
on judgment. This is the privilege of every
believer as he is. Well, how is he? He's perfect. He's without sin. He's altogether
lovely to the father. He's in heaven. He's absolutely
secure. He's the fairest of 10,000 as
he is. with his righteousness as he
is, so are we in this world. Therefore, we can have boldness
on the day of judgment. Now, not only does he speak of
boldness, cheerful confidence in this hope, he speaks of rejoicing
in this hope. Now this word rejoicing is not
the word that is used generally for being glad and being happy,
although this makes me glad and happy, but that's not the word
used. The word used for rejoicing is
the word boasting or glorying, having utter confidence in. Now, in Romans 5, verse 11, we
also joy or glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
we've received the atonement or the complete reconciliation. He reconciled me. Oh, how I glory
in what he did for me. Listen to this, 1 Corinthians
1, verses 30 and 31, of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now
I do glory, but I don't glory in my works. I don't glory in
my understanding. I don't glory in my experience.
I glory in the Lord. You see, He's made unto me wisdom
so that Him being my wisdom, God can have fellowship with
me and speak to me as a man speaketh with his friend. I have righteousness,
perfect righteousness, so that God is completely pleased with
me. I have sanctification in Him.
He is my sanctification. He is my holiness. He is my complete
redemption. I glory, I boast, I rejoice,
I have confidence in him and in him alone. Now listen to what
Paul said in Galatians chapter six, verse 14. Now before I read
this, I want us to remember that Paul is the man that God took
into the third heavens and he taught him the gospel. Paul is
the man God used more than anyone else to expound his gospel. God used Paul to write 13 books
in the New Testament. Paul was such a remarkable, remarkable
man by the grace of God, greatly used of God. Now let's hear what
he says. He says in Galatians chapter
6 verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory. I'm not to glory
in the fact that He took me into the third heavens. I'm not to
glory in the fact that He used me to establish so many churches. I'm not to glory in the fact
that He used me to read the scriptures or to write the scriptures. I'm
to glory in this. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing
I boast in The only thing I glory in is Christ being nailed to
a cross and putting away my sin and giving me His righteousness. That is all I have confidence
in. That is all I glory in, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, Paul said in Philippians
chapter three, verse three, we are the circumcision. We are
the true believers. which worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. We worship God, Paul says, in
the Spirit. No natural man can worship God. I can only worship God is if
I have a spiritual nature given in the new birth by God the Holy
Spirit. They that worship God must worship
Him in spirit, the new man, and in truth, according to the truth
of the gospel. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's
the same word. We glory, we boast in Christ
Jesus. Now here's what I see the evidence
of true worship is. You rejoice only in Christ and
nowhere else. And you know what happens when
you rejoice in Christ and nowhere else? You have no confidence
in the flesh. Anything that has your fingerprint
on it, you have no confidence in. You have confidence only
in what He did. Now, we are His house if we hold
the confidence, the boldness, and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. Now, I am 63 years old. If the Lord gives me another
20 years, he may, he may give me 30, I might be dead tomorrow.
Whatever the Lord's purpose, that's what's going to happen.
But I know this, I want to continue to the last day of my life, looking
only to Christ. I never graduate past that. It never gets better than that.
I want to continue, persevere all the way to the end, seeing
Christ as my all in salvation and refusing to look anywhere
else and refusing to preach anything else. Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Perseverance is not staying religious. Perseverance is persevering in
looking to Christ only, all the way to the end. Now we have this
message on CD and DVD. If you call or write, we'll send
you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that God will be pleased
to make Himself known to you. 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.