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 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 Nybert. I'm reading from Acts chapter
28. I want to begin reading in verse 8. And it came to pass
that the father Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux,
dysentery, to whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid his hands
on him and healed him. So when this was done, others
also which had diseases in the island came and were healed,
who also honored us with many honors, and when we departed,
they laded us with such things as were necessary. I have entitled
this message, The Same Old New Story. Now that title is important. The same. I better preach the
same message every time I preach. Now by that, I don't mean get
out the same outline and use the exact same outline. That
is not what that means at all. But there's one message in the
Bible, the gospel. And if I don't preach that message
in whatever passage I'm dealing with, I failed. Paul said to
write the same things to you, to me, and deed is not grievous,
but for you it's safe. There's only one message, and
if I don't preach that message with regard to whatever I'm preaching,
it's not gospel. The same old message. My gospel better be as old as
God. It's the eternal gospel. but it's called the same old
new message. You see the gospel comes as news
always when it comes in the power of the Holy Spirit. New and fresh
like you've never heard it before. And it's the same old story,
the greatest story ever told. Now I just read a historical narrative about Paul
being used by God to heal a man in the island of Malta. And after
this healing, many people came and were healed of their diseases. This isle of Malta is about the
third of the size of Fayette County. And everyone that was
sick came to Paul after this to be healed. Now the Bible is
a supernatural book written by God himself. Peter said, holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Every word in this book
was inspired and directed by God for God to have it said just
as he would have it said, it is without error. It's a divinely inspired book. Now, if we don't have that, all
we have is my opinion and all we have is your opinion. and
we're not going to get anywhere with man's opinion. And if somebody
says, well, it's hard for me to believe that God inspired
the Bible and that it's without error. Well, it's not hard for
you to believe that God created the universe from nothing. Anything
else is irrational, illogical, unreasonable. Every man naturally
knows. Now, he might put that light
out with time, but every man in this world is born knowing
that God created the universe. This place didn't come from nothing.
Somebody made all this who's all powerful, and nobody made
him. He is eternal. Now, if you can
believe that, and you do, You can believe that God inspired
a book and has preserved it so that his true character can be
known and his way of saving sinners can be known. It's not man's
opinion. The Bible is God's revelation
of himself, his revelation of the good news concerning his
son, who he is, and what he accomplished in behalf of sinners. And the Lord Jesus said with
regard to the scriptures, they are they, the scriptures, all
of them, they are they which testify of me. So when we go to any passage
in the Word of God, any historical narrative, any of the laws, any
of the ceremonies, any of the miracles, we know ahead of time
that the purpose is to preach the gospel. That's the purpose
of everything in the scripture. It's to preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now, while the Lord walked on
this earth, he performed many miracles, supernatural miracles. He could control the weather.
The disciples said, what manner of man is this that even the
winds and the sea obey him? He could create matter that had
not been in the universe before he created it. He brought food,
bread into existence that was not there. He healed the sick. He gave sight
to the blind. He could read men's minds. He
could raise the dead. He performed miracles that only
God could do. And listen to this. These miracles,
he didn't perform in order to get us to believe who he is.
Do you know no one ever believed by seeing a miracle? There were
many people who saw his physical miracles that never believed
on him. I think of what the Lord said
to the rich man in hell. He said, would you send Abraham
or Lazarus back to warn my brothers? I've got five brothers and I
want you to bring Lazarus back to warn them that they come not
to this awful place. And Abraham said, they had Moses
and the prophets let them hear him. And they said, nay, father
Abraham, but if one rose from the dead, they'd hear him. And
Abraham said, they won't hear, if they don't hear Moses and
the prophets, they won't hear the one rose from the dead. Now,
if I could do miracles before you right now, if I could create
matter, if I could turn water into wine, if I could heal the
sick, do you know none of you would believe? That never caused
anybody to believe. Belief is a reliance on Christ
for salvation. It's not just believing in miracle
working power. But these miracles, are given
to teach us the gospel. I think of where he said to John
the Baptist, go tell John what you've seen and heard. The deaf
hear, the dead are raised, lepers are cleansed, the blind receive
their sight, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them.
Now, while those were physical miracles that took place, this
is what happens when God saves a sinner. The deaf hear, you're
unable to hear. You're given sight to see. You're
raised from the dead. You're cleansed by what Christ
did. These physical miracles are given
to illustrate the gospel. Now, in this passage of scripture
I just read, Paul miraculously heals a man who had dysentery
that was laid up. He was in a bad shape and Paul
entered in and healed him. Now, if you read the book of
Acts, there were many miracles that took place. You know, the
Lord gave the apostles the ability to do miracles. Anybody they
laid their hands on were also able to do these miracles. They
could heal the sick. spoken tongues. And understand
this, speaking in tongues is not some kind of heavenly gibberish
that the charismatics try to make it to be. It's the ability
to speak the gospel in other languages. If I have the gift
of tongues, I can go into China and preach the gospel in fluent
Chinese, having never learned that language. That's what the
gift of tongues is. It's not some kind of heavenly
gibberish. That's foolishness. It's not
what the Bible is talking about. They had the ability to raise
the dead, and that's happened several times in the book of
Acts. If you look in the book of Acts, the first part, much
of the dialogue is around Peter healing a man that was born lame. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 3, and all kinds of dialogue happens after that. And then
in Acts chapter 8, we read where Philip preached the gospel and
many people believed. And then they sent the apostles
when they heard this. And the apostles laid their hands
on these people that believed, and the Holy Ghost was given
them to be able to perform these miracles. And there was a man
by the name of Simon Magus who saw when the laying on of the
apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given. He offered money.
See, here's the point. This gift was only transferred
by the laying on of the apostles' hands. It died out in the early
church after we were given the full canon of scripture. And Acts chapter 8 points out
clearly that it was only through the laying on of the apostles'
hands that there was given these gifts to perform miracles. And
then we go on in Acts chapter 13, Paul healed a cripple in Lystra. There are so many other, in Acts
chapter 9, Peter raised somebody from the dead. In Acts chapter
19, we read of handkerchiefs being brought that had touched
the apostle Paul that would heal the sick. In Acts chapter 20,
he rose somebody from the dead. And then in the first of this
chapter, a viper, a poisonous snake bit him and it didn't harm
him, just like the Lord said it would be that way. And then
this healing of Publius. Now, this miraculous healing
is given to teach us the gospel. That is the purpose of this miraculous
healing. Now, the first thing that I would
notice of this man Publius, he mirrors you and I by nature.
He had a fever brought on by an infection within. Now we know it was dysentery,
and that bloody flux is literally bloody diarrhea, and the fever
is the outward manifestation of an inward problem. Now listen
real carefully. My problem and your problem is
on the inside. It's not on the outside. It's
on the inside. It's not what you do. is what
you are. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, here's
God's testimony with regard to me and you. God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's God's description
of me and you. The problem is on the inside. The wrong things that are done
on the outside are a product of what we are on the inside. That fever and that bloody flux
was a manifestation of that problem on the inside. Now, Our hearts
are a congenital heart disease. We were born with these sinful
hearts because when Adam sinned, we sinned in him. When Adam died, we died in him. And we're born into this world,
as Paul describes, the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, the mind
we were born with. is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, and it's pointed out about this man
that he lay with the fever and the bloody flux. He was completely
disabled by this fever and this bloody flux, this infection from
within. He lay. He was helpless. He couldn't do anything for himself. Now, what that is teaching is
the illustration that not only are we totally sinful, We are
totally unable to do anything about it. In John chapter six,
verse 44, the Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. and you have not come to Christ
until you have found out you can't. It's only when you find
out you can't, that's when you've seen who God is and you've seen
who you are. You find out you can't, that's
when you cry for mercy. But he lay totally depraved,
that means every faculty, my conscience, my will, my affections,
they're controlled by sin. I'm under the dominion of sin.
That's what total depravity means. Total inability. I can't do anything
to save myself. I'm laid. Like Publius, the man,
he was laid with this fever. He couldn't do anything about
it. He was incapacitated. He was unable. That describes
every sinner. Now, I want to ask you a question.
I want you to think about this. Is what I'm saying what the scripture
teaches? Does the scripture really teach
that man is that bad? That I'm that bad? That you are
that bad? There is none righteous. I'm
quoting Romans 3 verses 10 through 12, which is a quotation from
Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Listen to this. There's none
righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeks after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together, become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Now, my first question, am I
giving what the Bible teaches? But here's the second question,
and this is just as important. Do you believe that's true with
regard to you? I'm not even asking you now if
you agree with what the Bible teaches, because if you read
the Bible, you'll have to agree with that. But do you believe
I have just described you? Are you that bad? The answer is, to me and to you,
yes, we are. Here the man lays, and he has a bloody flux. That
means everything he does is sin. Our righteousnesses, the scripture
says, are as filthy rags. Now that's the condition of this
man. He's got a problem on the inside
that manifests itself on the outside, and he is completely
disabled because of this. Now, if that's all I had to say,
it would be pretty depressing. But we read that Paul entered
in. We don't read where this man
asked for anything, but Paul. entered in. This is when things
began to get better when Paul entered in and prayed and laid
his hands on him and healed him. Paul entered in. Now this man
was not healed because Paul entered in. Paul was just the instrument
of God entering in by his grace. That's when things got better
for him when the Lord crossed his path. I think of the Good
Samaritan who came to the man half-dead, and he came to him
where he was. And that's what God does with
the sinner. He comes to him where he is, in this state of depravity
and inability, laying there without the ability to do anything about
it. Then God comes. Moreover, the law entered that
sin might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound. Grace to the rescue. Grace comes
along. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now Paul entered this. Remember,
this is given to teach us the gospel, not just to impress us
with a miracle, but to give us an illustration of the gospel.
Paul entered, and what did he do? He prayed. Scripture says, and prayed. Now what is this thing of prayer? When you pray, you're asking
God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. When you pray,
you pray to God for him to do only what he can do and you cannot
do it. And this prayer speaks of God's
use of means. God's use of means. Now, I've heard people say, well,
God can save with means or without means. You know that's not so? Let me tell you why. If you're
a sinner, could God make you just without the death of His
Son? The answer is no. If you're a
sinner, the only way you can be just is for Christ to die
for your sins and give you his righteousness and make you just
before God. That's the only way that that
can be done. So when somebody says, well,
God can save with means or without means, you're saying God could
save without the death of his son. No, for me to be saved,
he couldn't save himself. God always uses means. And if you're saved, somebody
prayed for you. Now their prayer didn't save
you, God saved you, but he moved somebody to pray for you. Paul entered in and he prayed,
and then it says that Paul laid his hands on him. Now, this thing of the laying
on of hands has to do with the Old Testament gospel, which is
the same thing as the New Testament gospel. But in the Old Testament
gospel, the great high priest on the Day of Atonement would
come in and lay his hands on what is called the scapegoat.
The sin offering, the first goat would be killed. Christ had to
be killed. But there was another goat used
called the scapegoat. You can read about this in Leviticus
chapter 16. And the priest would come and
lay his hands on the head of the goat. And all of the sins
of Israel would be typically transferred to that goat. And
my dear friends, this is how sinners are saved. God doesn't
just snap his fingers and then they're saved. No, their sins
were transferred. And this is God's work. He did
this. He lifted their sins off of them and he put them on his
son. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. He bore my sin. There was the
actual transfer of guilt. He bore my sin and put it away
and his righteousness becomes mine. That's how I am healed. By whose stripes you were healed. And what happened through this
symbolic laying on of hands? Paul entered and prayed and laid
his hands on him and healed him. You see, God doesn't try to heal,
God heals. By whose stripes you were healed. And before God, I have no sin. My sin was transferred to Christ. His righteousness was made mine. And I am healed before God. Now look what it says next. Verse
nine, so when this was done, this man who had been laid, disabled
by this dysentery, couldn't do anything, Paul enters in. Paul
prays for him. Paul lays his hands on him and
he's healed. What happened? Verse nine, so
when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island,
came and were healed. Who came? Those who had diseases. Those who were sinners is what
this represents. Do you know everybody that's
a sinner will come to Christ? If you don't come to Christ,
it's because you don't really believe you're a sinner. If you're a sinner, you will
come to Christ and he will heal you. Who came? All those who
had disease. Luke 9, 11 says, He healed them
that had need of healing. That's who's healed. Those who
have need of healing, those who need saved from their sins. Listen, my disease is sin. I've had cancer twice. Lord preserved
me. He could have taken my life,
but he didn't. But I tell you, the disease I need healed from
is not cancer, it's sin. I need to be clean before God.
And that's what he does. Now, what did these people do
in verse 10? Who also honored us with many honors. And when
we departed, they laid us with such things as were necessary.
Now, what did these people do? They honored Paul with many honors,
but It wasn't Paul who was to be honored. It was Paul's Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when somebody is healed,
they're going to honor the Lord with many honors. Crown Him with
many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly
anthem drowns all music but His own. We honor Him. He gets all the honor in our
salvation. He gets all the honor. All glory goes to Him. And next,
it says that they laid us with such things as were necessary.
Now, what this is talking about is necessary to get to Rome.
They gave them all that was needed for them to get to Rome. But
we laid Christ. He heals us. We laid Christ with
what is necessary. What's necessary? He gets all
the glory. He gets all the glory. And the
reason He gets all the glory is because He deserves all the
glory. Not only does He deserve all the glory, I want it to be
that way because if He doesn't get all the glory, that means
something's expected out of me to save myself. And that's a
burden I don't want. No, we look to Him only and see
Him as laden that which is necessary to Him. We give Him all the glory
in salvation, and we love to have it so. Now remember, these
miracles, every one of them, are given to teach us of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have this message on
DVD, CD. If you call the church, write,
email, or look at the church website. You can get a 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