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 the 15th chapter
of Mark, beginning in verse 29. This is while the Lord is hanging
on the cross. And they that passed by railed
on Him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, Save thyself and
come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests,
mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel
descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified
with him reviled him. In Psalm 76, verse 10, we read
these words, The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath shalt thou restrain. Now the wrath of man was never
so fully expressed as the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, when
men demonstrated their wrath and hatred for God by nailing
His Son to a tree. And all the things they said
with regard to Him, You notice in that reading, as they pass
by the Lord nailed to the cross, they wag their heads with glee,
happy to see Him there. And there are three words used
to describe their speech. They were mocking Him, making
fun of the Lord while He was hanging on the tree. They were
railing on Him. That's where we get the word
blasphemy from. And they were reviling him, speaking
reproachfully. And yet the psalmist tells us
that every one of these statements will be used to describe the
praise of God. The wrath of man shall praise
thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. Now you think of the mocking,
the reviling, the railing going on while the Lord was on the
cross. They mocked Him as a prophet.
Prophesy thou Christ, who stroke, hit thee? They smote him in the
face, blindfolded, and said, give us a prophecy if you're
a prophet. Tell us who it was that hit you. And they mocked
his office as a priest. He saved others himself. He cannot save. They mocked his
office as a king. Hail, king of the Jews. And in all of these mockings,
They didn't know it, but they were glorifying and praising
the God of glory. Each one of these things can
be seen as the fulfillment of Psalm 76.10, the wrath of man
shall praise thee. Now, the first thing that I thought
of when I was thinking about the events of the cross, the
first thing I thought of was Judas' betrayal. Judas told the
men who were going to arrest Christ, the one that I kiss on
the cheek, the same is he. He couldn't just point him out.
He was going to go up and kiss him on the cheek. How heartless. How cruel. How hypocritical and deceptive,
him coming up and saying, master, master, and kissing him on the
cheek. The Lord even said to him, Judas,
betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Now I think of this
kiss. He kissed him on the cheek. You
know, if you come up and kiss somebody on the cheek, there's
a certain sense in which that person is your peer. You know,
the woman who was a sinner wouldn't dare kiss him on the cheek. She
kissed him on his feet. But Judas felt comfortable to
betray him with a kiss on the cheek. But I couldn't help but
think of this scripture. Kiss the son lest he be angry
and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are they that put their trust in Him. I tell you when
you kiss the Son is when you kiss His feet, knowing that He
is the only object of trust for your salvation. You look to Him
only. Now, when the Jews brought the
Lord Jesus to Pilate, they said to Pilate, if He were not a malfactor,
We would not have delivered him to thee. A malfactor is an evildoer,
a criminal. And he says, if he were not a
malfactor, this was their estimation of him. If he was not an evildoer,
we would not have delivered him to thee. Let me say this, Christ
never sinned. He never committed a sin at any
time. Even when he was made sin on
Calvary's tree as the sinner substitute, he himself never
committed a sin. He's the holy, harmless Lamb
of God. He never at any time committed
a sin. That being said, and I say this,
I hope with reverence and fear and trembling, on Calvary's tree,
he became the greatest mouth factor to ever live. All the sins of all of his people
became his, and he actually became guilty of the commission of every
single one of them. He became sin in our place. Listen to this. I think this
gives us some idea of what I'm trying to say. The high priest
responds to Christ's answer to the question, Art thou the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed? He said, I am. I love the simplicity
of that answer. I am. Hereafter shall you see
the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming
in the clouds of heaven. The high priest rent his clothes
at that time and accused him of blasphemy and said to the
crowd, what think ye? And they said, he is guilty of
death. Indeed. When he was made sin,
he was guilty of death. It was the justice of God that
put him to death because he was guilty. The reason he didn't
try to defend himself is because he really was guilty. And it was the law and justice
of God that put this one who was guilty of death to death. This wasn't the innocent dying
at this time. Don't think that for a second.
God's people's sins became His sins. He bore them in His own
body on the tree, and He became guilty of death. In Luke 23, verse 5, the accusation
was brought against Him. He stirs up the people. And by
that, they were saying, he stirs up men to acts of terrorism in
the government, not paying their taxes and not obeying the government.
He stirs up the people to wrong action. Not true, not true. But oh, how he stirs up his people
to this extent. They would count it the greatest
privilege and blessing of grace if they were allowed to die for
His namesake. Why, His apostles rejoiced that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for His name. Oh, how He stirs up His
people. He's so glorious. He's all so
altogether lovely. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. He stirreth up the people. Paul put it this way. The love
of Christ constrains us. His love to us presses upon us. He stirs up the people. And then
we read in Mark chapter 14, verse 67, they said, prophesy thou
Christ. Who is it that smote thee? After they struck him in the
face, blindfolded. Who is it that smote thee? I can answer that question. Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep will
be scattered. I know who smote him. He used
those men to do it, but it was his father who smote him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to crush him. It was the justice of God that
smote him. The songwriter said, many hands
were raised against him, none did interpose to save, but the
greatest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice
gave. It was the absolute justice of
God against sin that smote him. And here we have once again,
the wrath of man shall praise thee. When the bloodthirsty mob
cried in response to Pilate's statement, I'm innocent of the
blood of this just person, they said, let his blood be upon us. and let his blood be upon our
children. They hated him with such a hatred,
they were glad to take responsibility for his death. Why, we'll even
have our children take responsibility for it. We want this man dead. Now, in that statement, first
we see our guilt. Guilty of murdering the Son of
God. Now, you may feel guilty over
getting drunk or committing some form of sexual sin, and indeed
that is sin, but that is not your problem, my dear friend.
That is not my problem. Our problem is that we've been
guilty of murdering the Son of God. Somebody says, I wasn't
even born when it happened. You would have done it, though.
And when Adam fell, you and I fell. When he sinned against God, you
and I sinned against God. And we are guilty of that crime. But they also in making this
statement of hatred, let his blood be upon us and upon our
children. We also this statement, see in
this statement, the only hope any sinner has, let his blood
be upon me, let his blood Put away my sin. Let me be washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Let His blood be upon my children."
There's never a more appropriate prayer than that. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's the only hope I have. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee. And then in Matthew 27, 27, after
they stripped him and put a purple robe on him and a crown of thorns
on his head, and they gave him a reed for a scepter, they said,
hail, king of the Jews, in mocking jest and disrespect. You will remember the accusation
written over his head, nailed to the cross, Jesus of Nazareth,
the king of the Jews, and how they mocked him when they said,
hail, king of the Jews, and never have truer words ever been spoken. He is the king of the Jews. Now he's everybody's king. He's
your king. No, he's not, somebody might
think. Yeah, he is. You don't have any choice in this matter,
because he's the king of kings, and he's the Lord of lords. God
said, yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. And
he's your king. You're in his hands. What happens
to you is up to Him. He's the King, but He's most
especially the King of the Jews. You see, the Jews are not the
Jews in the Middle East. The Jews are the true Jews with
circumcised hearts. That's the true Jew, that person
who's bowed the knee to Christ and believes on Him, and truly
He is King of the Jews. In Mark chapter 15, verse 19,
it was said of the soldiers, bowing the knee, they worshipped
him. Now in this gesture of sarcasm,
bowing the knee before him and worshipping him, they were saying,
you're not worthy of worship. They were making fun of him when
they were doing that. But they didn't know they were
simply the subjects of the prophecy of Psalm 76 10, the wrath of
man shall praise thee. He is the object of divine worship. Oh, when they bowed their knee
in mock humility, worshiping Him, they didn't know that they
were being forced by an unseen hand to bow the knee and show
that He is the one worthy of worship. He is the only one worthy
of worship. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. I love the way it's said of the
leper. He came running and worshipped
Him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee." And then we read in Luke 23, 11, where Herod and
his men of war set him at naught and mocked him. They said, he
is nothing. Why? We've heard all these things
about this man. He is nothing. Well, the scripture says, being
in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Only God is equal with God. But you know what he did? The
scripture goes on to say, he made himself of no reputation. He became nothing. That's what happened to him on
Calvary Street. That's the stoop he took. Why, He said with regard
to Himself in the great psalm of the cross, Psalm 22, verse
6, I am a worm and no man. I'm not even fit to be called
a man. Now, while these people were
mocking Him, It was the wrath of man praising Him for His stoop
to become He who is everything became nothing, that He might
save His people from their sins. In John 19, verse 7, these people
are speaking to Pilate. And they say, we have a law,
and by our law He ought to die. because he made himself the Son
of God. He didn't make himself the Son
of God. He is the eternal Son of God. Unto us a child is born,
the prophet said. Unto us a son is given. You see, that son was never born.
That's the eternal Son of God. He is God the Son, equal to the
Father. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God as a separate
person, and the Word was God. He is the eternal Son of God,
equal to the Father. This is what the Roman centurion
concluded when he heard him cry with a mighty voice, it is finished,
and he felt the earth quaking underneath his feet. He said,
surely this man was the Son of God. The Ethiopian eunuch understood
this. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. The wrath of man shall praise
thee. And it praises him in such a
powerful way. And then in Mark chapter 15,
verse 29, we've already read this once. As they wag their
heads and pass by, oh! Thou that destroyest the temple
and buildest it in three days, a thing they thought to be impossible.
Now, the Lord did say early in his earthly ministry, destroy
this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. And they
said, Thou that destroyest the temple. Now get this, when he
died, he was the one destroying the temple. What do you mean
by that? Who gave those soldiers strength
to drive the nails in his hands and feet? He did. Who willed
them to do it? He did. He was in absolute control
over every event. You see, He came to die. Why? The universe was created for
Him to come and die on a cross. This is the focal point of all
things. And He willed everything that
took place. He was no victim. He said, no
man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to raise it up.
This commandment have I received of my Father. Now, he did destroy
the temple, and in three days, he raised himself from the dead.
Somebody says, explain that to me. I wouldn't dare attempt to
do it, but he is God, and he raised himself from the dead.
Yes, the father raised him, but he said he raised himself, too,
because of who he is. He can do things like that. Now,
they go on to say, save thyself. Thou that destroys
the temple and raises it again in three days, save thyself,
come down from the cross. Now what they said in ridicule,
he did, because when he saved his people, he was saving himself.
You see, God's people are so united with Christ, so one with
him, that when he saved them, he was saving himself. You know,
the scripture says in Ephesians chapter 5, speaking of his love
to the church, He that loveth his wife loveth himself. And when Christ loved his bride,
his wife, he was loving himself. He did save himself. And then in Mark chapter 15,
verse 31, the mocking of the chief priests and scribes, he
saved others. Himself he cannot save. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. A truer statement has never
been made. For me to be saved, he couldn't
save himself. For you to be saved, he couldn't
save himself. He saved others. Himself he cannot
save. Truer statement has never been
made. You see, for Him to save me or you, He couldn't save Himself. He had to die on Calvary's tree. He had to put away sin. He had to do exactly what God
called Him to do. Now for God to be just and justify,
for God to be just and justify somebody sinful like you or me,
Christ had to die in your room instead. For mere you to be saved,
he could not save himself. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee. He saved others, himself he could
not save." And then in Mark 15, verse 32, "...let Christ the
King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and
believe." Now, if we see you descend from the cross, then
we'll believe that you are who you said you are. Now, one of
these days, Christ is going to descend from heaven, and everyone
will see, and they will believe. They'll know who he is, and they
will be forced to believe. Here's the problem. they never
first believed and then saw. In John chapter 11, the Lord
said to Martha, says I not to thee that if you would believe,
you'd see the glory of God. Now one of these days you're
going to see and you won't have any choice but to believe. There
he is, and you're going to know who he is, and what he did, and
what he's going to do with you. You'll know then. But oh, how
blessed are those who first believe. They believe the gospel, and
then they see. And then, in Matthew chapter
27, verse 43, it says, He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now,
if he'll have him. They were saying, your trust
is vain. God's not going to have anything
to do with you. It's all misplaced. I love what Job said, and he's
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Even as the father slayed his
son as an act of justice to be the sinner's substitute, the
Lord Jesus Christ never quit believing his father. Somebody
had to trust God perfectly He did. Oh, they were making fun
of him. He trusted in God. No one ever
trusted in God like he trusted in God. And he lets us know what
Paul meant when he said, knowing that a man is justified is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. His perfect trust. And lastly,
after the Lord was already in the grave, some men came and
said, this deceiver said while he's alive, I'm going to be raised
from the dead in three days. Now, put a watch on the to make
sure that doesn't take place. They called him a deceiver. Well,
they didn't know with regard to what Paul meant when he said,
for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie. And he is the one who's in absolute
control over this. He's the one who has an act of
his justice sends them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. They called him a deceiver, and
they're going to find out that he and his holiness has deceived
them. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain.
This is Todd Kniper 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.neibert at gmail.com
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