Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. 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 Nyvert. I've entitled the message, Continue
in the Faith. In Acts chapter 14, after Paul
and Barnabas had stopped some men from offering sacrifices
to them, they called them gods, the gods have come down and they
were getting ready to offer a sacrifice to them. And Paul and Barnabas
said, don't do this. Well, during that time, some
people from towns where Paul had previously preached came
to persuade these people who had been calling them gods, and
look how the tables turn. Verse 19, and there came thither
certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, places where Paul had
preached the gospel, and they disagreed, who persuaded the
people, and having stoned Paul. Now here's what happened to Paul
for preaching the gospel. A multitude of people got together
and started throwing rocks at him with the intention of killing
him. That's how upset they were. They drew him out of the city,
supposing he had been dead. Now that is literally, they drug
him out of the city, perhaps by the heels, thinking he was
dead, and they were not providing a burial for him, they were just
getting him out of their sight, perhaps to be carrying for vultures,
I don't know what, but they didn't care anything about Paul, they
drug him out of the city, supposing he was dead. Verse 20, howbeit
as the disciples stood round about him. Now I try to picture
this in my mind, they are circling Paul, looking at him,
thinking he's dead, being very upset. All of a sudden he rose
up. I imagine when they saw him breathing,
getting up, I'm sure he was in pain as he rose up with cuts
and bruises. But he rose up and came into
the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught
many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to
Antioch, those places where they previously preached, those places
where they made so many enemies that they got people to stone
him. But they went back there again
to preach the gospel. You see the gospels to be preached
over and over and over again. There's nothing like hearing
the gospel in the power of God the Holy Spirit. It's so strengthening.
It's such a blessing. And this is what Paul continued
to do. to preach the gospel. You know,
in most religious institutions, you have nothing but entertaining,
songs, skits, no gospel preaching. But that is what a true preacher
is called to do, to preach the gospel. And they preach the gospel,
taught many, they return to these places, Verse 22 says, confirming
the souls of the disciples, strengthening them through the preaching of
the gospel, and exhorting them to continue in the faith. Like I said, I've entitled this
message, Continuing in the Faith. I want to spend the first part
of this message talking about the faith. The definite article
is used, not a faith, the faith. Some years ago, I can remember
hearing, I guess it was what people would call contemporary
Christian music. I don't care for it, but they
were singing this song and a man in this song said, we all believe,
just not the same thing. Now, my dear friends, That's
foolishness. That's all it is. That's putting
the emphasis on the act of faith. As long as we believe everything's
all right, you've got to believe something. Well, everybody believes
something. The devil believes that there's
one God. He's got accurate belief in some
things. We all believe. No, every believer
believes the same thing. Every believer believes the faith. Not a faith, but the faith. You see, the faith has a definite
content. Now, let me repeat that. The
faith has a definite content. Paul put it this way in Titus
chapter 1 verse 1. He spoke of the faith of God's
elect. You see, all of the elect believe
the same thing. That fellow who said we believe
but not the same thing, he obviously, if he remained in that position,
was not one of the elect. Because the elect have a definite
faith, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth. which is after godliness. Now, the content of faith can
be called the truth. Somebody says, well, that's a
very broad statement. Well, it's about as broad as
the Lord when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now the truth is the truth concerning
the character of God as he's revealed in his word. The truth
is the truth concerning the character of man as it's revealed in the
word. The truth is the truth concerning
salvation as it's revealed in the Word. The truth with regard
to God, His holiness, His sovereignty, His Godhead. The truth concerning
man, He's nothing but sin. The truth concerning Christ,
He is all in salvation. He accomplished salvation. Listen to this scripture. 2 Thessalonians
2.13, but we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Somebody that doesn't believe
the truth has not been a subject of the sanctifying work of the
Spirit of God and as someone who God did not from the beginning
choose to salvation. All of God's people believe the
truth. I think of our words, the Lord's
words to Pilate. He said, I came to bear witness
to the truth. And that's exactly what he did.
When he was nailed to a cross, we're given the truth concerning
the true character of God, his hatred of sin, his purpose, his
power. We're given the truth concerning
man. He's so evil that when left to himself, he'll nail Jesus
Christ to a cross. He hates him. The truth concerning
salvation, he is salvation. I came to bear witness to the
truth. And Pilate asked this question, truth, what is truth? Now, he could have meant, is
there such a thing? Yes, there is. He could have meant, if there
is such a thing, can we even know it? Yes, we can. Here's
what I think he meant. Truth. Is it worth this? Is it worth you going to the
cross and being crucified for? Is it worth this? Yes, it is. In Titus chapter one, verse three,
we read of the common faith, the common faith, the faith that
all of God's people have in common. Believers believe the same thing,
the truth. Peter calls it like precious
faith. It's called by John in Revelation
chapter 13, verse 10, the faith of the saints. All the saints
of God, that's every believer, have the same faith. They believe
the same thing. They believe that Jesus is the
Christ. Now, Christ is not his last name. He is the Christ. God's anointed
prophet, the very Word of God. God's anointed priest who presents
his own blood before the Father and everybody he represents must
be saved. God's anointed King, the one
who rules and reigns in all things and really does have control
of everything and everybody. He's the King. He's the one whose
will is always done. He's the Son of God. He is the
eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. You see,
faith, every believer believes the same thing, that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, the faith in Scripture
is called the faith of God. Romans 3.3, the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 2.16, the faith of
the Son of God. Galatians 2.20, the faith of
the operation or the working of God. Colossians 2.12, now
that word operation is where we get the word works from, and
every work is the work of God. Every time this word is used,
it's with regard to the works of God. We do believe in salvation
by works, his works. He did it all. We even read in
Revelation 14.12 of the faith of Jesus. Listen to these descriptions
of the faith. It's called in Acts 24 verse
21, the faith of Christ. It's called in Romans 327, the law of faith. Now, I like that, the law of
faith. You know, the laws of nature,
for instance, the law of gravity. What comes up, goes up, must
come down. It's a law of gravity. In a believer,
he's got a law of faith to where he must believe. He's been given a new heart and
that heart believes. He must believe. He cannot not
believe. He always has to cry out, I believe, help them, I
unbelieve. The old nature never believes, but the new nature
always does. It's called the law of faith. Romans 4.11, we read of the righteousness
of faith. The righteousness of faith. Now,
what is that? Faith receives the righteousness
of Jesus Christ as its own personal righteousness before God. Like
I said, I'm not depending on my works, but He is. Paul put it this way. Oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. In Philippians 127, we're even
given a double definite article, the faith of the gospel. I love that definite article.
It's specific. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13
speaks of the unity of the faith. You see, every believer believes
the exact same thing. We're at unity because of the
unity of the Spirit. There's one faith, and that's
the faith that we're truly united in and gather around. We read
in 1 Timothy 3.9 of the mystery of the faith. Now, the gospel
is mysterious. A mystery is not something we
don't know. A mystery to me, when we say
that, we mean, well, I don't know the answer. It's something
we do know, and we know it's one of the great mysteries of
the gospel that God is pleased to reveal that we would never
have known had not God made it known. For instance, how mysterious
is it that God is one God in three distinct persons? God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. That's mysterious. It's not something
we would have figured out. What do you think God's like?
Well, I think he must be one God in three persons. You'd never
figure that out. The only way we would know that
is because of the mystery. The great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The gospel we believe is mysterious. It's so awesome. It can only
come from God. This is not the product of man.
It's the mystery of God. We read in 1 Timothy 3, verse
13, of the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Faith is not in
yourself, it's not in your church, it's not in your religious experience.
It's in Christ Jesus. Now, there are many warnings
in the scripture concerning the faith. We read of being weak
in the faith. I don't want to be that. I want
to be like Abraham. He was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. We even read of being turned
from the faith. And we read of those who depart
from the faith. There was a time when they seemed
to believe, but they depart. Somebody says, do you believe
in one saved, always saved? Well, it depends on who saved.
If you saved yourself, no, you'll fall away. But if God saves you,
you're saved eternally. But we read of those who depart
from the faith. We read of those who deny the
faith. And those who have erred from
the faith. We read of overthrowing the faith. of some. And we read of those
who are reprobate concerning the faith. Now these warnings
concerning leaving the faith tell us why it's so important
to be exhorted to continue in the faith. Now there are numerous
exhortations in the scripture with regard to what a believer
is to do with the faith. We read in Romans 1 5 of obedience
to the faith. Now, the faith is God's word.
The faith is the gospel, and it's to be believed. And to not
believe any aspect of the gospel is disobedience to the faith. Well, what do you got to believe
to be saved? Everything God says. Everything God says. And to reject
anything he says is an act of blatant disobedience to the faith. We read of being established
in the faith. There's a passage of scripture
in Hebrews chapter six where, let me read it to you. I think
this is so important. We read in verse one, therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go
on to perfection. Now the principles of the doctrine
of Christ are the ABCs, not laying again the foundation. Now, If
I don't learn the ABCs, I'm never gonna learn to read, am I? I've
got to have the ABCs down pat before I can read. And he says
to the Hebrews, we shouldn't have to always be laying again
the foundation. If you're always laying the foundation
over and over, superstructure's not gonna come up. Now look what
he goes on to say, therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works. You know anything
about that? Somebody says, well, what's it
mean? Any work performed by me before I heard the gospel and
was regenerated by God the Holy Spirit is a dead work. No life in it, no saving benefit
in it. And then he speaks of faith towards
God. That's faith in Christ. The doctrine
of baptism. That's not just talking about
having the mode of baptism right. Talking about understanding what
baptism represents. Union with Christ. When he lived,
I lived. When he died, I died. When he
was raised, I was raised. And the doctrine of the laying
on of hands. Now that's not talking about
laying on hands and somebody receives the Holy Spirit, they're
knocked backwards, or people laying their hands on a preacher
and all of a sudden he's ordained. No, this is talking about the
great high priest laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice,
the scapegoat. And the sins of Israel was transferred
to that scapegoat, and it was led by a fit man into the wilderness,
representing how the sins of God's elect, Christ bore them. They became his, and his righteousness
becomes theirs. The doctrine of the resurrection
of the dead, Christ's resurrection, the resurrection of the believer,
and the regeneration, and the final resurrection, and of eternal
judgment, everything God does, is eternal. Now, be grounded
in that. That's the faith that we're to
be grounded in. Paul said, examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith, not how holy am I, but am I in
the faith? Galatians 3.23 speaks of being
shut up to the faith. Have you ever been shut up to
look to nowhere but Christ? You don't have any other way
to look. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom we have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of him. These are exhortations
with regard to the faith. And then Paul said to continue
in the faith. Continue in the faith. The Lord said, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Continue in the things
that you've learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you've
learned them, Paul said to Timothy. Now, what is this thing of continuing
in the faith? What's it look like? What's it
look like to continue in the faith? Well, the first scripture
that comes to my mind is Colossians chapter one, and we read beginning
in verse 20 of Colossians chapter one, having made peace, this is the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself.
By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven, And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable. in his sight. Now that is the
blessing every believer enjoys because of what Christ did for
them, because of the power of his blood, because of the power
of his righteousness. Every believer is holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the sight of God. But let's go on reading
verse 23, if. if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. Now that's what continuing in
the faith looks like. You're not moved away from the
hope. What is my hope? My hope is that
everything God requires of me, he looks to Christ for. My hope
is that when he said it is finished, my salvation was accomplished.
That's my hope. Listen to this scripture in Hebrews
chapter three, verse six. But Christ, as a son over his
own house, Whose house are we? Now, every believer is the house
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ dwelling in your heart
by faith. Whose house are we if? There's that word again, if. We hold fast and don't let go
of the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now we're the house of Christ
if we hold fast the confidence. Now what is the confidence that
the believer has? That Christ is all. That everything
God requires of me, he finds in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
confidence that his shed blood makes all sin to be washed away. The confidence that his righteousness
is my very righteousness before God. My confidence is in him. Now notice he says the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope. Now that word rejoicing is not
the word that means we're real happy about something. It's the
word Paul used in Galatians 6.14 when he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
means you have confidence in this confidence that your confidence
is in him. who He is and what He did. Your hope is that what He did
is all you need. And you are to hope this way,
the scripture says, firm unto the end. Now let me say this
as clearly as I can. When I first looked to Christ,
the only hope that I had was that he was everything in salvation.
When I first looked, I didn't believe until I saw that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now,
when I first believed, I knew that the only righteousness that
I had was His righteousness. I knew I didn't have any personal
righteousness, and I looked to Him only. You know what? It's still that way. I look to
Him only. I'm not looking to myself. I'm
not looking to my preaching. I'm not looking to my performance.
I'm looking to Christ only. He is all I have. And on my dying breath, it won't
be any different. By God's grace, I look to Christ
only. He is all my salvation. He is all in all. Now that's
what it is to continue in the faith. And then in verse 14,
it says of Hebrews chapter 30, for we are made partakers of
Christ. That's a glorious statement. We, every believer, are made
partakers of Christ, sharers in him. What he did, I did. Where He is, I am. This is the
hope of the believer, a partaker of Christ. We are made partakers
of Christ if, there's that word again, if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end. Now this is what perseverance
is. Perseverance just isn't remaining religious. You know, you've seen
people who get religion and then they quit being religious and
kind of go back to the world and they say, well, they fell
away. You can stay religious and not
persevere. Perseverance is persevering in
holding the beginning of your confidence, which is Christ as
all. You hold that steadfast to the end. You never graduate
past that. You never grow past that. You
never get something better than that. This is the best. Christ is all. Nothing else can
even be compared to that, and that's the way I want to die,
believing Christ is all in my salvation. That's holding the
beginning of the confidence steadfast to the end. Now that's what it
means to continue in the faith, the content of the gospel. Christ
is all. I am to continue in that all
the way to the end. Now I'd like to invite you to
services at Todd's Road Grace Church. Our services begin this
morning at 10.30 and six this evening, seven on Wednesday evenings,
and love to have you come out and hear the gospel. 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.