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 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. Before I read my text in Acts
chapter 14, I would like to tell you what led up to this. Paul
had commanded a man who was born lame to rise up and walk. And the man did so. The scripture
says he leaped. A miracle of healing had taken
place. Now this happened in a Gentile
city, and when the people heard this and they saw what Paul and
Barnabas had done, they said, the gods have come down in the
likeness of men. And they even named Paul Hermes
or Mercury and they named Barnabas Jupiter or Zeus. They likened
them to Greek gods. And the priest of Zeus came down
to offer up oxen for them with a garland. They were actually
gonna do sacrifice to these men. And they made this statement
in reference to these men doing this. Verse 15, sirs, Why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions
with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all things that are therein. I've entitled this message,
The Living God. The Living God. There is one true and living
God. Everything else is a vanity to
be turned away from. And the only way we will turn
to the living God is when he reveals himself to us. Let me
show you a passage in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 9. Paul said to the
Thessalonians, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering
we had into you, how you turn to God. from idols to serve the
living and true God. It does not say they turned from
idols to God. It says they turned to God from
idols. You see, they saw who God is
because God revealed himself to them, and they then saw the
idols for what they are. Nothing but idols. Now you don't,
and I don't figure this thing out and say, well, I see my life
is nothing but vanity, I need to turn to God. No, God reveals
himself and it's only then we see the vanity of all of the
things and turn to him by his grace. Now, like I said, they'd
seen this miracle. Verse eight of Acts chapter 14,
and there said a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet,
being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked. The
same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving
that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand
upright on thy feet. And he leaped and he walked."
Now they were eyewitnesses to this miracle. They'd seen this
man all of his life as a cripple. All of a sudden he leaps up and
he walks. Verse 11, and when the people
saw what Paul had done. Now, there's the trouble. They
attributed this to Paul. When they saw what Paul had done,
Paul didn't do this, God did this. The Lord Jesus Christ did
this. This was a work of the power
of God. They were attributing to Paul
what they shouldn't have attributed to him. He was just a man. But when they saw what Paul had
done, they lifted up their voices in the speech of the Lycaonia,
the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter
and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. Then the
priest of Jupiter, which was before the city, brought oxen
and garlands into the gates and would have done sacrifice with
the people. Now, these Gentiles believed
in the Greek gods, plural, and they said the gods are come down
in the likeness of men. Now, the Greek gods, if you read
anything about Greek mythology, they were very human. They were hateful, spiteful,
vengeful, lustful. There was no concept of holiness
with the gods. They were so unlike the God of
the Bible. But at any rate, they called
Paul and Barbas, after they did this, they said, the gods have
come down in the likeness of men. And then they, we read in
verse 13, then the priest of Jupiter, which was before the
city, brought oxen and garlands under the gates and would have
done sacrifice under the people. Now, even in false religion,
there's some vague notion of the need of sacrifice. And they
brought these oxen to sacrifice them and they brought a wreath
along with it or a garland to put on him to decorate this.
I suppose they looked at sacrifice the way most people look at the
sacrifice of Christ. Well, it'll make up for our deficiencies.
It'll cover up the bad things and they don't see the blood
of Christ as everything. And then they put a garland on
it to dress it up and make it more palatable to the flesh and
to make it more beautiful. Verse 14, which when the apostles
Barnabas and Saul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in
among the people crying out and saying, sirs, why do you these
things? Now, I love the way they didn't
say, you idiots, why are you doing these things? They treat
them with respect, sirs, sirs. Men are to be treated respectfully
at all times, and it's never right to be disrespectful to
anyone. Sirs, why do ye these things? Now, that's a good question.
Why are you doing this? What's your reason? What's your
motive? What's your authority for doing
these things? Why do ye these things? I fear
many have never considered this. Can you give me a reason? Why
you do what you do religiously? Is there a reason in the scripture?
Is there any divine authority? I think of when the Lord made
the whip and drove the people out of the temple. They said,
who gave you the authority to do this? Why are you doing this? That's a good question. And if
I can't give a scriptural answer, as to the reason for why I'm
doing what I'm doing, what I am doing is wrong. There's no authority and it is
foolishness. Sirs, why are you doing these
things? What he says next, he says, we
also are men of like passions with you. Now he's speaking to
these Gentiles, these people who didn't know God. He knew
God, but he knew what man is, including himself. And he said,
we are men of like passions with you. You shouldn't be sacrificing
to us. We're no different than you are.
We have the same passions. We have the same emotional qualities. We have the same psychological
makeup. We have the same fears. We have
the same desires. We have the same humanness. We have the same fallenness.
We have the same sinfulness. We are just like you. No difference. In Paul's epistle
to the Romans, twice he says with regard to all men, there
is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's just no difference between
men. There's no difference between
Jew and Gentiles. There's no difference between
black and white. There's no difference between
male and female. There's no difference. That's
one of the reasons racism is so ridiculous and ludicrous.
It's because we all came out of Adam. There's no difference.
There's no difference in God's sight between the most moral
man and the most immoral man. They're all the same in God's
sight, condemned in Adam, sinful. There's no real goodness to anybody.
There is no difference. All have sinned, all are equally
sinful, all are equally in need of God's grace. You know, there
is no difference. You know the differences men
make? Pride of race. Pride of face, pride of place,
and most detestable of all, pride of grace. They're offensive,
there is no difference. And that's how Paul and Barnabas
dealt with these men. Why are you coming and offering
sacrifices to us? We're just like you, sinful men
in need of the grace of God. Now let's go on reading. We preach
unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the
living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all
things that are therein. We preach, and that means we
preach the gospel, that you should turn from these vanities That's
the description of all human religion. Vanity. Vanity. There's nothing to it. No substance.
No realness. There's no saving value in it.
There's no power in it. It's nothing more than vanity.
All human religion, I don't care if it goes under the name of
Christianity or Muslim or Buddha, it's still all vanity. Powerless. There's no substance
to it. It's like Isaiah warned of people
who pray unto a God that cannot save. If your God cannot save
you unless you do something, He is a vanity. He's not even
real. He's an idol. He's a non-existent
God. He said, we are calling upon
you to turn from these vanities unto the living God. Now, I love that description
of God. He is the living God. And He is who He is. He is what He is. And our thoughts
and our beliefs with regard to Him have no bearing on His isness. Somebody says, well, here's what
I think. Well, it doesn't matter what you think. Well, here's
what God is to me. Don't give me that. God is who
he is, without reference to what you think. He said, I am that
I am. When Moses said, when I go back
to the children of Israel and say that you sent me, they're
going to say, what's his name? What am I going to say? What's
your name? I am that I am. Not a was, not a could be, not
a would be, not a wanna be, what not a used to be. I am that I
am, the eternal God. He that cometh to God must believe
that not just in his existence, but that he is the isness of
God. Now the reason God gave us the
Bible is to tell us who he is. Now we can make all kinds of
conjectures and guesses, but thank God He has given this book,
the Bible, every word inspired. Somebody says, how do you expect
me to believe the Bible is the inspired word of God? Well, I
certainly expect you to believe that the world was created by
God. You know that deep down. Somebody
says, I don't believe that. Well, you didn't always take
that position. There was a time when you did believe that God
created the universe. It's actually the only rational
thing to believe. Atheism is irrational, illogical. It's intellectually
indefensible. God is, and people know that
intuitively. God is. Somebody had to make
this place. It didn't just up and pop up and happen. Somebody
had to make this place and he's all powerful and nobody made
him. He's the God of glory. And God has given us his word.
If he can create the universe, he can create a book and he can
keep it inspired. He can keep it from error. He
can inspire men to write it. And the scripture makes that
claim. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. all Scripture. God has given us this book to
tell us who he is and what he is like. Now, on numerous occasions,
he says, who is like unto me. I think of the commandment against
idolatry. Why is any idol any likeness
of God, any representative of God that men make, well, this
is given to teach us who God is and make some kind of likeness.
It's always bringing him down because there's no one to compare
him to. Who is like unto me? He said in Isaiah 46 verse five,
to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me
that we may be like? There's no one you can compare
to God. If somebody says, is God most like an angel or a grasshopper?
You know what the answer would be? Neither, neither. There's
no one to compare him to. There's nothing to compare him
to. Look what he says in verse nine of the same chapter. Remember
the former things of old for I'm God. And there's none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning.
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
I have spoken it, I also will bring it to pass. I have purposed
it, I will also do it. Now that is the God of the Bible. And there's Nothing to compare
him to. For instance, how would we know
that God is one God? Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one God. revealed in three distinct persons,
all equal, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Is that something you just figure
out? No, the only reason you know that is because God has
revealed it in His Word. And there's no way that can be
described by human illustration. I've heard people say, well,
God can be kind of understood the way water is. Water is, it
can be liquid, it can be solid in its ice form, it can be vapor,
a gas form. Water in three different forms.
That doesn't come close to being an illustration of God being
one God in three distinct persons. There are no illustrations. This
is something to be believed, bowed to, and you worship Him
for who He is. Now, the living God is the God
who decrees all things. He declares the end from the
beginning. That means everything that takes
place happens according to His sovereign purpose and sovereign
decree. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Everything that happens in time,
everything, He decreed in eternity. His decree is eternal. It's all
wise. It's free, that means it's uninfluenced
by events. It's never his response and it's
absolute. He never responds, he only acts. The living God is utterly unique. No one and nothing to compare
him to. You know, I've, think of this. He can't be enriched by anybody.
He can't be added to. There's nothing you can do that
would add to him. Uh, there's a statement that
I've heard over the years. I don't know. I haven't heard
it recently, but I've, I've heard this statement. God can't spell
church without you. God can't spell church without
you. Well, he can't think of what I'm saying. He can't spell
stupid without you either, because that is stupid to think that
God can't do something without you. God's God. He was altogether glorious before
you were ever around. He is independent, enriched by
none, beyond comprehension, not grasped by the human intellect.
Canst thou by searching find out God? The living God is the
one who knows everything. He never learns. He's never informed. He's never surprised. He is all-knowing. all wise, and I love the way
the Bible speaks of his foreknowledge. That doesn't mean he knows what's
going to happen because he can see through the telescope of
time. He knows what's going to happen because it's his purpose
being done, his will being done. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate. elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. He is the supreme being, answerable
to no one but himself. He has no law over his head.
He has no standard that he has to make himself reach for. Somebody says, well, here's love,
and this is what God's like. No, God is love. He doesn't reach
some kind of human-made standard and say, well, God's like that.
No, he's not. God is love. God is sovereign. He doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And none can stay his hand. None
can say unto him, what doest thou? God is all powerful. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. Now this is the living God, the
God of the Bible. God is holy. That means he's
not like me and you in any way. God is faithful, the one in whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God is light, in
Him is no darkness at all. God is good. He's essentially
good. He's originally good. He's infinitely
good. He's eternally good. Everything
about Him is good because He is good. Not here's what goodness
and God follows that script. No, God is good and whatever
he does is good because he is God. He doesn't answer to anybody. He doesn't try to need to vindicate
or justify himself to any of his creatures. He's God, and
beside Him is none else. He is immutable. He is incapable
of change. God is gracious. God is merciful. God is kind. Now, God is not
made of parts. He's not part just and part merciful. He's altogether merciful. He's
altogether just. He's altogether holy. He's a
God of wrath. That's who he is. He hates sin.
He's the one who made hell. And if he did it, it is good.
God is good. I love what Moses said. He said,
who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
doing wonders, the living God, He's the true and living God.
We read in the scriptures of the son of the living God. We
read of the spirit of the living God. We read of the children
of the living God. We read of the church of the
living God. We read of the city of the living
God. Now, with regard to the living
God, who he is, yes, it's recorded in scripture. but who He is is
manifest in the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ crucified is a
declaration of the full character of every attribute of God. There is no knowing of God apart
from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, in the cross, in that one
nailed to a cross, I see the absolute sovereignty of God.
He's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God purposed this before time, and here it takes place in time.
I see the justice of God. When sin is found on His and
in His Son, God punishes and kills Him, because God is absolutely
just. In Christ crucified, I see the
power of God. He has such power that He can
make my sin not to be. He satisfied God. My sin became
His sin. He put it away. And He gives
me His very righteousness so that I'm justified before God.
What power there is in God that He can do that. No man could
do that. No man could come up with a plan as to how God could
be just and justify. And if He could come up with
a plan, He couldn't execute it. But Christ does. The very justice,
the very grace, the very sovereignty, the very power. Oh, the wisdom
of God, that He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. What about the love of God? That
He would love sinners so much that He would give His Son to
save them. The godness of God is seeing
that everybody he died for must be saved. God can't fail. God
can't fail in his intentions. Whatever he is pleased to do,
he does. All that God is, the living God,
is seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the cross. The Lord said in John
chapter 17, verse 3, This is eternal life, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent. Eternal life is not the way religious
people present it. people's testimonies and the
things they talk about how good they are now and how God's made
a difference in their life and changed their life and all they
talk about is their life, their life. What does the Lord say? This is eternal life that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. Now the only true God is only
known in his sending his son. He sent his son for what purpose? Well, he sent his son to save
his people from their sins. He sent his son to make a way
for him to be just and still justify the ungodly. Listen to
this scripture. Now we've been talking about
the Living God, this glorious, altogether God to be worshipped. He's the Living God, He's the
Creator, He's the Sovereign of the universe. He's the one God
revealed in three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, and He sent His Son. You know, I
think of when the Lord would say to people, I came down from
heaven. They, what? He did. He came down from heaven.
He's the eternal son who came down from heaven in the flesh.
And why did he come? Listen to this scripture. Paul
said in first Timothy one 15, this is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom Paul said, I am the chief. Now, what's a sinner? A sinner
is the one who commits the sins. God doesn't send sins to hell.
He sends the people who committed them to hell. The sinner is the
one who commits the sins. What is sin? The transgression
of the law, any lack of perfect conformity to God's holy law. A sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. A sinner is somebody who cannot
not sin. A sinner is someone who their sin's all their fault.
A sinner is someone who can't look down their nose at anybody
in moral superiority or judgment. A sinner is somebody who has
no claims on God. Now I'm asking you a question.
Are you a sinner? If you're a sinner, Christ came to save you. He came to save sinners. It's a blessed thing, not to
sin, but it's a blessed thing to be a sinner because that's
the person Christ came to save. That's who the living God saves. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you.