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 Neibert. In John, excuse me, in Matthew,
chapter 16, verse 15, he said to the 12, and he saith unto
them, but whom say ye that I am? That's what I have entitled this
message, Whom say ye that I am? Now this is the most important
question that you or I can possibly consider. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? Christ. Now, I can't in any way
deny His importance. You know, the calendar is centered
around Him, before Christ and the year of our Lord. Who else
can that be said of where the calendar is centered around them? Oh, there's been a lot of important
people, but none like Him. Who is Jesus Christ? What did He do? Why did He do it? Where is He
now? Now, this is the question, and
those questions are included in that question that answers
every other question. Who is Jesus Christ? Now in this passage of scripture
in verse 13 of Matthew chapter 16, when Jesus came into the
coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom
do men say that I, the son of man, am? hear their answer, and they said,
Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. They put you in some high cotton.
They put you in some elite company. But what they were saying, men,
with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, was actually very degrading
to his person and blasphemous. They were saying he was a mere
man, like one of the Old Testament prophets, like John the Baptist.
They were saying he was a mere man, and that is a horrible thing
to say. And then the Lord said, after
that, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And I love Peter's answer. And
Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Now, the first thing that I would
like to say with regard to this question, who is Jesus Christ? He's the Son of God. He's the
incarnate God. He is God manifest in the flesh. He's not like God. He's not like
God at all. He is God. the second person of the blessed
Trinity, the Son of the living God. Colossians 2 verse 9 says,
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Every attribute of God resides
in His body. Absolute sovereignty, omnipotence,
omnipresence, omniscience, independence, immutability, holiness, justice,
all that God is, grace, mercy, long-suffering, all the fullness
of God, the Creator, the sustainer of all things, all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14, verse 9, we read,
show us the Father. Philip said, show us the Father,
and it sufficeth us. And he said, if I've been so
long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip, know
ye not that he that hath seen me hath seen the Father? Thomas said, My Lord and my God. Equal with the Father, He's the
Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He
created the universe. He's the Lord of providence.
He controls everything. Everything is His will being
done, whatever it is. Ultimately, it's His will being
done. He is the Lord of salvation.
That means if me or you are saved, it's because He willed our salvation. He is the Lord. The Son of God. Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Now, Jesus Christ, Christ is
God's last name. Christ refers to his offices
as the Messiah. The Christ is the Greek word
for the Hebrew word, the anointed or the Messiah. He is God's anointed
prophet. He is the Word of God. He's like
no other prophet. Every other prophet said, thus
saith the Lord. He never said that. He said,
I say unto you. With divine authority, I say
unto you. He's God's anointed priest like
no other priest. He's the priest after the order
of Melchizedek. As the scripture describes, without
mother, without father, without descent, having neither beginning
of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God,
abideth a high priest continually. He is called that new and living
way as the priest. New means freshly slaughtered. living as opposed to dead. Now
this priest, the Old Testament priest would bring the blood
of a slain animal that could never take away sin. This priest
brings his own blood before the Father. He lives, and he brings
his own blood before the Father, and it's always poignant. It's
always powerful to the Father. You see, his blood accomplished
something. His blood put away the sins of his people. His blood
glorified God. What a priest and what a king
he is. He's the king of kings. He's
not a king by way of title. He's a king by way of person. His will is always done. He has all control of everything
and everybody. He's king of kings. He's Lord
of lords. God said, yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. Whom do you say that I am? Thou
art the Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king. the
Son of the Living God. That's who He is. Now, who He is answers what He
actually did. Now, you can't talk about the
person of Christ without talking about the work of Christ. And
who He is determines what His work actually accomplished. Now, what did He do? Well, the
scripture says in Hebrews 17, 22, he was the surety of the
better covenant. Now, a surety is someone who
takes responsibility for somebody else. Before time began, He took
responsibility for the salvation of all of His people. He's the
surety. Before I was ever born, He took,
before the world was ever made, He took full and complete responsibility
for my salvation as my surety. He is the surety of the better
covenant. What did he do? He became flesh. I love the scriptures where he
says, I came down from heaven. I know that irritated people
when he said that. If I said, I came down from heaven,
you'd be irritated. You think he's a fraud and you'd
be right. But when he said, I came down
from heaven, it's because he did come down from heaven. He
came down from heaven and became a man, became flesh. And in the flesh, He fulfilled
the Scriptures. He kept God's holy law perfectly. He died for the ungodly, and
He was raised from the dead because He did what He set out to do. He put away the sins of His people,
and He justified them, and He was raised from the dead. Mission
accomplished. And He makes intercession for
all His people, even now before the Father. Hebrews 7.25 says,
Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by Him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
thee." Now, who did he do this for? Or why did he do all of
this? Why? He's God, why did he become
flesh? Well, to fulfill God's purpose. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, He came to redeem a people.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. He came to make a way for God
to be just and justify the ungodly. He came because he loved his
people. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He came
for this purpose. Now, who did he do this for? Who was it he came? Who was it?
Who was the persons he came to save and saved? Who were the
people he came to justify? Who were the people he loved?
Who were the people that he made the way for God to be just and
justifier? Who are these people? And that's
a very important question, and if it's not clearly identified,
it makes everything meaningless. Now listen to me. If He came
to save everybody, every son of Adam, all men without exception,
If he came to save everybody and some of those people that
he came to save were not saved, that means what he did was meaningless,
and that means what he did was a failure. If he came to save
some people, And they weren't saved. What he did for them was
meaningless. And if he intended to save them
and didn't, he failed in his intentions. But you know, that's
impossible. You see, he's God. Who he is
determines what he did. He cannot fail. His will must
be done. Now, listen to me. He said, I
lay down my life for the sheep. There are goats and there are
sheep. He came to save his elect and
that is precisely what he did. Now, where is he now? We see
who he is, God's Christ, the God-man. We see why he came to
save his people. We see who he died for, his people. Here's the question, next question,
where is he now? Right now, this man Jesus Christ,
the God-man, where is he now? Well, Hebrews 1.3 says, when
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. He's seated at the right hand
of God, ruling and reigning. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered. And said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, Simon son of Jonah,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. Now the only way that I am going
to know who Jesus Christ is, is by him revealing himself to
me. by God revealing him to me. I'll never know him. I can't
know him, except he reveals himself to me. I'm shut up to revelation.
You're shut up to revelation. You can't figure this thing out.
You can't just up and decide, well, I think I'm gonna know
him. You and I are completely dependent upon him to reveal
himself to us. Galatians 1 15 Paul said, when
a pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace to reveal. His Son in me. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 and 10 says,
I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of the man the things that God hath prepared for them that
love him, but God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit. Now the only way me and you are
ever going to know Christ The only way me and you are ever
going to know God the way Peter did, is for Him to reveal Himself
to us. Revelation. Not education. Revelation. Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Joan, in making this confession to me. Flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Verse 18, and I say unto thee,
there's the Lord saying that, not thus saith the Lord, I say
to thee, this is the authority of it, this is the Son of God
speaking. I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, little rock,
and upon this rock will I build my church. and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it." Now, is he saying that he's building
his church on Peter? Now, Peter was a fickle, sinful,
contradictory man. I thank the Lord for Peter. He
was an apostle. I love his sermon on the day
of Pentecost, but Peter is also the one who denied he knew the
Lord because he was afraid of a maid. And years later, he would
be rebuked by Paul for denying the gospel by his actions. And
he said, I've rebuked Peter before them all. Peter was a sinful
man like me and you, a contradictory man, a weak man like me and you. I'm not speaking harshly of Peter.
I'm just telling what he is. He's a man. Man in his best state
is altogether vanity. Would Christ build his church
on this man? Of course not. That's ridiculous. I know that people say Peter
was the first pope and that Christ was building his church on him.
That's foolishness upon this confession of me. That's what
the Lord builds his church on. Upon this confession of me, thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. Your little Peter,
upon this big rock, this confession of me, will I build my church. Now, Christ is the builder of
the church. I get somewhat amused when I
hear people talk about going out and planting churches. Oh,
you can do that? Christ is the builder of the
church. No builder like Him. Upon this rock will I build my
church." And this is the first time the word church is used
in the New Testament. It means a called-out assembly
is what the word means, church. Now, there are a lot of institutions
that go by the name of churches, but the gospel is not preached
there, so I wouldn't call them churches. I don't know what I'd
call them. A church is where people gather together to hear
the gospel, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ as He is. Now, there are two ways that
the word church is used in the New Testament. One is the universal
church, the church that Christ loved and gave Himself for, the
General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are
written in heaven. And the other is a local assembly, like the
church I pastor, the Todd's Road Grace Church, where people assemble
together and hear the gospel. And this is where the Lord promises
His presence. He says, where two or three are
met together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. I'm
glad to be able to preach on TV, and I hope the Lord blesses
it, but it's no substitute for church, actually meeting together
with the Lord's people. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Now, I love the way he says this. There's no worries of failure. Now, we're living in troubled
times. There's no question about that. And you think, what's going
to happen? Well, I know this. God rules. And Christ is on the throne. And the gates of hell will not
prevent him from snatching out his people from the jaws of death
and saving them. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I'll build my church. Any church that men have built
is no good. It's going to fall to the ground.
But we're talking about the church he builds. He is the builder
of the church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Verse 19, And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom. Now he's speaking to Peter. And
once again, people look at this as what the authority that the
Pope has, and let's consider what's being said. I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And I realize
that people have interpreted that as the Pope being able to
determine who will be saved and who will not be saved. Now, one
thing I know, I don't want my salvation to be in any man's
hands. I don't even want it to be in my hands. I'll mess it
up. I don't want it to be in your
hands. You may say you love me, but I'll do something to make
you mad, maybe for the 50th time, and you'll say, send him to hell.
That's what will happen. People say, I wouldn't be that
way. Yeah, you would. Yeah, you would. Salvation, my standing
before God to be in any man's hands. And that's not what that's
talking about. Now, here's what the Lord is saying. I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What's a key for?
A key is to unlock a door and to open it up. I will give you
the keys unto the kingdom of heaven. Now, the Lord said, I
am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. Now Christ is the key. Christ
is the door. Christ is the key. The only way
me or you will enter heaven is by Him opening the door to us
and bringing us in. Now, people have presented the
Lord as knocking on the door of men's hearts, wanting in,
and He can't get in unless we open it. That's foolishness.
He'll bash the door down and bring you out. That's who He
is. But He has the keys of the kingdom. He's given them to Peter,
and what that is, it's the gospel. The gospel is the keys to the
kingdom. The only way you and I will enter into heaven is through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the door that lets
men in. He's the door of freedom. Look
what he goes on to say. I will give unto thee the keys
of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven. and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Now, what this means is if you
find liberty and freedom in the message of the gospel, and this
is so important, the gospel is a message of freedom. Religion
binds men. It puts them in shackles. It
chains them down. Religion is men not getting to
do what they really want to do and not doing what they really
want to do. Shackles, laws, rules, binding. Now, some men find the gospel
as freedom, being set free. Now, you know what freedom is?
Freedom is not having any debts and getting to do what I want
to do. Now in Christ, I find in this message, freedom. All my debts are paid. I don't owe anything to God but
a debt of gratitude for his grace to me. Freedom, what liberty,
what freedom there is there. Stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ hath made us free and be not entangled in that
yoke of bondage. And freedom is getting to do
what I want to do. And you know what I want to do?
I want to follow Christ. I want to be found in Him. I
want to serve Him. I want to know Him. That's what
I want to do. You see, when God saves you, He changes your want
to. And this is what happens. I say
unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this confession
of me, the Christ, the living God, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I'll give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus, the Christ.
Now, we saw this last week. This comes up so often in the
New Testament. He tells them who he is, and
he says, don't tell anybody about it. Now, why is that? Because Jesus Christ didn't come
to try to gain a following. Jesus Christ came to save His
people from their sins, and that is exactly what He did. He saved
His people from their sins. Now, I want to end this message
And I don't know if this is the right word to use, but I want
to call for a verdict with regard to what you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I realize a judge calls
for a verdict, and I'm not a judge, so I don't know if that's the
right language. But I'm calling upon myself. I'm calling upon
you. What do you think of Christ? I'm not asking you what you think
of yourself or me. I'm not asking you if you believe
you're saved or if you don't believe you're saved. I'm asking
you, what do you think of Jesus Christ? Whose son is he? I love what Peter said when the
Lord watched the crowd leave him in John chapter six. And he looked at the 12 and said,
will you also go away? They were offended by what the
Lord had said. And Peter answered, Lord, to
whom shall we go? It's not like there are any options.
We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is God the Son? Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the very Word of God, God's prophet, God's priest? If he represents you before God,
you must be saved. God's King, the one who really
does rule and reign. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ. is born of God. 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. 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.