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 Nyberg. In Genesis chapter 4, this takes
place after Abel had been murdered by Cain. We read in verse 25
of Genesis chapter 4, And Adam knew his wife again, and she
bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Now,
when Abel and when Cain was first born, Eve said, I've gotten a
man from the Lord. And she thought he was the promised
seed. And if you know the story of
Genesis chapter 4, Cain and Abel brought different sacrifices. Abel brought the true sacrifice.
Cain brought his works. Cain slew Abel. He didn't have
to worry about going to jail or going to prison or standing
before a court. They didn't have things like
that at that time. He was just so upset with his
brother, he slew him. But now God gives a new son,
and his name is Seth, and Eve thinks that he is the one. And
we read in verse 26, and to Seth, to him also there was born a
son, and he called his name Enos, that means weak, frail man. What a name to give your son. And then we read early on in
the book of God, then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Then began men to call upon the
name of the Lord. Now, what I want to do, and what
I want you to do, even now, is to call upon the name of the
Lord. And my question is, what does
that mean? Now, this is what the saved do. All of them, without exception,
call upon the name of the Lord. This is the difference between
a saved man and a lost man. A lost man, somebody who doesn't
know God, never calls upon the name of the Lord. Those the Lord
has saved are those who call upon His name. This is the distinction
between a believer and an unbeliever. Some have suggested that this
is the beginning of corporate public worship. Men identified
themselves with those who called upon the name of the Lord. This
was the distinction between them and the men of the world. Men
gathered together to call upon the name of the Lord. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter
1, the Apostle Paul makes a statement that gives us some idea of the
importance of this thing, of calling on the name of the Lord.
This is what identifies those whom he has called. Now, the
Lord doesn't call everybody. He only calls his elect. Everybody is called through the
preaching of the gospel, but the only ones he calls with effectual
grace, saving grace, is the elect. When he calls, they respond. If you're one of his, you're
going to hear his call. That's taught in the scripture.
And we read where Paul said to the church at Corinth, He said
in verse 2 of chapter 1, under the church of God which is at
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be
saints. Who called them? God did. Called
to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now everybody that God calls,
here's how they respond. They call upon the name of the
Lord. We read in Romans chapter 10
verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved." In Peter's introductory remarks when he
preached that great message on the day of Pentecost, he begins
with this, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. And this is a quotation from
the Old Testament Prophet Joel. Now, David said, they that know
thy name put their trust in thee. And this thing of calling on
the name of the Lord, you've got to know his name. And the
name is the person behind the name. It's not just articulating
proper names that God gives Himself. It's knowing the person behind
the name. You can't call upon someone who
you do not know. The only way you and I will know
God is if He reveals Himself to us. He can't be known by just
figuring Him out. Canst thou by searching find
out God? No. The only way you and I can
know God is if He makes Himself known to us. And when He makes
Himself known, we know Him. And it's when we know Him that
we call upon His name. Now, God has many names in the
scripture. El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty,
that speaks of His omnipotence. God is almighty. There's nothing
that he cannot do if he desires to do it. He's almighty. He's called El Elyon, the Most
High God. Oh, He's most high. He's so far
above us, He's other. He is called Adonai, Lord. He's the Lord. That means His
will is the one that's always done. He's Lord of creation.
He willed this creation into being. He's the Lord of providence. Everything that happens is His
will being done. He's in control of everything.
And He's most especially the Lord of salvation. If you're
saved, it's because He willed your salvation. And saved you
must be if He willed your salvation. He's called Jehovah. Jehovah
saves. And He goes under seven different
Jehovah's in the scripture. There is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord,
our banner. He is our message. Jehovah-ra-ha,
the Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want, I will not want anything. He's called
Jehovah-ra-fa, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Now, a lot
of people will put emphasis on physical healing. If you're healed,
he healed you, there's no doubt about that, but you're going
to die of something. People put all this emphasis on physical
healing. Well, I'm more interested in
being healed spiritually. By His stripes we are healed. What He did on the cross made
every believer perfect in God's sight. The Lord is there. This speaks of his omnipresence. I can't go anywhere where he
is not. The Lord is there. Jehovah said,
Kenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Now let me ask you a question.
Do you know him as your personal righteousness? Do you know anything
about that? Now, if you don't, you haven't learned the gospel
yet. He's Jehovah Tekinu, the Lord our righteousness. And then he is Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord will provide. And that's just not talking about
material provision. People, well, God provides all
my needs, I know that, but... He provides my spiritual needs.
Everything I need, He provides. Everything God requires of me,
He provides. He provides me righteousness.
He provides me a sin payment. He provides me a new heart. He provides me faith. He provides
me repentance. He supplies for me, provides
for me love to Himself. He is the Lord that provides.
And then Jehovah Shalom. The Lord our peace. He is the
peace of every believer. Now concerning his name, then
began men to call upon the name of the Lord. In Exodus chapter
33, Moses makes this request. And this is the highest request
a man can ask. He said, I beseech thee, Exodus
33, 18. I beseech thee, show me thy glory. You can't make a higher request
than that. He wants to know what God considers
as glorious about himself. Now remember, Moses had seen
a lot. He'd seen the 10 plagues. He'd seen the parting of the
Red Sea. He'd seen manna come down from heaven. He'd seen water
come out of the rock. He'd seen the giving of God's
holy law on Mount Sinai. And after seeing all this, he
still says, I haven't seen your glory. I beseech you, show me
your glory. And listen to God's answer. In
Exodus chapter 33 verse 19, he said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee. God's glory is his goodness. Do you know he's always good?
Somebody says, how could a loving God let that happen? God's always
good. Whether you see it, whether I
see it or not, God is always good. And then he says, I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. This is the name
upon which we call. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Mercy. Now, you read into chapter
34, and he begins the proclamation of that name. Remember how he
said to Moses, when Moses said, show me your glory, he said,
I'll proclaim my name before you. Now here's what took place,
verse 5 of chapter 34. And the Lord descended in the
cloud, and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. Now this is the name upon which
we call, if we call upon the name of the Lord. Listen carefully. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
and to the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste
and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Now, when God proclaimed his
name before Moses, he proclaimed his attributes. The name is the
person behind the name, the attributes of God. And he mentioned in that
proclamation of his name, his own omnipotence, his mercy, his
grace, his long suffering, his goodness, his truth, his immutability,
his justice and righteousness. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. Now, the only way we can understand how he can
forgive sin, and yet by no means clear to the guilty, is in the
gospel. That's what the gospel is about. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ answers that question. Now, anything I hear that is
not consistent with the attributes of God revealed in this book
is wrong. God is known, God makes himself
known in this book. He reveals who he is, what he's
like. He reveals his attributes, his
essence, his substance. It's not something we can so
much understand but believe. Here's an example. God is one
God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Equal. Someone says, I don't
understand that. Whoever thought you would? I
don't understand it either, but I believe it because it's revealed
in the Bible. This is God's revelation of himself. Now the name of God. I think
this is a very interesting passage of scripture in Exodus chapter
three. Now this is after the Lord has
commissioned Moses to go to the children of Israel and tell them
about how he was going to deliver them. And we read in verse 13
of Exodus chapter three, and Moses said unto God, behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers has sent me, and they shall say
to me, what's his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, I am that I am. Now only God can take this
name to himself. I am that I am. He never was, he never will be. He is the eternal I am that I
am. Not I would be, not I should
be, not I could be, not I want to be, I am that I am. This is a statement, a declaration
concerning the glorious character of God. I am that I am. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. Not simply that he exists, but
we believe the isness of God. Now, God says, I am holy. I am just. I am sovereign. I am immutable. I am independent. I am all powerful. I am all wise. I am omnipresent. You can't go anywhere where I'm
not. This is the isness of God. Now, let's look how this began. In Exodus chapter three, this
is such a glorious story. Now, Moses kept the flock of
Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led
the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain
of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord, appeared
unto him. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
because it says God spake from the bush. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ appearing to Moses in a pre-incarnate appearance called
a Theophany. This is him appearing before
he became flesh. He appeared to Moses. And the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame, a fire. in the
midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." Now,
this is a glorious picture or illustration of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The bush continued to burn and
it did not need the energy of the wood to continue burning. The bush was not consumed. And this speaks of the independence
of Christ, which means he is God. He has no needs. You and I have so many needs.
He has no needs. He's utterly independent. He's dependent upon nothing for
life. He's utterly independent as the
God of glory. He's God. And that bush was not
consumed. What does that mean? That speaks
of the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the wrath,
the fire of God's wrath fell upon Him, it could not consume
Him. He consumed the wrath. He put
it away. This speaks of the glorious person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the newest believer knows
this with regard to Him. He might not know all the terms,
but you'll remember the thief on the cross. He knew Jesus Christ
was God. He said, don't you fear God?
Seeing you're in the same condemnation, he knew that Jesus Christ was
God. Somebody says, how did he know
that? Well, if you know it the same way, if you know it the same
way he knew it, Revelation. God revealed this to him. And
he knew that Christ Jesus had no sin. He's perfect humanity. He said, this man hath done nothing
amiss. What a beautiful picture we have
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Moses said, when he saw this
bush that could not be consumed, and Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. Moses was interested. He was,
how is this? And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not nigh hither. Don't you come close. Put off
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest
is holy ground. Take your shoes off, Moses. Your
feet are to be exposed. Now what is this all about? When
the seraphims were flying around the throne in Isaiah chapter
six and in Revelation chapter four and five, crying, holy,
holy, holy. What did they do? Well, they
all had six wings. With two, they covered their
face, unable to look at God in his glory. With two, they covered
their feet. Now, your feet have to do with
your walk. When They were in God's presence
even though they had no sin. They knew they had the potential
to sin if He didn't keep them, and they were ashamed of their
feet. Now, if you come into God's presence,
you're going to see something of your own sinfulness. your own need of His mercy. And if you don't see something
of your own sinfulness, I'm not talking about somebody else's
sinfulness. I'm not talking about society's sinfulness. I'm talking
about your own sinfulness. If you ever see who He is, you'll
cry with Isaiah, woe is me. I am undone. Now, Moses was scared
to death at this time. He was now in the presence of
holiness. Now, God goes on to say, Moreover,
he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the covenant-making,
the covenant-keeping God. That's who God is. And Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord
said, I've seen, I've surely seen the affliction of my people,
which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry by reason of
their taskmasters, for I know their sorrow. For I am come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring
them up out of the land into a good land, and a large, and
a land flowing with milk and honey, and a place of the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is come to me. I've also seen the
oppression with the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore,
and I'll send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth
my people, the children of Israel." Now, he said, who am I to do
this? He knew he was unfit for this
task. And then he asked the Lord, in
verse 13, and Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto
the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your
fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, what's
his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses,
I am that I am. Now God is who he is, whether
you and I see it or not. He has an isness, and his isness
is revealed in this book called the Bible. He is utterly sovereign,
that means he controls everything. He's all-powerful. He's all-wise. He's absolutely just. He's immutable. He can't change. I am the Lord.
I change not. He is who He is. I am that I am. Now, in Romans
10, verse 13, the Apostle Paul makes this statement, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. What a word. I'm a whosoever. That's why I
like that word so much. If it said good people, I couldn't
call. If it said the righteous, I couldn't
call. If it even said sinners, I realize
sometimes I'm self-righteous. I don't understand my sinnerhood
enough. There's any other description. Those who are born again, I might
fear I'm not born again. The elect? I might fear I'm not
one of the elect. I might have all kinds of fears
with regard to that, but the Bible says, whosoever. I'm a
whosoever. That means this is for me. Now
here's the important word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. You see, it's who He is that
saves us. When I call upon the name of
the Lord, I'm saying, Lord, save me as an act of Your sovereign
will, will my salvation. Lord, save me in a way that glorifies
Your justice, where my sin is put away, yet I'm just before
You. Save me by Your grace. Save me by Your power, Your omnipotence. Save me by Your wisdom. I'm calling
upon all of His attributes to save me. Now, you can't call
on somebody you've never heard of. You can't call on somebody
you don't believe. How shall they call on Him whom
they've not heard? You can't do it. But I've heard.
I'm a whosoever. I've heard who you are through
this book called the Bible, and I'm calling on your name to save
me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And listen to this word, call.
Whosoever shall call. Now, there's an easy word. Lord,
save me. That's calling on His name. Lord,
help me. That's calling on His name. Jesus,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. That's calling on his
name. It's crying out for help, knowing
who it is that you're calling to, and knowing that he is able
to do whatever he's pleased to do. If he wills your salvation,
you'll be saved. The leper understood this. He
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And understand
this, there's never anybody that has ever called upon his name
that he turned down. Whosoever, I don't care who you
are, whosoever, shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Here is a sure word, shall be
saved. The son of man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. Thou shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now here early
in history, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. And I pray that you and I will
be enabled by His grace to call upon His name. 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 God
will be pleased to enable you to call on His name. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to
todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.