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 Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Who Believes? Now there are only two kinds
of people in this world, those who believe and those who do
not believe. I am either a believer or I am
an unbeliever. Now, the question I want to ask
is who believes? I'm going to read verse 48 out
of Acts chapter 13. This is Luke's comment his editorial
comment, as it were, about this message that Paul preached in
Antioch. At the end of this message, we
read in verse 48, and when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad. and glorified the word of the
Lord. They loved what they heard. They were glad and they gave
glory to God for this word. And then Luke makes this statement,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life, Now, before we can really consider
who believes, we've got to ask this question, what does it mean
to believe? And we've got to ask the next
question, what is it that is believed when someone believes. Now, like I said, you and I,
all men are divided into these two classes. We either believe
or we do not believe. Somebody says, well, I'm agnostic.
I don't know. Well, if you're agnostic, you
do not believe. You either believe or you do
not believe. Christians are called in the
New Testament believers. Now, what does it mean to believe? The reason I ask that question
is I have no doubt that there are some who think they believe,
but they don't really believe. And I think you'll understand
that as I try to speak on this subject. What does it mean to believe? Well, it's more than believing
the truthfulness of a proposition. Now, as I'm speaking to you right
now, I'm behind a pulpit. This pulpit is made of solid
oak. I believe that. It's not made
of fiberglass. It's not made of plastic. It's
not made of particle board. It's made of solid oak. I believe that. Now, does that constitute faith
as in believing the gospel? No. I believe two plus two is
four. I am convinced two plus two is
four. I'm persuaded of it. I believe
it. But is that what is meant in the Bible by believing? No, it's not. It's the same faith
that James warned us about when he said, you believe that there's
one God, you do well. The devils believe. They're totally
convinced of that. They know there is only one God. They believe and they tremble,
but there is no saving faith in that belief. It's a belief,
it's the belief of a proposition. It's giving acknowledgement to
the truthfulness of something, but it is not saving faith. James said in James chapter two,
faith without works is dead being alone. Now, what he's talking
about is not good works that prove to you that you have faith. That's the way most people look
at that passage of scripture. Well, you need to have good works
along with your faith to prove the reality of your faith. Now,
I'm all for good works. I wanna be rich in good works,
but that is not what that passage of scripture is saying. When
he uses the example of Abraham, Abraham offered up his only son. Now, what is it that proved he
really believed God? When he rose up to slay his son
because he knew that God would raise his son from the dead because
God promised that the Messiah would come through his seed.
And what proved he really did believe God was that he was willing
to offering him up. And as a matter of fact, he did
it in his own heart. It was a done deal. It's something that he
did because he believed because God said, the Messiah is going
to come through your son. He believed that God would raise
that boy from the dead after he killed him because he believed
what God said. Now, if he would have refused
to offer him up, If he would have said, now I can't do this
because that'll mess up God's promise. God won't be able to
make his seed come through this boy if I do this, so therefore
I won't do it. All he would do by doing that
is prove that he didn't really believe God. You see, if you
believe God, you believe he will do what he said he would do. Even if somebody has to die and
be raised from the dead, it's going to happen. Faith without
works is dead. Here's another illustration.
Lot. Now, if you look at the life
of Lot, it's not very commendable, is it? He chose the well-watered
plain, didn't give deference to Abraham, moved to Sodom, stayed
in Sodom when he shouldn't, it was a wicked place. He even became
a government official in Sodom at the gate. You think of him
offering up his two daughters to try to save the angels that
you read about in Genesis chapter 19. He lingered in Sodom. And when the Lord said, leave,
he lingered and the angels had to take him by the hand and pull
him out. When he goes into that cave,
he has an incestuous relationship with both of his daughters and
has children from both of his daughters. He became drunk. Just go on down the line. You
don't see much about Lot's life that you would find commendable.
But there were works that proved he really believed. Now, he really
did believe because God calls him in Peter, Just Lot, that
righteous man and his righteous soul and so on. He did believe. Well, what proved he believed?
Lot didn't look back. You remember how the angel said,
don't look back? His wife did and she became a
pillar of salt. Lot did not look back. Now what
that is a reference to is not just looking back in curiosity. You see what the fire and brimstone
looks like and what it did to Sodom. This looking back represents
looking back to your works. Looking back to something you
do is a ground of your acceptance. Not faith in Christ, but faith
in yourself. Looking back, Lot didn't do that. And whenever there is true saving
faith, I think of what the Lord said to the churches in Revelation. The first thing he said is, I
know thy works. I know thy works. With every believer, there will
be work that proves the reality of their faith, like there was
with Lot. A believer truly looks to Christ only. He will not look
anywhere else. Faith alone is always alone,
but it's never alone. There is work that proves the
reality of the faith. It's not just the acceptance
of a proposition. It's not just believing the truthfulness
of a proposition. Oh, it goes much further than
that. Now, if somebody asked me, what is the scripture you
would select that demonstrates what true faith is? I would go
to 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. Now this is Paul the Apostle
speaking, and he says in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse 12. For the which cause, this is
talking about his preaching. For the witch cause, I also suffer
these things." Now, Paul knew that wherever he preached, he
would be persecuted. He would be whipped with a cat
of nine tails. He would be stoned. He would
be thrown into prison. He said, the Holy Spirit has
told me that bonds and afflictions abide me. Everywhere he went,
he knew he was going to be in trouble for the message he preached. But what does he say? For the
witch cause, my preaching, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. And here's why. For I know whom
I have believed. And am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed to him against that day. And notice the wording, it's
so important. I know whom I have believed. He didn't say, no,
I know what I believe. Somebody says, I know what I
believe. Well, good. But do you know whom you have believed? You see, what I believe is determined
by who I believe. I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded. I have been persuaded. You see,
the Lord persuaded him. This is why his faith was so
strong. He'd been persuaded by the Lord. I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able. Here's what I'm relying on. This is who I'm relying on, his
ability. Oh, I'm relying on His ability. I'm not relying on anything about
myself. I am relying on His ability to
save me. I really believe that He is able. to save me without me making
any contributions at all to cause my salvation. I believe he is
able to do it all. Abraham staggered not the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. You see, I believe he is able. to make me perfect. I believe
He is able to make my sins not to be. I believe He is able to
make me stand before God in judgment without sin. And He did all this by Himself. Now that's what faith is. It's
believing His ability. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed to him against that day. Now, without this committal,
there is not saving faith. What do I mean by that? Let's
say you're in a burning building, fifth floor. The building's on
fire. Down below there's some firemen
with a net. And they say, jump, we'll catch
you. Now you may believe that they're
able to catch you, but what good would that belief do if you didn't
jump? What if you stayed in the building
that was on fire? You would be killed. You would
be burned. Now, if you jump, You know that
you'll be dashed to pieces and die if they don't catch you. Your safety is all in accordance
to their ability. So when you jump out that window,
you're committing your life into their hands. It's up to them
as to whether or not you'll live. It's not up to you. It's not
your act of jumping that saves you. As a matter of fact, your
act of jumping would kill you if they don't catch you. You're
completely dependent upon them. Now, when I commit my salvation
to Christ, I say I am totally dependent on who he is and what
he did to save me. My only hope is that when he
said it is finished, it was finished. My salvation was finished. And
I am good to go that I stand before God accepted simply and
wholly because of what He did. I'm committing my salvation to
Him. I'm not looking to myself. I'm
not looking to my works. Now listen to me. If my salvation
is dependent upon my ability to believe, If my salvation is
dependent upon my ability to repent, if my salvation is dependent
upon my personal holy living, if my salvation is dependent
upon me being able to stop committing some particular sin, I have no
hope. I have committed my salvation
to Him. If he didn't do it all, I won't
be saved, but I know he is all in salvation. Now that's the
act of believing. It's, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Committal 100% reliance on him
being all. in my salvation. Anything short
of that is not believing. You see, a failure to commit
means you believe in salvation by works in some way. You're
holding on to something. You're looking to something you're
going to do. That's what that failure to commit is. Oh, the
believer commits the entire salvation of their soul to him. Now, when
one does believe, what is believed? What is the content of that faith? Well, once again, Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Not what, but whom. You see, what you believe is
completely determined by who you believe. For instance, Jesus
Christ, I know him. You know who he is? He's God.
You know what that means? That means he's all-powerful. That means he's sovereign. That
means he's in complete control. That means he's holy. That means
he cannot fail. Now, many people believe in a
Christ that can fail. He can die for somebody and they
wind up in hell anyway. Well, that's the wrong Christ.
I know whom I have believed. He's the one who's incapable
of failure. He's the God-man. I know whom
I have believed. Abraham believed God. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. Every believer believes in the
isness of God, who he is, as he's revealed in his word, as
he's revealed in the gospel. Now, in the context of Acts chapter
13, it says after Here was the summary of Paul's message. He
says in verse 38, and this is the message they believed and
rejoiced in. He says, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe,
there's that word believe, by him, All that believe, if you
believe it's because he gave you the grace to do it, it's
by him. By him, all that believe are justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now, this
is so important in this thing of faith, to him that worketh
not, and do you hear that? I need to work. Scripture says
to him that worketh not. Do you know what it means to
work not, to know that there's nothing you can do to gain God's
favor or recommend yourself to God? To him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted. for righteousness. Now, this
is a big word in the Bible, justification. Now, if a judge on earth declares
somebody justified, that means they were not guilty. That means
they did not commit the crime. It doesn't mean they're forgiven.
It means they're not guilty. Now, if I'm justified, I am not
guilty. I stand before God sinless. I stand before God without fault. I stand before God perfect. Now, how can that be? Because
I know I'm a sinner. I'm not saying I used to be a
sinner. I am a sinner. That's just the truth. And you
are too, whether you know it or not. I hope you know it. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It's a blessed
thing to be a sinner. But how is it that a sinner can
actually stand before God without guilt? The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the answer to that. You see, my sin became
His sin. He became guilty of that sin. He never sinned in His person.
Even when he was made sin, he never personally sinned, but
he took my sins and owned them as his own. He became guilty
before God. That's why the Father poured
his wrath upon him. He stood as the sin-bearing substitute. He put away that sin. He satisfied
God's law and justice and wrath against sin. That's why he was
raised from the dead. The sin was put away, God was
satisfied. And that perfect obedience that
he worked out, that perfect righteousness is given to every believer as
their own. Just as truly as my sin became
his, his righteousness becomes mine. So I stand before God righteous. That's what justification means.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, what
you think of Christ is what faith is. That's the content of saving
faith. Not what you think about yourself, but what you think
of Christ. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. I believe he's the word of God.
I believe he's God's prophet. I believe he is the prophetic
word. I believe he's God's priest. Not like some human priest, but
he's the priest who comes into the very presence of God with
his own blood. Not the blood of an animal sacrifice,
but his own blood that puts away sin. And he comes in, everybody
he represents must be saved. I believe he's God's king. He
really is king. He's king of kings. He's Lord of lords. His
will is always done. 1 John 5, 5 says, who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is
the Son of God. Acts 15, 11. We believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved,
even as they. Romans 10, four says, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Romans 10, nine, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, he's Lord. That means
he controls everybody and everything. He's Jesus, the Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall save His people from their sins. And if you believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. First John 3.23 says, this is
His commandment that we believe on the name of His Son. Now that's
not just talking about knowing what His name is. His name is
His attributes. The person behind the name. We're
relying on His name to save us. Romans 10.13 says, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. You can read about that in Numbers
21, when the snakes bit the children of Israel. Moses went to the
camp with the brazen serpent, and anybody that just looked
at that serpent, not that worked, but looked, lived. Now, Faith has nothing to do
with what you think about yourself, except this, do you believe yourself
to be a sinner? Do you believe yourself to be
a sinner? Somebody says, I'm not a sinner.
Well, Christ didn't come save you then. He only came to save
sinners. Now, the third question, who
believes? You're either a believer or an
unbeliever. Who believes? Faith is reliance on Him. Committal
to Him is everything in salvation. You believe on Him. Who believes? Well, Luke tells us, and when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word
of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. As many as were elected by God
before the foundation of the world. As many as were predestinated
by God to be conformed to the image of his son. Those are the people who believed. those who were ordained eternally
by God to believe. You see, this thing of faith,
it's not the product of human nature. If you believe, it's
because God gave you that faith. And He gave you that faith because
you belong to Christ, and Christ put away your sins, and Christ
made you stand perfect before Him. Listen to this scripture.
By grace, you say, through faith, And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast, for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them. Who believed? You know, this
is what gives any true preacher hope in preaching. It's not up
to me to talk you into believing. I can't do that, and if somebody
can talk you into something, somebody else can talk you out
of it. That's not what this is about. This is proclaiming the
gospel, and I know somebody's gonna believe. Everybody who
was ordained to eternal life will believe. And you know, if
you have faith, you know that's so. You know that faith didn't
come from you. It's not the product of your
decision. You know it's the gift of God.
There was a time when you didn't believe, and then you found yourself
believing, and you know that it is the work of God. Who believed? As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyvern at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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