Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyvert. 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'm going to read a verse of
scripture from the 13th chapter of Acts, verse 12. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of
the Lord. When did he believe? when he
saw what was done. I've entitled this message, Do
or Done. Now, religion, all religion,
can be summarized by being under one of these two words, do or
done. You're either resting on what
you do, or you're resting in what he has done. And there's no mixing of these
two opposing views. You can't believe them both.
You either think your salvation is ultimately conditioned upon
what you do, or you believe your salvation is ultimately conditioned
upon what he has done. Now we read of this man when
he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Now, I wanna begin, pick up reading
in verse six of this chapter. And when they, speaking of Paul
and Barnabas, this is the first missionary journey. He went on
three different missionary journeys in the book of Acts, and this
is the first. And when they had gone through
the Isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer. Now the word
sorcerer is the same word translated wise men. That's the wise men
that came from the east when the Lord was born. It's the word
magi and it means a wise man. A certain sorcerer named a false
prophet. This wise man or professed wise
man was a false prophet. A Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus,
son of Jesus, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius
Paulus. This was the leader in that area. And the scripture says he was
a prudent man. who called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the Word of God." Now, my dear friends,
that's what I desire. I desire to hear the Word of
God. I don't desire to hear man's
thoughts and man's opinions and man's philosophies. I want to
hear the Word of God. I love what Peter said, desire
or crave the sincere, the pure milk of the Word. that you may
grow thereby." Now, this man wanted to hear the gospel. He
wanted to hear the truth. But Elimus, the sorcerer, Elimus
simply means the wise man, the sorcerer, for so is his name
by interpretation, withstood them. It withstood the preaching
of Paul and Barnabas. He withstood them seeking to
turn away the deputy from the faith. This man wasn't content
to not believe the truth himself, but he didn't want anybody else
to believe it. And he sought to turn the deputy from the faith. He did everything he could to
keep him from believing this message. Then Saul, who is also
called Paul, this is the first time he's called Paul, as a matter
of fact, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and
said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child
of the devil." That's strong language, isn't it? But that's
the language Paul used toward this false prophet. Thou enemy
of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right
ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the
Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind. Paul had apostolic
authority that you and I do not have. and he could pronounce
somebody to be blind and they would be blind. He had this,
not only this gift of miracles to heal people, he had the gift
of doing things like this and blinding people. And he did that
to this man. Thou shalt be blind, not seeing
the sun for a season. It's only temporary, but you're
going to be blind for a season. And immediately, as soon as Paul
said that, there fell on him a mist and a darkness. He was
plum blind at this time, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished, at the doctrine of
the Lord. Now, I've got a question for
you. When the deputy saw what was done, is he talking about
seeing Paul blind, that man? And that made him believe. That's
really not what this is a reference to, and I can show you that from
the scriptures. But no one ever believed because
they saw a miracle. You would not believe if you
saw a miracle. I would not believe if I saw
a miracle. You see, faith, true belief,
is the gift of God's grace. It doesn't come from seeing miracles
and being convinced by certain tangible evidences. It's the
gift of God's grace. By grace you save through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast." So this is not saying that this
man believed because he saw Paul strike that man with blindness.
And in the original, this thing of when he saw what was done
is spoken of in the perfect tense. That means when he saw what was
done, he saw that which was done, which was perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. And that certainly cannot be
said of Paul's blinding of this man because it's pointed out
that it was only temporary. What this is talking about is
Sergius Paulus hearing the gospel and seeing what was done. What was done by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now there are only two religions
in this world, not three, not four, There are only two, the
religion of do and the religion of done. Now somebody says, now
wait a minute, there are a lot of religions, Muslim, Hindu,
Jew, Christianity. Well, that might be the case,
man's religions, but they can still all be brought down to
this level. You either do or you're resting
in what has been done. You're either thinking about
what you need to do or what has already been done. Works is do. Grace is done. Law is do. Gospel is done. Man's will is
do. God's will is done. Now most of what goes on under
the name of Christianity, as a matter of fact, everything
that goes on under the name of Christianity, let me say this,
I don't like the word Christianity. It's not in the Bible. And when
you hear the word, it sounds like one of the world's great
religions, Muslim, Jew, Christianity. The gospel is not a religion.
The gospel is the truth. The gospel is who God is. It
doesn't have peers. It doesn't have, you know, people
talk about comparative religions. There's no such thing with the
gospel. It stands by itself. It's not one among many. But as far as religions go, for
lack of a better word, there are only two religions, the religion
of do and the religion of done. In most of what goes on, I will
scratch that, in all of what goes on under the name of Christianity,
the Christian religion, so to speak, it really is summarized
by the word do. Now, somebody says, explain that
to me. Well, let me give it a shot.
Most of what goes on under the name of Christianity says that
God has already done everything for your salvation. He loves
you. Christ died for your sins. Put them away. He's done everything
for your forgiveness. And He's offering you all of
this. And it's up to you to accept it or reject it. to receive it or fail to receive
it. Salvation is predicated on your
acceptance of the truth. Salvation is ultimately in your
hands. God wants to save you, but it's
up to whether you make a decision to be saved. And that makes salvation
ultimately dependent upon what you do. Now, my friends, that's
just as much salvation by works as saying you got to keep the
Ten Commandments to be saved. It's still salvation ultimately
dependent upon what you do. It can take another form. How
many times have you heard preachers talk about learning to live the
victorious Christian life? If you can just tap into certain
things and claim certain promises, you will live the victorious
Christian life. You can become more holy. You
can become less sinful by certain behaviors, by certain conduct,
start doing certain good things and quit committing certain sins.
You'll become more holy, more pleasing to God and live the
victorious Christian life. You'll be a better Christian.
You'll be in a better standing. You'll be more holy than somebody
else who hasn't performed the works that you've performed.
Now, my dear friends, That is an ignorance of the gospel, and
an ignorance of what holiness is in the first place, and an
ignorance of what sin is in the first place. That's what drives
that kind of thinking. Somebody else thinks, well, salvation's
by grace, but at the end, when you're in heaven, the place you're
going to be, the position you're gonna have, is in accordance
to how good you've been on earth. You'll be rewarded a higher reward,
given a higher position in heaven, given a bigger mansion, a bigger
car, whatever, in heaven because you've done these good things
on earth. And that still makes salvation partly, at least partly,
by works, by what you do. Now, that won't save anybody. If you believe in a salvation
in any respect that's dependent upon what you do, you are in
trouble. That is salvation by works. And
I don't want you to be in trouble. I want you to believe the gospel
of God's grace. I want you to rest in what he
has done and enter into the joy and peace of believing. You know,
when your religion is one of do, when have you done enough?
How do you know exactly what it is to be, you have to do?
But oh, the joy of simply resting in what he has done. Now, what was done? Well, Hebrews
chapter one, verse three says, when he had by himself purged
our sins. Who's the our? Everybody whose
sins were purged. Everybody that he died for. Christ is no failure. He's not
capable of intending for something to take place and it didn't happen.
When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down. Why did
he sit down? Because the work was done. 1 John 3, verse 5 says he was
manifested to take away our sins. Now, my dear friend, that's exactly
what he did. When he died on Calvary's tree,
the sins of all of his people, the sins of everybody that he
died for, were taken away. If you're in Him, all of your
sins have been taken away. And in Him is no sin. If you are in Him, You have no
sin. That means you've never committed
a sin. That means you stand just before
God. That's what justification is.
It's having never sinned, having no guilt. That's what the word
means by very definition. You know, when the Lord justifies
somebody, He doesn't offer them justification. Here's your justification
if you want it. You can accept it or reject it.
No, He declares you to be justified. That's what he does. Because
of what Christ did for you, you're justified. Now, I love the way
he did this by himself. That means me and you had no
contribution in this. There wasn't a collaborative
effort going on. He did this by himself. The Father was not helping him.
The Father was forsaking him on Calvary's tree. The Spirit
was not strengthening him. The angels were not helping him. His people were not helping him. In what was done, that great
work of purging our sins, he did it by himself and it was
done. Now listen very carefully. In what was done, that great
work of purging our sins, he did it. not by enabling me or
you to do something that would activate what he did. But if
we don't do it, it can't be activated. Forget doing. If any part of
my salvation is dependent upon or predicated on me doing something
in order to make it work, My faith that I produce, my repentance,
my holy living, if any part of my salvation cannot be completed
unless I do this, and then it can take place, I have no hope. But on Golgotha's Hill, at a
point in time, he did something. Signified by those words, it
is finished. Do you hear those words? It is
finished. Nothing incomplete, nothing undone,
nothing out there for me or you to do. It is finished. Do not make resolutions, from
here on it's going to be different for me. I'm going to become a
better person. I'm going to turn over a new
leaf. I'm going to start reading the scriptures and praying and
not committing this sin and start doing, forget doing. Forget doing. It's done. It's done. This is what the deputy
heard. what was done, and he believed. He believed what was done. The scripture says, being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. Now, what is the doctrine of
the Lord? Well, I could very easily say the whole Bible is
the doctrine of the Lord. God used Genesis through Revelation
to expound the gospel. But Paul also said in Romans
6, he spake of the doctrine which has delivered you. You've obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which delivered you. And then
we read in 2 John 7, for many deceivers are entered
into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. Now, that represents everything
we believe. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Now, anyone who doesn't confess
that, John says, this is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves
that we lose not those things which we've wrought, but that
we've received a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now, Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh. That means, first of all, He
was before He came. He didn't begin to exist when
He was born. He was before He came. He said in John 6, verse 38,
I came down from heaven. Now, what if I said to you, I
came down from heaven, you would know that I had some kind of
mental problems and probably could be considered a very dangerous
person because someone who would make that claim, it's hard telling
what kind of things they think they can do because they think
they've come down from heaven. If I said that, I'm a dangerous
person. Watch out. When He said that,
oh, how utterly true. I came down from heaven. He's
speaking of His eternal existence. He was before He came. In the beginning, the Word was
with God and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. This One who is God, Jesus Christ,
is not like God. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ came down from heaven. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. This is the one who came in the
flesh. The Word was made flesh. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Now he came from heaven. He was made flesh, a man, man
sin, man must die. Christ had to become a man to
die for our sins. That's always been his purpose.
And listen to this, beloved. He did what he came to do. Whatever it was he intended to
do, that is precisely what he did. Jesus Christ is no failure. He's not somebody who wishes
for something, but doesn't get it. He did what he came to do. Matthew 121 says, thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that is exactly what he did. He did what he came to do. Now let me give you some things
that he came to do and did. And you mark it off, it's done.
First of all, he came to glorify his father. He said, I've glorified
thee. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. Now write a done under that.
It's accomplished. He came to fulfill God's purpose.
He's called in Revelation 13, eight, the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. I love that verse of scripture
explains everything. This has always been God's purpose. God created the universe so his
son could die on a cross and glorify him. God purposed the
fall so Christ could come and be the savior of sinners for
the glory of God. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. you have taken, and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain." He came to fulfill the
Scriptures. When Paul was preaching later
on in this chapter, he said, when they had fulfilled all that
was written of him. Everything they did to the Lord
was determined by God and foretold in the holy scriptures. And he
came to fulfill the scriptures. He came to bear witness of the
truth. He said, I came to bear witness to the truth. And that's
what he did on Calvary's tree. When He was nailed to that cross,
we find the truth about God. He's no respecter of persons.
When sin is found in His Son, He puts Him to death. My sin
became His sin. Oh, God's just. No sin will go
unpunished. If there was ever a time God
could have looked the other way, it would have been now, but He
doesn't do it. But how God is loved that He would send His
Son to die for sinners. Oh, what power is involved, the
putting away of sin towards no more. And He makes His people
to be without guilt. There we see the true character
of man. Man is so evil that when left to himself, he'll kill God
because he hates him. And the proof of that is in the
cross. And oh, we see the true character of salvation. Salvation
by what was done, by what he accomplished in his life and
death and resurrection, the complete salvation of his people. He came
to save his people from their sins, and that's exactly what
he did, done. He came to keep God's law perfectly.
He said, think not that I've come to destroy the law of the
prophets. I've come not to destroy, but to fulfill. And he kept God's
law perfectly for me, for everybody who believes, working at a perfect
righteousness. He came to die. That's so mysterious. The God-man died. But when my
sin became his sin, he died. Who killed Him? God did. Yes, the Roman soldiers were
used, but He was killed by the justice of God, His condemnation
against sin. And the cross is the most God-like
thing He ever did, how He glorified His Father in that act of obedience
in going to the cross. He came to put away sin, and
beloved, that's what He did. Now once in the end of the world
had he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
He came to make a way for God to be just and justify somebody
like me or you. And that's what he did. He made
a way for God to be completely holy, to punish sin, and yet
pardon the very chief of sinners. Not merely pardon them, but justify
them, making them to where they're not guilty. That's what he said
about that a publican in the temple who said, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. The Lord said, I say unto you,
that man went down to his house justified. He came that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten Thee, and this begetting of Christ is eternal." That was
written a thousand years before it took place. He is the only
begotten at all times. He's the only begotten and well-beloved
Son. He came out of love for His church.
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish
before him. Now, this is the doctrine that
Sergius Paulius heard, the things that were done. You know what he did? He believed. I believe that. I believe. He believed what was done. He believed that there was such
excellency in Christ that whatever He intended to do, He did. He
believed Being astonished at the doctrine,
the glorious things that were done. That's the doctrine of
the Lord. Being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Now
we have this message on CD and DVD. If you call the church,
write or email. We'll send you a copy. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to
todd.neibert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.