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. I want to speak on this subject
this morning, the Word of the Cross. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1,
verses 17 and 18, For Christ sent me, not to baptize, but
to preach the gospel. not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross,
and the word preaching there is usually translated the word
of the cross, the Greek word logos, the logos, the word of
the cross, is to them that perish, foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, it is the power of God. Now, let's consider what
Paul is saying. He says in verse 17, For Christ
sent me not to baptize. Now, is Paul saying baptism is
no longer in effect? No. If I believe, I am to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. Does baptism have any saving
efficacy? No. Going down under the water
and coming up is not what washes away sin, nor is someone regenerated
by doing that. It is an ordinance, nothing more.
it has no saving efficacy. Does that mean it's not important?
No, it's the believer's confession of Christ. But Paul said, I didn't
come to baptize people. Now, when he says that, he says,
my purpose is not to see results. Now, that doesn't mean that he
doesn't want to see people saved, or he's indifferent about that.
No, he was to greatly desiring people to be saved, and any believer
wants men and women to come to know Christ and be saved. But
if that's what my purpose is, I'm not going to preach the gospel.
Now, look what he says. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach thee gospel. The only way people will be saved
is if the gospel is preached. And my agenda, my desire, is
to preach the gospel. I realize I can't save anybody.
Only God does that, but He only does that through the preaching
of the gospel. And if my great desire is to
see people saved rather than to preach the gospel, I will
MODIFY THE MESSAGE IN ORDER TO GET more people saved and try
to present the gospel and package the gospel in such a way as to
make it easier for people to believe. You see that rampant
in religion today, these seeker churches and trying to market
and package the gospel to get more and more people to believe.
And we're not supposed to package the gospel. We preach the naked
gospel, not package to make it more appealing to men. Look what
he says next. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words." And that's
what I'm talking about, packaging the gospel, making it more attractive
to the natural man, making it so people can believe easier,
or keep people from becoming offended. I mean, they're even
in church planters. They'll go out and find out what
people want to see in a church and what they want in a church,
and they'll provide that for them. That is just wrong. I'm not here to plant churches.
I'm not here to baptize people, Paul says. I'm here to preach
the gospel, not with wisdom of words, trying to add something
to make it easier to believe, because all that does is make
the cross of Christ of none effect. You see, whenever somebody tries
to dress up the message of the gospel with wisdom of words,
all they do is take away the saving power of the gospel. God
never uses that. He doesn't use the wisdom of
words. Now let's go on reading. Verse
18. 4. The preaching of the cross. is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God." Now,
as I said, the word preaching in verse 18 is the word that's
normally translated word, the word of the cross. Now, let me
say this before I get into this message. You can believe in the
inspiration of Scripture, and really believe that. Believe
every word is inspired by God, and it is. You ought to believe
that. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. But you
can believe in the inspiration of Scripture and be utterly ignorant
as to what the message of Scripture is. That's a solemn thing to
think about, and I don't want that to happen to me. I don't
merely want to stand for the inspiration of Scripture. I want
to believe and know and preach the message of the Scripture. And the Scripture has one message. the Word of the Cross. That's the only message of the
Bible, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If I don't see Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, I do not see the message of the Bible. Every story,
every sacrifice, every feast day, everything written in the
Old Testament, everything written in the New Testament, has this
as its foundation, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, Paul speaks here of the
Word of the Cross. Now, this word, Word, very important. How do you know what's going
on in my mind? The only way you can know what's
going on in my mind is by what comes out the words I bring that
let you know what is going on in my mind. You can't just read
my mind. Although my wife thinks she can
read my mind quite often, but you can't read my mind. The only
way you can know what's in my mind is by the words that come
out. Now, Jesus Christ, His gospel,
you know, Christ is called the Word of God, the Word of the
cross. What's in God's mind is expressed
by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no saving knowledge
of God. There's no really knowing God
where you actually know Him apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, there are things that you
and I can know about God without this knowledge of the cross.
I can look at creation. And I can know that somebody
all-powerful created this universe, and nobody created Him. He is eternal. You can know that
logically. You're born with that knowledge,
and you know it intuitively. If someone is an atheist, they
were not always atheists. They decided to become atheists
because they did not like the implications of God. But it's
unreasonable, it's illogical, it's irrational. I know some
very intelligent people with higher IQs than I have are atheists,
but that position, it's a blind leap of faith. It's a whole lot
more blind than believing the gospel and believing God is. It's a blind leap of faith. So there are things we can know
about God. He's very powerful to make this
creation. Nobody made him. He's eternal. He's eternal power and Godhead.
We can know those things about God, but we can't know God personally. apart from the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And there's just no saving knowledge
of God apart from this Word or this doctrine of the cross. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. Now, let me tell you three things
real briefly about the cross before I go on. The cross of
Christ-Jesus Christ and Him crucified-the cross of Christ is God's eternal
purpose. Secondly, the cross of Christ
is God's revelation of Himself. And thirdly, the cross of Christ
is my, and anybody else who is saved, the cross of Christ is
the believer's salvation. Now, the cross of Christ is God's
eternal purpose. Revelation chapter 13, verse
8, speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was a creation,
Before there were stars or moon or the sun, there was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. What happened in eternity
past? The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Now, God created the universe,
so the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world would be slain in
time. That's why this world was created.
for the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Why did the fall
take place? Could God have prevented it?
Of course He could have prevented it, but He didn't. Why? It's
because it's part of His purpose, for the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. God's eternal purpose is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His eternal purpose
is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now somebody says, why? Well, here is the second statement
I'd like to make with regard to the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is God's revelation of Himself. We can't really know
what God's like apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is God's revelation of Himself. Now, in this same chapter, in
verse 23, Paul says, we preach Christ crucified. I love the
simplicity of that. It's vast, it's enormous, it's
glorious, but it's so simple. We preach Christ crucified. That's our message. Under the
Jews, the religious people, a stumbling block. They find it scandalous. They can't believe that. To the
Greeks, the non-religious people, why, that's foolishness. But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks. Christ, the
power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. Now, he names
at this time two of God's attributes that are manifest in the preaching
of Christ crucified. God's omnipotence, his power,
and God's omniscience, his wisdom. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ-His justice, His independence,
His sovereignty, His holiness, His love, His grace, His mercy,
His hatred of sin, just go on and on, every attribute. This
is God's revelation of Himself. The cross is the most God-like
thing God ever did because He made known to us who He is through
the cross. But these two attributes that
Paul named, the power and wisdom of God. Now, I'm a sinner. I am guilty before God. I've broken every one of His
laws. I am guilty before God. You are, too. I am a sinner. God is just God will not let
sin go unpunished. God is absolutely just. He's no respecter of persons.
He's not going to give people different standards. He's absolutely
just. And he himself said, I will by
no means clear the guilty. If God ever sees you as guilty,
you will not be cleared. Now, how in the world can a sinner
be saved if that's the case? God is utterly just. Well, God's
wisdom made a way for him to be just and justify someone who
is unjust. His wisdom made a way. It's called the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And His power executed it to
where God not only made the way to be just and justify the ungodly,
He did so. In justice, He justifies the
ungodly. Now, that is known only through
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what was going on on the
cross? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He could say to his detractors,
which of you can convince me of sin? He knew no sin. He kept God's law perfectly. I love to think of his life.
And yet, he is nailed to a cross and is forsaken by his father. He said, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? He died a horrible, painful death,
and he actually died. Now, why would this good man
die? because the sins of God's people became His. The Lord lifted the sins of His
people off of them and placed them on His blessed Son. You say, can God do that? Yes,
He can. He's God. With God, nothing shall be impossible.
He took the sins of his people and placed them upon his son,
and his son became guilty of those sins. And the wrath of
God killed him. That's what I deserve, but it
became what he deserved. Now, remember that righteousness
that he worked out, that perfect righteousness? His righteousness,
just as truly as my sin became His sin, His righteousness becomes
my righteousness. And God is just to justify everybody
that Christ died for. They actually deserve to be saved
because they have no sin. They have His righteousness. Now, only God is wise enough
to make this way, and only God's power could execute this to where
He could actually take the sins of His people. make Christ a
bearer. He bore our sins, the scripture
says, in his own body on the tree, and take his righteousness
and make it ours. Second Corinthians 521 says,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now this is how the cross is
my salvation, the cross of Christ. You know, people sing, I'll cherish
the old rugged cross. Not me. I cherish the Christ
of the cross and what he accomplished on the cross. He is my salvation. When he bowed his head and said,
it is finished, everybody he died for was saved. Now, when
you talk about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, you must talk
about the accomplishments of his cross. In Luke 9, verse 31,
on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord was transfigured
before the disciples, and they saw his face shining like the
sun, and his raiment was white as light, and two men appeared
to him at that time, Moses and Elijah. Now, remember Peter and
James and John were there. And two men appear to the Lord
Jesus Christ while he's in this state of glory. And the scripture
says they were speaking about something. They spake of the
decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Now, when you look
in the obituaries, You read about everybody's accomplishments quite
often. Sometimes there'll be columns and columns of all the
things they have done in this life and so on. And I want to
eulogize people when they die and so speak well of them. I'm not being critical about
that, but why did they die? They died because they were sinners.
And their death was certainly not an accomplishment. Nobody
accomplishes anything by its death. All he shows is that he
was a sinner. If you die, there's one reason
you're going to die. Sin. The reason I'm going to
die is because of sin. There's no accomplishment in
my death. It just shows the fact that I'm
a sinner. But when he died, he accomplished
something. What did he accomplish? Well,
first of all, His death was the ultimate act of obedience to
his father. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It was the
ultimate act of obedience. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Whatever this does to me, I'm
trusting you this is the ultimate act of obedience." What did he
accomplish in his death? Well, he accomplished the full
glorification of his Father. He said, Father, the hour has
come Speaking of His death, glorify thy son, that thy son also may
glorify thee. He glorified every attribute
of God in His death. He glorified His love, His love
for sinners, but He also glorified His justice. He's not going to
let sin go unpunished. HE GLORIFIED HIS POWER IN PUTTING
AWAY SIN. WHATEVER ATTRIBUTE YOU WANT TO
SPEAK OF IS GLORIFIED. THE GLORY OF GOD WAS ACCOMPLISHED
BY WHAT CHRIST DID ON CALVARY'S TREE. LIKE I'VE ALREADY SAID,
IT'S THE GODLIKE THING GOD'S EVER DONE. BUT LOOK WHAT HIS
DEATH DID FOR US. I'D LIKE TO READ A PASSAGE FROM
COLOSSIANS, CHAPTER 1, VERSE 20, AND HAVING MADE PEACE. through the blood of His cross. He made peace. Now, when someone
says, have you made your peace with God? The answer is no. Somebody comes up and says, have
you made your peace with God? No, no. He made my peace with
God. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes
or before times alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death This is what He did. He reconciled you. He took away
every reason. If you're a believer, He took
away every reason for God's anger. He brought you to God. He reconciled. Listen to this, "...in the body
of His flesh to present you." Now this is not everybody. This
is believers. This is the elect. This is who Christ died for.
Now, listen to this glorious presentation that the cross of
Christ has made. He presents you, every believer,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. That's what Christ
accomplished by His death. He's made every believer in the
very sight of God, and God sees things as they really are. How
he sees things, me and you don't see things as they are, he does.
Every believer, because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is now holy, unblameable, nothing to be brought to my charge, unreprovable
in his sight. It's called justification. He
was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. Every believer is justified by
what he did. In Galatians 5, verse 11, we
read of the offense of the cross, the offense of the cross. That's
where we get the word scandal from, the scandal of the cross. And you know, to men, this message
is scandalous. You mean, Christ, the scripture
says He was made a curse for us? He bore the full curse of
God that He was made sin? All my sin became His sin? Why, that's scandalous. Why,
it is hard to think about, isn't it? But it's so. It's the only
hope any sinner has. The offense of the cross. You
see, the cross is an offensive message to the natural man. Offends
men's sense of self-righteousness because they don't have any.
It offends their pride because it says they don't have anything
to be proud about. Salvation is by grace. It offends
their sense of self-determination because it says you don't determine
anything. It's up to God as to whether or not you'll be saved.
You're in His sovereign hands and He can do with you whatever
He's pleased to do. It offends men's love of self
because it calls upon men to deny self, take up their cross
and follow Him. Let me show you what Paul thought
of this message of Christ crucified. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning
in verse 1, and this is shortly after he made this statement
that we're reading, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you. Now, do you hear what that's
saying? I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified." That is all I'm going to preach. Now, somebody says, the Bible's
a big book. There are a lot of other things in the Bible you
could preach on and not preach the cross. Well, if you do, you
miss the meaning. The only thing in the Bible is
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing in the
Bible. Well, there's a lot of other
things in the Bible. No, there's not. Everything in the Bible
points to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And if I don't see
that, I don't see the meaning. Paul said, I'm not going to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
he said in Galatians chapter six, verse 14, God forbid that
I should glory. saving the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, Paul didn't glory in the
fact that he was an apostle. He didn't glory in the fact that
he was used by God to write scripture. He didn't glory in the fact that
he was used by God to found churches. I mean, what a man Paul was that
he was used in such a miraculous way. But he said, God forbid
that I should glory in any of that. All I glory in, all I have
confidence in, All I rejoice in is the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The only way that I can be saved
is by Jesus Christ going to the cross, putting away my sin, giving
me His righteousness, saving me by His grace. There is no
other hope. There is no other message. The cross is the declaration
of who God is. 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 Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make the cross known to you. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to
todd.neiber at gmail.com, or you may write or call the church
at the information provided on the screen.