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 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 Nyvert. Before I read my text, it's found
in Romans 2, verse 1, I want to bring a message on a message
to man. But before I read the text, let
me say something about what's going on right now, this coronavirus. God sent the coronavirus. There are secondary causes, tertiary
causes, I realize that, but God is sovereign. He is in control
of everything. He said in Isaiah 45, verse 7,
I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things. And that's why I am at rest. I want to be careful, but He's
the one that sent this. And the second thing I'd like
to say is, this is not God's judgment upon the world. Now
God is holy, and you and I deserve to be punished everlastingly
by him, but God's judgment is in hell, it's not on earth. If
you hear preachers try to scare people with this news of this
coronavirus, it's foolishness. God is in control of this. I
don't know what all his purpose is, but he knows. And this is
not God's judgment against certain sins. And anytime a preacher
presents himself like that, it's almost like he's exempt from
that judgment. Listen, I deserve God's judgment, and so do you.
But judgment takes place in hell, not here on earth. And thirdly,
with regard to this coronavirus that God has sent
us, may we all be enabled to be like the Good Samaritan and
help in any way we can. And that is my take on this,
and I hope that's helpful. Now I'd like to read Romans chapter
two, verse one, where Paul says, therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man. Whosoever thou art that judgest,
for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for
thou that judgest doest the same things. A message to man. Now sometimes in the scriptures
the believer is addressed, sometimes the unbeliever is addressed,
but all the time man is addressed. This is a message to men in general
and each individual man in particular. The Lord Jesus said in Proverbs
8, verse 4, unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the
sons of men. That is me, and that is you,
a message to man. Now, I have three points to this
message. The first point is man. The second point is the man. And the third point is two men,
T-W-O, the number two men. The first point is man, man. God said, let us make man in
our own image. Now, what all that means, I do
not know, but it's very important. That is why man is special. He is the crown of God's creation
made in the very image of God. That's why every life is precious. That's why every life is important
because man was made in the image of God. God created man upright. But something happened to man.
He became dead in sins. Now, how did that happen? Well,
how long was man walking in fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden?
We do not know, but man fell from that position of uprightness
when he ate of the forbidden fruit. God said in Genesis 2,
verse 15 or verse 17, in the day you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. God didn't say, if you eat, you'll
die. He said, in the day you eat,
you shall surely die. Now this fall did not take God
by surprise, nor did it alter his purpose. He didn't have a
plan B. He didn't have to have one. He
didn't have a contingency plan. He didn't, this didn't mess things
up and he had to try something else. This was all according
to God's purpose to glorify himself. and to place man in a better
place than he would have been had this never taken place. This was so as Revelation 13,
8, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, did you hear
that? Before creation, when all there was was God, Christ Jesus,
the second person of the Godhead, is called the Lamb having been
slain from the very foundation of the world. This has always
been God's purpose. This has always been His only
purpose. to manifest who he is through the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. This universe was created so
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world could come in time
and be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The
purpose of the fall. Somebody says, are you saying
God purposed the fall? I'm absolutely saying it. And
I don't understand all the ramifications behind that. I realize that.
But I know that whatever happens, God is the cause. Just like I
said, the coronavirus, God is the cause. Well, God's the cause
of all things. That's who He is. He's completely sovereign
over every event, even the thoughts that are going through your mind.
He is God. And He purposed the fall so the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world could come and accomplish
His purposes, put away the sin of His people, and in Christ's
coming to be crucified and to die, the hour that he came for,
how God is glorified, how God is made known. We find out who
God is and all of his attributes from the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But man ate in disobedience to
God's command and became dead in sins. Now, he didn't die physically. He didn't die eternally. But
he did die spiritually that very day. The moment he ate of the
fruit, he became dead, spiritually dead. He was unable to perform
the acts of spiritual life because his spirit died. He became spiritually
dead. And we read in Genesis chapter
3, 24, that he drove out the man from the garden. And do you know that you and
I were all in Him when this took place? We were in His loins,
His descendants, so that what He did, we did. It's not simply
that what He did was charged to our count. When He sinned,
I sinned. When He disobeyed God, I disobeyed
God. For by one man, sin entered the
world. This is what Romans 5.12 says.
For by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so that death passed upon all men, and that all have sinned."
Now, here is what this looks like, this spiritual death. I'm
going to read several scriptures. In Genesis 6, verse 5, and God
saw. Now, let's hold on for a second.
What God sees is the way it really is. What you and I see is not
necessarily the way it really is. We're flawed individuals.
We can't see things as we should, but God does. And God saw that
the wickedness of man, remember this is a message to man. And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now when God looks in my heart
and your heart, what we are by nature, he sees that every imagination
of the thoughts of our heart is only evil Continually, this
is God's testimony. David said in Psalm 62 verse
nine, surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree
are a lie. To be laid in the balance, they
are altogether lighter than vanity. Job chapter 15 verses 14 through
16, what is man that he should be clean? and he that's born
of woman, that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinketh iniquity-like water. Now here is how bad it
is, and this is the verse of scripture that actually inspired
this message, when Paul says that scripture I initially read
in Romans 2, verse 1, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
this is talking about every man, whoever you are, whatever your
condition is, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest. For wherein you judge another,
you condemn yourself. For you that judge, do. Present, active, right now. You do the same things. Whatever
you're judging somebody else for, you're guilty of doing right
now, present tense, the exact same thing. Now somebody is thinking,
no I'm not. Well, God says you are, and am
I supposed to believe God or you? Let God be true, and every
man a liar. That's what the scripture says
in Romans 3, verse 4. Now, I want us to examine the
context of this statement. In Romans 1, verse 28, and even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient. They didn't like what they heard
about God, and God said, okay, have it your way. He gave him
over to a reprobate mind, and here's what happened as a result,
being filled. That means there's nothing but
this, this description of these particular people, being filled. with these things, plum to the
top, nothing else, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
sexual sin, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, gossips, backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment
of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death."
You know that too, don't you? These people that I've just described,
these people are worthy of death. They are worthy of the wrath
of God. But these people not only know
that such things, commit such things are worthy of death, not
only do the same, but they have pleasure in them that do them.
They find pleasure in seeing someone else commit these sins.
How? Base. Now look what he says next. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another, you condemn yourself, for you that judge do the same
things." Everything you're judging somebody for, you're guilty of
doing it yourself. Now, God is utterly clear with
whatever charge he brings against me or you. You are, and this
is talking about me too, thou art inexcusable, O man. You see, the scripture says there's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. They've all gone out of
the way. They've together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. And it's this bad. The Lord said in John chapter
six, verse 44, no man can come to me except the father which
has sent me draw him. Our sinfulness is such that we
can't come to Christ because we will not come to Christ. And the reason we will not is
because we cannot. The reason we cannot is because
we will not. That is the desperate wickedness
of the natural man. I'm so sinful that if God leaves
me to myself, I'll be damned. That's what that means. And somebody
says, well, how could God hold us responsible to do something
that we cannot do? Well, he does. Nay, but old man,
who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
to honor and another unto dishonor? Now, you and I are in no position
to sit in judgment on God and say, well, we don't agree with
this. He's God. Whatever he does is right, and
it would be far more wise for you or I to take the place of
being condemned before his law. Romans 3, 19 says, We know that
whatsoever things the law saith, it saith unto the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world stand guilty before
God. Man, oh man, have you ever had
your mouth stopped, you stood guilty, no justification, no
vindication, you're no victim, your sin is all your fault, and
you stand guilty before God. Now I want to speak of the man,
the man. The man brought by Pilate before
a jeering and bloodthirsty mob, beaten beyond recognition with
a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe, making fun
of his kingship. And Pilate brought him before
the jeering crowd and said, behold the man. Now his disciples had earlier
said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas
obey him? The weather was obedient to his
command. What manner of man is this? The
God man, the man Christ Jesus. There's one God and one mediator. between God and men, the man,
Christ Jesus. God became man, the God man. He didn't cease being God, but
he became man, and he came for the purpose of going to the cross. He kept referring to my hour
is not yet come, and then my hour is come. Now, the Lord said, the son of
man, And I love the way that the title he gave to himself
most often was the Son of Man. The Son of Man came not to be
ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. You see, that's exactly what
Calvary's tree was. It was a ransom, a sin payment. You see, for God to do something
for me or you, He first had to do something for Himself. He
had to make a way that He could be just, and His law be honored,
and He punish all sin, and yet find a way to justify somebody
unjust like me or you. Oh, that's why Christ came to
be a ransom payment, to make the way for God to be just and
justify the ungodly. Listen to this scripture from
Hebrews chapter 10. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of
the majesty on high. Somebody says, why did he sit
down? Because he completed the work. There's nothing left to
do. He came to save his people from
their sins and that's exactly what he did. When he said it
is finished, they were saved from their sins and he sat down.
Nothing left to do from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool for by one offering. He hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Now, did you hear that? What
did the Lord Jesus Christ do? He perfected forever everybody
that he died for, everybody set apart by his Father in eternal
election, everybody he died for sanctified. He perfected them
forever. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, made them not to be, He sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on high. Now, there were people
who listened to him preach, and the Pharisees despised him over
in John chapter 7, and they sent some men to arrest him. And these
men returned, and they didn't have him. They said, why didn't
you bring him? And they said, never a man speak like this man.
Well, what did he say? Well, they heard him say, if
any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. If any man thirst, there's a
message to any man. Now, you're thirsty when you
have something that you can't fulfill. If I'm thirsty, there's
nothing about me that can satisfy that thirst. It's gotta come
completely outside of me. And the only one who can satisfy
this thirst is the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man thirsts, let
him come to me and drink. He said, I am the door. I am
the way of entrance to God. I am the way to the Father. I
am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. This is the man. The man said
this in John chapter 14, verse six. I love this verse of scripture.
I wish I could preach on it the way I ought to. But he said,
I am the way. He's the way to the father. He
didn't say I'll show you the way. I am the way. He said, I am the truth. Not I'll tell you the truth or
teach you the truth. I'm it. He said, I am the life. Don't
you dare try to present anything about your life to the Father.
His life is the only life that the Father accepts. I am the
way, the truth, and the life, no man coming through the Father,
but by me. The man, Christ Jesus, the way
a man can be brought into God's presence. And I want to close
with this thought of two men. And I'm gonna read about the
two representative men I'm going to be describing. You, I'm going
to be describing myself, were one of these two men. In Luke
chapter 18, beginning in verse nine, we read, and he spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. Now these
are the two representative men, these two men represent, one
of these two men represent you. You're either a Pharisee, I'm
either a Pharisee, or we are a publican. A publican was a
sinful, despised tax collector employed by the Roman government
and he was looked down upon by everybody. Now let's read Verse
11, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Now he thought
he was praying to God, but he wasn't. He was praying thus with
himself. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes
of all that I possess." Now, he gives God the credit. God,
I thank Thee. But what was he thanking God
for? For the things he didn't do and for the things he did
do. He was thinking about his own
personal life. Look at my life. Look what sins
I don't commit. Look what good things I do. Maybe
I was formerly bad, but not now. I've got a changed life. I've
got a righteous life. Look at my life, and I'm giving
you the credit for it. I thank you. That is the Pharisee. Now, if you see any righteousness
in yourself at all, you are a Pharisee. You are someone who trusts yourself
that you're righteous, and you make comparisons with other people.
You can always find somebody that doesn't quite meet your
standards that you're better than, and you despise others. You look down on your nose at
others. You judge others. Verse 13, and the publican, standing
afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. That's all he claimed about himself. I'm nothing but sin. I am thee sinner. I don't have
anything to recommend me to you. Do something about my sin. be
merciful to me be propitious to me is what the word is be
a sin removing sacrifice for me because i can't do anything
about my sin i am the sinner now these are the two representative
men the one who believed himself to be righteous and the one who
saw himself to be nothing but sin i repeat these are the two
representative men the righteous and the wicked. And let me give
you something to think about. The righteous all believe themselves
to be wicked, like this publican. And the wicked all believe themselves
to be righteous, like this Pharisee, or at least have the potential
to be righteous. Now, look what the Lord says.
In verse 14, I tell you this man, this man who was a self-confessed
sinner, went down to his house justified. Now you know what
that means? He went down to his house perfectly
righteous, having never sinned, perfect in God's sight. He went
down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone that
exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall
be exalted. Man, the man the only way a man can
approach God two men you're one of these two men i'm one of these
two men now we have this message on dvd and cd if you call the
church right 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.