Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. 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'm reading from Jeremiah chapter
9 beginning in verse 23. Thus saith the Lord. These are the words of the Lord
through the prophet Jeremiah. It would behoove us to hear what
he says. Thus saith the Lord Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this. that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Now in that 23rd verse, the Lord
says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in
his riches. Now here are three things that
men are very interested in. They were very interested in
these things in Jeremiah's day, and it's no different today.
Wisdom, might, and riches. Wisdom, knowledge. Me knowing
something that gives me an advantage over you. I know something you
don't know. The wisdom to perform, to succeed. Everybody's interested in that.
And then there is might, position, power. STRENGTH, HEALTH. EVERYBODY'S INTERESTED IN THAT. AND THEN THERE ARE RICHES, WEALTH,
MONEY, AND THE THINGS THAT YOU CAN GET WITH THAT BENEFIT. IN JEREMIAH'S DAY, MEN WERE INTERESTED
IN THOSE THINGS, AND IT'S NO DIFFERENT TODAY. THUS SAYETH
THE LORD. I am so thankful that He speaks. I know this was written 2,600
years ago, but I'm not going to say this is relevant for today,
too, because God's Word is not relevant. God's Word is eternal. When I hear a preacher say something
about making the Word of God relevant for today, my reaction
is, you've proved yourself completely irrelevant by saying something
like that. This is the Word of God. It's not to be used to make
relevant in culture, but line it up with the culture and so
on. This is God's eternal Word. And this is the message for today.
Thus saith the Lord. The self-existent one, the independent
one who has no needs. Now listen to this very carefully.
He does not need me or you. to fulfill some perceived need
He has. He has infinite and perfect life
in Himself. He does not need anybody or anything
to make Him happy. He is God over all, blessed forever,
and what a mercy that He speaks. He doesn't have to. but He does,
and I'm very thankful that He does. Now, in this 23rd verse,
three times we read the word glory. Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,
nor let the rich man glory in his riches. Now, that means to
boast, to have confidence in. It's the word that is actually
translated praise. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. And he's saying to the wealthy
man, don't praise yourself for your wealth. He's saying to the
mighty man, don't have confidence in yourself because of your might
or your position. He's saying to the wise man,
don't congratulate yourself because you have this wisdom. Let not these men glory. Now, I want you to think there
are wise men. men who have much ability, much
intellectual power, men who can invent things, men who can bring
new technology, men who know how to make money, men who know
how to lead people for good. But what does the prophet say?
Don't let that wise man glory in his wisdom. Who gave it to
you? Who gave you this ability? You can't say what comes from
me. No, The apostle said in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, who makes you to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Let not that wise man glory in
his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in His might. Now, that mighty man, perhaps
he has a position of authority. Don't you glory in that. God
put you there, and He can remove you just as easily. You are there
according to His appointment, will, and purpose. And you can't
take any of the credit to yourself. You know, any time I hear the
term, powerful men, I want to laugh. There's no such thing
as a powerful man. Any position a man has, God put
him there. Power belongeth unto the Lord,
not unto men. Men are his pawns doing his will. He has all power, and any power,
authority a man has, God gave him that. If you have physical
strength, don't glory in that. God gave you that. If you have
health, Why do you have health? The Lord could just as easily
make you sick. Don't glory in your health. And the rich man. Everybody's
interested in having money, and I want to have enough money to
pay my bills, but as far as wealth and riches, people think that
can bring you so many things to have the ability to purchase
anything you want, anything supposedly to make you happy. But the Lord
says to that wealthy man, and wealthy men are generally so
fixated on themselves and their ability and what they do. The
Lord says, let not that wealthy man glory in his riches. The
only reason you have them is God gave them to you. Now look what he says in verse
24. but let him that glorieth, and
everybody's gonna glory in something. Everybody's gonna have confidence
in something. Everybody's gonna praise something. Let him that
glorieth glory in this. If you're gonna glory, here's
what you must glory in, or your glorying is no good. Him that
glorieth, let him glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me." Now, if there's something to rejoice in, it's that God
has made you to understand and to know Him. You wouldn't understand
Him, you wouldn't know Him, unless He was pleased to reveal Himself
to you. Oh, but if he's revealed himself
to you, you have something to glory in. It's not in yourself.
It's not in your wisdom or your might or your riches, but it's
to glory in this that you understand and know him. You have some understanding,
some insight into his character, the character of God. You see,
very few have this understanding. Most people believe in a little
G God, a God that's like man, a God men can please, a God men
can control, a God men can manipulate. The only problem with that God
is He's non-existent. A God that you can please, there
wouldn't be much to Him. But that God is non-existent. But the Lord says to who Jeremiah
is speaking to, and I hope it's me and I hope it's you, let him
the glory, the glory in this, that he understands and knows
me. You have some God-given revelation,
some understanding of the character of God. You know from his word
that he's eternal. Nobody made him. He's always
been. You know from His Word that He's
sovereign. He really is God. That means
He controls everything. There isn't anything He's not
sovereign over. Whatever happens, He's the cause
of it. He's the first cause. He's God.
You know that He's holy. He's other. He's not like me
and you. He's all-powerful. Whatever He
wants, He has the power to cause it to take place. He's all-wise
and all-knowing. He is never informed of anything
and He never responds to anything because He's all-wise and all-knowing. He's omnipresent. There's nowhere
you can go where He's not. He's independent. He has no needs. He's immutable. He never changes. Now, you have to have some understanding
of me. And my dear friends, this is
the understanding of faith. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things
which are seen were not made by things which do appear. Hebrews
11, 3. You see, we don't intellectually
grasp and comprehend the incomprehensible things of God. We understand
that. We understand that. God's so infinitely above and
beyond human comprehension. Do we comprehend that God is
one God and three distinct persons with one name, Jehovah the Father,
Jehovah the Son, Jehovah the Holy Spirit? Of course we don't
understand that, but we believe it. We believe it. It's the understanding of faith. And this is not just understanding
things about God. Look what he says, but him that
glorieth, let him glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me. Not only does he understand,
he knows me. This is speaking of having an
intimate, personal relationship with him where you know him and
he knows you. You have fellowship with him. You have communion with him. He loves you, and you love Him
if you have this understanding and knowledge. We know Him. This is true of every believer.
We know Him. Now, I realize the unbeliever
doesn't know God, but the believer does. He knows Him. Now, this
word, know, is first used with reference to Adam knowing his
wife Eve. That's talking about an intimate
and personal relationship with Eve. It's the knowledge of love. God said, before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. Whom he did foreknow, love beforehand. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. The Lord said, I know my sheep,
and am known of mine. Now this is not true of all men. I think of that group of which
the Lord said, Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord,
Have we not prophesied in your name? In your name have we not
cast out demons? In your name have we not done
many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Now, if he would have said, you
never knew me, that would have been accurate, but that's not
the words the Lord chose to use. I never knew you. I never loved you. I never knew
you to have a relationship with me. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. I think of that passage in Galatians
chapter 4, verse 9, where Paul said, now that you've known God,
or rather are known of God. The Lord said in John 17 3, this
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. Now, if you're going to glory,
glory in this, that you understand and know me, and let's go on
reading, that I am the Lord. which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, saith the Lord." Now, here are three things that you
will see if you understand and know Him. If you understand and
know Him, you're going to see that He exercises lovingkindness,
and judgment and righteousness in the earth. Now that word exercise
is the same word that's used with regard to the creation when
the Lord made things. When he exercises, that means
he does whatever he's pleased to do. You think of the divine
fiat when it says the Lord made the heavens and the earth. He
made them. This is the same word. It's the
divine fiat. This is his word. And I love
the word he begins with. He begins with loving kindness. I am the Lord which doth exercise
loving kindness. Now that is the same word that
David uses in Psalm 51 when he's asking the Lord for mercy. He
says, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness. He doesn't say, Have mercy on
me, O Lord, according to how sorry I am or how I promise I'll
never commit that sin again. But he says, Have mercy upon
me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness. When God proclaims
His name to Moses, this same word is translated goodness.
and keeping mercy. The loving kindness of God is
the steadfast, covenant, faithful love of God in Christ Jesus.
I love what John said. We love Him, and we do, but it's
because He first loved us. Jeremiah 31.3 says, Behold, I
have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And how we glory
in this. have confidence in his loving
kindness. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end." Now, when we glory
in this loving kindness, we're not glorying in what people call
unconditional love. There's no such thing as unconditional
love. Does God love Christ unconditionally? No, he loves him because he's
altogether lovely. And that's the same love that
the Lord has with us. He has made us to where he can
love us. We glory in the loving kindness
of the Lord, and this is what comes out of that, judgment. judgment, loving kindness and
judgment. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, and oh, the judgment that took place
when Christ was nailed to the tree. You see, God is holy. He will not let sin go unpunished. I'm sinful, but God, in His mercy,
because of His love, He took my sin and placed it in His Son
and made Him to be sin. That's why the Lord was nailed
to the cross. He took the sins of His people
on. That judgment that took place, all because of the love of God.
He loved His own and He gave His Son for those people. And through that judgment that
took place upon the cross, we have righteousness. Here's a
scripture that's shrouded with mystery that must be believed. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, 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. That is what every believer possesses,
everybody for whom he died. Because of his loving kindness,
there was judgment, the judgment of the cross. Because of his
judgment, there is righteousness. Every believer is perfectly righteous
before God without sin, having the righteousness of Jesus Christ
as their personal righteousness. Now, he is the one who exercises
loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, and he says, Let
him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands this. Now Paul quotes this in the New
Testament in 1 Corinthians 1. I'd like to turn over there.
We read beginning in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 1. For you see
your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called." And he was thinking
of what Jeremiah was speaking of in Jeremiah chapter 9 about
the wise man and the mighty man and the wealthy man. That's who
he's speaking of in this passage of Scripture. And he says, you
see your calling brethren, speaking to the believer, HOW THAT NOT
MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH ARE CALLED, MEN WHO THE WORLD
CONSIDERS WISE, NOT MANY MIGHTY WHOM THE WORLD CONSIDERS POWERFUL
AND FAMOUS, NOT MANY NOBLE, NOT MANY HIGHBORN AND WEALTHY AND
RICH ARE CALLED, AND I'M GLAD IT DOESN'T SAY NOT ANY, BUT IT
DOES SAY NOT MANY. BUT, VERSE 27, HERE IS A DESCRIPTION OF GOD'S
But God hath chosen at election, and this is who he has elected. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the things that are wise. And God
hath chosen the weak, powerless things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. and the base things of the world,
and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the
things which are not, which are nothing, to bring to nothing
the things that are. Now, this is who God has chosen,
and I couldn't help but think of Mephibosheth in the Old Testament.
When David is speaking from that word and position of power, he
remembers a covenant that he made with his buddy Jonathan
years before. Jonathan's been dead a long time,
and they'd made a covenant. Jonathan said, after God makes
you king, remember my descendants. And David remembers, he says,
is there any yet of the house of Saul that I can so show the
kindness of God to for Jonathan's sake? And a man said, there's
one, there's one, but he's not worth much. He's lame in both
of his feet. He can't work for you. He can't
fight for you. He's lame. All he can be is carried. And David says, go fetch him. And that man, Mephibosheth, was
made to eat at the king's table for the rest of his life. That's who God saves, people
who are nothing, people who bring nothing to the table. If you
have something to bring to the table, God doesn't need you.
but, oh, if you need him, and you have nothing to bring, this
is the person that God saves." Now, look why he does this, why
he chooses people like this, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. He's not going to have that.
But, thank God for this but, but of him are you in Christ
Jesus. Now, this is talking to every
believer But in spite of what you are of Him, are you in Christ
Jesus? Now, being in Christ has to do
with being eternally united to Him. You're in Him. So that when
God looks at you, He sees Christ. In Him, like the vine and the
branches, That stem that goes through the vine goes through
the branches, and there's no connecting point united to Him. To be in Him is like being in
the ark. If you were in the ark, you were
completely safe. Being in Him is like being in
the house with the blood over the door. If you were in the
house with the blood over the door, you were completely safe.
BEING IN HIM. OF HIM ARE YOU IN CHRIST JESUS. SOMEBODY SAYS, HOW DO YOU GET
IN CHRIST? GOD'S GOT TO PUT YOU THERE. I CAN'T GIVE YOU A HOW
TO. GOD MUST PUT YOU THERE. OF HIM
ARE YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US. SPEAKING OF EVERY BELIEVER, THE
SAME US THAT PAUL SAID, IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST
US? THIS IS TALKING ABOUT ALL THE ELECT OF GOD. But of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us." And
then he gives these four things, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now, in Christ, God has made
unto us, made Christ unto us wisdom. That means I'm looked
upon by God as fit for fellowship, with communion with the all-wise
God. He's made into me righteousness.
I have perfect righteousness, even the righteousness of Jesus
Christ as my personal righteousness before God. He's made unto me
sanctification or holiness. I am so holy in Christ, so perfect,
so without fault, so unblameable, that God can embrace me and there's
no sin there. He's made unto me redemption,
full sin payment, full deliverance. This is what Christ has made
unto the believer. Everything, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. that according as it is written,
in Jeremiah chapter 9, that passage of scripture we've just been
considering, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory, let him boast, let him have confidence in the
Lord. Now, I don't have any confidence
in myself, I don't have any confidence in you. I don't have any confidence
in man's religion, but I have confidence in the Lord. That's why Paul said, Oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him. Do you understand that? Where you only want to be found
Christ. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. 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 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.