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've entitled the message for
this morning, Life's Two Greatest Questions. And we'll find them
in the text. I'm reading from Acts chapter
9. We read beginning in verse one, and Saul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to
Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, the way of the gospel, whether they were men or women, he might
bring them bound unto Jerusalem, And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven. When he gives the account of
this in Acts chapter 26, giving his own personal account of what
took place, he said it was a light above the brightness of the sun. And he fell to the earth. And he heard a voice saying unto
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And here's the first
of life's greatest questions. Here's the first one. And he
said, who art thou, Lord? That's the first great question
that you and I ought to be asking. Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. You're only hurting yourself
and your opposition to me. And here's the second question. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, What will thou have me to do? Now here are life's
two greatest questions. Who are you, Lord? And what will
you have me to do? Now, if you'd ask the average
person what is the greatest question you could ask, I suppose they'd
say, well, is there a God? Is there a God? Is God real? Is there truly a God? You know,
no one needs to ask that question because everybody knows intuitively
that there is a God. You're born knowing that. And
the light of creation says somebody made this and nobody made him. Atheism is illogical and irrational. It takes a great step of blind
faith to become an atheist. You have to just willfully refuse
what you know to be so to take that position. And let me tell
you something else you don't need to ask. You don't need to
ask, well, what's my purpose in life? What am I doing here?
Because if God is, your purpose is to glorify him. You know that.
So the question is not, is there a God? And what's my purpose
in the grand scheme of things? The question is, who are you,
Lord? and what will you have me to
do? Not what can I do to get you
to respond to me, not what can I do to get you to do something,
but what will you have me to do? Now, this is one of three times
this question is asked in the book about Acts. What would you
have me to do? The first time is on the day
of Pentecost when Peter preaches that sermon, and these people
find out that they have been guilty of murdering the Son of
God. And they cried out, men and brethren,
what shall we do? We're in trouble, what are we
supposed to do? And then we have the Philippian
jailer. He's getting ready to kill himself.
Paul and Silas stops him. He comes in and says, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? I don't know. And then we have
here where Paul says, what Lord, what will thou have me to do? Now, no one will ever ask these
questions until they're brought down. These men at the day of
Pentecost were brought down to see their guilt. That Philippian
jailer was distraught, getting ready to kill himself, not knowing
what to do. He had been brought down. And
Paul has been knocked down to the dirt when he sees this great
light. And the only time someone will
ask a question like that is when they're brought down by God.
He's the only one who can do this. And when you're brought
down, these two questions become life's greatest, most important,
most paramount, most critical questions. Who are you, Lord?
Who is God? And what would you have me to
do? Now, it was Paul that asked this
question, and he's the man that God is going to use to answer
this question more clearly than anybody else. He's going to use
Paul to expound the gospel, but the Lord appears unto him as
a light. Now, light represents understanding. Darkness represents ignorance. If you're in the dark, you don't
see. You don't see what's there. When
you have light, you see. Christ is the light of the scriptures. Now, listen to this statement
very carefully. Christ is not the main theme
of the scriptures. He is the only theme of the scriptures. The cross is not the most important
part of the Bible. Everything in the Bible is of
Christ crucified. And if I don't see that, I've
not really understood the scriptures. You know, a lot of people try
to think of the Bible as kind of a guide to live. You know
you already know how to live. You know you ought to pay your
bills. You know you ought not steal. You know you ought not
kill anybody. You know you ought not tell a lie. You know that
sexual immorality is wrong. You know these things. You know
how to live in that sense. You ought to honor authority.
Everybody's born with that knowledge. The Bible is not a guide as to
how to live. It's truly a hymn book, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the only theme of scriptures. He said, you search the scriptures,
in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me. He is the light of the scriptures. If I do not see him in the scripture,
Whatever it is, I don't care if it's an Old Testament story,
a feast day, sacrifice, whatever it is, it's to teach us of Him. He is the light of who God is.
All we'll ever see of God is Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, all the fullness of God
the Father, all the fullness of God the Spirit, all the fullness
of God the Son, Every attribute of God, fullness of holiness,
sovereignty, justice, grace, power, immutability, independence,
it all dwells in the body of Jesus Christ. So much so that
when Philip said, show us the Father and it sufficetheth, the
Lord said, have you been so long time with you and yet hast thou
not known me? He that has seen me has seen the Father. He's the light of who God is.
And really, he's the light of who we are. What do you mean
by that? If you don't see yourself as
completely sinful, it's because you've never seen him. Job said,
I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes
hath seen thee. Wherefore I hate myself and repent
in dust and ashes. He is the light of how God can
be just. and justify somebody who's unjust. He's the light of how God can
be consistent with his justice and justify somebody who's sinful
like me in a way to where the justice of God actually demands
my salvation. That's the gospel. That's the
glorious doctrine of justification. What Christ accomplished on Calvary's
tree. justified everybody he died for. He put away their sins,
made their sins to not be, gave them his righteousness so that
the very justice of God demands the salvation of everybody that
Christ died for. Who art thou, Lord? I wish somebody
asked me that. He's the eternal Son of God.
He's God the Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity. He's the uncreated Son of God. Now remember, you're a creature.
I'm a creature, not Him. He is the eternal Son of God
who never had a beginning. He's always been with the Father,
daily His delight. I love the way the Gospel of
Mark begins, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, a distinct person, and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. I love it where it says the Jews
sought the Moor to kill him, because not only had he broken
the Sabbath, but he said also that God was his father, making
himself equal with God, John 5.18. The only person who's equal
with God is God. Jesus Christ is God. God the Son. Who art thou, Lord? He is God the Son. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 says,
Unto us a child is born. There was a time of his birth,
but unto us a son is given. That son wasn't born. He's the
eternal son. Unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulders. That means he controls
everything. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I love it when the Lord says
to the Pharisees, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it
and was glad. And they said, you're not yet
50 years old. And you say you've seen Abraham? And he said, verily
I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Now that's the name he gave to
Moses. When Moses said, when I come
to the children of Israel and say, you sent me, what am I to
tell their name? Who are you? What's your name?
I am that I am. That's the voice that came from
the bush that burned and could not be consumed, which is such
a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. That bush on fire
didn't need the energy of the wood for the fire to keep going.
He is the independent God. He has no needs. And do you hear
that? He has life in himself. He has
no needs. He doesn't need you. You need
him, but he doesn't need you. He's God overall blessed forever. But that fire wasn't consumed. Christ Jesus, that represents
Him who could not be consumed with the wrath of God because
of His perfect humanity. When it came down upon Him on
Calvary's tree, He consumed the wrath. The wrath didn't consume
Him. He consumed the wrath. He spake from the bush, I am
that I am. I love to think of the announcement
of his birth. The angel said that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The only instance we're given
of his childhood, he made the statement, I must be about my
father's business. You see, he's the son about his
father's business. At the commencement of his public
ministry, when he was baptized, You remember that a voice came
from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. When he is brought in to be tempted
in the wilderness, what does Satan say? If you're the son
of God. He heard the father say this
and he's calling it into question. If you're the son of God, command
these stones be made bread. Jump off the tip. Well, give
us some proof that you're the son of God. The word of God,
he was calling into question. I think of when he was bringing
that message in John chapter 6, where everybody left him,
they were so upset. He looked at the 12 and said, will you
also go away? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Who is, who
art thou, Lord? He's the Son of God. He's the
uncreated Son of God. He is the Christ. That means
the Messiah, God's prophet, God's priest, and God's king. He's
God's prophet, and he spoke like no other prophet. He never said,
thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. He's
God's priest like no other priest. He never said, or he never brought
animal blood. He brought his own blood that
actually puts away sin. He's God's king. Every other
king hasn't borrowed authority. He has authority in and of himself
because of who he is. He's Jesus of Nazareth. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Who art thou Lord? I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest. Now, Jesus of Nazareth, born
of a virgin, is a real man. Now, he was born of a virgin,
so he wouldn't have the sinful nature that you and I have, but
he is just as much a man as you or I are. Do I understand that? No, but the Word was made flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. He became flesh. I think of what
John said, whoso confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God. Now, when we confess that he's
come in the flesh, we confess he was before he came, his eternal
nature. We confess he came in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
And we confess that he did what he came to do. Whatever it was
he intended to do, That's what He did. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Who art thou? Lord. He's the
Lord. He's the Son of God. He's the
Christ. He's the man Christ Jesus. And He's the Lord. That means
He's the Lord of creation. He's the one who created the
universe. He's the Lord of providence.
He's the first cause behind everything. Everything is under His control.
His will is always being done. He is God in control. And He's most especially Lord
of salvation. If you're saved, if I'm saved,
it's up to Him. He is the Lord. And that's who He is. And this
question arises out of the, this first question, Lord, What will
thou have me to do? Now, he finds out who Jesus Christ
is. And this second question arises
from the first. You now ask, when you say, who
art thou, Lord? And he reveals himself. Your
next question is, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Now, we ask this question in
light of some things we've learned that we cannot do. It's very
important. You're going to ask this question
in light of some things that you've learned that you cannot
do. You see, when you are knocked
down by the Lord, you find out something about your own inability,
your own insufficiency, your own sinfulness, and you find
out there's some things that you cannot do. Number one, there's
absolutely nothing we can do to obligate God to save us. You can't say, Lord, you need
to save me because I fill in the blank. I've done this. I've
done that. Going in the wrong direction. Don't do that. If
God sends me and you to hell and never shows us mercy, just
and holy is his name. There's nothing you or I can
do to obligate God to save us. And we cannot please God. Carnal mind is enmity against
God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Anything you or I do is not pleasing
to God because of our sinfulness. Isaiah said our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, all of our religious works are nothing but
whitewashed sins. There is nothing, absolutely
nothing. I don't care what good thing
you think you've done. Well, I've done my best. I've
given as much as I could. I've served the Lord. I've tried
to honor and obey my parents and take care of them. I've taken
care of my sick wife. I've taken care of my sick husband.
I've raised my children up. There's nothing you can do, please
God. Nothing. Thirdly, we can't by natural
wisdom figure this out. I can't figure out how to be
accepted by God. I'm totally dependent upon revelation for
Him to make Himself known to me. I can't figure this out.
He's going to have to reveal Himself. The Lord said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid
these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight." Do
you know we can't even come to Christ unless we're drawn by
the Father. The Lord said no man can come to me except the
Father which has sent me draw him. You never come to Christ
until you find out you can't. That's when you come when you
find out you can't. That's when you cry for mercy.
We can't even believe apart from His grace. You see, you don't
decide to believe. I love what Paul said in Ephesians
2 verse 8, 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. If you think faith comes because
of something you've done by an act of your free will, that means
you believe in salvation by works. You never really bowed the knee
to Christ. Now, these This question, Lord, what would
you have me to do, is in light of what you see you can't do,
you've been knocked off your horse of pride and self-righteousness
and brought into the dust of repentance, and you say, not
what can I do, but what will you have me to do? If you don't cause me to do it,
I won't do it, I realize that. but what will you have me to
do?" Now, when the men in Acts chapter two asked this question,
Peter answered, repent, repent. Now, what does that mean? I hear preachers saying, repent
of your sins. And by that, they generally mean,
well, you need to be sorry for your sins and you need to turn
from your sins. Well, you ought to be sorry for your sins. And
you ought to turn from your sins. And I ought to be sorry for my
sins. And I ought to turn from my sins. But that's not what
repentance means. Repentance means change your
mind. Change your mind. Everything you believed is wrong. Have you ever dealt with that?
Everything that you naturally believe is wrong. Change your mind. Ask the Lord
to change your mind. See, it's all wrong. Look to
Christ only. You thought salvation was by
works. Change your mind. You thought there were things
you could do to please God. Change your mind. That's the key, repent. And when that Philippian jailer
said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What would the
Lord have you do? Believe on his son. Trust his
son only, the Lord. Oh, He's the Lord. Jesus, the
Savior, thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. The Christ, God's prophet, God's
priest, and God's King. Now, what would you have me to
do? Well, I'll tell you one thing
the Lord would have you to do is seek Him. Seek Him. You know, everybody that ever
finds him first seeks him. And the reason you seek is because
he calls you to. David said, when thou said, seek
ye my face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. But
Zacchaeus was seeking the Lord when he went up the tree to see
who he was. The Ethiopian eunuch was seeking the Lord when he
was reading Isaiah the prophet. He didn't know what it meant,
but he wanted to know. He'd gone to Jerusalem to worship.
He was seeking the Lord. The publican in the temple was
seeking the Lord when he went to pray, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. Seek the Lord. And you are to
take your place as a sinner before God Now listen to me, God will
meet you on the ground you come. This is very important. Those
two men that went into the temple to pray, they came on different
grounds. One came on the ground of works.
God, I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. The other came
on the ground of pure free grace. God be merciful, be gracious,
be propitious to me, the sinner. And God met the publican on the
ground he came and he justified him. He saved him by his grace.
The other fellow who came on the ground of works, he went
down to his house in an unjustified state under the wrath of God.
God will meet you on the ground you come. You come for mercy,
you'll have mercy. You come for justice, you'll
have justice. That's a sobering thought, but
come into the Lord's presence and take your place as a sinner.
And I know this, the Lord would have me and you renounce all
hopes of salvation, except for that which is in Christ. If my
salvation is dependent upon my experience, my baptism, my faith,
my repentance, my good works, my evidences, my holy living,
I have no hope. I renounce all hopes but that
what Christ did is all God requires. I don't look anywhere else. My only hope is found in his
words, it is finished. And what am I to do? I'm to cast
myself on the mercy of God, just like that leopard did, who came
to Christ and worshiped him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
said, I will be thou clean. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now the name of the Lord represents
the person behind the name. I'm calling on his sovereignty
to save me. Oh Lord, will my salvation. Save
me in a way that honors your holiness. Save me in a way that
honors your justice. Save me by your power. Save me
by your wisdom. You're calling upon all the attributes
of God to save you. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. What would he have me to do?
Well, confess Him before men. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth
confession is made. I'm identifying. You know, I'm not ashamed of
the Gospel. I love what Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the Gospel. By His grace, I'll confess Him
before men. Because I really believe that
He is salvation. You confess with your mouth what
you believe in your heart. If you believe in your heart
that Christ Jesus is Lord and that He is everything in salvation,
you'll confess Him with your mouth. And you'll confess Him
in believer's baptism. That's the believer's public
confession of faith. What would you have me do? repent,
believe, take my place as a sinner before God, renounce all hopes
of self-salvation, cast myself upon the mercy of God, and confess
him before men. May the Lord give us grace to
do just that. Amen. To receive a copy of the
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