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. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45,
we read these words of the Lord Jesus Christ. For even the Son
of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. Now I would like to go a few
verses up and see what led the Lord to make this statement.
This is such an interesting and important passage of scripture.
We read beginning in verse 35 of Mark chapter 10, and James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him saying, Master,
We would that thou should do for us whatsoever we shall desire. We want you to do whatever we
ask you to. Now these brethren, if you read
in Matthew's account, it says their mother came up to the Lord
making this request. And she said, I want you to have
my two boys sitting on your right hand and on your left when you're
sitting on the throne of Israel. Now, they did not understand
that this was a spiritual kingdom. They were still looking for some
kind of physical, earthly kingdom. And maybe they put their mom
up to it. I don't know. I can see my mom making a request
like that for me. But now they are speaking. Their mother comes first, I think
maybe to soften it because they knew that this may be looked
upon without favor. But now they come to the Lord
and they say, we want you to give us whatever we ask you to
give us. Now, right off the bat, that's
very unwise. Did not the Lord teach us to
pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. He doesn't tell us to say, give
us whatever we ask for. We don't have enough sense to
know what we really need in the first place. That's why I say,
Lord, give me what I need. You know what I need. Give me
what I need. But they come and make this request,
give us whatever it is we're asking for. Well, the Lord said
in verse 36, and he said unto them, what would you that I should
do unto you? What is it you're wanting? Now
he knew what they were wanting, but he asked this question because
this is going to be used to teach us the gospel. What is it that
you want? Verse 37, they said unto him,
grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand, and the
other on thy left hand in thy glory. Now what they're asking
is we want to be the two top dogs in the kingdom of heaven.
We want to be exalted above our brethren and part of this was
their love to Christ. They wanted to be with him. They
wanted to sit by him, but there was so much flesh at this. There
was so much self-seeking in this. There was so much self-promotion
in this. There was such a lack of love
to their brethren that they want to be exalted above their brethren
and put into a higher position. There was self-serving, arrogance,
and pride in this request. And you know, as long as We are what we are, even if we're
saved, we still have a old nature, a sinful nature that can certainly
act in such a foolish manner. These men were acting very foolishly. And look what the Lord says in
response to this. Verse 38, but Jesus said unto
them, you know not what you ask. You have no idea. What you're
asking me, can you drink of the cup that I drink of? Can you
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Now what our Lord is saying,
in order for me to sit on the throne, there's a cup I'm going
to have to drink of, and there is a baptism I'm going to have
to be baptized with. And he's not talking about water
baptism at this time. He's talking about being immersed
in the wrath of God. Now, our Lord came for this purpose. He came to save His people from
their sins. And in order for Him to save
His people from their sins, there's a cup that He's going to have
to drink of. You remember in Gethsemane's
garden when he said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. And then in John chapter 18,
after that, he said, the cup which my father hath given me
to drink, shall I not drink it? Now, what is the contents of
that cup? Somebody says, well, it's the
wrath of God. He knew he was going to have
to drink of the wrath of God, and that's true. But what is
the reason for the wrath of God? The reason for the wrath of God
is sin, S-I-N, sin. And the sins of all of his people,
the sins of all of the elect were in that cup. Now, this is why he was sweating
great drops of blood. He's the one who truly understands
what sin is. Me and you don't much understand
what sin is. We might think we do, but we're
pretty hard-hearted when it comes right down to it. We may feel
remorse over sin, but give us some time and we'll forget it.
But he's the one who truly knew sin. He's the one who understood
what it really was. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.21,
for he hath made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. When he drank that
cup, the sins of all of his people became his. He bore our sins
in his own body on the tree. Now that's what was taking place
when he was drinking that cup. He was drinking up the sins of
his people to where they became his. He bore them in his own
body on the tree. No, he never committed those
sins. but he became guilty of the commission of those sins
when he drank that cup. And the wrath that comes because
of those sins, he knew all his life that this is what he had
awaiting him, to drink that cup and to be baptized with this
baptism of being immersed under the wrath of God. In order for
him to sit on the throne in his kingdom, he's first going to
have to drink that cup. And he's first going to have
to be immersed under the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute
and put that sin away. Now, he says to these men, are
you able? You don't know what you're asking
when you're asking to sit on my right hand and on my left.
Are you able to drink of this cup? Are you able to be baptized
with this baptism? And they answer very foolishly,
yes. They had no idea what they were
saying. Now they admired the Lord, they loved the Lord, they
wanted to be with Him, and they said, we'll do whatever it takes
to have these seats sitting beside you. Yes, we're able, we can
take on this cup, we can be baptized with this baptism. The things
that I think of when I think of them answering that way is,
that's incredibly ignorant to think that you can do what the
Lord Jesus Christ is doing. That's incredibly ignorant and
naive and stupid. But you know, the Lord does not
rebuke them. He says in verse 39, and they
said, we can. And Jesus said unto them, you
shall indeed drink of the cup I drink of. And with the baptism
that I'm baptized with all shall you be baptized? Yes, you will. Now, they had no idea when they
were saying, yes, we're able, but the Lord doesn't rebuke them. And here we have another glorious
aspect of the gospel. We're going to learn something
about what baptism means. Now you're aware of when a believer
is baptized, he goes underneath the water and he comes back up. That's baptism. You are immersed,
submerged, and you emerge from the water. Now, that in itself
doesn't wash away sins. You could go through that a million
times, it wouldn't take away one sin. Some people believe
that the act of baptism is when you're born again and when sin
is washed away. Well, that's foolishness. All
it is is a symbol. And to teach anything other than
that is to teach salvation by works. And remember, baptism
is not sprinkling. sprinkling water on an infant.
Baptism is for believers. Infant baptism is not recognized
in the scripture. It's another denial of what baptism
is supposed to represent. Now, what does baptism represent? Well, here's what I'm saying
when I confess Christ in baptism. I'm saying when He lived, I was
in Him. And I lived. Whatever he did,
I did. Because my hope of salvation
is that I'm united to him. When he said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, everything
the Lord Jesus Christ did, he did as an us. He did it for his
people. I was in him so that when he
kept the law, I kept the law. When he obeyed God perfectly,
I obeyed God perfectly. Now, in baptism, you go under
the water. That represents death. When Jesus
Christ died, I died. When he suffered the wrath of
God, I suffered the wrath of God because I was in him. And when you come back up out
of the water, that represents the resurrection of Christ. When
he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. You see, all that baptism depicts
is union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way
in Galatians 2, verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. He didn't say it's just as if
I was crucified with Christ. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. When Christ was crucified, I
was crucified. Listen to this scripture from
Romans 6, beginning in verse 3. Know ye not that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death? And this is not talking about water baptism at this time.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life. When Christ lived, I lived. When
Christ died, I died. When Christ was raised from the
dead, I was raised from the dead. Now, James and John, didn't know
what they were saying when they said, we're able to be a drink
of your cup and be baptized with the baptism you're baptized with.
They didn't know what they were saying. They just wanted to be
on his right hand and on his left. But in this, we're given
a great truth regarding salvation because of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, back in our text, in verse
40, The Lord says, but to sit on my right hand and on my left
is not mine to give. This speaks of the humanity of
the Lord Jesus Christ, his subordination to the Father. Now, I don't understand
this, but I know he's equal with the Father. And as a man, there
are some things he didn't know. He even spoke of not knowing
of the day of his return. He said, only the Father knows.
Somebody says, explain that to me. I can't do it. I'm not even
going to try to. I know that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, equal with God, God the Son, and he's subordinate
to the Father. And he says, but to sit on my
right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it should
be given to them for whom it is prepared, those that God has
determined to have that place. Verse 41, And when the ten heard,
the other ten disciples, The other 10 apostles, now James
and John were two of the 12, and when the 10 heard about this
request these two men made, the scripture says they began to
be much displeased with James and John. Matthew's account says
they were moved to indignation. They were angry at these men
because these men were seeking to exalt themselves above the
other ten. And they thought, how could this
be fair? Why would they want to put themselves on top and us
underneath? And behind all of that, every one of these fellows
thought, I ought to be in that place. I ought to be the one
sitting at either his right hand or his left. You know, right
after the first Lord's table, right before the Lord died on
Calvary's tree, there was an argument among the disciples
concerning which of them would be the greatest. That pride and
arrogance is always in every son of Adam, even in the disciples.
And these men were moved with indignation, anger at these men,
but they were no different. They had the same desires. They
might not have said it, but they had the same desires. So they
were very angry with these men. Verse 42, but Jesus called them
to him. all of his disciples, he could
see how they were so angry. But Jesus called them unto him,
all 12 of them, and he says this, you know that they which are
accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.
And their great ones exercise authority upon them. Now this
is the way of the world. Someone wants authority. Someone
wants power over somebody else. And that's the way it is with
the Gentiles. The ones in power have power and they can make
you do what they want. This is the way of the Gentiles. Verse 43, but so shall it not
be among you. There's not a hierarchy in the
kingdom of heaven. clergy, and a laity. There's
not more important and less important, just brethren. It's not going
to be this way among you, trying to get one up over your brother,
trying to get a higher position in glory. You know, I think of
the doctrine that so many people believe that you can get a higher
reward in heaven so that you're going to have a higher position
in glory than somebody else. That is so contrary to grace.
That's so contrary to the gospel. That's so contrary to love to
your brethren. But that's what was going on here with these
men. They thought we're going to have a higher place. And Lord
said, it doesn't work that way in the kingdom of heaven. What
he says next in verse 44, but it shall not be so among you
verse 43, but whosoever will be great among you should be
your minister. And whosoever you will be the
chiefest shall be the servant of all. Now, Every believer should
desire to attain to greatness in the kingdom of heaven, but
it's not the way the world considers greatness. The way greatness
is attained to in the kingdom of heaven is by being a servant. That's it. being a servant, whosoever
will be the chiefest, the first in rank or honor will be the
servant, literally the slave of all. And I wish I would learn
this. I wish we would all learn this.
It doesn't take great gifts and talents and resources and ability
to be great in the kingdom of heaven. No, not at all. All it
takes is to be a servant, to not seek your own self-interest
and your own self-promotion, but to seek to be a servant to
all of God's people. I love the words of a former
president, John Kennedy, when he said, ask not what your country
can do for you, but what you can do for your country. And
I would think this should be the theme of every believer.
Ask not what other believers can do for you, but what you
can do for them. Now, every one of us, beginning
right here, are far too prone to feel sorry for ourselves and
see the faults in others and how mistreated we are. That person
is not going to attain to greatness in the kingdom of heaven. Now
look what the Lord says in verse 45. This was our text. For even,
for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Lord tells us, I didn't come
to be served. Now he's the only one who has
that coming to him. He's the son of God, but he says,
I didn't come to be served. I came to serve. I didn't come
to be ministered into. I came to minister and to give
my life a ransom for many. Now, I can't help but think of
how the disciples must have felt when the Lord began to wash their
feet. He comes up to Peter, and Peter
said, you're not going to wash my feet. I'm far too humble to
let you do something like that. And that's when the Lord said,
if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. That's when
he said, wash my head and my hands also. The Lord left this
glorious example of washing the disciples' feet, being a servant
to the disciples. And he said that he came to give
his life a ransom. Now, you know what a ransom is.
when someone is kidnapped and the person who kidnaps them wants
a ransom price in order to give them back. Christ Jesus came
as a ransom. Now, this word is only used two
or three times in the New Testament, but it lets us know what our
Lord was doing on Calvary's tree. He was coming to be a ransom
price. Now, somebody says a ransom.
How is that? Well, the law of God demands
death to the sinner. The justice of God demands death
to the sinner. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. For God to just let sin go without
the satisfaction of divine justice, without the punishment for that
sin, why? evil. It would be sinful. What
would you think of a judge? in an earthly setting, who someone
was guilty of some horrible crime, maybe against your child, and
the judge says, well, I'm gonna forgive him, I'm a forgiving
judge, I'm gonna forgive him. What would we do with a judge
like that? Well, he'd lose his job, wouldn't he? Because that's
not just, that's not right. God is just, sin must be punished. And Christ Jesus, came into the
world as a ransom. He took on that sin. It became
his sin and the justice of God smote him. The wrath of God smote
him because he became guilty of those sins when he bore them
in his own body on the tree. He came as a ransom and that's
what he did. He paid the price. And look what
it says, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many, for a
whole lot of people. Not for everybody, but for many. Not for all men without exception.
I guarantee you in hell, there's nobody that he paid a ransom
for. or they'd be out of there. His
ransom payment would have paid it, but he did give his life
a ransom for many, a great multitude. Now, let me say this as clearly
as I know how to say it. Jesus Christ shed his blood for
the elect. Not all men, without exception,
but for those the Father gave him before the foundation of
the world. He shed his blood for the elect,
that is the many that he is speaking of. Now, most of what goes under
the name of Christianity says that Christ died for all men,
without exception, and made salvation and forgiveness possible for
all men, without exception. But it's up to you to do something
to accept him as your personal savior, for you to exercise faith. You've got to do something in
order to make what he did work for you. And my dear friends,
that's just not so. That's just not so. The Bible
doesn't teach that. It is not the teaching of the
scriptures. Now, let me give you six implications that are
just horrible if Christ did die for everybody and everybody's
not saved. And everybody's not saved. There
is a place called hell. The Bible teaches that, and there are people
in it. But if Christ died for all men without exception, and
some of them are saved and some are not, number one, Christ is
a failure. If he intended to save everybody
and he didn't save everybody, Christ is a failure. Number two, the death of Christ
is not enough to save anybody. If he can die for you and you
can wind up in hell, that means his death doesn't really save.
There's something you need to do, not just what he did. There's
something you need to do. Thirdly, if Christ died for all
men and some are saved and some are lost, then God is not just.
That means he could punish the same sin twice. He punished it
in his son, and then he'll turn around and punish it in the person
who committed it. That's a denial, a complete denial
of the justice of God. What if somebody served 10 years
in prison and they got out and somebody said, well, I'm gonna
make you serve another 10 years in prison, even though you've got,
that'd be unjust, wouldn't it? They've already satisfied justice. Justice will not demand the same
thing twice. Fourth, God's love is meaningless. If God can love somebody and
they wind up in hell, Christ died for them, God loved them,
and they wind up in hell. That means God's love is meaningless.
He might love you, but he can't do anything for you unless you
do something. Five, God is mutable. He can
change in His view for you. He can love you and want to save
you and then turn around and send you to hell. God's mutable.
He can change. And last, salvation is ultimately
dependent upon the sinner, if that's the case. Christ's death
is not enough to save you. God's love is not enough. There's
something you need to do. There's some work you need to
perform in order to be saved. Now, somebody is thinking, well,
did he die for me? How can I know if he died for
me? I see what you're saying. It makes sense. But how can I
know if he died for me? First Timothy 1.15 says this
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul says,
I am the chief. If you are a sinner deserving
God's wrath, you have no claims on God, Christ died for you and
saved you must be because of Christ. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com
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