Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. 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 Nivert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Way. In Acts 9, beginning in verse
1, 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," my marginal reading says, the way, whether
they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. In Acts 22, verse 4, he said,
I persecuted this way unto the death. binding and delivering
into prison both men and women. What way is he speaking of? Now, if we know anything about
the scriptures, we know that he's speaking of the way to God,
Christ. He said in John 14, verse 6,
I am the way. He didn't say, I'll show you
the way. He didn't say, I'll guide you along the way. He said,
I am the way. Now, a way is the way to get
from point A to point B. It's the distance between point
A and point B. Christ is the way to the Father. He's the only way. He is the
way that excludes all other ways, and He is always the way to the
Father. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now, He is always the only way,
and we dare not come any other way. Now, let's say in your experience,
you've had what you'd call a good day. You've read the scriptures
and they came alive to you. It seemed like the Lord gave
you some light as to the true meaning. You were enabled to
pray from your heart with some fervency, and it seems like you
didn't have the same problems that you usually do with your
sin. You just had a good day. Dare you come that way because
of the day you've had? You better not. At all times,
Christ is the only way to the Father. Let's say this is a day
that has been one of those days where your sin and your sins
dogged you. You conceived a sin in your mind
that you were going to commit that day and you fondled it in
your heart. And in a premeditated way, you
committed that sin. How horrible. But do you say,
well, I can't come to God now. You're wrong. Even then, Christ
is the way. And if you say, I can't come
now, the implication is, if I wouldn't have committed that sin, I could
come. You see, at all times, however
we feel, Christ is the way. the way that excludes all other
ways, the only way and always only the way to the Father. Now, He is eternally the way. There's never been a time in
this time or in eternity past, nor will there be any other way
in eternity future, but Him being the way. Listen to this scripture
from Proverbs 8, verses 22 and 23. This is the Lord Jesus speaking,
and He says, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way. I was set up from everlasting. from the beginning or ever the
earth was. Before there was a creation,
he was the way to the Father. Before time began, he was the
way as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Oh, the significance of that.
Before there was ever a sinner, There was a Savior, and He was
the way to God even then as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And when time shall be no more,
and I'm made to stand in the very presence of God, perfect,
accepted, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, it won't
change this. He is the only way to the Father. There's no coming to the Father
but by Him. 2 Peter 2 says, He is the way
of truth. He is the way of truth. Anything
contrary to Him being the only way all the time that excludes
all other ways is a lie. Anything contrary to I am the
way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to the Father but
by me, anything contrary to that is a falsehood forged by the
devil himself, a counterfeit, a garment that is not the wedding
garment. And anyone who tries to come
some other way will be completely excluded and cast into outer
darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the way of truth. Any
other way is a false way that won't get you to the Father.
In Hebrews 9, verse 8, we read that he is the way into the holiest."
Now, what does the writer mean, the way into the holiness? Under the Old Testament economy,
there was a tabernacle. Perhaps you've heard of it, the
tabernacle in the wilderness. It had two rooms, a holy place,
and the holy of holies. Now the priest went into the
holy place every day, keeping the candles lit and so on, and
he had different functions. But there was a place called
the Holy of Holies that was separated from the holy place by a thick
veil. And no one was allowed into the
holiest, except the high priest once a year. On the great day
of atonement, he'd bring the blood and Sprinkle it upon the
mercy seat one time a year. If he came any other day, he
would be put to death. And if anybody else came, they
would be put to death. Now, when Christ Jesus died,
the first thing that took place was the veil in the temple was
rent. It was torn from the top to the
bottom, beginning at the top, showing this is God's work. And
now every believer has full access into the very holiest. He is the way into the holiness. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 says,
having therefore brethren boldness to enter the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. You see, here's what his blood
accomplished. It took away—His blood actually
took away the sins of everybody He died for. The sin, even that
I'm conscious of now, is not. It's been put away. It's been
washed away. It's been made to be no more. Now, this is what the Bible calls
justification, being justified by His blood. His blood accomplished
the justification of everybody He died for. And what justification
means is, I stand before God without sin. Now, the only thing
that would make me afraid to come into God's presence is sin.
But the sin has been put away by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now we have boldness. Every
believer has boldness to enter into the very holiest. By the blood of Jesus, the songwriter
said, bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my
charge shall lay, fully absolved from these I am from sin's tremendous
curse and shame. Every believer has boldness to
approach the very holiest, the very presence of God through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the way into the holiest.
And then in Hebrews 10, verse 20, he's called the new and living
way. Now, the word new means not just
newness in time, but the word, this is the only time the word
is used in the New Testament. It means freshly slaughtered. Freshly slaughtered. Always new, always fresh, always
poignant to the Father. Now, has anybody ever continued
to do you wrong and said, I'm sorry, and they do you wrong
again, and they say, I'm sorry again, and they do you wrong
again, and they say, I'm sorry again, and you think, this is
getting old. This is getting old. Do you know
it's never that way with the Father? The blood of Christ is
always fresh and powerful and new, and it always makes the
believer perfect before His sight. Nothing old. It's the new and
living way. It's the living way because He
is the life of it. He died, and now He lives. I've heard people say, Jesus
Christ is alive and well. You know, that's blasphemous.
He's not alive and well. He is life. He said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. He's my life before God. His
life is what comes into the very presence of God. He is the new,
and he is the living way. He died, but now he lives to
make intercession for all of his people as their great high
priest. Now, this is also what Peter
calls in 2 Peter 2, verse 15, the right way. The right way. Any other way is a wrong way. What happens if you're driving
the wrong way on a one-way street? Well, you're gonna have a head-on
collision. And any other way but the right
way is a wrong way, and it's going to end up in a head-on
collision with God's justice and wrath. That's a scary thought,
but it is true. The wise man said in Proverbs
14, verse 12, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death. You know, it just makes sense
to us that if we're good, God will save us. If we're bad, God
will stay away from us. You know, all that is is karma. If I have good karma, good things
will happen to me. If I'm bad, bad things will happen
to me. That's what most people's religion
is, is good karma and bad karma. But it's just not so. That's
not the right way. Christ is the right way. He's called in 2 Peter 2.21,
the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness. Now,
what is meant by that, the way of righteousness? Well, Isaiah
chapter 64, verse 6 says, our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. Now, any supposed righteousness
that I think comes from me, My praying, my witnessing, my Bible
reading, my efforts at holiness and my efforts to not sin, any
righteousness that comes from me is nothing more than filthy
rags in God's sight. How does that strike you? Do
you know it's true? Well, if you don't know it's
true, you've never seen who the Lord is, because if you've ever seen
who the Lord is, you're going to understand that your righteousnesses
are not righteous at all. All they are are glorified sins.
I mean, your giving, your motives, everything about us, it's nothing
more than filthy rags in God's sight. Now, when Peter calls
Christ the way of righteousness, there's a reason. His righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Let me repeat that. His righteousness is the only
righteousness there is. He kept God's law perfectly. He's the only one to do that.
HE WORKED OUT A PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD. HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
IS THE ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS. YOU CAN'T BE SAVED BY YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. THE ONLY WAY WE CAN BE SAVED
IS IF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST BECOMES OUR PERSONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
BEFORE GOD. NOW, HOW CAN THAT BE? WELL, THE
SCRIPTURE SAYS IN 2 CORINTHIANS 5-21, Speaking of God, for he
hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. Now how did God do that? I don't
know, but God is God and he can do that. He took the sins of
all of the elect And he made Christ to actually become guilty
of those sins. Now Christ never sinned himself. He knew no sin. But the sins
of God's elect became his sins so that he owned the guilt of
them. 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, every believer has the very righteousness of
God, and that's how Christ is the way of righteousness. Now, let me read you a scripture
that I think illustrates this very powerfully. Have you heard
of Lot? Lot is first mentioned in Genesis
Chapter 13. He was Abraham's nephew. And if you read about his life
in the Scriptures, he's not a very honorable character. He's the
one who chose the well-watered plain. He pitched his tent toward
Sodom. He ended up living in Sodom.
And when God said he was going to come and destroy Sodom and
told Lot to leave, the Scripture says Lot lingered. There was
something about Sodom that he found appealing, and the angel
came and yanked him out of Sodom and saved him. And you know what
happened after that when he went in and committed incest with
his daughters. They got him drunk, and he had
two different babies from his two daughters. I mean, he's no
honorable character that you think of when you read of him
in the Old Testament. But listen to these words from 2 Peter 2.
It talks about where God turns the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an
example unto those that afterwards should live ungodly, and delivered
just Lot, justified Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that righteous man, that's
God's description of him, That righteous man dwelling among
them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to
day. with their unlawful deeds." Now,
that's God's testimony of him. Righteous lot, just lot, that
righteous man vexed his righteous soul. Now, let me repeat, there's
only one righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that righteousness
is imputed to the believer and becomes his, and it's imparted
to the believer in the new birth. Now, somebody says, can you explain
that to me? Well, here's the closest I can come. When Adam
sinned, I sinned. I sinned in him. His sin is charged
to me. I sinned. And when I was born,
Adam's sinful nature was imparted to me. His sin was imputed to
me, I committed it, and His sinful nature was imparted to me when
I was born. I was born with an evil nature. In the same manner, Christ's
righteousness is imputed to every believer, and when they're born
of the Spirit, born again, they're born with a righteous nature.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. Now, Isaiah Isaiah chapter 35,
verse 8, the way of holiness. Now listen to this scripture
from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30. But of him are you
in Christ Jesus. Now the only way you can get
in Christ Jesus is for God to put you there. Somebody says,
how can I get in Christ? Well, God's going to put you
there. Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. Holiness is what that word is.
Holiness and redemption. Now, anything, listen real carefully,
anything other than Him as my holiness is unholy and unclean. He is my holiness before God. I'm presented by Him to the Father,
holy and unblameable and unreprovable. He is my holiness. Being born of His Spirit, it's
His holiness. He is my holiness. That's why
we don't have things in the, you know, the only time the word
holier is used in the scripture is when the Lord says, those
who are, say, I'm, stand back, I'm holier than thou. These are
a smoke in my nostrils. They're not degrees of holiness.
There's not this level of holiness. And then you get up to this level
and you get up to this level. No, he is my holiness before
God. We read in Romans 3.17 that He
is the way of peace. He is the way of peace. He is my peace with God. The reason God is at peace with
me is because of Him. Because of who He is and what
He did in my behalf, putting away my sins and giving me His
righteousness, God is completely satisfied with me. He's at peace
with me. There's nothing for Him to be
angry about or offended about because Christ Jesus Himself
is my peace. And the peace that I feel And
I do feel peace from this is because I know that Christ is
my peace with God. Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom
of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. He's the way of peace. He's the
only way of peace. And he is called in Matthew 7,
verses 13 and 14, the narrow way. You remember the scripture, enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. But
straight is the gate. I mean, many there be that go
in there. I'm sorry, I quoted that wrong. Many there be that
go in there, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way
that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Now, let me
tell you how narrow this way is. If you have anything other
than Christ, you can't get through. If you add anything to Him, you
can't get through. If you have any other hope other
than Him alone, you can't get through. If you find peace and
assurance from anything in you, you can't get through. He's the
narrow way. He's so narrow, the gate is so
straight that the only way you can get through is if all you
have is Christ. And He's called In Acts 24.14,
these are the words of Paul. He says this, I confess unto
you that after the way that they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers. When religious people hear things
like Christ being the only way that excludes all other ways,
and if you look to anything other than Him only at all times, why,
don't you care about good works? Don't you care about your personal
life? Don't you care about personal holiness? That's the way they
respond to this. This seems to take away all motivation
to live a holy life if He's all we have. That's because they
don't really see Him as all they have, because if you see Him
as all you have, oh, He's everything to you. But a religious person
can't really understand this, and he says, well, this is heresy.
I just can't believe this. Well, after the way which they
call heresy, the way of grace alone, the way of Christ alone,
So worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets. Now I want to begin
or conclude this message by reading from Mark chapter 10, beginning
in verse 46. This is my way. This is my way. He's the narrow way. He's the
way of righteousness. He's the way of peace. He's the
way of truth. This is my way. We read beginning in verse 46
of Mark chapter 10, and they came to Jericho, and as he went
out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people,
blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side,
begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, He heard a commotion. He said, what is this all about?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth passes by. He began to cry out
and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now, I don't have any doubt that
during his lifetime, he would have people read the scriptures
to him. And you know, in the book of Isaiah, four times it
says the Messiah will give sight to the blind. I'm sure there
are some people who thought, well, if I'm ever blind, that's
good to know. But I tell you, it meant something
else to Bartimaeus. He was blind. And when he heard
that the Messiah would give sight to the blind, it meant something
to him because he was blind. Now one day he heard about Jesus
of Nazareth giving sight to the blind. And at that time he knew
this is the Son of David. This is the Messiah. He knew
this. He said if he ever passes by,
I'm going to cry out for mercy. One day, as he was sitting by
the highwayside begging, a crowd comes by. He says, what's this
commotion about? Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And immediately he began to cry
out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged
him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great
deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. If your sins are
your fault, you know what you need? Mercy. That's what Bartimaeus
needed. And Jesus stood still. Do you
know he always stands still for the cry of mercy? Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind
man, saying unto him, be of good cheer. Rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment,
that filthy garment that he found security in, he no longer wants
it. If you come to Christ, you're
going to cast away the garment of your own righteousness. You're
going to get rid of it. He rose and came to Jesus, and
Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy
way. You've been set free. Go thy
way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. That was his way. That's
the way he wanted, to follow Jesus in the way. Christ is the
way to the Father. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. Amen. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request
to todd.neiberg at gmail.com or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.