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, The Salvation Story. And if you are someone the Lord
has saved, I'm going to be giving your story. I didn't say a salvation
story. I said the salvation story. This is what all of God's people
experience. Now this is one of my favorite
stories in the book of Acts. This is the story of the salvation
of the Ethiopian eunuch. Now we read beginning in verse
26 of Acts chapter 8, and the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. Now, the story begins with the
Lord. It begins with him sending Philip
after one of his sheep. Somebody once said, religion
is man's search for God. And I think that that's probably
a pretty good definition. The problem is, canst thou by
searching find out God? The answer is no. Man's search
for God always ends in failure. But the gospel is God seeking,
finding, and saving men. The Lord said, I came to seek
and to save that which was lost. Now, the reason the Lord sent
Philip to the desert was one of his sheep were there. Now God's got a people, Christ
has got a people called his sheep. Do you remember when he describes
Judgment Day? He says the sheep, he'll say
it at his right hand, and the goats at his left. There are
sheep and there are goats. A sheep never becomes a goat
and a goat never becomes a sheep. He says to the sheep on his right
hand, come ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. To the goats, he'll
say, depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. There are sheep and there are
goats. And the sheep are his elect.
They are his people. They're the ones the father gave
him. They are the ones he laid down
his life for. Now, let's go on reading, verse
27. And he arose and went, Philip
arose and went in obedience to the Lord's command, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority under Candasic,
one of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,
had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and sitting
in his chariot and read Isaiah the prophet. Now here we have
a man who was not raised up in the Jewish religion. He was raised
up under some kind of other religion, but somehow he knew it was wrong. He didn't know what the truth
was, but he knew that what he believed was not the truth. He
didn't have any confidence in his religion, and he had gone
to Jerusalem. He'd heard the living God is
to be worshipped in Jerusalem through the sacrifices and so
on, and he went to Jerusalem to worship. He was doing all
he knew to do, and he was coming back as empty as he was when
he got there, not understanding anything that had taken place.
But this man had an interest in the things of God. was a sheep
of Christ, and he had an interest in the things of God. He knew
God was, and he knew he didn't know Him. That's about all he
could come up with, but he was doing something that was very
good. He was reading the Bible. He was reading Isaiah the prophet,
and he was reading from Isaiah chapter 53. Now, the gospel is
the religion of this book, the Bible. The Bible is the inspired,
inerrant Word of God. Now, I know a lot of people will
say, well, how can you know for sure? God created the universe. I know that for sure. You do
too, really. God created the universe. Atheism isn't even
an option. It doesn't even make sense. There's
got to be something that caused all things. God is all-powerful. He created the universe, and
He is able to inspire a book and cause it to be preserved
from error. And really, if we don't have
the Bible, what do we have? My opinion and your opinion.
What good is that going to do anybody? But thank God we have
a revelation from God that tells us His true character, who He
is, who we are, and how He saves sinners. The Bible is the Word
of God. And this man was reading from
Isaiah chapter 53. Now, that is one of the most
important, if not the most important, passage of Scripture and all
the Word of God. It's the prophecy concerning the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, written 700 years before it took place. So he is
reading Isaiah chapter 53, and the Lord sent him a preacher,
Philip. He didn't know it at this time.
He was just sitting there in his chariot, reading Isaiah chapter
53, and the Lord sent him a preacher. Now salvation begins with the
Lord. And he goes after his sheep. And if you're a sheep of Christ,
he's going to cross your path with a preacher of the gospel.
I hope it happens this morning. He crossed this man's path with
the gospel. And I love the way he, verse
29, then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself
to the chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah. He was reading out loud.
Philip heard him, and he asked this question, understandest
thou what thou readest? I'm sure he said this politely.
He didn't come across like some kind of arrogant, self-righteous,
smug person. He, do you understand what you're
reading? Now, this man's answer is so
humble, and it's the right answer. He didn't say, well, here's what
I think. He didn't say, here's what it means to me. He said,
how can I? Except some man should guide
me. I don't have any idea what it means. And how can I except
some man should guide me? And this enforces a great principle.
We can't figure this out. We're shut up to revelation. You can't put yourself in a room
and start reading the Bible and figure it out. nor can I, were
dependent upon God to reveal Himself in His Word. And this man understood this.
He said, how can I? except some man should guide
me." Verse 32, the place of the scripture which he read was this,
he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb done
before his shear, so open not his mouth. In his humiliation,
his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. That's talking about the
seventh and eighth verse of Isaiah chapter 53, where it was prophesied
that the Lord would not open his mouth and defend himself.
And do you remember? He didn't try to defend himself. If I'm not guilty of something,
I'm going to try to defend myself. But he made no attempt at defending
himself. He didn't try to protect himself.
And that was foretold in this great prophecy with regard to
his death. Verse 34, And the eunuch answered
Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speakest the prophet
this? Of himself. or some other man? Oh, what a
question. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at that same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. Now I'd like to go to that scripture
in Isaiah chapter 53, and I pray that that's what takes
place even now. The prophet begins Who hath believed
our report? Seemingly very few. And to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? Now that is who believes the
report, those to whom the arm of the Lord, that's the Lord
Jesus Christ, the power of God, is revealed. Salvation comes
by revelation, not by education, but by revelation. I know who
believes the report, everybody God reveals himself to. For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall grow up before him, his father, as a tender plant and
as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty. that we should
desire Him. Now, I don't know what the Lord
Jesus Christ looked like, but He was not impressive from a
physical point of view. And what this is telling us is
that there's nothing of the gospel that's appealing to the flesh.
There's nothing, it's just not appealing to the natural man.
The natural man finds no beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ and
the salvation that's in him. Nobody desired it. Verse three,
he is despised and rejected of men. The natural man hates Jesus
Christ. Now, the natural man doesn't
hate the weak Christ that's preached by many, that wants things but
can't have them unless we let him have his way. Nobody fears
that Christ or hates that Christ, but I'm talking about the Jesus
Christ who is Lord. He's your Lord. Somebody says,
no, he's not. Yeah, he is. You might not know
it, but he is your Lord. He's Lord of the dead and the
living. He's the Lord of the unbeliever.
He's the Lord of the believer. He is Lord. He's the one whose
will is always done. Salvation's in his hand. It's
up to him as to whether or not you will be saved. That's the
Lord I'm speaking of. And people say, well, I don't
like that Lord. I know, I know. He's despised and rejected of
men. And then it speaks of him being a man of sorrows. and acquainted
with grief. And the sorrows that it's speaking
of is when he knew he was going to be separated from his father.
He knew he was going to be forsaken by his father. He knew he was
going to be made sin. And he was a man of sorrows,
deeply acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Have you ever been out and seen
somebody you didn't really want to see, so you just kind of turn
the other way? That's what that's saying. That's the way we've
done him. We esteemed him, we respected him, we regarded him
not. What greater sin could there
ever be? But let's go on reading. Isaiah
says, surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Now this is talking about everybody
who believes. It's talking about God's elect.
It's talking about those who believe the gospel. That's the
evidence of election. You believe. As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. Acts chapter 13 verse 48. Now,
it says here, He hath borne our sorrows, our griefs, and carried
our sorrows. Now, the word borne and carried,
it's also translated In verse 11, he shall bear their iniquities. It carries with it the idea of
being gravid or bearing a baby or carrying a baby. You see the sins of God's elect,
he was made to bear. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. All of the sins of all of God's
people He was made to bear each individual sin of all the elect
became His, and He bore that sin. He didn't merely bear the
punishment of sin. He bore the sins themselves. Now, God can do this. The scripture says, For He hath
made him to be sin. God, with God nothing is impossible
and He can take my sins and lift them off of me and place them
in His Son so that His Son actually bears those sins and becomes
guilty of the commission of those sins, although He never sinned
in Himself. God can do that. Not only can
God do that, Christ willingly took the sins of His people upon
Himself. He said, No man takes my life
from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up. This commandment have I received
of my father. And what he did, he did willingly because this
is his bride and he's taking the sins of his bride. Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. Christ willingly did
this. Verse four, surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. We didn't see any beauty in what
he was doing, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Now, this, my
dear friends, is the message of this book. This is salvation.
Substitution. Substitution. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. For me to have peace, he's going to have to
be punished. He's gonna have to put away my sin. He's gotta
make a way for God to be just and justify somebody like me,
and that's what he did on Calvary Street. Listen, when he was dying,
it was not the innocent being punished. It was the guilty. My sin literally became his sin,
and he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes,
were healed. Now, there's one way that you
and I can be just before God and be saved before God by his
stripes, by what he experienced on Calvary's tree. Now, he goes
on to say, all we like sheep have gone astray. This is Isaiah
speaking. He's talking about himself and
everybody else. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way. Every believer feels like that
there's something particular and peculiar about their sin
that makes them worse than anybody else. I'm the chief of sinners. Every believer feels that way
about themselves. I'm the chief of sinners. There isn't anybody
I can look down my nose at. I'm the chief of sinners. All
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him, made to collide upon
him, the iniquity of us all. He really was made sin. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't try to defend himself.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shears is dumb, so opened he not his mouth. He never tried
to defend himself. Why? Because he knew he was guilty.
He knew he was guilty. He wasn't going to try to justify
himself because the sins of his people actually became his sins,
where he became guilty of them. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken." Verse 9 says he made his grave
with the wicked. He was counted a wicked man by
the multitude. And with the rich in his death,
he was buried in a rich man's tomb, Joseph of Arimathea. Because
he had done no violence and neither was any deceit in his mouth,
he never sinned, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why was Christ nailed to a cross? Because it pleased the Lord.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
flayed. Please the Lord. It was his purpose. You see,
he made the universe for this, for the cross of Christ so God
could manifest who he is, so he could make a way to be just
and justify the ungodly. All of God's attributes are displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Lord to
bruise him. He had put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Now that word offering
for sin is one word in the Hebrew. It's also translated merely sin,
guiltiness, guilt. When thou shalt make his soul
sin, he shall see his seed That's talking about His elect, those
for whom He died, those who are eternally united to Him. And
He shall prolong His days. When He's raised from the dead,
He's raised to die no more. He's eternal. And the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Whatever He does is
going to prosper. Verse 11, He shall see, and remember
this is what Philip is talking to that Ethiopian eunuch about,
this is this other man. He shall see the travail of his
soul, his death, and shall be satisfied. You know what that
means? He did exactly what He intended
to do, and He found complete satisfaction. And He's not going
to be frustrated. He is satisfied. The Father is
satisfied with what He did. The Father is satisfied with
everybody He did it for. He shall see the travail of His
soul from Calvary's tree, and be satisfied by His knowledge.
Shall my righteous servant justify many? for he shall bear their
iniquities. And he put their iniquities away,
and by virtue of that, they're all justified. Now, if I'm justified
before God, that means I don't have any guilt. That means I
don't have any sin. That means I stand before the
holy law of God, perfect, without guilt. Therefore, verse 12, this
is the last verse of that chapter. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered
with the transgressors. He was found to be guilty. He
bare the sin of many, and he made intercession for the transgressors. Now, I would have loved to hear
Philip's comments on that passage of Scripture to that Ethiopian
eunuch. He was saying, this is who this, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, is who this man is speaking of. And like I said,
this was written 700 years before the death of Christ, yet we're
given such detail concerning who he is, what he accomplished,
why he did this, where he is now. Oh, thank the Lord for Isaiah
53, that prophecy concerning the death of Christ and the success
of it. Don't, it's so distressing when
you hear preachers talk about the death of Christ as if he
could die for you and you might end up in hell anyway if you
don't do your part. That's a denial of his death. Everybody he died
for must be saved. Now back to our text, verse 35,
then Philip opened his mouth and began with that same scripture
and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's
water. What hinders me to be baptized? Now, obviously during the course
of this message, Philip talked to him about baptism. What is
baptism? Well, it symbolizes the gospel. When Christ lived, I lived. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. Going underwater, baptism is
by immersion. You know, when people are sprinkled,
that's not baptism. Baptism is by immersion. As far
as that goes, baptizing babies, baptism is for believers, not
for unbelievers, but for believers. The Lord said, who so believeth
and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Belief is a requirement
for baptism. But he had told him what baptism
is. When Christ lived, I lived. When
he died, I died. When he was raised up, I was
raised in Him. That's my salvation, being united
to Him so that what He did, I did. That's everything in my salvation.
I don't want God to see anything but who Christ is and what He
did. I don't want Him to look at me
or my preaching or my Bible reading or my witnessing or my praying
or my holy living, whatever it is I think about. I want Him
to see Him. That's what baptism signifies. When you're under
the water, You're completely covered by the water. That's
all that's there. There's no part of you that's
not wet by that water. And that doesn't have anything
to do with washing away your sins as far as going underwater,
but it signifies when he died, I died and my sins were paid
for. When he was raised, he satisfied God. God was completely satisfied
with him. I was raised too. He is my righteousness
before God. That's what I'm confessing in
baptism. And that man looked at that water
and said, see, here's water. What does hinder me from being
baptized? I want to know if I shouldn't. Perhaps I don't know enough.
Perhaps my experience is not up to par. Perhaps I'm too sinful. Perhaps I don't have enough victory
in my life to where I'm not a candidate for baptism yet. If there is a reason why I shouldn't
be baptized, let me know. And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. Now, the heart is not just the
organ that pumps blood, it represents the whole man. The understanding,
the affections, the will. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. That doesn't mean with the organ
that pumps blood, but with the understanding, with the affections,
with the will. I understand Christ's righteousness
is my only righteousness. I love Christ's righteousness
being my only righteousness. If given my choice to be saved
by my righteousness or Christ, I'm gonna take Christ every time.
The heart, you may if you believe with all your heart, all your
mind, all your affections, all your will. And look at the way
he answered. Verse 37, he answered and said,
let me tell you what he didn't say. He didn't say, I believe
I'm saved. He didn't say, I believe that
Jesus Christ died for my sins. He didn't say, I believe I'm
one of the elect. He didn't say, I believe I've been born again.
What he said had absolutely nothing to do with him. He said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, when he said that,
he says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the creator. I believe
that Jesus Christ is all powerful. I believe that Jesus Christ must
be successful because of who he is. He can't attempt to save
somebody and then not be saved. He was like that thief. The thief
knew that the Lord would not stay dead, that he was going
to come back as a mighty reigning king. He knew he was the Lord. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. This man understood this. He
knew this. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now that's what saving faith
is. It's not what you think about yourself. It's not what you think
about somebody else. It's what you think concerning Him. I believe
that He is Jesus Christ. I believe He's Jesus. That's
why I call His name Jesus. He should save His people from
their sins. He's the Christ. He's God's prophet, the very
word of God. He's God's priest. If he brings
me into God's presence, I must be saved. He's God's king. He
rules and reigns. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. And my dear friend, do you believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God? The second person of
the Trinity. the Creator, the Lord, the One
who must be successful, God the Son, the only begotten and well-beloved
Son of God. Do you believe that? That's what's
called saving faith. And we read, and he commanded
the chariot to stand still, and they went both down into the
water, both Philip and the eunuch, baptized Him. May God be pleased
to make Himself known to you.