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 Nyberg. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Apostles' Method and Message. Who were the apostles? They were the twelve men that
the Lord taught directly the gospel. They didn't learn it
from another man. The Lord taught them directly. Judas lost his apostleship. He wasn't a true believer, and
Paul took his place. He was the twelfth apostle. The
apostles were men who had seen Christ in the flesh and were
commissioned by Him to preach the gospel. They had divine authority. Many of them were writers of
Scriptures. Now, what was the method or the
methodology, and what was the message of the apostles? Because that's the message of
the gospel. And you and I must understand their method and their
message if we're going to know and believe the gospel. Now,
our text is found in Acts chapter 8, verse 25. And they, when they
had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to
Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. Now, what had taken place is
that Philip had gone down and preached the gospel in Samaria,
and many people believed. Now, Philip was not able to transfer
the gifts of the Holy Spirit the way the apostles could. They
could lay their hands on men, and they would have the ability
then to do miracles and speak in tongues and other languages
to preach the gospel. And Philip could not transfer
these gifts. Only the apostles could. That
is why we know that the entire charismatic movement is not real,
because it was only through the laying on of the apostles' hands
that the Holy Spirit was given with these supernatural gifts.
And when the apostles died out, this died out as well. It's not
a part of the church now. Now, if the Lord wanted to preserve
it, it could be, but He didn't. And so the entire idea of speaking
in tongues and doing miracles is not real. If these men really
could do this, why aren't they going to hospitals? Because it's
phony. Peter and John had gone and laid
hands on these people so they could have these gifts of the
Holy Spirit, and now they're returning back to Jerusalem. And look what it says regarding
them, and they, when they had testified and preached the word
of the Lord. Now here we have their method,
preaching and testifying. And here we have their message,
the Word of the Lord. That's just another name for
the gospel, the message of the Scriptures. That is the apostles'
method. preaching and testifying, and
here is the Apostle's message, the Word of the Lord, preaching
the gospel. Now, when we talk about the gospel,
the Lord uses the entire Bible to define what the gospel is,
so it's not some silly little formula or some four laws or
anything like that. but it is the message of the
Scriptures. Now, let me say some things about
preaching. This was the apostolic method,
preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. How shall they hear
without a preacher? This is God's way of spreading
the gospel. Now, preaching is so different
from anything else, because in every other vocation or calling,
we want things to change and become better, and we want to
see progress. For instance, what if we had
the same way of medicine that was 100 years ago? We'd be in
trouble, wouldn't we? What if transportation was the
way it was 100 years ago? Why, we wouldn't have airplanes.
We couldn't travel as freely as we do. What if technology
was no different than it was 100 years ago? Why, we didn't
even have computers then. We want to see progress in everything
and advancement, but not in preaching. If I am called to preach, I better
be preaching the exact same way the apostles preached. I better
have the same message, and I have the same method. There's nothing
new or improved. I know that in this day, preaching
has taken a backseat to music and salesmanship and the marketing
of the so-called church, but that's not the apostles' way. It was the preaching of the gospel,
not skits, not ways to entrap men and put emotional appeals
on them, just the preaching, the declaration of the gospel.
And in true preaching, There is something called testifying
going on. If I'm giving a testimony and
bearing witness to something, it's something I've seen. It's
not secondhand information. It's something that I personally
have seen that the Lord has taught me. But hear this about the preaching. It's not giving testimony concerning
some personal subjective experience that I've had. It's giving testimony
concerning the Word of God. It's not making up something.
It's not telling you about my experience. It's bearing witness
to the truth of the Word of God. I love what Peter said in 2 Peter
1. He was speaking about how he
and James and John had seen the Lord. on the man of transfiguration. And he said, we were eyewitnesses
of this. We saw when he was transformed
and became white as light. We saw this. He said, we also
have a more sure word of prophecy. Something that's more sure than
our experience is the Scriptures. And that is what we bear witness
to the Scriptures, what God's Word actually says. That's what
true testifying is. It's not just me giving my experience.
It's me testifying of what God says in His Word. Now, that is the method of the
apostles. And now I want us to consider
their message, because we can see what their message was and
is in light of what they testified concerning. And I want to look
at seven different places in the book of Acts where the apostles
were said to testify. And we can learn something of
the gospel message by that. Now, the first one is found in
Acts chapter 2. This is the conclusion of Peter's
sermon on Pentecost, and it's arguably the greatest sermon
ever preached. 3,000 people were brought to
a saving knowledge of Christ through the preaching of this
one message. I love the way he began. You men of Israel, hear
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him. In the
midst of you, as you yourselves also know, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken by wicked hands and have crucified and slain whom God
hath raised up." Oh, I love the way he begins this message. This
is all according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. And here's the way he ended this message, and with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves. from this untoward generation,
this perverse, this wicked generation. He testified, save yourselves
from this wicked generation. And I can say the same thing.
Particularly the religion of this world, the maxims of this
world, the philosophies of this world, save yourselves. Don't go on with what the world
has to say. Save yourselves from this untoward,
wicked generation. And then in Acts chapter 10,
Verse 42. This is, once again, Peter speaking. And he says, And he commanded
us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it was he,
the Lord Jesus Christ, which was ordained of God, to be the
judge of the quick and the dead. Now here's what I bear testimony
to. Jesus Christ is the judge of the living and of the dead. Now what that means is your eternal
destiny and my eternal destiny is totally in His hands. You see, He's the Son of God. He's the God-man. He's the creator
of the universe. He's the judge. Your eternal
destiny and my eternal destiny is going to be determined by
Him, not by you, but by Him. He can say to you as the judge
Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord. He can say to you, Come, ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Or he can say to you, Depart
from me. ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you." He is the one who determines where me and you will
be in eternity. You see, He's absolutely sovereign.
He's in control People say, won't you make Jesus Lord of your life?
He is Lord of your life. You might not know it, but He's
your Lord. You're either willingly His subject
or unwillingly, but He's your Lord and He determines all things
because of who He is. And I love what Peter says after
that, to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name,
whosoever believeth on Him, should have remission of sin, shall
receive the remission of sins. Now, we learn something about
saving faith. To him give all the prophets
witness. All the scriptures speak of him, that whosoever believeth
on him. You see, faith is not what you
believe about yourself. Somebody says, well, I believe
I'm saved. Well, I'm glad you believe that, but that doesn't
mean you are. Somebody says, I'm afraid I'm not saved. Well, I
hate that you feel that way, but maybe you are. You see, saving
faith doesn't have anything to do with what you believe about
yourself. It has to do with what you believe concerning Him. I
love what the Ethiopian eunuch said when he said, what hinders
me from being baptized? And Philip said, well, if you
believe with all your heart, you may. And he said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He didn't say, I believe
I'm saved, or I believe I've been born again, or my life has
been changed. It had wholly to do with what
he believed concerning Jesus Christ the Lord. Whoso believeth
on him. That means you're relying on
him only, as all God requires for you to be accepted. You're
relying on him. And if you rely on Him, you have
the complete remission of sins. Now, in Acts chapter 18, we read,
beginning in verse 4, and He, speaking of the Apostle Paul,
reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews
and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from
Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified. There's
that word. He testified. That word means
to bear solemn witness of what you have seen, what the Lord
has taught you from His word, and you protest to anything that's
contrary to that. That's what it means to testify.
You bear solemn witness, and you're going to protest anything
that's contrary that you hear to what God says in His Word.
Now, here is what Paul was pressed in spirit to testify. He testified
to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Now, Christ is the offices of
the Lord Jesus. It's the Old Testament word,
Messiah. It means the anointed. He was
anointed as God's prophet, the one who brings God's message
to men. He was anointed as God's priest,
the one who brings men to God. and he was anointed as God's
king. Yet have I set my king on my
holy hill of Zion. Now, let's consider that for
just a moment. I want to testify concerning
the Messiah, the Christ. He is God's prophet, so much
so that he's called the Word of God. And he's like no other
prophet, because all of the other prophets said, thus saith the
Lord. He never said that. He said,
I say unto you. And what divine authority is
there. He spoke the very words of God. I say unto you. He's God's priest,
and he's like no other priest. All those Old Testament priests
came with the blood of animals that can never take away sin.
It was just to represent the Lamb of God. But the sacrifices
they brought into God's presence in the temple couldn't actually
take away sin. They were symbolic of what the
Lord Jesus Christ would do. But Christ is a priest who brought
His own blood. the sacrifice of himself. He's
the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the
victim. He's the altar. He's all of these
things. And he brought blood that actually
satisfied God. The blood of those animals never
satisfied God. It never paid for sin. It never
honored God. But His blood actually made God
say, I'm satisfied with every person He died for. What a priest
He is. Not one of these man-made priests
that claim to be priests. This is the one who truly is
priest. And if He brings you into God's presence, you must
be saved. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them as our great high priest
and our representative. And he's a king like no other
king. You see, every king, earthly
king or earthly authority, was placed there by God. They have
no power of themselves. The only power they have is what
God gives to them. But this king has inherent power. He's all-powerful, and his will
is always done. What a king he is. He's the prophet,
he's the priest, and he's the king. And I love this, whoso
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. If you believe
that he's God's prophet, if you believe he's God's priest who
must be successful, if you believe he's God's king who actually
does rule and reign, all things according to His will, you've
been born of God. Now in Acts chapter 20, we read
this. Paul says, I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both
to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God. and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is a summary of the
message of the gospel, repentance toward God. and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, usually when you hear a
preacher speak of repentance, he'll say, repent of your sins
and trust the Savior. Repent of your sins. Now, the word repentance means
a change of mind. And I would not say that we shouldn't
have a change of mind with regard to our sins. I've heard people
say to repent of your sins is to turn from your sins and not
return to them. Well, we ought to turn from our
sins and we ought not return to them. There's no question
about that. I'm not trying to deride that kind of thinking,
but do you know the phrase repent of your sins is not found in
the Bible? Repentance is toward God. Somebody says, well, if
you repent, you're sorry and you don't do it anymore. Well,
how many sins have you continued to commit that you've not stopped?
If that's what repentance is, then you won't be saved and I
won't be either. Repentance is not repentance from sins. Repentance
is toward God. It's a change of mind. It's God
changing your mind. It's the gift of God's grace.
It's God changing your mind concerning God. You know, I used to dislike
God's holiness. I thought he was too strict.
I used to dislike his law. I used to not like the fact that
he was absolutely sovereign and had control over everybody and
everything, and I had no control. I didn't see any safety there.
I didn't like his way of saving sinners by grace. I didn't like
election. I didn't like predestination.
I didn't like the things God says concerning himself. But
you know what? My mind's been changed. I love
God as He's revealed in the Gospel. I bow to Him as He's revealed
in the Scriptures. And if it were in my power, I
wouldn't change anything about Him. He's altogether lovely. I've had a complete change of
mind concerning the character of God. I've had a change of
mind concerning myself. I used to believe there were
certain things I could do if I was in the right position and put
in the right environment. I could do whatever it takes
for me to be saved. I don't believe anything like
that anymore. I believe I'm by nature dead
in sins and the only way I can be saved is for the Lord to do
something for me. And I've had a change of mind concerning the
gospel. I used to believe that the gospel
was you doing, God doing his part, and you doing your part,
or me doing my part. But now I believe that Christ
is all in salvation. I've had a change of mind. That's
what repentance is. When you hear the preacher say,
repent of your sins, remember, repentance is toward God. Now,
I'm not saying sin is okay in any way, but repentance is toward
God. And you know what the evidence
of true repentance is? Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The one is the evidence of the
other. Wherever there is this repentance
toward God, there is faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, once
again, faith is what you think of Him. It's what you think of
Him, not what you think about yourself. Do you believe He's
the Son of God? Do you believe He's God manifested
in the flesh? Do you believe He's God's Christ?
It's what you think concerning Him. Now, I think of Peter. I hope this will help make this
understandable. The Lord said before Peter denied
him. He said, Peter, Satan has desired
to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. Well, you know what happened.
Peter failed. Peter failed. His faith didn't fail though,
but Peter denied he knew the Lord. He caved in to peer pressure
to a little maid, saying, you're one of them. Your speech betrays
you. He denied him with cursing and swearing. He said, I know
not the man. And I have no doubt that he remembered
the words of the Lord, whosoever confesses me before men, him
will I confess before my Father which is in heaven. But the one
who denies me before men, him will I deny before my Father
which is in heaven. And Peter thought, I've denied
Christ. Well, he didn't deny Christ. He denied he knew him.
He denied any association with him. And I have no doubt that
he thought, I'm not saved. I'm not saved. I couldn't be.
How could I be saved if I did something like that? Now, when
the Lord rose again, he said, you go tell my disciples and
Peter that I'm risen from the dead. You go tell my disciples,
and you make sure you tell Peter. Peter wouldn't have thought he
was a disciple. If you would have asked Peter at that time,
Peter, you say, probably not. Peter, do you believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? With all my heart, I believe
that. He's the Christ, the Son of the
living God, and has the words of eternal life. You see there?
Faith is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God
and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. I love what Paul said.
He said in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed. Not what,
but whom. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. Paul committed the entire salvation
of his soul to Christ only, nothing else. And that's what faith does. It commits all of salvation to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in this same chapter,
Paul said in verse 24, that none of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus to testify to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. Now, when we testify the truth,
we testify the gospel of grace. Somebody says, well, grace is
unmerited favor. That's a good definition, but I think a better
definition is it's demerited favor. Not only have you not
merited grace, you've demerited grace. If I gave a beggar a thousand
dollars, that would be unmerited favor toward him. He didn't deserve
it. I gave it to him. But if I gave somebody who murdered
my child a thousand dollars, I'm giving somebody who's demerited
any hope of favor by me. Now God's grace is his saving
grace, his complete free favor for Christ's sake. By grace are
you saved. Now, to talk about grace, you've
got to talk about electing grace, justifying grace, redeeming grace,
calling grace, life-giving grace, preserving grace. You leave out
any aspect of grace, it's no longer grace. Salvation is all
of grace. Listen to Paul's words. By grace
are you saved through faith. and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Now,
if you can take credit for any part of your salvation, you don't
believe in grace. Grace is not of works, lest any
man should boast. And then in Acts chapter 23,
verse 11, Paul is in prison for preaching
the gospel, and we read in verse 11, and the night following,
the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul. Maybe
Paul was depressed while he was in prison. Be of good cheer,
Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome. We preach and testify a person. Not a doctrine, not a church,
not a new way of thinking, a person. You've testified of me. Who he is, what he did, where
he is now, we preach a person. And this is a true story. There
was a missionary, he was really some consider the father of modern
missions, his name was Adonai Judson, and he was returning
home from Burma. And he came to preach, and he
got up and preached the message concerning the person and work
of Christ. And he was visibly affected by
the message as he sat down. And as they were leaving, he
was walking with a young man, and the young man was quiet and
seemed somewhat disappointed. And he said, what's wrong? He
said, well, I was disappointed in the message. He said, why?
I gave the most wonderful message that could ever be given concerning
the person and work of Christ. He said, yeah, but people really
wanted to hear about what all you'd done in Burma. They wanted
to hear about your adventures and how the Lord had used you.
And he said, I'm so thankful that. All they could say of me
when I come home from Burma is that all I had to speak of is
Christ. What a blessed thing. I don't
want to hear about somebody's experiences and exploits. I want
to hear of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
gospel. And that is what we bear witness
to. That is what we preach and testify. Him. 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 a request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.