Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We're located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside 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 toddroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Ephesians chapter 3, verse
16 and 17, we read that he, this is Paul praying for the Ephesians
and this is what he's asking for them, that he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might. by his spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being
rooted and grounded." Now, what a thing to need. I need to be
rooted. I need to be grounded. I will
not persevere in the faith. I will not continue if I'm not
rooted. This is something the Lord's
going to have to do for me, or it won't be done, and if I am
not grounded. Now, I want to try to deal with
this subject of being grounded. Grounded is God's work. Peter said, the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after
that you'd suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you. That's the word. Settled so you
will not be moved. Settled so you will not leave
Christ. We read in Colossians 1, 22,
and 23 that every believer is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in his sight, and his sight is the way things really are, if
we continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved
from the hope of the gospel. The writer to the Hebrews said,
ìWeíre made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end.î Now, the only way that
we will persevere in the faith And understand this, the evidence
of being truly saved is you persevere all the way to the end. You don't
quit. The he that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. And we only endure as we're grounded
on the foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. Now, I wish I could express how
I ought to, how that Christ really is all in salvation. He's the
only foundation. He's all in election. That's what happened before time
began, and the Scripture says we were chosen in Him, according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
He's all in justification. His righteousness is the personal
righteousness of every believer. He's all in redemption. When
He had by Himself purged our sins, He purged them. He redeemed everybody He died
for. They stand perfect before God.
He was manifest to take away our sins. In Him is no sin. If
I'm in Him, I have no sin. He's all in our regeneration.
We're regenerated by His Spirit, and we're made to see that He's
all. That's what you find out when you're regenerated. He is
all. He is all as the object of our faith. We look to Him
only. He only can cause us to persevere. He is the foundation. Paul warned about some in 2 Timothy
2 whose faith was overthrown by false doctrine. But he said
in verse 19, nevertheless, even though that happens, nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. Now understand this. I'm not
depending on my knowledge of him. I'm depending on his knowledge
of me. That is the foundation. He is
the foundation. Now, we can't possibly consider
being grounded without thinking about the parable the Lord gives
of the house on the foundation. So I would like to go back to
Matthew chapter 7 and read a few verses of Scripture. Beginning
in verse 21, the Lord says, Not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And did you
hear that? A lot of people use his name,
Lord, Lord. But he said, just because you
use my name doesn't mean you're going to enter the kingdom of
heaven. The only ones who enter the kingdom of heaven are they
who do the will. not talk about doing the will,
but those who actually do the will of my Father, which is in
heaven. Now let's go and read in verse
22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, they'll use
my name, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And
in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works. And then will I profess unto
them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." Now, they didn't think of their works like that. They
thought their works were great. We preached in your name. Didn't
we do your will? Why? We had works of power. We cast out demons in your name.
Didn't we do your will? In your name, we perform many
wonderful works. Note the quantity, many. Note
the quality, wonderful. Oh, they had such a high opinion
of themselves. They thought they'd done as well.
And they're going to hear him say, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Now, he gives us this parable. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them. Now let me pause. What is he talking about doing? In John 6, verses 28 and 29,
they said, what must we do that we might work the works of God? And here is his answer. This
is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. That's the work of God, to believe
the gospel, to believe that God sent Him, and to believe that
He did what God sent Him to do, that He accomplished salvation. Now that's the work of God. That's doing the will of God
when you believe the gospel. all these wonderful works that
you think you've done. Have you ever seen that they're
nothing but filthy rags? And looked to Him only. And that's what he's talking
about when he's talking about doing the will of God. It's believing the gospel. That's the work of God. These people had many wonderful
works, but they didn't have the one work necessary. believing
the gospel, actually relying on Jesus Christ only as everything
in their salvation. They knew nothing of that. And
that's why the Lord said, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. Now let's go on reading. Whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I liken him unto
a wise man. which built his house upon a
rock, the rock Christ Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Here's my rock. He saved me. Here's my rock. by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Here's my
rock, he by himself purged our sins with no help, no contribution
from me. My rock is Christ died. It didn't have anything to do
with my works, didn't have anything to do with my experience. I don't look back
at some time and think I must be saved because I felt this
or I did that. No, all my salvation, my rock, is that who He is and
what He did is all that is needed to save me. That's my rock, that
He did it all, and I did nothing. Now, with regard to the death
of Christ, let me say this, a lot of people, Most preachers, as
a matter of fact, say that Jesus Christ shed His blood for everybody.
Well, if He did, that makes His blood meaningless. If there's
people in hell that He died for, no, there won't be anybody in
hell that He died for. You see, the rock of the foundation
of every believer is the person and work of Christ, the One who
loved me and gave Himself for me. That's my rock. That's what
I've built my hope on. And the truly wise thing to do
is to look to Christ only. It's foolish to do anything else.
Now, he built this house on the rock, and what happened? Rains descended, temptations
and trials from heaven. Floods came up, satanic temptations,
and wind blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not. Why? For it was founded upon a rock. That's why. Anyone founded on
the rock, their house is going to stand. And everyone that heareth
these things in mind and doeth them not, they don't believe. The one thing needful, they don't
do. They might have all kinds of
wonderful, great works and miracles done and preaching and they make
all kinds of claims, but the one thing that's needful, they
never do. They never look to Christ alone. They don't know
anything about Him only being everything as their foundation. Nothing to do with their works. Him only. They don't know anything
about that. Now both these men face the rains
coming down, and the floods coming up, and the wind beating upon
the house, they both faced the same trials. But the man who
was not on the rock, his house fell flat, and great was the
fall of it, because there was no true foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He only is the foundation. There's
a passage in Hebrews 6 that gives more explanation of this foundation
than I think anywhere else in the Bible. This is a very important
passage of Scripture in Hebrews 6. Now, let me read what he says,
beginning in verse 1. Therefore leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, the ABCs is what that means, the
foundational truths, let us go on unto perfection, maturity,
not laying again the foundation, and He named six things—repentance
from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms,
of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Now, that is the foundation—six aspects of the same foundation.
It's on six different foundations. It's six aspects of the same
foundation that every believer is to build on. And the writer
to the Hebrews said, we shouldn't have to be laying these foundations
over again. If you're always laying the foundation
down again and again, the superstructure never comes up, does it? It can't
until these things become automatic. Now let's look at the context
of why the writer to the Hebrews said this. He'd been talking
about Melchizedek. And I have no doubt that Melchizedek,
mentioned in Genesis 14, is Christ Himself. And He, it was a theophany,
a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He
met with Abraham, and He was talking about Him, and we'll
go on to talk about Him more in chapter 7, but He spoke of
that one who's called of God and high priest after the order
of Melchizedek. of whom we have many things to
say, and hard to be uttered, seeing that you are dull of hearing."
You're not quick to hear. Something's wrong with you, he's
saying. "'For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you
have need that one teach you again what be the first principles
of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk,
and not of strong meat.'" He said, you don't have your ABCs
down. "'For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word
of righteousness.'" He's a babe. But strong meat belongeth to
them who are of full age, who are mature. Even those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil, and you can tell the difference. You know the difference
between law and grace. You know the difference between
faith and works. You know the difference between
good and evil. Now therefore, leaving the principles,
the elements, he's not talking about leaving them for good,
but not having to lay the foundation again and again and again. You
know, if you don't learn your ABCs, you're not gonna learn
to read, are you? And this is what he's talking about. This
foundation should not have to be laid again, again, and again. And he names these six aspects
of the one foundation. And the first thing he mentions
is repentance from dead works. Repentance is a change of mind. Dead works are any works you
do before God saves you. They're nothing but dead works. Many people trust their dead
works, and all they are are dead works. They trust the things
that they have done that they think will recommend them to
God. Maybe they look back at a time when they decided to believe,
or decided to become a Christian, or changed their life and gave
up this bad habit and started doing these good things, and
they think, I'm a Christian. That's a dead work. That's all
it is. All works are dead before God gives you life. repentance, a change of mind
about your dead works. You don't trust those dead works
to save you. You believe grace. By grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now, this is fundamental. You
see your works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation.
And if you even trust in any ability of your own that you
contribute, if you even believe in free will, you believe you're
saved because of your free will, that's a dead work. Well, I'm
saved because I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. That's
a dead work. Any work before God gives you life and gives
you a new heart where you're made to look to Christ alone
is a dead work. Now, If you're not, if I'm not
straight on this, we are not on the foundation. And the second
thing he mentions is faith toward God. And Jesus Christ is God. I like saying that. Jesus Christ
is God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, a distinct person, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Jesus Christ is the second person
of the blessed Trinity. He is God. God manifests in the
flesh, and when we have faith, it's toward Him. Who is God? You see, everything we believe
is predicated on who He is. And when you see who He is, you're
going to believe He's successful. Faith toward God. Now, what is faith toward God? Faith is a complete reliance
on who He is and what He did as all that's needed to make
me perfectly accepted before God. I'm relying, not on myself,
I'm relying on Him. I'm not relying on my works.
I'm relying on His works. I'm not relying on my righteousness.
I'm relying on His righteousness as the only righteousness I have. I'm not relying on my will. I'm relying on His sovereign
will. I'm not relying on my anything. I'm looking only to Him, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You look away from
yourself, and you look away from your works, and you look to Him
only as all that's needed to make you accepted. Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. Now, here's what faith is. I've
already quoted the Scripture once. To him that worketh not. You
know you can't be saved by your works, but you believe on Him
who justifies the ungodly. You believe that what Christ
did is all that's needed to justify an ungodly sinner like you and
make you perfectly just in God's sight. And that's what faith
toward God is. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is canon
for righteousness. Have you ever looked to Christ
alone? Not and, not looked to Christ
and, but looked to Christ alone and relied completely on Him
as all that is needed and all that you want to make you perfect
before God. That's faith toward God. Now,
the third thing he mentions in this passage of Scripture is
the doctrine of baptisms. the doctrine of baptisms. Now there, the word baptisms
is in the plural, and there are several baptisms spoken of in
the New Testament. There's water baptism, baptism
by immersion, going under the water and coming back up. There's
no such thing as sprinkling in the Bible, and you don't baptize
infants, you baptize believers. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Water baptism. There's the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. And we read about it in Acts
chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2 and being filled with the Spirit.
But the baptism of the Holy Spirit went on the day of Pentecost.
They were enabled to speak in other languages and preach the
gospel in all kinds of different languages. And the gift of tongues
was very real in the New Testament. Now, it ceased with the apostles
because it says when they saw through the laying on of the
apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given. When people make claims
of being able to do that today, they're not being honest. There's
no speaking in tongues today, but there was then. There was
then. And then there's the baptism
the Lord talked about when he says, I have a baptism to be
baptized with and house my soul straight until it be accomplished.
He was talking about that time he was to be immersed under the
wrath of God. But the one doctrine of baptisms
is union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I'm baptized,
I'm saying, here's my hope, that when He lived, I was in Him.
When He kept the law, I kept the law because He did it as
an us. I did too. When He died under the wrath
of God, I did too because I was in Him, eternally united to Him.
When He was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead because
I was in Him. When you talk about Christ being baptized, He was
immersed under the wrath of God because of His union with us.
He took my sin and my sorrow and made it His very own, and
He was united to me. He became what I am. He was made
to be seen that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit, well, I'm baptized of the Holy
Spirit, given a new heart regenerated by God the Holy Spirit because
of my union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture,
Hebrews 2, verse 11, both he that sanctifieth and they who
are sanctified are all of one. For the witch cause he's not
ashamed to call them brethren, eternally united to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do I understand how that could
be? No. Do I believe it with all my heart? The doctrine of
baptisms. And then he speaks of the doctrine
of laying on of hands. Now is this talking about some
man laying his hands on some other man and all of a sudden
they start, they're anointed somehow and start, no, no, that's
not what he's talking about at all. He's talking about what
took place in Leviticus chapter 16 that teaches us the gospel. We read in verse 20 of Leviticus
chapter 16, And when he hath made an end of Reconcile, the
holy place, and the tabernacle, the congregation, and the altar,
he shall bring the live goat, this high priest, he shall bring
the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head
of the live goat. and confess over him all the
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions,
and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and
shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited." Now, the
doctrine of the laying on of hands is the doctrine that God
takes the sins of His people and puts them on His Son. And He bears them in His own
body, and He's made sin. And just as truly as my sin is
transferred to Christ and became He became guilty of it, and that's
why he died. So his righteousness is given
to me." God can do that, and that is seen in the doctrine
of the laying on of hands. And then the fifth thing he speaks
of is the resurrection of the dead. Now, the three resurrections
of the Scripture, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the spiritual
resurrection of every believer in the new birth, you have the
quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins, and the final resurrection. But you see, when Christ was
raised from the dead, that means that everybody He died for were
saved. That's why he was raised from
the dead. Sin was paid for. Sin was put away. And because
he was raised from the dead, I'm going to be raised from the
dead spiritually. I'm going to be given a new heart. I'm going to be born from above
through the gospel being preached. And on that last day, I'm gonna
be raised incorruptible, just like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the foundation of my salvation is His resurrection, that He
got the job done, that He did what the Father sent Him to do,
and the Father accepted what He did. That's my foundation.
And the last thing He mentions is eternal judgment. And don't
miss that word eternal judgment. This is what I'm laying on. This is the foundation of my
salvation. God is not bound by space or
time the way you and I are. I can't be two places at once. He can, he's spirit. And I can't
see tomorrow. He can because he ordained it.
As far as that goes, he dwells outside of time and everything
he does is eternal. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4.3 says all the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. 2 Timothy 1.9 says
He saved us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. You see, all of my hope is because
it's eternal, completed by God. I was justified eternally by
what Christ did before the foundation of the world. Now, He had to
come in time and die. I wouldn't be justified apart from that.
But everything God does is eternal. He is the eternal God. And that's the foundation I lay
on it. It's eternal. It's already finished. There's nothing that can be added
to it. It was finished before the foundation of the world.
That shows how little my works had to do with anything. It was
done before I had any existence in my own experience. Now, what
a foundation. Repent of your dead works. Have
faith in Christ. Know your hope is union with
Christ. and the resurrection of Christ,
and look nowhere else. We have this message on CD and
DVD. If you call the church, we'll send you a copy. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.