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. I'm reading from Mark chapter
9 and this takes place right after the Lord was transfigured
before his disciples. There was a time when he was
on the mountain with Peter, James, and John and he was transfigured
before them. His face shined as the sun and
they were given some idea of his deity. At this time, The
Father spoke from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. And then we read
in verse 9, And as they came down from the mountain, after
they'd experienced this, I don't even know what to say about it.
They saw the deity of the man, Christ Jesus. And as they came
down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no
man what things they had seen till the Son of Man was risen
from the dead. And they kept that saying with
themselves, questioning, one with another, what the rising
from the dead should mean. Now I'm sure that the disciples
quite often questioned one another with regard to things that the
Lord said. Did you hear Him say that? What
did He mean by that? I bet that happened on a daily
basis. But they were questioning at
this time what the rising of the dead should mean. I found at least six times during
his earthly ministry that he told his disciples that he would
be killed and raised from the dead. And as a matter of fact,
after his resurrection, his enemies knew he had made this statement
because they said this deceiver while he was alive said he'd
rise again in three days, and they asked Pilate to set a watch
over the tomb so his disciples wouldn't steal him away. What does the rising from the
dead mean? What is the significance of the
resurrection of Christ? Now, if Christ was not raised
from the dead, if he's still in that tomb and never was truly
raised from the dead, there's no gospel. This book
is a fairy tale, and Jesus Christ is an imposter, if He was not
literally raised from the dead. Now, there was a man named Jesus
of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Son of God, born of a virgin. not generated from earthly parents
the way you and I are, born of a virgin, prophesied in the Old
Testament unto us, a child is born unto us, a son is given.
He's the eternal Son who came in the flesh. And this man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, lived in obscurity for 30 years working in a carpenter
shop. And while he was doing this,
he was working out a perfect righteousness. He never sinned,
not in thought, not in word, not in deed. He never sinned. He did what only God could do.
He never sinned in this body. After 30 years, he began his
public ministry. I love reading the Sermon on
the Mount, that's the first recorded sermon, where he said six times,
you've heard it said, been said by them of old, and it's quoting
scriptures, but I say unto you. You've heard it said, but I say
unto you. He spake with absolute authority. When he was finished with that
message, the scripture says that they were astonished at his doctrine.
for he spake as one having authority, not as the scribes, the religious
leaders of that day, who had no authority. One could see through
them without any problem at all, and that's the way most religious
people are. You can see through them, but not this man. He spake
as one having authority. And throughout his public ministry
for three years. He was hated. He was despised. Men tried to throw him off a
cliff. Men tried to stone him on several
occasions. And they finally nailed him to
a cross. And He dies on that cross. Somebody says, how could the
Son of God die? I don't know, but He did. He
died on that cross. You may remember that the Religious
leaders asked the pilot to get the men down from the cross because
the next day was going to be the Passover and they didn't
want to have anybody hanging on a cross on the Passover. And
the soldiers came to the thieves and they broke their legs because
that would make you not be able to hold yourself up. They'd suffocate
and die. You may be on a cross three or
four days before you die, but this would speed up the process.
And when they came to Christ, they saw he was already dead. And they pierced him with a spear,
and blood and water came out of his side. But they saw he
was already dead. The Son of God actually died. Three days later, he was raised
from the dead. He was seen of over 500 witnesses
at once. It's documented. He really did
raise, rise from the dead. I love to think of his resurrection.
He's laying there in the tomb, dead. Nobody witnessed this except
his father. He's laying there in the tomb,
dead, and all of a sudden he opens his eyes. He's alive. He's raised from the dead. Now, why did He die? There's only one reason for death,
sin. The reason you and I are going
to die is because of sin. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, in that
all have sinned." The reason Jesus Christ died was because
of sin. Now somebody says, how can you
say that if He never sinned? The sins of his people became
his sins. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. You see, God is just. God is
holy. He cannot accept me and you the
way we are. He will not accept me and you
the way we are. If there's any sin on me, if there's any sin
on you, God, who is just, must send us to hell. For God to accept
me, I'm gonna have to have a perfect righteousness. God, in His mercy,
took my sin—somebody says, how did He do this? I don't know,
but He did. This is true with regard to all of His elect. He
took their sin and placed it on His Son, like the high priest
in Leviticus 16 put his hands on the head of the scapegoat,
and the sins were symbolically transferred to Him. My sin became
his sin, and he died under the wrath of God as the sin-bearing
substitute. He said, My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? Because God's holy. That's why. He was made sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
he, his father, hath made him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, he died because of sin. Why was he raised? You know,
there are many people who believe in the resurrection that have
really no idea why he died in the first place or why he was
raised. Why was he raised from the dead? He was. He was. And you know,
every believer is a witness of the resurrection. I'm speaking
as a witness. Now, I didn't see him physically come out of the
tomb, and I've never seen him physically but I know Him, and
I'm speaking as His witness. He is risen from the dead. Now, why was He raised from the
dead? Now, here's the first reason. because this is all a part of
God's purpose. God purposed his resurrection,
therefore he must be raised from the dead. I found 16 times in
the New Testament where there's a reference to the fact that
he must be raised. It was absolutely necessary that
he be raised. Now listen to this scripture.
This is a quotation from Peter's message on the day of Pentecost.
He said, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with wicked hands have
crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having loose
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. You see, it's not possible for
God's purpose to be thwarted. If God purposed His Only begotten
Son to be raised from the dead, raised from the dead He must
be. There was an absolute necessity
to His resurrection. Why was His resurrection necessary? Why did it have to be? Because
the Scripture said it would be. That's enough. Whatever the Scripture
says is true. And the Scripture said He must
rise from the dead. Now, let me remind you. The Bible
is the inspired Word of God, every word divinely inspired. And somebody says, well, how
do you expect me to believe that? Well, do you believe that God
created the world? Deep down, you know He did. He
created the universe. And if He has the power to create
the universe, He has the power to inspire men to write a book
and keep it preserved without error. And if I don't have that,
what do I have? My opinion and your opinion,
and that's no good. I don't trust myself. I need
a divine revelation written, not invented by men, but God's
actual Word. And God's Word tells us that
He must be raised from the dead. We read in I Corinthians 15,
3 and 4, The Gospel is how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried
and raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that's a quotation from Psalm
16 that says, He must be raised from the dead. So Christ was
raised because it was God's purpose, because the Scriptures teach
that He was raised from the dead. But listen to this. He was raised
from the dead because of what He accomplished by His death. Now, this is very important. Please listen carefully. He was
raised from the dead because of what He accomplished by His
death. Now, in that story of the transfiguration,
Moses and Elijah appeared with the Lord Jesus Christ when He
was transfigured, and there was Moses and Elijah with Him. And
we know from Luke's account what they were talking about. They
were talking about the decease which He should accomplish in
Jerusalem. Have you ever heard of a death
being an accomplishment, an achievement? Well, it is when he died. Now,
you and I, when we die, it just shows we're sinners. It just
shows our defeat. But he accomplished something
by his death. You see, he never went through
the process of decay. You know why? The moment he died,
all of the elect were justified. He accomplished the complete
salvation of his people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's exactly
what he did. He accomplished salvation for
everybody he died for. Hebrews 1.3 says, When He had
by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high. He sat down because His work
was finished. You remember His words from the
cross? It is finished. That doesn't simply mean his
earthly sorrows were over. It means he did what he came
to do. He came to save his people from
their sins, and that's precisely what he did. He accomplished
the full salvation of his people. Romans 4.25 says he was delivered
for our offenses. and raised again for our justification. Now, I'd like to read a passage
from Romans 8, and if you can get a Bible, it would be good
for you to be able to follow along, but here is what he accomplished. In verse 32, he, Romans 8, 32,
he, God, that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not? with Him freely give us all things. There's nothing that could prevent
God from freely giving all of His people all things regarding
salvation. Now, let's go on reading. Verse
33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It
is God that justifieth. And that's what Christ did when
He died. He justified. He put away the sins of His people,
satisfied the law of God, satisfied the justice of God, Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth.
Who is He that condemneth? Who can bring anything to my
charge? Who is He that condemneth? Listen
to the answer. It's Christ that died. That's
the only answer I need. It's Christ that died. Now, if
I died for you, it wouldn't do you any good, but if He died
for you because of who He is, you must be saved. It's Christ
that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Now, he's at the right
hand of the Father. Now, after he was raised from
the dead, he ascended back to God, and he's making intercession,
representing all of his people. Now, why was he raised from the
dead? Well, because it was God's purpose,
because Scripture said, because of his accomplishments, But here's
another reason he was raised from the dead. He was raised
from the dead to show us who he is. He said, no man takes my life
from me. The Lord wasn't a victim. Everything
that they did, they only did because he allowed them to do
it and it was his purpose for them to do it. He was raised
from the dead to show who He is. No man takes my life from
me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father. He said, I am the
resurrection and the life. Not simply speaking of an event,
I myself am the resurrection. When I'm raised, all my people
are raised with me in me. I am the resurrection and the
life. Paul said in Romans chapter 1,
verse 4, that he was declared to be the son of God with power
by the spirit of holiness and the resurrection of the dead.
The resurrection of the dead tells us who he really is. I don't think it's kind of interesting
is not the right word, but they said, show us a sign. Who gave
you the authority to do this? This was after he made that whip
to whip, drive those people up, those money changers out of the
temple. And they said, who gave you the authority to do this?
Give us a sign and show us. He said, destroy this temple
and in three days, I'll raise it up. Speaking of his own resurrection. Now, the resurrection is a declaration
of who He is. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God. Now, here's
another reason for the resurrection. Romans 14, 9 says, to this end,
Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be Lord,
both of the dead and the living. Why was Christ raised from the
dead? That he might be Lord. Now, he achieved honor. I don't understand this. I believe
it. I don't understand it. He achieved honor that he would
not have had had he not come and saved his people from their
sins and died and was raised from the dead. NOW HE BECAME
OBEDIENT TO DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. AND FOR THIS CAUSE
GOD HATH HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, AND GIVEN HIM A NAME WHICH IS
ABOVE EVERY NAME, THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD
BOW, OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, THINGS EARTH, AND THINGS UNDER THE EARTH,
AND THAT EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. NOW
HE WAS RAISED THAT HE MIGHT BE LORD, BOTH OF THE DEAD AND THE
LIVING. YOU SEE, HE'S EVERYBODY'S LORD. He's the Lord of the dead. Those people who are dead in
sins, who have no love for Him, they say, we'll not have this
man to reign over us. He is reigning over you right
now. He's your Lord, whether you know it or not. Your eternal
destiny is in His hands. It's up to Him as to where you're
going to spend eternity. He is your Lord. You might not know it, but He
controls everything going through your mind. He is your Lord. He's Lord of the living. Oh,
He's the Lord of the believer. I love what Thomas said, my Lord
and my God. He's the Lord of every believer's
life. And I love to think of His Lordship.
He's Lord of creation. He's the one who created the
universe. He's the one who created the
stars and the planets and the galaxies. He's the one who created
the minutia of an atom. He is Lord of creation. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. He's the Lord of providence.
You know what that means? Everything that happens is His
will being done. Now, somebody says, Are you saying
God is the author of evil? I'm saying that everything that
happens happens according to His will. Now, He brings good
out of evil. The cross is the most evil thing
to ever take place, and look at the good the Lord brought
out of that. He does what only He can do, bring good out of
evil, but He's in control of everything. I think of the fall
of Adam. Somebody says, could God have
prevented it? Of course He could have, but it was His purpose.
It was His purpose for that to take place, because if there
were no fall, Christ would never have come and died on the cross
and glorified God the way He did. He's Lord of providence,
and most especially, He's the Lord of salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord, and the risen Christ is the Lord of salvation. That means if you're saved, He's
the one who saves you. and you don't contribute anything.
He does it all. Thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. He is the Lord. And listen to
this, his resurrection. I love thinking about this. His
resurrection is the guarantee of the resurrection of every
believer and spending eternity with him. First Thessalonians
4.14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. That is the future of every believer
being in his presence, beholding his glory, and it's because he
was raised from the dead. Now, the resurrection of Christ
is, in reality, the only thing that satisfies an accusing conscience. Now, all men have a conscience,
and some men's consciences don't work very well. They're seared,
and things don't seem to trouble them very much. I realize that.
But it's only through sinfulness and hardness of heart that a
conscience can become seared. But all men have this thing called
a conscience. Let me tell you something about
my conscience. All my conscience does is condemn me and accuse
me. And that's what Romans 2.16 says
the conscience of the natural man does. It either accuses or
excuses. You might have a conscience that
tries to make you vindicate yourself even though you truly are guilty. A conscience is for sinners. That's what the conscience is
for. And there's nothing you can do to satisfy your conscience. There's nothing you can do, if
you're honest, there's nothing you can do to make your conscience
quit accusing you. The only thing that satisfies
the conscience is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see, because of His resurrection,
I don't have anything to feel guilty about. I don't have anything
to accuse my conscience because I have no sin. He put that sin away, and there's
nothing I have to feel guilty about. Somebody says, are you
being serious? My salvation is in the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, when He lived,
He kept God's law perfectly. And that perfect righteousness
is given to every believer, and their sin was given to Him. And He put away that sin. It's what the Bible calls justification. Justification. the glorious truth
that every believer, because of Christ's death, burial, life,
death, burial, and resurrection, every believer stands before
God justified, without guilt, perfectly righteous. When God
looks at me, He doesn't see any sin. And the reason He doesn't
see any sin is because there's not any sin. It's been put away
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I close my eyes in death,
I'm going to be brought into God's presence, and I'm going
to be declared to be just. He's never sinned. He has no
guilt. He's perfect. And the only reason
that is, is because of Christ. His life, His death, His burial,
and His resurrection, where He put away my sins. Now, listen to this scripture,
Romans chapter 10, verse 9. If I confess, if thou should
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I'm confessing with my mouth
the Lord Jesus. He is Lord. and I'm believing
in my heart God really raised him from the dead. He was completely
satisfied with what he did, and he raised him from the dead.
It's not just believing that the resurrection took place.
It's knowing why it took place, because he completely satisfied
God's law, and he put away the sins of everybody he died for,
and he was raised from the dead because God said, I'm satisfied
with him, and I'm satisfied with everybody he represented. Now,
every believer can speak as a witness of the resurrection, because
we know the living Christ. Now, I've not seen Him physically. I've not heard His voice audibly. Somebody that makes a claim that
they have, I don't believe them. Don't believe them for a second.
But I know Him, and I know Him because He knows me. And all
of my hope is found in His resurrection." Now, we have this message on
CD and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nybert 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
your request to todd.nybert at gmail.com. Or you may write or
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