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'm reading from Daniel chapter
12, verse 2, and I want to speak to you upon the subject, the
resurrection. In verse 2 of Daniel chapter
12, this is an Old Testament book. And many of them that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life. and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And Daniel describes an event
that will most certainly take place, the final resurrection. Now, how many billions of people
have died over the centuries? I have no idea. Abel was the
first man to die. And how many billions of people
have died since then? My time is coming. Your time
is coming. You will remember that the Lord
formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and he said, after
the fall, dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. The
same is true of me and you. Dust we are, and to dust we will
return. And if we're not alive upon the
return of the Lord, these bodies of ours will be reduced to a
pile of dirt. I don't know how long it takes
for a human body to decompose, but decompose it will, and how
many billions of people are now nothing more than a pile of dirt. Then will come the final resurrection.
where these physical bodies that had been reduced to a pile of
dirt will be raised up again into a living body. From the
dust, some shall be raised to everlasting life, and some will
be raised to everlasting shame and contempt. Now, everybody
knows that there are two kinds of people, the righteous and
the wicked. And everybody knows that God
will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Where people
have a problem is they don't understand who is righteous and
who is wicked because here's a fact, all the righteous believe
themselves to be wicked. and all of the wicked believe
themselves to be righteous, or at least have the potential to
be righteous. And what I just said is the truth.
And on resurrection morn, the righteous will be rewarded, and
the wicked will be eternally punished. Now, we read in John
5, verse 28, these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are
in their graves, that's everybody, shall hear his voice and shall
come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation. Now, I love the way the Lord
says this. This demonstrates the reality
of justification. He doesn't say those that have
had Christ's righteousness imputed to them will be raised to eternal
life. He says those who have done good.
You see, if Christ is my righteousness, that means all that can be said
of me is I've done good. I will hear those words, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Now, do I feel like
in and of myself I've done well? Of course not. Of course not.
I don't feel good about anything I've ever done. If my fingerprints
are on it, sin's in it. But oh, if His righteousness
is my personal righteousness before God, He did well. And
whatever He did, I did. And that's the believer's justification
before God. will be raised again unto justification
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation." In Revelation 22, verse 11, we read, they that
are unjust, let them be unjust still. They that are filthy,
let them be filthy still. And they that are righteous,
let them be righteous still. and they that are holy, let them
be holy still." Now, what that means is, if you die, in an unjustified
state before God. If you die in the filthiness
of your sins, you will be raised up to spend eternity just like
you lived, only suffering the punishment of God. But if you
die a justified man, if you die with this holy nature given in
the new birth, when you're raised from the dead, you will spend
eternity in that state, perfectly righteous, perfectly holy before
God. Now, most people say that Job
is the oldest book in the Bible, older than the writings of Moses. And listen to these words of
Job. In Job chapter 19, he says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, Job knew that was what was going to happen
to him, yet in my flesh shall I see God." This is a reference
to the resurrection. "...whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eye shall behold him, and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me." Now, the Lord refers to His own resurrection
in Psalm 16 prophetically through the words of David, and this
was used in Acts chapter 2 by Peter speaking of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the New Testament days,
during our Lord's earthly ministry, there was a debate between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees over the resurrection. The Pharisees
believed in the resurrection. The Sadducees did not. And they
tried to entangle the Lord in His words by giving that story
of the woman who was married to seven different men who were
brethren, and none of them were able to father her children,
and they asked the question, who is she going to be in the
resurrection? And that's when the Lord tells
us there won't be marriages in life, in the children of the
resurrection. But He said, You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,
nor the power of God. For God is called the God of
the living, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. in this
you do err greatly." Now, I wouldn't have looked at that and thought
of it as being proof of the resurrection, but that's what the Lord used.
God is the God of the living, and He used that as proof of
the resurrection. Now actually, while the Lord
spoke during His three years of earthly ministry on at least
five different occasions, He referred to His death and resurrection. There was a time when they said,
What sign showest thou? And He gave them the sign of
Jonah three days in, three days out. And then in John chapter
2 when he made the whip to drive the money changers out of the
temple, the men using religion for financial gain, they said,
what sign showest thou that you do these things? He said, destroy
this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. He was talking
about his body. That's the sign that I've got the authority to
do these things. And then in the book of Matthew,
we have three different occasions where he tells his disciples,
I'm going to be crucified. And the third day, I'm going
to be raised from the dead. And it's interesting, shortly
after his death, if interesting is the right words, that his
enemy said, sir, we remember that this deceiver said while
he was yet alive, after three days, I'll rise again. Seal the
sepulcher, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and
the last heir be worse than the first." His enemies knew about
this. My question is, why weren't the
disciples there waiting for him to walk out of the tomb? They
should have been. His enemies knew about Him making
these statements. He made these statements to His
disciples, but yet somehow they did not believe. But the message
of the gospel is, the Lord is risen indeed. Now, in Hebrews
chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, we're given the ABCs of the gospel. The elements of the gospel. And he names these six things
in Hebrews 6, 1 and 2. First thing he mentions is repentance
from dead works. You say, what's that mean? You
change your mind about all your works before God saved you and
before he gave you life. No matter how religious they
may have been, they were nothing more than dead works. And then
he speaks of faith toward God, believing the gospel. And then
he speaks of the doctrines of baptisms. Now, the doctrine of
baptism is union with Christ. That's what baptism signifies.
When he lived, I lived. When he died, I died. When he
was raised, I was raised. And then the doctrine of the
laying on of hands. That's talking about not a man putting his hands
on another man, and all of a sudden he receives the Holy Ghost. That
was over in the at the end of the New Testament. Only the apostles
could do that. That's talking about the high
priest placing his hands on the sacrifice, signifying the transfer
of guilt. My sin was transferred to Christ
and became his sin. And then he says, the doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead. Now, in the Bible, there are
three different resurrections, and they're all so incredibly
important. First, there's the bodily resurrection of Christ. One of the most amazing things
that I just can't get a hold of, I believe it, but I don't
understand it. Jesus Christ died. The God-man
died. How'd he do it? I don't know,
but he did. He did. And I know the reason for that
death. The reason for that death was sin, who his own self bear
our sins in his own body on the tree. He died, but he did something
that you or I could never do when he died. He satisfied God. Now, the reason hell is eternal,
is because the death of the sinner can never satisfy God. I have one daughter, and if you
murdered her and then came up to me and said, I'll give you
$10 million. Will you be satisfied with that
to make up for this? I'd say no. If you'd give me
all the money in the world, it wouldn't satisfy me that my daughter
was murdered. It wouldn't do it. Now, when
God's Son died, He did what me or you could never do. He actually
made satisfaction to God, to where God said, I'm satisfied.
I can't look for anything else. His death satisfied God's judgment
against sin. It satisfied God's holy law.
And he didn't go through the process of decay when he died.
He said, thou will not suffer thy holy one to see corruption
because the moment he died, and I think this is glorious, he
died and sin was gone. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. When he physically was raised
from the dead, All of God's people were raised in Him and justified
and perfect in Christ Jesus. That's the first resurrection,
His physical resurrection. He really did die, and He was
raised from the dead. And then there is spiritual resurrection. You see, we're born into this
world dead in sins. And when God gives us life, there's
a spiritual resurrection. And you hath he quickened, hath
he given life to, who were dead in trespasses and sins. I'm given
spiritual life that I didn't have before. I was raised from
the dead. I was dead in sins, had no love
for God, no understanding of the gospel. He gave me life.
I now love him. I now believe the gospel. I now
do what I could not do when I was dead in sins. Spiritual resurrection. And then finally there'll be
this physical resurrection that I just spoke of in Hebrews-in
Daniel chapter 12, and there's most-the most information on
it's in 1 Corinthians 15. It's a very long chapter if you'd
want to read the chapter on this physical resurrection that's
going to be at the end day when people who were nothing but piles
of dirt are raised back up to life. And let me give you some
things that the Scripture reveals about resurrection. First, Christ
said to Martha in John chapter 11, after she said, I know my
brother will be raised up on the last day at the resurrection.
I know that. I've got my doctrine straight
on that. I know the facts about that. And he replied, I am the
resurrection. and the life. He that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? You see, the resurrection is
not an event. It's a person. And when He was
raised from the dead, all of those in Him were raised from
the dead as well. And when He was quickened by
God, all of God's elect were said to be quickened together
with Him. In Ephesians 2, verse 5, He is
the resurrection. He is the life. It's His life
that is my life before God. If you want to know the truth
about Todd Nybert, you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you
look at the life of Christ That is the life of every believer. That's the righteousness I'm
justified by, His perfect life. Paul said to Agrippa, Why should
it thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise
the dead? Now, here's something man cannot
do. I know that there's been Frankenstein
stories about men being given life once again, but it's never
happened, not by man. With man, resurrection from the
dead is impossible, but not with God. God could create the universe
from nothing, and really that's the only thing that makes sense.
Somebody says, well, I'm an atheist. Well, your position is unreasonable,
and deep down you know better. It's only logical that somebody
had to make something, and it's known in the Scripture. I mean,
we can look by creation and see somebody made this, He's very
powerful, and nobody made Him. We see His eternal power in Godhead,
and this One who created the universe can raise people from
the dead. With God, nothing shall be impossible. So somebody says, well, I don't
see how this can be. Well, I don't either, but I believe
it. God will raise men and women from the dead on that final day. The only way heaven will be populated
is if God raises men. The only way hell will be populated
is if God raises men from the dead, and that is precisely what
he's going to do. Now, the Apostle Paul made this
statement in Philippians chapter 3, verse 10, I want to know the
power of his resurrection. What power is involved in God
raising Christ from the dead? Omnipotence is involved in God
raising Christ from the dead. And to think of the results of
Him being raised from the dead. What power was seen in my sin
being put away? What power is seen in me being
made to be perfect before God? I want to know the power Oh,
the omnipotence of His resurrection. It's not just a doctrine, I believe,
at the end. I want to know the power of this doctrine. Paul said in Romans 4, verse
25, with regard to the resurrection of Christ, He was delivered for
our offenses, and He was raised again. for our justification. You see, Christ died bearing
our sins, bearing the sins of His people, bearing the sins
of the elect. And I have to say that. I have
to say that. Christ didn't bear everybody's
sins because if He did, everybody would be saved. Christ died for
the elect and not all men without exception. And somebody says,
why do you have to hound on that? Well, because that's what people
don't believe. And this is the very essence of my hope is that
Christ died for me. If you can tell me he didn't
die for me, or you can tell me he died for a man, and that man
might end up in hell anyway, you've taken away the only hope
I have. Because the only hope I have is that his death was
a successful death, that he was delivered for my offenses and
raised again for my justification. Now, everybody he represented
is justified before God. You know what that means? I have
no guilt. It means I don't have anything
to feel guilty about. It means I have perfect righteousness
before God. It means all God requires, I
have. That's what the resurrection
of Christ means. Everybody he died for is justified
without guilt, without sin, so much so that Paul said, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it's God that justified
them. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather, that's risen again. My salvation
is seen in that empty tomb. If he's still there, I'm still
in my sins. But if he's raised from the dead,
I'm not in my sins any longer. He put them away. The gospel
is seen in this statement. The Lord is risen indeed. Now this thing of the resurrection
is the stuff of faith. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter 10, 9. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Now I confess with
my mouth, Jesus is Lord Jesus. He is Lord. He's Lord of all. He's your Lord. When somebody
says, make Jesus the Lord of your life, I get so annoyed.
He is the Lord of your life. You don't make Him Lord. He is
the Lord. Romans 14, 9 says He's Lord of
the dead and the living. He's the Lord of the believer.
Oh, He's their Lord. But He's the Lord of the unbeliever,
too. They might not know it, but He's still their Lord, and
they're in His hands. We confess the Lord Jesus, and we believe
in our heart that God really did raise Him from the dead. Now, the resurrection, no one
witnessed but God. He was in the tomb when He was
raised from the dead. God raised him from the dead.
Afterwards he was on earth for 40 days speaking to his disciples,
but the only one who witnessed the resurrection was the one
who raised him from the dead. And the reason he raised him
from the dead is complete satisfaction was made, and it's not just believing
in the fact of the resurrection, it's believing in the reason
for the resurrection. I imagine there's a lot of people
that believe in the fact of the resurrection that don't really
give much thought as to why he was raised from the dead. He
was raised from the dead because sin was put away Everybody he
died for was saved. When he said, it is finished,
it was finished. He was raised from the dead for
their justification, and this is what we believe. We believe
he's the Lord, and we believe God raised him from the dead,
and we know why he did it, because he actually succeeded in what
the Father sent him to do. This is the stuff of faith. Peter said in 1 Peter 1, 3 that
we have a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the
dead. Now here's my hope. My hope is that when I stand
before God on Judgment Day, He's going to say to me, Well done,
thou good and faithful servant. I have the hope of complete justification,
that I have no guilt before God, that I stand righteous before
God, and I have a hope that everything between now and then is working
together for my good and His glory. Everything. Romans 8,
28 says, And we know that all things work together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose." Now, what a
blessed hope. I have a hope that I'm going to stand before God
justified, and that everything between now and then, and everything
before then, has been working together by God for my good and
His glory. What a hope. Well, what's the
basis of that hope? The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. because he was raised from the
dead, God accepted what he did, I'm justified, and God is in
complete control of everything. All my word is come see the place
where the Lord lay." Listen to this scripture in 1 Peter 3,
verse 21, we read of having a good conscience by the resurrection
of Christ from the dead. Now a good conscience, what is
a good conscience? Somebody says, well, I don't
feel guilty. I don't have any guilt. I feel like I'm okay.
Well, let me tell you what your conscience is. It's seared. It
doesn't work. If you feel that way about yourself,
it's just because your conscience is no good. And you don't know
the difference between right and wrong, sin and righteousness. Your conscience is seared. Somebody says, well, I've got
a really guilty conscience. Well, do you know anything about
looking to Christ? Yes, you have a conscience that
condemns you. I understand that. What's a good
conscience? A good conscience is a conscience
that has nothing to feel guilty about. Now, how in the world
can I have a good conscience? There's only one thing that gives
me a good conscience that satisfies my conscience, and that's the
resurrection of Christ from the dead. That satisfies me. I know that God is pleased with
him. I know that God is pleased with me in him. I know that all
my sins have been put away. I have nothing to feel guilty
about. That good conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about
only comes by virtue of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Nothing
else can satisfy my conscience. I can't look at myself and say,
well, I've got a good conscience about myself. I'm doing okay.
No, no, no. The only thing that gives a good
conscience is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead. Nothing else will do. And then
in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul makes this statement with regard to
the resurrection. He says in verse 29, else what
should they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise
not at all? Now what he's talking about is baptism. He's saying,
why be baptized if there's no resurrection? Just go ahead and
hold them under the water. Baptism means death, burial,
and resurrection. Now why, what should they do
which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in
jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing,
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. If after
the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, and I believe
he was put into one of those rings and had beasts coming at
him and he was given weapons to try to protect himself, but
the Lord protected him. But he had to go through that because
of what he believed with regard to the gospel of Christ. If after
the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage
is there to me if the dead rise not? If the dead rise not, let
us eat and drink. Be merry, for tomorrow we die. Now, what is it that causes us
to persevere in the faith? The sure and certain hope of
the resurrection. If this is all there is, might
as well just eat, drink, and be merry. Throw caution to the
wind. If this is all there is, just
have the best time you can. Have the most enjoyment that
you can with beloved This is not the only time. There is a
time when the dead shall be raised. Some in perfection, some the
damnation. May God cause us to be raised
in perfection. Amen. To request a copy of the
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