Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. 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, A
Word to a Doubting Disciple. Now let's begin reading in Matthew
11, verse 2. Now when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Now this is John the Baptist
speaking. He is in prison. He had had a
very active prophetic ministry, used greatly of God, and he's
thrown in prison. He was thrown in prison by Herod. He had confronted Herod over
his wrong relationship. He said, it's not lawful for
thee to have her concerning the woman to whom he was married.
And he was thrown in prison. I don't know how long he had
been in prison, but what would go through your mind if you were
in a jail cell, stuck, couldn't go anywhere. Now, While he is
in prison, he's hearing about this Christ whom he knew. And I don't know what caused
him to ask this question, but he did send two disciples. This question he didn't seem
certain anymore, and of all his experience, art thou he that
should come? Or look thee for another? Now, the entire Old Testament
can be summarized by this statement, He that should come. That's what the whole Old Testament
is about, He that should come. This is talking about the birth
of Christ, concerning His birth. To me, that is to be ruler in
Israel. have been from of old, from everlasting. Now here we have a prophecy concerning
him that should love the everlasting one. Isaiah 39, verse 6, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders. His virgin birth shall be a prophet. In Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14,
the full virgin shall be with child, speaking of him who should
come. He shall be a prophet. In Genesis
chapter 3, verse 9, is the seed of one. bruise, rush, the serpentine,
somewhat some, even that should come. I said the whole testimony
is about Isaac, sick of him as the one who comes to me would
be as a size man. This is the one who is going
to come. The one who is the Lamb slain
at the foundation of the world. He's going to come in time to
be the Lamb slain, the Savior of His people. In that should
come. Now, on the Baptist, was foretold
in the Old Testament. You know, he's the only person
other than Christ whose coming is foretold in the Old Testament. Malachi 3.1 says, Now, he came to prepare the way
of Christ. He was called a forerunner of
Christ. And there are so many interesting
things about John the Baptist. He's the one whom the Lord said,
of which are born of women, there is risen none greater. John the
Baptist is the Lord, speaking of his servant. When he was born,
or before he was born, when he was in his mother's womb, scripture
said he was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb. And his
mother heard Mary, mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was
a cousin of Christ, and when she heard Mary say a child being
born into her, John left the womb. Now, he knew Christ. It was John who said, John was
the one who baptized him and was a witness to the Holy Ghost
descending like a dove on the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew who
Christ was. Now what is all this about? Him
saying, He knew, didn't he? How could he ask such a question?
I've heard people say when he sent those two, he was doing
it for their benefit. He knew who he was, and he was
trying to show these men he is in the house. I don't believe
that per se. John was dead. Somebody says, how could he do
something like that? Well, the same way me and you
could have done it. John was a man. John was a sinful
man. John, like every other believer,
had two natures. A holy nature given to him in
his birth, and he still had a sinful nature. And those two natures
could only be described by that man who had the Dearly Blessed
Son, in the Lord's name, if you can believe all things are possible,
it is in the belief of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. If you're a believer, you have
a new nature that believes. It does what it could not do
before. It believes. But you have an old nature that
always has to cry out, help thou mine unbelief. The old nature
never believes. Now John the Baptist is special
and gracious and blessed by God. As this man was, he was still
a man. He was still a sinful man, subject to all the infirmities
of flesh, and I don't know what all was going on in his mind
when he was in that prison cell, but he does come with this question,
art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Now, I want us to see how the
Lord deals with his disciple, his dying disciple. Reading verse 4, Jesus answered
and said unto them, go and show John again those things which
you do here and see. John needed to hear again. He needed to hear again. And you and I need to hear the
gospel over and over and over. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And the Lord said, you
go tell John again the things which you've heard and seen. And then he mentions six miracles
that took place that John was to be returned to from his two
disciples, and they were going to tell him about these six miracles
that they had heard and seen. He said in verse five, the blind
received their sight. People who were stone blind were
made to see. And the lame walk. Perhaps someone
would be a paraplegic. Maybe his spine had been snapped
and he lost all ability to even move his legs. And the Lord could say, rise,
take up thy bed and walk. And that's exactly what would
happen. The lame walk. are cleansed, people filled with
leprosy, dying of leprosy. The leper came to the Lord and
said, if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord replied,
I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. And we read where the deaf hear,
those who could not hear are made to hear. The scripture says
regarding him, He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb
to speak. You go tell John about this.
And the dead are raised. Do you know on at least three
different occasions the Lord actually raised somebody from
the dead? You remember the little girl, perhaps the flush was still
in her cheeks, she just died and He came and said, Arise,
and she arose. And there was a young man during the funeral
procession. He was already in his coffin,
and his mother was weeping. And the Lord came and touched
the coffin and said to the young man, I say unto thee, arise.
And he arose. And then there's Lazarus. He'd
been dead for four days. The process of decay had strongly
coming in. He had already began to stink.
And Lazarus, come forth. And he was dead, came forth.
The dead are raised, and to the poor, those who have no resources,
those who have nothing to bring to the table, to the poor, the
gospel is preached. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, here we are given, first
of all, the state of the natural man. Now somebody says, what
do you mean by natural man? I'm talking about the way me
and you were born. That's what I'm talking about, the natural
man. The way we came into this world, we were all born just
like this. As a result of Adam's fall, we
share in his sinful, fallen nature and we're born blind. Not physically
blind, but spiritually blind. We're unable to see the beauty
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're unable to see our need
of him. We're unable to see ourselves.
We don't see ourselves as sinful as we really are. We have completely
false views of ourselves. Spiritually blind, cannot see
the gospel. We are spiritually lame. We can't walk in God's commandments.
We're lame. We can't get to Christ. We can't
come to Christ. We're lame. There's no way the
natural man can come to the Lord Jesus Christ because he's spiritually
lame. And then we're lepers, the great
type of sin. If you want to understand why
the Bible says so much about leprosy, well, leprosy is the
great type of sin in the scripture. And we're completely filled with
leprosy, sin, and then death. A natural man cannot hear the
gospel. Oh, he can hear audibly, but he can't hear the gospel
with understanding. You see, he has no true point
of reference. He has no true knowledge of God.
He has no true knowledge of sin, and when the gospel comes, it
doesn't come as good news to him. It might irritate him. He
might not like it. He disagrees. He's deaf. He can't hear the gospel. You
and I cannot hear unless God gives us ears to hear. Now you
can hear audibly, but as far as hearing with hearing ears,
where you rejoice in what's being heard, where you believe what's
being heard, where you see this is who God is, this is who you
are, this is how God saves, you can't do that unless God gives
you hearing ears. I can't do it unless God gives
me hearing ears. The dead are raised. Well, dead in sins. Born into
this world, dead in trespasses and sins. Remember when God said
to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you'll surely die? Well, he didn't
die physically on that day, but he died spiritually. He lost
his relationship with God. He lost his love for God. He
became spiritually dead. What can a dead man do to save
himself? Absolutely nothing. You were
dead and the poor. Naturally, I'm poor. I don't
have anything to bring to the table. I don't have anything
to bring to God. I am poor, and there's nothing
I can do about it. That is me. I got nothing to
bring to the table, and neither do you. Now, that is the state
of the natural man, blind, lame, a leper, deaf, dead, and poor. Now, what does the Lord say,
go show and John again those things which you do hear and
see the blind receive their sight. I'm giving eyes to see. The Lord
said for judgment if I come into this world that they would see
not might see and that they would see might be made blind. Now, someone who says, I can't
see why God would ever have anything to do with me. I can't see why
he'd save me. I can't see why he'd forgive
me. I can't see why he would accept me. I'm a sinful individual. I can't see why God would have
anything to do with me. That person is given sight to
see he does so for Christ's sake. He accepts you for Christ's sake.
He saves you for Christ's sake. He forgives you of your sins
for Christ's sake. And you're made to see that everything
God does, he does for Christ's sake. And you're made to see
that your acceptance is for Christ's sake. And you can see why God
saves you for Christ's sake. You're given eyes to see his
beauty. You're given eyes to see his
sufficiency. You're given eyes to see his
righteousness as the only righteousness you need. You're given eyes to
see the power of his precious blood. You're given eyes to see
your own sinfulness and your need of him. The blind receive
their sight. And the lame walk. Now, that is speaking of, you're
so lame that you can't walk in God's commandments. Well, when
God saves you. He drew grace to walk in the
commandment of the gospel, believing on his son and loving one another
as he gave his commandment. And I think the main idea of
the lame walking is walk has to do with getting from one place
to another. You're made to come to Christ. You were lame before he saved
you to where you couldn't get to him. The Lord did say, no
man can come to me. except it were given him of my
father, except he is drawn by the father. And when the father
draws you, you get up and walk and come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You come to him for all things,
the lame walk. And the next thing he says is
the lepers are cleansed. Now, I think it's very interesting
in Leviticus chapter 12 and 13, you're given the laws concerning
the cleansing of the leper. And if a leper came to the high
priest to be pronounced to be clean and get out of the leper
colony, if he had one square inch of healthy flesh, he was
sent back to the leper colony. It was only when he came full
of leprosy that the priest would pronounce him clean. And the
only way you and I are going to be cleansed is if we come
full of sin. There's nothing there but sin,
no healthy flesh, no righteousness, no goodness, nothing but sin. You come to Christ full of leprosy. and you will be clean." That
leper said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus
moved with compassion and said, I will be thou clean. And the death here, this is what
happens when God saves somebody. The death here, There was a time
when you didn't even have ears to hear. You didn't care. But
now you do. You hear the gospel as good news.
Blessed are they that know the joyful sound. You hear Christ
preached in the preaching of the gospel. You are made to worship
hearing the gospel. You rejoice in what you're hearing
when you're given ears to hear. The deaf hear. And the dead are
raised. You see, when God saves you,
He raises you from the dead. He gives you spiritual life.
You're given a life that you did not have before. The only
reason you believe is because you have spiritual life. The
only reason you repent is because you have spiritual life. You've
been birthed from above. The dead here, the deaf here,
the dead are raised up. You've got spiritual life, a
life that was not there before. To the poor, those who have nothing
to recommend them, the gospel is preached. Here it is, Christ
Jesus, listen to this scripture from 1 Timothy 1.15, this is
a faithful saying, it's worthy of all acceptation, everybody
ought to rejoice in this, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom Paul said, I am the chief. Did he
come to save me? Are you a sinner? Yes, I am. Then he came to save you. Are
you a sinner? No, I'm not. Then he didn't come
to save you. He only came to save sinners. And bless God,
that's exactly what he did when he said it is finished. Everybody
he came for, every sinner he came to save, he saved. And you hear this, you know you
have nothing to bring to the table, you're poor, and you find
out, I don't have to have anything. He did it all. There's nothing
I need to contribute. He did it all. Now he says to
John, you go tell John again, the things that you see and hear,
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, The dead are raised up, and the poor
have the gospel preached unto them. And then in verse six,
he makes this statement, and blessed is he, oh, how blessed
of God is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now here's the blessed man. the man who is not offended in
the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, natural men are not offended
by a false Christ because they have control over Him. As long
as you have any control over Christ, you don't really believe
in the true Christ. You believe in a false Christ.
But natural men, when they hear of the true Christ, they are
offended. Now, a Christ that doesn't offend
the natural man is not the Christ of the Bible. The natural man
is offended by Christ, and men were and are offended by Christ. You know, when Isaiah tells us
what we thought, think of him in Isaiah 53, it says, we esteemed
him not. We esteemed him not. We didn't
see any glory in him. He's despised and rejected of
men. When our Lord walked upon this
earth, men were offended at his birth. Why? This was the carpenter's
son. They were offended at his education. How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned? They were offended by his lifestyle. He's a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber. They were offended at his associates.
He's the friend of publicans and sinners. They were offended
at his preaching most especially, his claims concerning himself
in his preaching. In John chapter six, we read
in verse 59, these things said he in the synagogue as he taught
in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples
when they'd heard said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear
it? This is difficult, this is harsh,
we don't like this. This is a hard saying. Referring
to his sermon that he preached in John chapter six, this is
a hard saying. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew
in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said, does
this offend you? Are you offended by what you
just heard? What, and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend
up where he was before? When you see me ascend back to
the Father, and sit at his right hand as absolute Lord. You're offended now, you'll really
be offended then. And then he said in verse 63,
it's the spirit that quickens, that gives life. The flesh profits
nothing. In this thing of life, the flesh
profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you
that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
that believed not, and he said, therefore said I unto you that
no man can come to me, except it were given unto him of my
father. Now in this chapter, I wish I
had time to deal with it, but in this chapter, John chapter
6, you can read it for yourself. He dealt with faith alone. He dealt with election, God's
choice of His people before time began. He dealt with His effectual
redemption. He died for those the Father
gave Him. He died for the elect. He didn't die for all men. He
died only for the elect. He dealt with total depravity,
how no man can come except it were given him of the Father.
He dealt with irresistible grace. Every man that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh to me. He dealt with what is
known as the doctrine of grace, and men were offended. Men were
offended. They didn't like this. They said,
who can be expected to hear such things as this? Now, why are
men offended? Well, because they see no need
of Christ. They see no glory in this person.
But I want us to notice this phrase, blessed is he whosoever
is not offended in me. In me. Not just by me, but in
me. Now, in Christ is all of God's
salvation. It's not in you. It's not in
your works. It's not in your experience.
It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete in Him. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1.30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Now, men are offended in that. Do you mean to say that all God
requires is Christ? All God requires, He provides
in Christ? All of God's salvation is in
Christ? And it has nothing to do with
my works? Is that what you're saying? Why? That's scandalous. That will
lead people to a life of sin that is offensive. Well, Paul
did speak of the offense of the cross, didn't he? And Christ crucified is to the
Jews a stumbling block and a rock of offense. Men are offended
in Christ, but oh, how blessed that man is who is not offended
in him. You see, my only hope of salvation,
and my sure hope of salvation, and all of my hope of salvation,
is by being found in Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Now, blessed is that man, you
go tell John. Blessed is that man, whosoever he is, that is
not offended in me. What a word to a doubting disciple. 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 Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.