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. In Ephesians chapter 2, beginning
in verse 11, we read, Wherefore remember that you, being in times
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by
that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by the hands,
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. Now, in Christ Jesus, you who
sometimes or before time were afar off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. I could be speaking to someone
who feels very far from God. God doesn't even seem like a
reality. I may be speaking to someone
who feels very close to God. What I want to talk about is
being made nigh by the blood of Christ. I realize that we're
trapped in our feelings, and you may feel far away, and you
may feel close. But what I want to do is show
from the scriptures what this thing of being made close, made
nigh by the blood of Christ, how that can be. Now, Paul says
in verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you, who were sometimes
far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now, this you
is not everybody. Not everybody is made nigh by
the blood of Christ. It's everybody that is in Him. It's everybody that He died for. All of humanity is not in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, all of humanity is in Adam,
but not all of humanity is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the elect
are. according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. The you He is speaking
of is the elect, those who were made nigh by the blood of Christ,
those that Jesus Christ died for. Now, let me say, Jesus Christ
is a success. He never fails. His intentions
are never frustrated. Whatever He purposed to do, that's
what He did. The idea of Christ being frustrated
because there's people that He died for that won't come to Him
and won't believe and aren't saved is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Christ died for the elect, accomplished
their salvation, made them nigh. And if you or any man believes
that Jesus Christ died for everybody and made salvation possible for
everybody, but it's up to what you do, your acceptance or rejection
of him, that'll determine whether you're in heaven, that's salvation
by works. That's just another form of salvation by law, salvation
dependent upon what you do. You see, salvation is dependent
upon what He has done. And in this passage of Scripture,
it says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off are made
nigh by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how near? Made nigh, how near? Near, so
near to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of his
dear Son, I am as near to God as he. Now how can that be? How can that be? How can I be
as near to God as Jesus Christ is? In Christ, I think maybe the
best way to try to illustrate this is in Adam. In Adam. Every one of us are descendants
of the first man, Adam. We all have his DNA. All of us do. We're descendants
of Adam. Every human being was in Adam. And we read in Romans chapter
5 verse 12, as by one man sin entered the world and death by
sin. So death passed upon all men in that all sinned. Now Adam's
sin was not merely charged to my account. When Adam sinned,
I sinned because I was in him. Whatever he did, I did. God's
only dealt with two men, the first Adam and the second Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when Adam sinned, according
to the scriptures, I sinned too. What he did, I did. And if I'm
in Christ, what he did, I did. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When he suffered and died, I suffered and died. When
he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. That's
what's signified in baptism. That means, this is how near
I am to God. However near Christ is, that's
how near I am. And that's true of every believer. What a nearness. You know, when the Lord bowed
His head and said, it is finished, and gave up the ghost, what miracle
took place? That veil in the temple, The
veil of separation was torn in half from the top to the bottom. All of God's people now presently
have this nearness. Truly near, so near to God. Nearer I cannot be in the person
of His dear Son. I'm as near to God as He. Now,
whether I feel this way or not, it's still the truth. I can't
be any nearer, I've been made nigh by the blood of Christ."
Now notice how he says, But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes
were far off, in your experience you used to be a long way away. Look how he describes us. Wherefore remember that you being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, pagan, idolaters, No knowledge
of God. Gentiles in the flesh who are
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
of the flesh made by hands. In other words, the Jewish people
called you the uncircumcised. You remember when David said
concerning Goliath, who is this uncircumcised that he should
defy the armies of the living God? That's a term of contempt. No knowledge of God. No part
in the covenant. He says in verse 12 that, at
that time, you were without Christ. What could be worse than that?
Without Christ. Being aliens. Alienated, actually,
from the commonwealth of Israel. Your sins have separated you.
And strangers from the covenants of promise. You had no idea as
to what the covenant of grace was or how salvation came with
the covenant that God made with Christ before time began. You
were strangers to that. You had no hope. No hope of saving
yourself, no hope of being saved. There's nothing you can do to
make your plight any better. You were without God in the world. In your consciousness, you didn't
have God, not the living God. This is how far away you were. But, this is one of those precious
buts of the scriptures, but now, present tense, in Christ Jesus. you who were before time afar
off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Now, here's what
all is involved in this being made nigh. Now, you're a true
Jew. You're a true Jew. The true Jews
are those who believe. It's not those who are of that
nationality that was just given to picture the gospel. All Israel
shall be saved. You're now a true Jew. We are
the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now you have Christ
in all of His fullness. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete in Him. You
have Christ. He's all you have, and that's
not a liability. That's the best place to be.
If you have anything other than Him, you don't have Him at all.
He's all you have, He's all you need, and He's all you want. Now you are Israel. You're a
citizen of Israel, God's Israel, a prince with God and prevailing
with God. But now you're no longer a stranger
to the covenant. You can say with David, although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things. And sure, and this is all my
salvation and all my desire, though He make it not to grow."
You understand that you are saved because of the covenant God made
with Christ. And Christ agreed to fulfill
everything for those people that the Father gave Him as the surety
of that covenant, and you are not a stranger to the covenant
promise anymore. And you're no longer one that
has no hope, but what hope you have. Now, if you're a believer,
if you're in Christ, if Christ died for you and put away your
sins, let me tell you what kind of hope you have. You have a
hope that on judgment day, you're going to stand before God and
there will be no sin. You will stand before God justified,
having never done anything wrong and always done that which is
right. Now, what a hope that is, and
that's what justification means. If you're justified, that means
your sins have been put away, taken away from you, and you've
been given perfect righteousness. You've never sinned. You have
the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's how you're
gonna stand before God on judgment day. Perfect. And everything
from the beginning of your life, this is the hope every believer
has, everything from the beginning of your life to the end comes
under Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together
for good. to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. What hope we have! And now we have God in this world,
and of God before us, who can be against us? Now, here is the
source of that nearness but now in Christ Jesus. You who were
before time afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
He gives us two things, in Christ Jesus and the blood of Christ. That is why you're made near
in Christ Jesus and the blood of Christ. Now, this word made,
you're made nigh. That's a glorious word. Salvation
is what God does. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus.
who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away and
all things have become or been made new. You're given a new
history, a new standing before God, a new relationship before
his law, no longer guilty but perfect. Hebrews 3.14 says, For
we are made partakers of Christ. We are made partakers of Christ.
Now, what all that means, I don't know, but among other things,
it means as He is, so are we in this world. Oh, what a glorious
Word. Titus 3.7 says, Being justified
by His grace, we are made heirs. according to the hope of eternal
life, joint heirs with Christ. Philippians 3.21 says, He shall
change our vile body, our sinful and dying body, that He may fashion
it, make it like unto His glorious body, even according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Now,
that word made, all these blessings that Christ has made to us, that
God has made, salvations of the Lord, but none are sweeter than
this. We're made nigh, made nigh, near
to God. And this nearness is beyond comprehension. You know, we talk about feeling
close, feeling far away. Well, let's try to divorce ourselves
from our feelings, if that's possible. I know it's not. But
how near is Jesus Christ to God, the Father? Well, it's the nearness
of union. They're both the one God in three
persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
It's a nearness that goes beyond any understanding, however near
Christ is to God. That's how near the believer
is to God. Now that is reality. That's what
is right now. Whether you feel it or not, that
is the fact right now, this nearness to God. Now, I realize that as
long as we still commit sin, as long as we still have unbelief,
it will be impossible to feel and to enter into this nearness
that we actually possess. But the reason for that nearness
is stated so plainly in this verse of Scripture. It's because
of being in Christ Jesus, and it's because of the blood of
Christ, what it accomplished. Now, in Christ Jesus. The text says, but now in Christ
Jesus, you who were before time were far off or made nigh by
the blood of Christ. Now, the elect are eternally
united to Christ. There has never been a time when
they were not in Christ Jesus. God said, before I formed thee
in the belly. Not, I knew who you would be. No, before I formed thee in the
belly, before you had any physical existence, I knew thee. All of God's people had personality
in Christ Jesus before God. before the foundation of the
world. In eternity, I was a person united
to Christ. Now, I've already touched on
this, but I think that this can only be illustrated by the two
Adams, the first Adam and the second Adam. Christ is called
in 1 Corinthians 15, the second Adam. The first Adam had all
of humanity in him. I was in Adam's loins. You were in Adam's loins. So that what he did, I did. When he ate of the fruit, I ate
of the fruit. When he became guilty, I became
guilty. WHAT HE DID, I DID. WHEN HE REBELLED
AGAINST GOD, I REBELLED AGAINST GOD. WHEN HE FLED FROM GOD'S
PRESENCE, I FLED FROM GOD'S PRESENCE. AND YOU LOOK AT ADAM AFTER THE
FALL. HE DIDN'T SEEK MERCY. HE DIDN'T SAY, OH, PLEASE FORGIVE
ME FOR WHAT I'VE DONE. HAVE MERCY ON ME. NO, HE BLAMED
GOD FOR WHAT TOOK PLACE. THE WOMAN YOU GAVE ME, SHE GAVE
ME THE FRUIT AND I DID EAT. NOW, THE EXPLANATION FOR YOU
AND ME, THE REASON WE ARE THE WAY WE ARE, is Adam. We're in Adam, but in Christ. Oh, this is totally different.
In Christ shall all be made alive. Now, not all of humanity was
in Christ, but all of the elect were, so that what He did, they
did. Let me give you an example from
the Scriptures. In Matthew 3, verse 15, The Lord
had come up to John the Baptist and said, baptize me. And John
knew who this was, the Lamb of God, and he was taken back. And
he said, I have need to be baptized of thee. Why are you asking me
to baptize you? And the Lord said, Suffer to
be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, everything Christ did,
he did as an us. Everybody in him. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When He was punished for sin,
I was punished for sin. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. And how near is He to God the
Father right now? It's a nearness that cannot possibly
be even comprehended. But however near He is to the
Father, that's how near the believer is. And I'm going to hear these
words. Now, this is how near this is. I'm going to hear Him
say these words to me. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou in. to the joy of
thy Lord." Please listen real carefully. Everything that I've done, including
the preaching of this sermon, everything I've done has sin
in it. It's not well done. Everything
I've done. I have bad motives. I have sinful
thoughts. I have just go on and on. If
I did it, it's bad. Even if the thing itself in and
of by itself was good because I did it, it's sinful. If I touched it, it's sinful.
As far as faithfulness, well, I hope by the grace of God I'm
faithful, but I know faithful to His Word, faithful to His
truth, and if I'm a true preacher, a God-called preacher, I am,
but as far as me being faithful, no, I'll be unfaithful, I'll
be evil, I'll be, I know what I am. And so to think of Him
saying to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant, I
think, how could He say that to me? I know how He can say
that to me, because I am in Christ, and what He did, I did. Everything he did was well done. I was in him. Everything I've
done, I actually did those things in him because I was in him.
It's well done. As he is the good and faithful
servant, I am the good and faithful servant. Now, that is the joy
of being in Christ. Now, If he'll hear that, you can see
the Father saying to him, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. If you're in Christ, that is
what the Father is going to say to you. And it's not going to
be, well, I'm going to count this as yours. No, it's going
to be yours indeed. It's your well-doing, your faithfulness. Such is the reality of justification
that I really have done well and have been perfectly faithful
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's where this nearness
comes from. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, I'm as near to God
as He is. That's how near. Made nigh. For in Christ Jesus, ye are made
nigh. And don't miss this. You're made
nigh by the blood of Christ. Now, the blood of Christ makes
it to where I do not have any sin. There's nothing to prevent
that nearness. There is no sin. Why, it's actually said in the
Scriptures, God says this, there are sins and iniquities I will
remember no more. Now, the only way God can forget
something is if there's nothing there to remember. God's got
a perfect memory. He doesn't forget anything. The
reason He forgets the sins and iniquities of His people is because
there's nothing there to remember. God's not going to look at me
in heaven and say, I remember what you did. I remember the
sins you committed. I know you're here by my mercy
and grace, but I remember what you did. No, God's gonna see
one who has never done anything wrong and always done that which
is right. And that is through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the saving, cleansing
power of his blood. Let me read a passage of scripture
in Colossians chapter one, beginning in verse 20. And having made
peace, through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all
things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. That's what the blood of Christ
really does. Now that's how a sinner is made
nigh, by being in Christ and having Christ shed his precious
blood for them. Let me ask you a couple questions.
Can you agree with Paul, the apostle, when he said, God forbid
that I should glory? that I should boast, that I should
have confidence in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you enter into that where
you can glory and boast, not in what you've done, but only
in what He has done? And you know that's where your
nearness comes from. Here's another scripture. Verse
Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 2, Paul said, I determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Can you say amen to that? That's
all you want to know, is Jesus Christ and Him crucified because
of the nearness that His blood has brought you to God? Now somebody
may ask, how can I know if this nearness is for me? Do you believe
the gospel? I'm not asking you if you believe
you're saved, but do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, and that what He did must be successful, and your
only hope is Him? He's all you have. If you do,
Near, so near to God, nearer you cannot be. In the person
of His dear Son, you are as near to God as He. 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 request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.