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've entitled this morning's
message, Good Works. The text is found in Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 10. For we are His workmanship. Now, the we is referring to every
believer. everyone who has been saved by
His grace. It's not talking about all men
with that exception. It's talking about those who
believe, those who have been saved by the grace of God. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them." Now, this is the conclusion,
the final thought of what had been started in verse 1, when
he says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins? And he goes on to say, For by
grace are you saved, through faith, And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works."
Good works. Paul said in Titus chapter 2
verse 14 that God's people are a peculiar people, zealous of
good works. The Lord said to His disciples
in Matthew chapter 5 verse 16, let your light so shine before
men. that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Good works. What comes into your mind when
you think of good works? You may be somebody who thinks,
well, I've got plenty of them. There are some people on judgment
day who are going to say, Have we not cast out demons in your
name? Have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name,
have we not done many wonderful works? Quantity, many, quality,
wonderful works. They indeed thought they had
that. You may hear of good works and
feel a measure of guilt. I don't have enough good works,
and I wish I had more good works, and I'd like to see more evidence
that the Lord has done something for me by having more good works
to prove He's done something. Or you may hear of good works
and say, why are you talking about that? That's legalism.
Salvation's by grace. You don't need to talk anything
about good works. Four, we are His workmanship. Now, this word workmanship is
where we get the English word poem from. For these ones who
are saved by grace, for we are his poem. We are his poem. I love poetry. And one of my
favorite poets is Robert Frost. And my favorite line in any poem
that I've ever read is this. The way a crow shook down on
me, a dust of snow from a hemlock tree has given me a change of
mood and saved some part of a day I'd rude. I love that line. Now, what if I said I wrote that
line? Well, that's what is called plagiarism. I would be taking credit for
something that I did not do. It would be a lie, and it would
be seeking to rob Robert Frost of the glory that was only due
to him in writing that beautiful line of poetry. We are his poem. We are his workmanship. Now, this is true of every believer. We are His workmanship. Now, there's some strong believers,
there's some weak believers, there are rejoicing believers,
there are struggling believers in all different varieties, and
they're all equally saved. I don't care if they're rejoicing
or if they're doubting. I don't care if they're no fear
or scared to death. They're all equally saved because
they're saved the same way, by grace. Their salvation's in Christ
Jesus. Their standing is in Christ Jesus. They have the same righteousness,
Christ's righteousness. They have the same payment, his
precious blood. They have the same one who intercedes
for them, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great intercessor for his
people. They're great high priest. All
believers are saved equally. There's not one that's more saved
than another. You see, we're His workmanship.
And God never fails in His workmanship. He never makes something that
is no good and has to be rejected. We are His workmanship. Now this word workmanship is
translated in Romans chapter one verse 20 by the term things
that are made. Let me read that to you in Romans
chapter 1 verse 20. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Now, by looking at creation,
if you don't willfully lie to yourself, you see clearly that
this was made by God himself. Creation is His workmanship. He made this. He's got the stamp
of His hand upon it. Everyone can clearly see His
eternal power and Godhead. They may close their eyes to
it, but everyone can still clearly see An all-powerful being made
this creation, and He's eternal. No one made Him, and this creation
is His workmanship. Now, if you see a beautiful painting,
you never think that somehow all these paints evolved into
this beautiful painting. you know that it's the workmanship
of a skilled artist that painted that beautiful painting. If you
see a novel, a well-written novel, you know that there was not some
kind of big bang of words and the words evolved into a book.
It is the workmanship of the author. The computer didn't evolve
from a typewriter. It's the workmanship of some
very intelligent people. We are His workmanship. It is He that made us, and not
we ourselves. Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse
10, Paul makes this statement that's so very important. He
says, by the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm his workmanship.
By the grace of God, I am what I am. Well, what are you, Paul?
Well, I guarantee you what he'd say first. I'm the chief of sinners.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the chief, present tense, right now. Somebody says, was he practicing
secret sin? Was he robbing banks? Was he
some kind of deviant? Well, he's about like you are,
about like I am. But he called himself the chief of sinners.
Now, a sinner It takes the grace of God for someone to see that
they're a sinner. I know all kinds of people who admit to
making mistakes and doing wrong things, but they don't see themselves
as totally depraved and evil. They don't look at themselves
that way. They look at themselves higher than that. It's only by
the grace of God that I understand that I'm a sinner. I'm an elect
sinner. God chose me before time began,
and that is His workmanship, the work of His grace. It's the
election of grace. I'm a justified sinner. That
means I stand before God without guilt. That means I stand before
God without sin. I never did anything wrong if
I'm justified. And that's clearly His workmanship,
the work of His grace. I'm a redeemed sinner. All my
sins are paid for. God's justice is fully satisfied. Christ put away my sins. That's
His workmanship. I'm the work of His grace. I
am a regenerate sinner. I've been born again. I've been
born from above. I've been given the very life of God in my soul,
and that is the work of His grace. The fact that I've persevered
up to this point, I'm a persevering sinner, and that is His workmanship. We are His workmanship. If we're a believer, we're His
workmanship. believers because we're His workmanship,
His poem. I'm a sinner who is a saint.
That's because of His workmanship. You know, people think of saints
as people who are just so good, they have so many surplus of
good works, and they become saints. That's not what a saint is at
all. A saint is every believer. Every believer is a saint, a
sanctified one, set apart by the Father in election, set apart
by the Son in redemption, set apart by the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
I'm a saint, and I am His workmanship. the language gets even stronger.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
created. Now, when we see a human worker
with his craft and we admire his workmanship, we know they
had something to work with. A painter has his brush, his
paints, his canvas. Steel, somebody is gifted at
making steel. Well, steel has raw material,
limestone, iron ore, coal, all are used to make steel. When a man is a workman, he has
something to work with. But that's not the way creation
is. In creation, you have nothing to work with. God created something
from nothing, simply as an act of His will. And when you're
saved, you become a new creation, a new creation. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new. If you're saved, if you're one
who's been saved by grace, God created you in Christ Jesus. You became something that you
were not before. You're given a new nature. a
holy nature. Now, you've still got the old
nature if you're saved, and you know that if you're saved. Every
believer has two separate natures. The one that came from the first
birth, evil, and the one that came from the second birth, holy,
one that can do nothing but sin, and one that can do—cannot sin. It cannot sin, according to I
John chapter 3. And the thing that is, these
two natures are coming through one consciousness. It's not like
you have a A good side and a bad side, and sometimes your good
side works, and sometimes your bad side works. Not at all. You
have a holy nature and an evil nature funneled through one consciousness,
like hot water and cold water coming out of the same faucet.
But that is the life of a believer. He's a new creature in Christ
Jesus. And notice it says we're created
in Christ Jesus. Created in Christ Jesus. And
this is very important. This is something that I don't
understand, but I believe. But with regard to all gospel
truth, it's something not so much that we understand, we believe.
I don't understand how God is one God in three distinct persons,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I don't
understand that, but I believe it with all my heart. And I don't
understand this, but I believe it with all my heart. We were
created in Christ Jesus. If we're believers, we've always
been in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if somebody is in Adam,
that means Adam is our first parent. If you shake your family
tree long enough, Adam's going to fall out. He is our first
parent, and the entire human race was in his loins. As a matter of fact, when he
was created, before Eve was created, it says male and female, created
he then. Eve was brought out of Adam,
but she was in Adam at the time. She came from Adam. You came
from Adam. When Adam was created, you were
too. Now, you weren't born yet, but
you were in him. In Adam, all die. But in Christ,
shall all be made alive." Now, Christ, every believer is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like every man or woman
was in Adam, every believer is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of
Him are you in Christ Jesus. You've eternally been in Christ,
and you were created in Christ Jesus. I've never been separated
from Christ. Now, that's my standing before
God in Christ. That's why Paul said, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him. When God comes looking
for me, the only place I want to be found is in the Lord Jesus
Christ so that all God sees is Jesus Christ, created in Christ
Jesus. unto good works, which God hath
before ordained we should walk in them." Now, notice he says,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. Now, if God before ordained
your salvation, is there any way you will not be saved? The answer is no. If God has
foreordained and purposed your salvation, saved you must be. And if God has foreordained,
ordained beforehand that you should walk in good works, Is
there any way that you will not walk in good works? The answer
is no. This is God's purpose in salvation. He created a people in Christ
Jesus that they should walk in good works. Now, let me show
you a passage from Matthew chapter 25 that explains this. In Matthew
chapter 25, beginning in verse 31, When the Son of Man shall
come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall
He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be
gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And
He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on
His left. There are sheep, and there are
goats. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, the sheep, come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. This kingdom was prepared for
you, it was ordained for you before the foundation of the
world. Now, what does he do? He says,
for I was hungry. and you gave me meat, I was thirsty,
and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, you took me in naked,
and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in
prison, you came into me." He talks about what they did. Now,
this represents more than anything else to the preaching of the
gospel. This is what goes on in the church bringing the gospel
message. What goes on? Hungry people are
fed the gospel. Thirsty people are fed the gospel. Strangers are brought in by His
grace. People naked are clothed in His
righteousness. People who are sick are healed
and given life. People imprisoned are set free. Now, you can take that literally
if you want. I guess I understand that, but what it represents
is the church's mission of preaching the gospel. And this is what
the Lord commends them for. He gave them the grace to do
it, and he commends them for it. But you know what's interesting?
They say, then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee a-hungered, and fed thee, or thirsted, and gave thee
drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee inner naked, and
clothed thee? When saw we thee sick, or imprisoned, and came
unto thee? We didn't know we'd done any of these things. Now,
if you believe anything you have done is a good work, it's not. You missed it. It's not. It's no good. If you think it's
good, it's not good. The people who had these good
works did not know they had them. You know, if you ever think,
I need to do this good work or that good work, you've already
ruined it. It's not good. That's not the way people who
have good works really are. I remember one time hearing of
a man who was given the award the Christian of the Year, and
the only thing more ridiculous than having an award like that
is the fact that he accepted it. He proves that he doesn't
really know what being a Christian is in the first place, to think
something like that. The king shall answer and say
unto them, Verily I say unto you, and as much as you have
done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it to
me. Then shall he also say to them on the left hand, Depart
from me, he cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels. for I was hungry and you didn't feed me." And
he goes on to say that those things that they did not do,
and they thought they had. We've established hospitals,
opened soup kitchens, and tried to feed the hungry and heal the
sick. We thought we'd done these things,
but they had no understanding of the gospel. Now, so when the
Lord says, inherit that kingdom prepared from you from the foundation
of the world, it's seen that it was prepared in their works. Now, I want to close with this
thought, what is a good work? Now, there's only one who can
truly identify a good work, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's only one thing during his earthly ministry that he
called a good work, and that's when that woman right before
his death, broke that alabaster box of ointment of spikenard,
very costly, and poured it upon him. Now let's begin reading
in Mark chapter 14, verse 3. And being in Bethany, in the
house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a
woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very
precious. It was worth a year's wages.
And she break the box and poured it on his head. Now, he had been
preaching. She heard him preach. She loved
what she was hearing. And she felt greatly impressed
to go home, to get that precious box of ointment and break it
on his head. And we know as we go on reading,
she did this to anoint him for the burial. He had promised that
he was going to be crucified. The third day, he was going to
rise from the dead. You'd think all the disciples
would have been there waiting, but they weren't. But this woman
believed what he said. She had an appreciation of his
death, and she's done this simply to anoint his body for burial. Verse 4, And there were some
that had indignation within themselves, saying, Why was this waste of
ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three
hundred pence, and been given to the poor. And they murmured.
They were upset. They criticized her for what
she did. You know, anytime anybody does
anything, you're always going to have small-hearted people
criticizing them for it. Happens every time. And the disciples
were the ones criticizing her. I know Judas was leading it,
but the disciples were criticizing her motives and what she did,
and she shouldn't have done it this way, and she should have
used the money for something else. And they murmured against
her, and Jesus said, Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work
on me." And that's what a good work is. She hath wrought a good
work on me. For you have the poor with you
always, and whimsoever ye will, ye may do them good, but me you
have not always. She hath done what she could
She has come aforehand to anoint my body for the burying. He knew exactly why she was doing
what she was doing. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she has done shall be spoken of as a memorial for
her. Now, this is what the Lord called
a good work. She acted from the impulse of
a loving heart. She did not ask herself if this
was her duty or if anybody else had done this. She did this upon
the impulse of a loving heart, and she did what she did for
Him. Now, the disciples criticized
her, but she wasn't doing it for them. She was doing it for
Him, and what she did was extravagant. Oh, she did something very costly
at great cost to her, and I guarantee you she didn't think it was of
great cost. I mean, this is the Lord. Were the whole realm of
nature mine, that were present far too small. Love so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all, but she did what
she did at great cost and considered a privilege. When you give, Giving
is so important. Don't think it's not. I know
I hate to hear preachers talk about giving most of the time.
Like they say, this is a faith-based ministry, so give us to help
out. I'd never ask anybody for anything. The Lord is our supplier,
and I'm not going to ask you to supply the Lord's work. I
can't stand it when preachers do that, because they prove they
don't really have any faith when they do things like that. Give
us your money. I'm not asking you for money.
The Lord's people will take care of the cost of this. The Lord
takes care of the cost of it, is what it is. But that being
said, giving is so important. Give is unto the Lord, not out
of a duty or out of a habit or because you have to or you feel
guilty if you don't. Give is unto the Lord. That's
the way she gave. And she did it without a word,
no broadcasting, no advertisement. And she did what she did with
great personal sacrifice, but she didn't see it as a sacrifice.
And let me tell you this, I guarantee you this, she didn't think it
was a good work. She didn't think, oh, I'm going
to perform this good work. Not at all, not at all. But this
is the one thing the Lord calls a good work. Now, a good work
is anything done out of love to Christ and his people. It's
not a work you perform. I love the way he says that we
should walk in good works. It's not like I'm going to do
this and it can be good. That's my walk if I'm a believer.
That's my walk. Love to Christ. Love to Christ
that creates this. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that you should walk
in them. You will, you must, because you're his workmanship.
Create it. in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God hath before ordained that you should walk in them."
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Now we have this message
on DVD and CD. If you call the church, ride
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.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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