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 Genesis chapter 39, we read about Joseph being thrown
into prison. Verse 20, And Joseph's master
took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's
prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison. Now how did Joseph arrive in
prison? If you're familiar with the story,
you know that Joseph's brothers had betrayed him and sold him
into slavery. And while he was a slave, he
achieved a lot in Potiphar's house. And Potiphar put him in
charge of all of his goods. He did very well. And during
the course of this time, we read of him being tempted. In verse
7 of chapter 39, And it came to pass after these things that
his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie
with me. But he refused. and said unto his master's wife,
Behold, my master what is not what is with me in the house,
and he hath committed all that he hath in mine hand. There's
none greater in this house than I, neither hath he kept back
anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can
I do this great wickedness? And sinning is God. He denied
her temptation. And it came to pass as she spoke
to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie
by her or to be with her." Now, Joseph continually refused this
sexual sin. Temptation to sexual sin is something
that everyone that's old enough is keenly aware of. What is the first thing recorded
after Adam and Eve ate the fruit? It says their eyes were opened
and they knew they were naked. Now, they were naked before this. The scripture says they were
naked, not ashamed, but the reason they were not ashamed is because
they didn't have evil natures. They didn't know what sin was.
They didn't know what it was to have a sinful thought or to
be tempted by sin. They were naked and it wasn't
an issue, but now it is. Now, let me say this about the
intimate act between a man and a woman in marriage, sex. God
invented sex. He made it. It's beautiful. It's not dirty. It's not wrong. It is the picture of the union
between Christ and his church, the man and the woman becoming
one flesh. It's beautiful, God invented
it, it is not dirty or sinful in and of itself. Marriage is
honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. But man has taken
that which is beautiful and degraded and debauched it. Sexual sin
is behind many of the problems of our society. the crimes that
have taken place, the homes that have been broken, the lives that
have been destroyed through sexual sin. Sexual sin is behind many
divorces, and look at the destroyed lives of the children of the
people who have committed that are left in its path. Now, sex
in the marriage covenant is holy. Outside of the marriage covenant,
it is evil. It is a great sin against God,
and don't ever think in any sense that sexual sin is okay. Paul said, flee fornication,
and teach this to your children. In the society we live in, it
condones sexual sin. So reinforced to them, there's
no way to condone sexual sin. Sex outside of marriage is great
sin against God, period. Now, all that being said, that's
not the main point of this story. What Joseph is speaking of is
the man who never sinned. He is a great type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the man who never sinned. Now, let's go on reading
in this story. And it came to pass about this
time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and
there was none of the men of the house that were within. And
she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. And he left
his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. And it came
to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand,
and he was fled forth, that she called unto the men of the house,
and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew
unto us to mock us. And he came in unto me to lie
with me, and I cried with a loud voice. She's saying, He tried
to rape me. And it came to pass when he heard that I cried, I
lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with
me, and fled with him, and got out. And she laid up his garment
by her until his lord came home. And she spake unto him according
to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought
unto us, came in unto me to mock me. And it came to pass, as I
lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with
me and fled out. Then it came to pass, when his
master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him,
saying, After this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath
was kindled. And Joseph's master took him
and put him into prison, a place where the king's prisoners were
bound, and he was there in prison. He was placed into prison for
a sin that he did not commit. And there he is in prison. because of his rejection of this
woman's temptation. Somebody once said, hell hath
no fury as a woman scorned. But Joseph in his integrity is
thrown into prison. Verse 21, but the Lord was with
Joseph. What else could be said? The
Lord was with Joseph when he's thrown into this prison, mistreated
in a horrible way. The Lord was with Joseph and
showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper
of the prison. You see, the king's heart is
in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth it
whithersoever he will. And because of the Lord's purpose,
This prison guard's heart was turned favorably toward Joseph,
so that he admired Joseph, he esteemed Joseph. You see, Joseph,
humanly speaking, was a fine man. Everything he did, he was
the father's favorite. When he was in Potiphar's house,
how he achieved. Now look what happens while he's
in prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's
hand all the prisoners that were in the prison. He made Joseph
the head of all the prisoners that were in the prison, and
whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. Now, this is interesting. It's the gospel. All the prisoners
were committed to and entrusted to Joseph. There was one specific
demographic. one specific group over which
he was committed to and over. Prisoners. Prisoners. Those who were locked
up. They had no freedom. You know,
men, preachers particularly, don't present man as imprisoned
to sin. They present man as being free. You have a free will. All you
have to do of your own free will is accept Jesus Christ as your
personal savior and you'll be saved. It's up to your free will.
Salvation is ultimately up to what you will. Now, my dear friends,
there's just no truth to that. I'm not saying man doesn't have
a will, he does have a will, but it's a will chained to an
evil nature. And these men were prisoners
who could not walk out. Now, I want you to listen to
this scripture where Paul speaks of his own experience. He said
in Romans 7, 14, that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold." And that word means sold as a slave to
sin. Question, was Paul a believer
or an unbeliever when he made that statement? Now, when he
was an unbeliever, he didn't believe that. He didn't believe
he was sold under sin. He thought he could refrain from
sin and keep from sin and do things that would obligate God
to save him because of the good things he would do. He didn't
think that at all when he was not saved. But when the Lord
saved him, here was his own testimony concerning himself, we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." Only
a believer can see sin and a sinful nature for what it is. Now, an unbeliever can understand
some things about sin. An unbeliever can understand
that sin gets them in trouble. An unbeliever can understand
of all the problems that addiction can cause, both to itself and
other people, sinful addictions and so on. But what Paul is speaking
of, an unbeliever can never understand. Every believer sees themselves
in this light present tense. Paul did not say, O wretched
man that I was before God saved me. He said, O wretched man that
I am. He said in 1 Timothy 15, 1-15,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not of whom
I used to be the chief, but of whom I am the chief. And my dear friend, if you see
yourself in any different light than this, God hadn't been your
teacher, you have been left to yourself unless you quit thinking
this way about yourself. If you find yourself objecting
to this, you're either deceived and deluded Or it could be that
God has sent you strong delusion that you'd believe a lie. Scripture
does say that. Because they receive not the
love of the truth, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. God does that. And if you don't
believe the truth, it could be that God has just left you to
yourself. I hope not. I hope the Lord teaches
me and you who He is and who we are, so we will look to Christ
only. But be that as it may, all that
Joseph was over were these prisoners. Prisoners. People who were not
free to leave. He was in charge of. Christ had
entrusted to him a sinful people. A sinful people. And as Joseph
was cast into a sin for which he did not commit, Christ was
put to death for sins he did not personally commit. Now, stay with me. What I said
is half true. Stay with me. Notice what it
says next. And the keeper of the prisoner
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. Now, hear what's being said.
Whatever those prisoners did, he was the doer of it. And here we have the mystery
of the gospel clearly stated. Whatsoever they did, he was the
doer of it. Now, you say, how is that the
gospel? whatsoever they did there. Now
remember, this is a prison. Who's in prison? Bad people.
Criminals. People who have broken the law.
People who are dangerous. They need to be put behind bars.
They're a menace to society. That's who is in a prison. Now,
while perhaps this could mean that Joseph was such a leader
of these men that he inspired them to turn their lives around
and do good things instead of evil, Could it mean that? Well, I guess somebody might
take it that way, but that's not what it means. This picture is as
clear as there is anywhere in the Bible what Christ being made
sin means. Now let me quote this scripture
to you in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says, For he hath made him,
God the Father has made the Lord Jesus Christ, for he hath made
him to be sin. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
his person, never sinned. And when he was made sin, that
does not mean he started committing sins. In his person, even when
he was made sin, he never sinned. He said, which of you can convince
me of sin? And that's what's pointed out
about Joseph. Potiphar's wife, he did not succumb to this temptation,
and he's given as a great type of Christ, one who never succumbed
to temptation, one who never sinned. But the reason he's in
prison is because of the crime he was charged with. Now Christ
never sinned, but when He was made sin as my substitute, He
became guilty of the commission of that sin. God is just. God must punish sin, the reason
Christ was punished. Understand this. God didn't punish
Christ as innocent, but treated as guilty. God punished Christ
because he was guilty. My sin literally became His sin
so that He became the doer of them. Whatsoever they did, Joseph
became the doer. And any sins that I've committed,
all the sins that I've committed, They were made to be on Christ. He bore them in his own body
on the tree, and he actually became guilty of the commission
of them, so much so that he owned these sins as his own. Let me
show you this in Psalm 40. This is such an important passage
of Scripture. I know from Hebrews 10 that this
is a Messianic psalm, but understand all psalms are Messianic psalms.
Every one of the 150 psalms, you ought to read first, has
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. All 150 of them. But this is
quoted in Hebrews 10, where it says, then said I, lo, I come
in the volume of the book it's written of me, I delight to do
thy will, O God. That's quoted in Hebrews 10 as
the very words of Christ when he came into the world. Now listen
to this. These are still the words of
Christ. And he says, for innumerable evils have compassed me about,
mine iniquities. not Todd Nyberg's iniquities
that have been charged to my account, but mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up." They're
more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me."
That's one of many examples in the Psalms where Christ owned
those sins as his own. Now you'll notice when Joseph
is thrown into prison, he never tries to defend himself, at least
we don't read where he did. And you remember when Christ
was accused, he never tried to defend himself? Now, if I'm accused
of something I didn't do, I'm going to try to defend myself. I didn't do it. This is not right.
But not the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because He knew He was guilty. He was getting exactly what He
deserved when my sin became His sin. He became guilty of it,
and He owned those sins as His own. You see, God would be unjust
to punish somebody for somebody else's sins. Those sins became
Christ's sins, and God punished Him. He became the doer of those
sins. But this also shows the reality
of justification. What did he do? He obeyed God's
law perfectly. He never sinned. He said, I do
always those things that please the father. He became the doer
of what they did. Now I have a perfect righteousness
before God and it's my righteousness. It's his doing. It's not something
that comes from me. It's His doing that actually
became mine. Just as truly as my sin became
His, and He became guilty of the commission of it, His very
righteousness, His perfect law-keeping becomes mine, and I am credited
with the actual doing of it. Let me quote that scripture again.
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's what justification
is. I've never sinned. I don't have
anything to feel guilty about. I stand perfect before the law
of God. You see, whatever he did, He
was the doer of it, and it becomes mine. I love it when he said
to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When the Lord fulfilled all righteousness,
he did so as in us, and he did it for every single believer,
John the Baptist, Todd Norbert, anybody else that God has saved.
You see, salvation is not your doing, it's his. It's not due. It's done because
of His doing. It has nothing to do with your
doing. It has wholly to do with His doing. Salvation is His doing. Now think about this, every aspect
of salvation. He willingly, before time began,
stood as the surety for God's elect. He said, I'll bear full
responsibility for their salvation. He said to his disciples, you
didn't choose me, I chose you. Election is his doing. Talk about redemption, him redeeming
everybody he died for and paying for their sins and causing them
to be no more, that's his doing. We didn't help out any, we didn't
contribute, when he had by himself purged us of our sins. Now that's
not talking about every son of Adam, that's talking about God's
elect, those he died for, those who believe. That's the evidence
that you're elect, you believe the gospel. If you don't believe
the gospel, you don't have any reason to believe you're one
of God's elect. But if you believe the gospel, if you believe that
Jesus Christ is God the Son, the only Christ, God's Christ,
you're a believer. And the reason you're a believer
is because You've been elected to, and He paid for your sins. Redemption has nothing to do
with our works. He's the doer of it. When you
talk about justification, He's the doer of it. I stand before
God without guilt, without sin. How? Because He justified me. He put away my sins and made
a way for God to be totally just and declare me to be justified
without guilt. Oh, how infinitely that is His
doing. If I'm born again, I'm born again
for this one reason. His doing. The new birth is not
God's response to what I do or even whether I ask to be saved.
It's God's response to the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The reason I'm born from above
is because Christ died for me and put away my sins. God purposed
this for me. Salvation is His doing. Whatsoever
is done, He was the doer of it. The faith we have is said to
be the faith of Christ. Paul said we're justified by
the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. Somebody
had to believe God perfectly, and he believed God perfectly,
and he never doubted his God. He said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. And we present his faith. Don't you have to believe? Yeah,
you got to believe. You got to believe this. Faith is the gift of God's
grace. It's not something you came up
with. I love the scripture, for by
grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Repentance, indeed, is a change
of mind, but who's the one who changed your mind? He changed
your mind. Repentance is His gift, and He
works it in you. We have good works because we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We persevere because we're preserved
in Christ Jesus. The only reason I keep on is
because He said, My sheep shall never perish. I give in to them
eternal life, not temporary life, but eternal life. Now, here's
a way to state this. Paul said it this way in Colossians
chapter 3 verse 11, Christ is all in all. Somebody once asked this question,
if all you have is Christ, is that enough? And here's the reply. He is if he's all you got. If you have anything else, no,
he's not enough. But if he's all you have, yes,
he is enough. Now, Genesis chapter 36 is a
list of all the descendants of Esau. You remember Jacob and
Esau, twins. There are so many men mentioned
in Genesis 36 and all their accomplishments, the wars they've won, the cities
they built, men of note. But in Genesis 37, we read, these
are the generations of Jacob, Joseph. No one else is mentioned. Joseph was the only one of significance,
and that teaches us that in the kingdom of heaven, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one of significance. whatsoever was done, he was the
doer of it." Now, here is my salvation. Whatsoever is done,
he is the doer of it. Now you put your trust by the
Lord's grace. You put your trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ and trust His doing, not your own, but His doing. You look to Him only and do not
look anywhere else. That's what faith is. Faith is
trusting the person, the doing of the Lord Jesus Christ, not
trusting your decision or your experience or your knowledge. It's trusting Him and Him only
that whatsoever is done He is the doer of it. May the Lord
give me and you the grace to look to Him only. 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.
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
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