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 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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. Have you ever wondered what repentance
really meant? You've heard preachers say, repent,
and you think, what does it mean to repent? Well, I hope by the
end of this message, you and I will understand what the scripture
means by repentance. I have entitled this message,
What Should Be Preached, and I arrived at that title not by
me looking through the scriptures and picking out what I thought
should be preached, but these are the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says in Luke chapter 24 verse
47, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name. Now that's what the Lord says
should be preached. Repentance and the remission
of sins. And there is no understanding
of what repentance is apart from understanding what the remission
of sins is. The two go together. Quite often
you'll find these two mentioned together, repentance and the
remission of sins. Now, there is a lot that is preached
that should not be preached. There are over 400,000 churches
in the United States alone, or religious institutions, and all
have a message, but a message that's not founded on the scriptures,
that's not concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that's not the
truth, that's not inspired by the Holy Spirit. That's a message
that should not be preached. So most of what goes on under
the name of preaching should not be preached. Well, what should be preached?
Here are the words of the Lord, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name, beginning at Jerusalem. I love the way he says that beginning
in Jerusalem. That's the place where Christ was murdered. Here's
where I want this repentance and remission of sins to first
be preached in Jerusalem, the very place where people call
for my crucifixion. Perhaps you've heard of the book
Pilgrim's Progress. It was written by a man by the
name of John Bunyan, and the same man preached a sermon entitled
The Jerusalem Sinner Saved. That's the most evil sinner to
ever live, the Jerusalem sinner, the people who call for the crucifixion
of Christ. These bloodthirsty men, let his
blood be on us and our children. That sinner saved. Now, in order
to understand this, let's look in the context in verse 44. Before we get down to verse 47,
let's see what the Lord said leading up to this. And he said
unto them, this is after his resurrection, he's appeared to
them. And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you. Now, with regard to what
should be preached, it ought to always be the same. The Lord said, I'm bringing you
the message that I brought to you previously. There's no difference. It's all the same. Paul said
to write the same things To you, to me, indeed, is not grievous,
but for you, it's safe. If something's new, it's not
true. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached to you in the past." That's what
Paul says. The gospel's always the same. It's never modified. It's not
new or improved. It's always the same. These are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me." It's a message from the Scriptures. It's from that which
is written. If it's not from the Scriptures,
it's not the Gospel. all things that were written.
And thirdly, it's a message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
what he says. These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the
prophets and the Psalms concerning me. The Bible is concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every book from Genesis to Revelation,
it's all a hymn book. It's all concerning him, who
he is, what he did. where He is, why He did it. It's
all concerning Him, and it's a message about what must be. Notice how He says, these are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled. It's absolutely necessary that
they be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses and
the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Everything He did, He did
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, and it's what must
be. He must become a man. It was
God's will. He must work out a perfect righteousness. He must die as a sin-bearing
substitute. He must be raised from the dead.
He must ascend back to the Father. The gospel's not about what may
be, it's about what must be. And then, in verse 45, It says,
then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures. Now, if this doesn't happen for
me and you, if he doesn't open our understanding, the Bible
is going to remain a closed book. Now, in this thing of preaching,
I don't try to make what I'm saying understandable. I just
say it as God says it, and I trust God, the Holy Spirit, to make
it understandable. If He doesn't make it understandable,
you and I won't understand. And this book will remain a closed
book unless He opens our understanding that we might understand the
Scriptures. If He doesn't, we're just going
to see it as a book of rules. I think of that Verse in John
chapter 5, you search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal
life. If I can just figure out what this book is telling me
to do and live by it, I'll have eternal life. He says, you'd
miss the whole point. They are they which testify of
me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And then he said
in verse 46, and he said unto them, Thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the
third day. Now, our only appeal is it's
written. We don't appeal to denominational
distinctives. We don't appeal to what this
man thought or what that man thought or what this dead preacher
thought or what that dead preacher thought, or we don't appeal to
commentaries and so on. appeal to, thus it's written.
That's the only appeal. The Bible is the inspired Word
of God. It's our only rule of faith and
practice. Somebody says, well, how can
you expect me to believe the Bible is the inspired Word of
God? Well, do you believe that God created the world? Sure you
do. Do you believe God's all-powerful?
Sure you do. He had to be all-powerful to
create the world, to create something from nothing. And if He's all-powerful,
He is able to inspire men to write a book that has no error
and preserve it over the centuries, that tell us who He is. Now remember,
the Scriptures claim to be the Word of God. All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God. And so our only appeal are the
Scriptures of truth. The Lord said, thus it is written,
and thus it behooved Christ. Now that word behooved is the
same word that's translated must in verse 44. Christ must suffer. It behooved him to, it made him
beautiful to. The cross is the most godlike
thing God ever did, but he must suffer. Why must he suffer? Because
that is why he came. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and He comes in time to suffer. Why
must He suffer? Because He's guilty. The sins
of God's elect became His sins, and He became guilty of those
sins, and the justice and wrath of God came down upon Him. That's
why He must suffer. There's a must needs to everything
Christ did. He must rise from the dead because
He accomplished salvation. He paid the debt. He must needs
go through Samaria because one of his sheep's there, and he's
going to go after his sheep. You see, if you belong to God,
he's going to cross your path with the gospel. He must needs
go through Samaria. He said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down today. I must abide in thy house. Thus it's written, and thus it
behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the third day, and
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Now, this message
is to be preached in His name, in His authority. Now, what does
it mean to preach in His name? Well, if I say, believe this
because I said it, You'd be a fool if you believed it, because I
said it. That's no reason to believe anything. That would
be me coming in my own name. I love what it said of the noble
Bereans. It said, after they heard Paul preach, they searched
the scriptures daily, whether these things be so. I don't come
in my own name. I don't say, believe this because
I believe it. But if I say, believe this because Christ said it,
this is what Christ said, there's the authority. It's God's word,
not man's word, but God's word. Now, bringing this message in
His name means this is His word, not my word. Remember the title
of this message, What Should Be Preached? Here's what Christ
says should be preached, that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in His name. Now, repentance, what is it?
What is it? What does the word mean? Now, repentance means a change
of mind. It's made of two words in the
original, a compound word, which simply means to change your mind. And many times in the New Testament,
we read of these two words together, repentance and remission of sins. Repentance in its most elementary
level is a change of mind regarding the remission or the forgiveness
of sins. Now I'm going to keep coming
back to that, and we'll never understand repentance if we don't
understand this thing of a change of mind regarding the remission
of sins. Now, you know what it is like
to change your mind. When I was a boy, the two foods
that I hated most were brussel sprouts and tomatoes. I remember my parents would make
me eat them. It was miserable. I hated the
smell of them. I hated the texture of them.
I hated brussel sprouts and I hated tomatoes. Today, I love brussel
sprouts. I've changed my mind. My mind's
been changed. I think they taste good. I love
brussel sprouts. My favorite vegetable. I really
love the taste. My mind has been changed with
regard to brussel sprouts. Tomatoes, my mind hadn't been
changed. I still hate them. I hate the
way they smell. I hate the texture. I hate the
taste. I hate tomatoes. I have not repented with regard
to tomatoes. I think the same thing, but with
regard to Brussels sprouts, I've changed my mind. I now love them."
Now, that is what repentance means. If you repent, you change
your mind. Your mind's been changed. If
you don't repent, your mind remains the same. Now, I think it's very
interesting in the New Testament, three times this word repentance
is referred to as the gift of God. It's not something that
is found in natural human nature, sinful nature. If you repent,
it's because God gave you repentance. Just like faith, I think of that
scripture in Ephesians 2, 8, by grace you say through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's not the product of your
will. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. It's the same with regard to repentance. Acts chapter 5,
verse 31 says, him hath God exalted as a prince and a savior, for
to give repentance to Israel, the forgiveness of sins. We read
in Acts 11.18, then hath God to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. It's a gift of God's grace. Paul
said in 2 Timothy 2.25, he spoke of if God perventure will grant
them repentance, give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
It's the gift of God's grace. It's not an exotic that grows
in human nature or the human heart. Now, this repentance that
we're speaking of now is infinitely more than a change of mind about
some kind of food you like. Somebody says repentance is a
change, but oh, what a change. Oh, what a change. Paul summarizes
his preaching. Like this in Acts chapter 20
verses 20 and 21, I kept back nothing that was profitable to
you, but I've taught you publicly and from house to house preaching
repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, repentance is a change of mind concerning God. And wherever
there's repentance, there is faith in Christ. They're two
sides of the same coin. The two sides of a sheet of paper,
they always go together. Where you have repentance, you
have faith in Christ. Where you have faith in Christ,
you will have this thing of repentance. Now, Paul called it repentance
towards God. And let me give you a real concrete
illustration of what that means. According to the scriptures,
God elected a people before time began to be saved, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1.4, Romans 9.11, for the children, being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob of a loved,
and Esau of a hated. Now the scripture teaches that.
There was a time when I'd hear that and I'd be mad. I'd think
that's not fair. That's not fair for God to choose
one and pass by another. It's not fair for God to give
one to Christ and leave the other to himself. That's not fair.
And I would grow angry with God. I wouldn't sit in judgment on
God. I would make my judgment as to whether what God was doing
was fair or not. Do you know I've repented of
that? He's granted me that repentance, but I've changed my mind. Whatever
God does is fair. Whatever he does is right. And
the very fact that he chose to come to salvation, I'm thankful
for that because if he didn't, no one would be saved. Oh, my
mind has been changed. I love the God of election. I
love how it teaches the absolute sovereignty of God and how the
salvation is all of grace. My mind has been changed. Paul called repentance in 2 Timothy
2.25, if God would grant them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. Now here's what repentance does.
It acknowledges, it embraces, it receives the truth of God. The truth concerning God's character
as the Bible reveals Him. The truth concerning man's character. You see, you used to, for instance,
in repentance, you used to believe you had a free will. You used
to believe that if all your conditions were right, you could do well.
But you repent of that, you see all you are is nothing but sin.
and your need of His grace. You see, there's repentance.
You change your mind regarding to yourself. You used to think
you were a pretty good person. You don't think that anymore.
You know that you're the chief of sinners, and if God gives
you what you deserve, He'll send you to hell. You really believe
that when you repent. Now, if you don't believe that,
you've never repented. Repentance is a change of mind concerning
salvation. We used to think that there's
something we could do to be saved or get God to save us. We repent
of that. We see that Christ is everything in salvation, that
salvation is of the Lord. In Mark 1, verse 4, we read where
John preached the baptism of repentance concerning the remission
of sins. Repentance concerning the remission
of sins. Now, here's what most people
think when they think of repenting. I repent of my sin when I'm real
sorry for it, and I turn from it. and I don't return to it. And if I do those things, God
will forgive me of my sin. If I'm sorry for my sin, if I
turn from my sin and I don't return to it, then God will forgive
me of my sin. And my dear friend, if that's
what repentance is, me and you have never repented. Now let's
be honest. Are there not sins you still
commit that you committed years ago and you're still committing
them today? Somebody says, no, I don't believe you. I don't
believe you. Yeah, there are. And you may be so blind in self-righteousness
that you don't see it. But if you have any honesty at
all, you know that there are sins you still commit. Now, if
repentance is turning from that sin and not committing that sin
anymore, and you have forgiveness because of that, then you're
in trouble. big trouble. Now, we ought to
turn from our sin, and we ought not sin anymore. I believe that
with all my heart, but let's look at the facts. If repentance
is you turning from your sin and not returning to it and only
giving forgiveness because of that, that's salvation by works. That's all it is. That means
your forgiveness is given to you because you've repented and
because you've turned from your sin and because you don't commit
that sin anymore. And so forgiveness is a gift
given, a reward given to your repentance. Now, my dear friends,
that is not what repentance is. I know preachers present it that
way. They talk about you need to repent of your sins. Do you
know that phrase is not found in the Bible, repent of your
sins? Now, we ought to have a change of mind regarding our sin. I
know that, but still that phrase is not found in the Bible. That's
confounding what repentance is in the first place. Now, repentance
is a change of mind regarding The remission, the forgiveness
of sins. Natural religion, human religion,
false religion, works religion puts the forgiveness of sins
at the end of the equation in salvation. If you repent of your
sins, if you turn from your sins, if you're sorry for your sin,
if you don't return to your sin, then you'll have the forgiveness
of sin. If you fill in the blank, whatever
it is, if you fill in the blank, you'll have the forgiveness of
sins. Now, when you understand the
forgiveness of sins and when you repent, You understand that
forgiveness does not come at the end of the equation. Salvation
begins with the full, free forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake. Ephesians
4.32 says, tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." He
didn't forgive you because you asked for forgiveness, or because
you were sorry, or because you turned from your sin and never
returned to it. He forgave you of your sin for
Christ's sake, and this forgiveness was not a response to what you
did. It's a response to what Christ
has done. That's why He forgives sins,
and I'm called upon to repent anything contrary to that. It's
repentance regarding the remission of sins, the forgiveness of sins. Now let's talk about the forgiveness
of sins, or the remission of sins. A change of mind regarding
the remission of sins. I used to think that I needed
to do this in order to get the remission of sins. Changed my
mind. God's changed my mind. It's a change of mind regarding
the remission of sins. Now, What is my greatest need? My greatest need is the forgiveness
of sin. That's my greatest need. I need to have my sins forgiven. If I want to stand before God
accepted, I need to have my sins forgiven. Now, I suppose that
the preciousness of this will be seen in how sinful you are. If you're not all that sinful,
you don't see this as your great need. You think you're a pretty
good fella. But if you believe yourself to be sinful, full of
sin, If you're like Peter, when he saw who the Lord really was
in Luke chapter 5, he said, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. You don't want to have anything
to do with somebody like me. Now, if you see yourself as a
sinful man, What's more important to you than anything else is
the forgiveness of sins. Now in Acts chapter 13 verse
48, Paul in this sermon makes this statement in verse 38. Be
it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this
man, this God-man, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses, by your works, by your law keeping. Through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Now let me tell you three things
about, or let me tell you four things about the forgiveness
of sins. Through this man who has preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins, first of all, I want to use the word full. It's a
full forgiveness. That means all sins. Sins I haven't
even yet committed. All sins. Fully forgiven. I'll never have to give an account
for my sins. When I hear preachers talk about
a judgment of the believer's sins, how they're going to be
rewarded in heaven or given a lower reward for sinning too much,
that means all those sins aren't forgiven. No full forgiveness. Next thing I'd like to say about
His forgiveness is it's free. There is absolutely nothing you
need to do to merit it. There's nothing you need to pay
to get it. It's absolutely free. It's the
only free thing there is, the full and the free forgiveness
of sins. And the forgiveness of sins is
irreversible. You can't become unforgiven.
If you're forgiven, you're forgiven eternally. It's irreversible.
God can't turn around and say, I'm not going to forgive anymore.
He won't. He won't. That's against the character
of God. And it is present. Now, who has this? All who believe. All who believe are justified. Now, if you're justified, really,
that's why you're forgiven. You're justified. And God says,
I'll forgive you. If you're justified, that means you don't have any
sins to Confess. You don't have any sins. You're
justified. That's what Christ did on the
cross. He put away that sin. He gave you his righteousness,
so you're justified. And because you're justified,
you're forgiven. That's the reason for forgiveness.
Justification. Now, all who believe. That's
the one criteria. All who believe. Believe what?
Well, I believe I'm saved. That doesn't mean you're saved.
All who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. All who believe
that Jesus is the Christ. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. You believe he's God's prophet.
Listen to me, faith doesn't have anything to do with what you
believe about yourself. It has wholly to do with what you believe
about him. What think ye of Christ is the issue. Do you believe
that what Christ did, because of who he is, what he did is
enough to save you? Where he's all you have, he's
all you want, he's all you need, and he's all you have. That's
what faith is. If he's all you want, if he's
all you need, if he's all you have, you believe the gospel. All who believe are justified
from all things of which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. You couldn't be saved by your
works. Repentance is a change of mind concerning the remission
of sins. You used to believe that you
would be forgiven if you did fill in the blank, whatever it
is. You've repented of that. You believe you're only saved
for Christ's sake and for no other reason. That's what should
be preached. repentance and the remission
of sins. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To request a copy of the sermon
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