I did choose thee, Lord, for,
Lord, that Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. 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 Nibert. In Acts chapter 4, verse 13,
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived
that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. Now who was it that observed
this boldness? It was the religious leaders
who had Peter and John arrested. That's who saw this boldness. They had heard their bold speech
and they were amazed. Now these were people who had
no love for Peter and John. They were enemies to the message
that Peter and John brought, but when they observed them,
they saw a boldness. And the only account for this
boldness was not some natural gift that they had, but they
understood that this boldness came from them being with the
Lord Jesus Christ. They saw boldness in their speaking. Freedom in speaking. Unreservedness. They speak openly and frankly
with confidence, with a cheerful courage, without ambiguity. Courage and assurance. That is
what was seen in their speaking, even when they were in trouble.
They were being put on trial and they could not get away from
this boldness. these men demonstrated. Now,
in preaching, in the preaching of the gospel, there are three
things that are necessary. First, the truth. God only uses the
truth, the truth of Scripture. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. God never uses error. God only
uses that which comes from His Word, the truth. So there can't
be true preaching without the truth. Secondly, there can't
be true preaching without the Holy Spirit. If God the Holy
Spirit does not bless what is said and put it in the hearts
of the people who are listening, if he doesn't enable the preacher
to preach, no good will come out of it. The Holy Spirit is
absolutely necessary in the preaching of the gospel. And the third
thing that's needed is boldness. Not great speaking ability, not
brilliance, boldness to faithfully proclaim what God has said. Now that's the only type of preacher
I want to hear. I want a preacher who tells the truth, a preacher
who is inspired by God the Spirit, and a preacher who will boldly
proclaim the truth. Now these men looked at the boldness
of Peter and John, and they had nothing going for them as far
as the flesh goes. They perceived that they were
unlearned and ignorant men. They'd never been to seminary.
They were what they considered illiterate, common, unskilled,
and untrained men. They had nothing going for them
as far as the flesh, nothing to recommend them, so they were
forced to this conclusion. The only reason these men are
like this is because they had been with Jesus. Being with Jesus
created some kind of supernatural boldness in these men. And it
was the religious rulers who made this observation. The same
ones I thought of where the Lord said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent. There we go, these religious
rulers, these religious leaders. You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now, this is a reminder
to us that the world never loves the truth, never understands
the truth. They always turn thumbs down
on the truth. That's what these religious leaders did. They didn't
believe what they said. They knew they had, been used
by God to perform this remarkable miracle. But it didn't do anything
for them. They said, we can't deny that
they did this. When they saw that man over 40 years old who
was laying from his womb, standing up, walking, and leaping, and
praising God, they couldn't deny that it took place. Indeed, they
said a notable miracle has taken place. But it didn't change their
heart. No man has ever changed by seeing
a miracle. But did you know one of the benchmarks
of the authentic gospel, there's the world, particularly the religious
world, will not love the message and will not understand the message.
It was the religious people, the supposedly moral people that
crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. The world never has loved the
gospel and never will love the gospel. Now, I'm going to read
a passage from 1 Corinthians 1 that I thought about when they
saw these men that had no natural abilities. There was nothing
about them that They were impressed with. They considered them to
be unlearned and ignorant men, but they couldn't deny their
boldness. And that boldness came from them being with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
17, the Apostle Paul said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to
preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of done effect. Paul says,
I didn't come to baptize, and that doesn't take away from the
importance of baptism. Every believer should confess Christ
in believer's baptism. Baptism by immersion. That's
what baptism means. It means to immerse, to submerge
all the way under and emerge back up from the water. That's
just a ceremony. I realize that. It's just a ritual.
It is not something that conveys saving power or saving grace. Your sins aren't put away because
you go under the water. But baptism is important because
I confess what baptism depicts, all my salvation. When Christ
lived, I was in Him. When He died, I was in Him. I
died. When He was raised, I was in
Him. I was raised. That's all my salvation. And it's important in this sense.
The marriage ceremony. It's just a ceremony. Two people
say, well, we love each other. Why don't we get married? Why
can't we just cohabit and live together? We love each other.
Why go through that ceremony? Well, if I refuse to go through
that ceremony, I'm saying I'm not committed for life to that
person. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that love is not a
love enough that will make me commit all the way to the end,
till death do us part. And baptism is the same thing.
It's like the marriage ceremony in that sense. The ceremony doesn't
make you love each other. It's just something that you
do that shows you do. And baptism, you say, I'm following
Christ forever. This is my salvation. Now, Paul
said, though, I didn't come to baptize. That's not my purpose,
to see results, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of
words. I'm not trying to dress it up
to make it more understandable, to make it easier to receive.
That's what God the Holy Spirit does. I'm simply to proclaim
the gospel, not with wisdom of words, not trying to make it
less offensive to the flesh or more palatable to the flesh.
No, I preach the gospel as it is. Then he says in verse 18,
for the preaching of the cross is to them to perish foolishness. Well, how could you expect me
to believe something like that? But that's what you're saved. It's
the power of God, the preaching, the doctrine, the word of the
cross, what the cross declares, how God saves sinners by what
Christ did, not by what you do. The message of the cross is it's
done, it's finished. The message of works is do, you
need to do something. Now, the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but undoes what you're saved.
It's the power of God. For it's written, I'll destroy
the wisdom of the wise. I'll bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? I couldn't
help but think of Peter and John at this time, where they said
they're unlearned and ignorant men. Where is the wise? Where
is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. What's going on
right now? To save them that believe. For
the Jews, the religious fellows require a sign. Give us some
evidence. The Greeks seek after wisdom
and philosophy. Give something to make us feel
better about our intelligence. But we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. Christ crucified,
so much so that Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 or 2, 1 and 2,
And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message to preach,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I don't care where you're at
in the Bible. If you don't go there, you missed it. The whole
Bible is about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, Paul says
to the Jews, this is a stumbling block, they stumble at it. To
the Greeks, it's foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God. Christ, the
wisdom of God. Christ demonstrates the wisdom
of God, how he was so wise that he could make a way to be just
and yet justify that person that Christ died for. Christ demonstrates
the power of God and that he is able also to execute this,
to actually make it to where me, a sinner, is righteous before
God through what Christ did on Calvary's tree. And then Paul
goes on to say, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. They
looked at Peter and John, and they thought these were unlearned
and ignorant men. Well, the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Well, what could these men do? The weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things
of the world, and the things which are despised hath God chosen,
yea, and the things which are not, which are nothing, to bring
to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Now the only way you're gonna
receive Christ as all is if you're nothing. If you have nothing
to recommend you to God, if you're nothing, you receive Him as all. If you're something, you can't
receive Him as all. But of Him, the Apostle says,
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made into us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it's written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord." Now
what is meant by this boldness that they perceived in Peter
and John? In John chapter 11, after Lazarus
had died, the Lord said, Lazarus sleepeth, and we're going to
go and wake him. Now the Lord knew that he was
dead, And quite often the death of the believer is called a sleep,
them which sleep in Jesus. But it can be taken either way. The apostles took it as that
he was just asleep, not dead. He was just asleep. But it could
have been taken either way. They could have thought, well,
he means the sleep of death for a believer, or he just meant
dead, dead. And then the Lord said in the
14th verse, and Jesus said to them plainly, and that word plainly
is the same word that translated boldness, Lazarus is dead. There's not two ways to take
that. Lazarus is dead. Now that's what is meant by bold
speaking. You can't take it two different
ways. Now, this was demonstrated in
Acts chapter four when they asked them, by what name do you do
this? By what name do you do this?
And whose authority do you do this? When they were talking
about that lame man, who was lame from birth, Peter took him
by the hand, he rose up, he leaped, he walked. A notable miracle
had taken place. And they said, by what name or
in what power have you done this? Now, if Peter would have answered,
well, by the name of God Almighty, in the name of Jehovah, In the
name of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that's in whose
name and whose power we did this, the religious leaders would have
been satisfied. They would have said, okay, we
believe that too. And they would have gone on and there wouldn't
have been any trouble. But that's not the way Peter
did. If he would have done that, what he would have said would
have been true, but it would have been compromise. There would
have been no boldness in this. It would have been speaking out
of both sides of the mouth. It would be saying something
that's true and trying to get away from saying the truth. But
he said, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's the
name we did this in, in his name. The name who you crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, and we're witnesses of this in His
name, that name that's above every name. In His name we did
this. That's when they perceive this
boldness, this cheerful confidence, this fearlessness was in them.
Now this boldness is not the result of some kind of natural
boldness. You know, there are people in
this world who aren't afraid to say anything. They just have
kind of a natural courage, and they're not afraid of conflict,
and it doesn't even bother them, and they'll say anything to anybody
without blinking an eye. Sometimes that's good, sometimes
that's bad. But this is not that kind of boldness. This is a boldness
that's born of believing the truth, and you're willing to
preach it and stand for it if nobody else does, because you
believe it's the very truth of God. Now, that is what has meant
this boldness that they perceived in Peter and John. Now, I want
to give several scriptures with regard to this boldness to see
what we can learn about true boldness. The first is found
in 2 Corinthians 3.12, seeing that we have such hope we use
great plainness. That word is the same word in
the Greek, translated boldness, seeing that we have such hope.
We use great plainness or boldness of speech. Well, what hope do
you have, Paul? Well, if you look in the previous
verse, he called the gospel the ministration of righteousness,
and he called the law the ministration of death. And he said the ministration
of righteousness had all glory. It's the glory that excels. Now,
what he means by that, the ministration of righteousness, here's what
the gospel does. The gospel makes the sinner righteous. So that when God looks at me,
he doesn't pretend that I'm righteous. He doesn't overlook my sin and
treat me as if I were righteous. He sees me as altogether righteous,
just the righteousness of his son. He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now, if I have the righteousness
of God, if I am the righteousness of God, I use great plainness,
great boldness of speech. I've got reason to. I don't have
anything to fear. I'm the very righteousness of
God through the gospel. Now, that's what makes a man
bold. If his righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
that is what makes a man bold and what makes his speech bold.
He doesn't tiptoe through the tulips. He declares this plainly. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 12,
in whom we have boldness. In whom we have boldness. And
access with confidence by the faith of Him. In whom. Now, I don't have boldness coming
on my own. I don't have any boldness of
any part of salvation has something to do with me. I have no boldness
at all. I'm scared to death. But in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, in whom we have boldness. In whom. Now, in Christ, what's
that mean? That means when God sees me,
all he sees is Christ. I'm in him. That's what baptism depicts.
When you're Immersed. You're in the water. I was immersed
in Christ. I'm in Him so that all God sees
is Christ. Somebody may ask, well, how do
you get in Him? Well, the only way you're in Him is if God puts
you in Him. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. That's the only
way you can be in Christ. But in Him, I can come into the
very presence of God with boldness. I have access. I have a reason
to come with confidence because Christ Jesus is my wisdom and
righteousness before God. I have boldness. In whom we have
boldness. Not in ourselves, but in Him.
In whom we have boldness. I really believe God accepts
me. Because I'm in Christ. I can't
be seen apart from Christ. I can't be separated from Christ.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. My boldness is in Christ, not
in myself, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in Hebrews chapter
three, verse six, we read this statement. But Christ is a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence. And that word confidence is the
boldness. We are his, whose house are we if we hold fast the boldness
and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Now, what is my boldness? It's what my hope is and the
hope that I rejoice in. Here's my hope. It's that Christ,
is who he said he is. And he did what he said he came
to do. And that he died for me. And
the reason I believe that he died for me is because he died
for sinners. I'm a sinner. Therefore I know he died for
me. And I have such boldness that his death is everything
in salvation. And that is what I'm to persevere
in. I'm never to leave that. I'm
never to go on and graduate to bigger and better things. You're
made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of the confidence
steadfast to the end and never leave it. That is our hope, the
beginning of our confidence. And then we read in Hebrews chapter
4 verse 16. I love this passage of scripture.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Now, how is it that we can come boldly to the throne of grace?
Well, look back in verse 14, seeing that we have a great high
priest. that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high preach
which cannot be touched, moved to sympathy with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Now, I remember I used to read
that passage of scripture, and I'd think, well, how in the world
can he sympathize with me if he's never sinned? How is he
tempted in all points like me, yet without sin? Well, here's
the point. When he was made sin, he experienced
everything about sin, but the commission of it. Now, he never
sinned. Even when he was made sin, he
never sinned. He's the impeccable son of God. He never fell before
temptation, but here's the point. He knows exactly what it's like
to feel, he knows exactly what it feels to fall before temptation.
Though he never fell before temptation, He knows what it feels like.
When he was made sin, he was made to experience all the shame,
the guilt, the humiliation, the degradation of sin. And so now
when he sees somebody like me or you who are just brought down
because of our sin, the scripture says he's touched. Not moved
to anger, but touched. He's been there. He understands.
He's touched by the feeling of our firmness. And that's why
we can come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and
to find grace to help in time of need. And then we read in
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now the holiest represents the
holy of holies in the tabernacle there's the holy place and there
was the holy of holies. Now only the great high priest
could enter the holy of holies and that only once a year not
without blood. The blood of the day of atonement
and he was the only one that could come but now the writer
to the Hebrews says we have boldness We, everybody Christ died for,
have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Not in our own works, not in
our own name, not because something we've done, but by the blood
of Jesus by a new and living way. And that word new means
freshly slaughtered. The blood is always poignant
to the Father. And that's the way we come and
we can enter in with boldness through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then in 1 John 2, verse 28,
we read these words. 1 John 2, I overshot it, let me
get to it. And our little children abide
in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence. Boldness
is the same word. and not be ashamed before Him
at His coming. Now what does it mean to abide
in Him? It means the only place you want to be is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You don't want God to see you
independent of Christ. You don't want God to judge you
for your prayers or your love. You simply want to be found in
Christ. You don't want to be anywhere else. Now, the only
way I'm not going to be ashamed at the coming of Christ is by
abiding in Him so that He is all God sees. And finally, we
read in 1 John 4, verse 17, Herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now, how in the
world am I going to have boldness on the day of judgment when I
stand before God in judgment? Boldness? How's that? Verse 17,
herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Right now, present tense. Now
if I'm in Christ, is He righteous? I am too. Is He holy? I am too. Is He altogether lovely
to the Father? I am too. That is the heritage
of every believer, as He is. Is He completely secure? I am too. As He is, so are we
in this world. Now I wouldn't dare say something
like that unless the Bible said it, but here we have this in
the Bible. We can have boldness, cheerful
confidence on the day of judgment. Because as He is, this is the
heritage of every believer, however He is, perfect, holy, righteous,
altogether lovely, having never sinned, as He is, so are we in
this world. And if that's so, and it is,
we can have boldness on the day of judgment. Now this is for
every believer. Oh, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, They took knowledge of them, that they had been with
Jesus. 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 Kniver 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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