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. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Answer. In verse 12 of Acts chapter 3,
when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people. Now what he
was answering was how a man who was lame from birth was made
to leap and to walk. People observed this in this
chapter. It was the day after Pentecost,
and Peter and John were in the temple. There was a man who was
lame from birth, and Peter commanded him to get up and walk, and he
did. It was a notable miracle. The man was over 40 years old
who had this miracle take place with him. And people were amazed. And they came running to Peter
and John to find out how this took place. And Peter answers,
verse 12, and when Peter saw, he answered unto the people. And he begins his answer, by
correcting a mistaken notion. When Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look you so earnestly on us? As though by our own power or
holiness, we made this man to walk. Why are you looking upon
us? As though God rewarded us for
our personal holiness and personal piety, and because of that, He
gave us the ability to give this man the ability to walk. Why
are you looking on us? Now men have a tendency to make
too much of the instrument or too much of the means. And anyone
that has any honesty knows they're nothing but sin in and of themselves,
and God is not using them in reward to some personal holiness
that they have. And Peter wanted to make sure
these people understood this. He didn't want the spotlight
to be on him and John. He wanted the spotlight to be
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So he said, why are you looking
at us as though by our own power or our own holiness, we made
this man to walk? Verse 13, he says, the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God
of our fathers hath glorified his son, Jesus. Now, he is the one who made this
man to walk, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, the covenant God. When God identified himself to
Moses, He identified Himself as the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is God's title for Himself,
the covenant God, the God who entered into covenant with Abraham
and said, In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
the God of Isaac, the son of the supernatural birth. He was
born after Sarah had already gone through menopause. He was
a miracle. And Jacob, sinful Jacob, yet
God says, Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated, but Jacob
have I loved. We see the gospel in these three
men. And he says, God has glorified
his son, Jesus. Now, earlier, the Pharisees got
very upset when our Lord walked upon this earth when He said
He was the Son of God, because they said if He's the Son of
God, like He claimed, that would make Him equal with God. And
they wanted to stone Him because of this. And Peter is letting
them know, this is the one who is equal with God. God the Son. He's equal with God because He
is God. He's the creator of the universe.
He's the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Now here is how this man was
made to get up and walk. The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, the God of
the Old Testament. You know, some people dismiss
the Old Testament. You don't have the New Testament
without the Old Testament. And God's the same in the Old
Testament as He is in the New. God's immutable. He never changes.
He's the God of Scripture. He's the God of the Bible. And
here's what He's done in raising this man up to walk. He's glorified
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Peter was listening to the
Lord pray shortly before his death, in John chapter 17, when
he said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work thou gavest me to do. Now glorify me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
Peter was a witness listening to the Lord pray this prayer,
and he understood that the glory of Jesus Christ cannot be separated
from him finishing the work the Father gave him to do. I have
glorified thee on earth. I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. Now, Peter was preaching the
one whom the father glorified. And the reason he glorified him
is he finished the work the father gave him to do. And we don't
have to guess as to what that work was and is. On the very first chapter of
the New Testament, we read these words, thou shalt call his name
Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now there's the work the Father
gave him to do, to save his people. This is not a generic salvation.
This is the salvation of his people, those the Father gave
him. This is a reference to divine
election. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou has given me. When
he came, he came as a representative for a certain people called his
people, the elect, those the father gave him. And when he
lived his life on this earth, he did so as a representative
man. When he kept the law, he kept the law for his people. When he died on Calvary's tree,
he died for his people. Their sin became his sin. He took it upon himself and he
died under the wrath of God for his people. And when he was raised
from the dead, he was raised for his people. Now the glorified
Lord Jesus Christ is the one who was completely successful
finishing the work the father gave him to do. Oh, how I love
the words of the Lord from the cross. It is finished. When he said it is finished,
the salvation of the elect was accomplished. Everybody from
whom he died, they were saved. Now, he's preached the one, the
father, has glorified, verse 13, the God of Abraham and of
Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his
son, Jesus, in response to what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
on Calvary Street. And then he says, remember, Peter
at this time is preaching to the very men who cried, away
with him, crucify him, and give us Barabbas. Those are the people
he's preaching to at this time. Now he says, whom you delivered
up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined
to let him go, but you denied the holy one and the just and
desired a murderer in his stead. You denied and rejected and said
no to the holy one and the just. And you said, give us Barabbas.
Now, this is what you and I are guilty of. denying, rejecting,
saying no to the Holy One of Israel, to the Just One, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 15, you
killed the Prince of life. And this is what God holds me
and you accountable for. You killed the Prince of life. Somebody says, well, I didn't
kill him. I wasn't even born then. Yeah, but here's the point.
You would have. I would have. If God left me and you to ourselves,
we would kill his son. And somebody says, I wouldn't
kill Jesus. Well, if you knew who he was,
you probably, if that's your sentiment, you've never really
heard who he really is. You just heard false conceptions
of him that you're not going to get mad at him. But if you
hear who he really is, You will, by nature, I will by nature,
want to put him out of business, dethrone him, and take his place. And that's what he accuses these
people of. You killed the Prince of Life. Now somebody says, how can you
kill the Prince of Life? If he's the author of life, if
he's God, how do you kill him? Well, the only way that can be
done is for him to lay down his life voluntarily. And that's
precisely what he did. He laid down his life voluntarily. Now, that doesn't take away from
our responsibility. Peter said in the Sermon on Pentecost,
Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. We do what we want to do, and
we're held responsible for our actions, but thank God, God is
completely sovereign over the free actions of men, and this
was His will being done, the death of His Son in order to
save His people. And this is what Peter is telling
them, you've killed the prince of life whom God raised from
the dead this one who you killed God raised him from the dead
he's never going to die again and he's absolute lord God raised
him from the dead because He finished the work the Father
gave him to do, because he paid for the sins of everybody that
he died for. The very justice of God demands
his resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. You see, by his death, he completely
saved everybody he died for. Those sins were put away, and
his righteousness is given to them, and the very justice of
God demands their salvation. Now what you did, you killed
the Prince of Life. That's what God holds you responsible
for. That's what God holds me responsible for. And as I said,
you can't say I didn't do it because you would have. You would
have. If the Lord leaves you and me
to ourselves, we would be among those saying, crucify him, crucify
him. And the Lord sees that. You killed
the prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead, where we
are all witnesses, were witnesses to this, verse 16, and his name. You're wondering how this man
is standing before you completely whole. You're wondering how this
man, born lame from his birth over 40 years old, is all of
a sudden standing up and leaping and walking, and his name. Through
faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and
know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given this man perfect
soundness in the presence of you all. Now earlier in the chapter,
when Peter spoke to this man, he saw him lame in front of the
temple. Verse six, then Peter said, silver
and gold have I none. That's what the man was looking
for, a little help in his plight. And I can understand that. But
Peter says, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I
give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. rise up and
walk. His name is Jesus, Savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. It's the New
Testament translation of the Old Testament word, Joshua. You'll
remember how Moses could not bring the children of Israel
into the Promised Land. The law can never bring somebody
in. Moses represented the law, but
Joshua, the Savior, could. Now his name is Savior. He saves. If you're going to be saved,
it's going to be because he saved you. Christ, that's his offices,
God's anointed prophet. The very Word of God. God's priest,
if He represents you before the Father, you must be saved. You
can't come to God on your own. You must have Him as your priest.
God's King, the one who rules and reigns in absolute Lordship
in complete control of everything and everybody. And I have to
have him as my prophet to bring me the word of God. I need to
have him as my priest to bring me to God. I need to have him
as my King to cause me to do his will. Now, he says, Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, to make sure we knew exactly who he was talking
about, the one who was crucified and the one who has been raised
from the dead. Now notice the way he says this.
He says, his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man
strong whom you see and know, yea, the faith which is by him. hath given him this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all." Now, that's interesting the way
Peter says this. Peter says this in this way to make sure we don't
try to make faith the Savior. Faith was not who made this man
whole. Christ is the one who made this
man whole. We're not going to give faith
the credit. Christ gets all the credit. Faith believes that. Faith believes that Jesus Christ
is all in salvation. I'm not saved because of my faith. I'm saved because Christ represented
me. I'm saved because Christ kept
the law for me. I'm saved because Christ died
for me. I'm saved because Christ was raised from the dead for
me. It's not faith that saves, it's Christ. Faith believes that. And that's why Peter says this
the way he does. His name, through faith in His
name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know, yea, the
faith which is by Him. have given this man perfect soundness
in the presence of you all." And that's the way he saves.
When he saves, he gives everybody he saves perfect soundness. It's what the Bible calls justification. I stand before God without guilt,
perfectly sound, having Christ's righteousness as my personal
righteousness before God. And then he says in verse 17,
and now brethren, and I love the way he calls them brethren.
He loved these people. They weren't his brothers in
Christ yet, but they were his brothers in Adam. And he wanted
to tell them how he was saved. You see, if the Lord ever saves
me, I'm going to want you to be saved. Preaching, somebody
once says, is one beggar telling another beggar where he got bread.
I think that's a good definition. Peter says, and now, brethren,
I want that through ignorance you did it, as also your rulers.
You didn't know that you were killing the Lord of glory. You
didn't know you were killing the Son of God. You just looked
upon Him as a man. You looked upon Him as an enemy,
a man you did not like what He had to say. You didn't really
know what you were doing. You were ignorant. And that's
men's problem. Ignorance. Ignorance of the true
character of God. ignorant of the nature of God,
ignorant of their own sinfulness, ignorant of their need of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I think of what Paul said, I
bear them record, speaking of the Israelites, they have a zeal
for God but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. Ignorance, man in all of his supposed wisdom is ignorant
of God. He's ignorant of himself and
he's ignorant of the way of salvation unless God is pleased to make
it known. Now ignorance does not supply
man with an excuse. Even though you're ignorant,
you're still responsible. But Peter says, And now, brethren,
I want that through ignorance you did it, as did also your
rulers. But these things which God before had showed by the
mouth of his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. Now, he tells them what you were
doing was what God ordained for you to do. You were ignorant.
You did it in wickedness. But all you were doing is what
God said you would do in the Old Testament scriptures, and
you were fulfilling the Old Testament scriptures. We read in Acts chapter
4 verses 27 and 28, For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. I know you were ignorant, but
you were simply fulfilling God's will. It was God's purpose that
Christ should suffer. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Now remember this about the cross.
It wasn't an afterthought. It wasn't God's plan B when Adam
fell. The cross has always been the
very purpose of God to glorify himself through the salvation
of chosen sinners. This is God's purpose. This is God's plan. I know that
you did this ignorantly, but you were simply fulfilling the
scriptures. He said in verse 19, repent ye
therefore and be converted. that your sins may be blotted
out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord." Repent. What's that word mean? It means
change your mind. Change your mind. Repent and
believe the gospel. Repent. You know, most preachers,
when they present repentance, they say, repent of your sins.
What does that mean? For one thing, that phrase is
not found in the Bible. You won't find it, and yet that's
the way most preachers repent of your sins. Well, I reckon
we ought to have a change of mind about our sins. I don't
have any question about that. But repentance, basically, is
repentance towards God. It's a change of mind about God.
You used to dislike certain aspects of him. You change your mind.
You change your mind about salvation. You used to believe that salvation
was in your hands and you change your mind. You know it's totally
in God's hands. You have a change of mind about
yourself. You now see that you're nothing but sin and that Christ
is the only way you can be saved. That's what repentance is. It's
a change of mind. You used to believe salvation
was by works. You don't believe that anymore.
When you repent, you repent regarding the forgiveness of sins. You
used to think that the forgiveness of sins was something God rewarded
you for if you did blank, blank, and blank, fill in the blank,
whatever it is. My dear friend, forgiveness is not the end of
an equation. Salvation begins with the full,
complete forgiveness of sins. Now, repent and be converted. Whenever anyone repents, they're
gonna turn in the direction they're walking. They will every time.
You're going away from Christ, now you go toward Christ, looking
to him. You were going away from grace,
now grace is all you have. You repent and you turn. Repent
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. When the
time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Now, that doesn't mean that the act of repentance blots out sin.
Christ did. But if I don't repent, if I don't
believe the gospel, I'll know nothing about the blotting out
of sin. But if I repent, you know what
I'm going to find out? If I turn, if I believe the gospel, I'm
going to find out that all of my sins have been blotted out. They are no more. Christ put
them away completely. And notice how he says that your
sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord. What could be more refreshing
than to know that I'm never going to have to give an account for
my sins because I don't have any sins. I'm justified before
God. That's what Christ accomplished
on Calvary Street. the complete justification of all who look
to him only. What a blessing that is. Now,
he says that he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached
to you. This is talking about his second
advent. He is coming again, whom the heaven must receive until
the times of the restitution of all things which God hath
spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began.
Now, Christ is coming again. When he ascended back to heaven,
heaven had to receive him. He'd been there for maternity,
and for that space of 33 years, he leaves. Now he comes back. Oh, how the
heavens receive him, the second person of the blessed Trinity,
the only savior of sinners. Oh, how he glorified his father
by what he did. The angels understand now. They
didn't at first. And he comes back, and oh, how
he is received. And he's going to return again
for what is called the restitution of all things. Now, things are
a mess right now. You know that and I know it.
Things are a mess. This world is so evil. But when he returns, he's going
to make everything right. There's going to be no trouble,
no tear, no sorrow. He's going to make everything
right. Peter said, we're looking for
a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And then he says in verse 22, for Moses truly said unto the
fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto your
brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things,
whatsoever he shall say unto you, and shall come to pass,
that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
from among the people." Now, Peter had his understanding opened
that he might understand Scripture. And he could now look where Moses
said, a prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you like unto
your brethren. And he knew this was a reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. He could see that
now. understood, and he said, this is the prophet that you're
going to hear in all things. I love the way he says all things.
What do you believe? What do you have to believe to be saved?
Everything he said, all things. Well, is there a minimum? No,
you got to believe everything he said, all things. And somebody
that won't hear that prophet, Peter says, shall be destroyed
from among the people. Now you believe because it's
true. That's why you believe. You don't
decide to believe, you believe something because it's true.
But if you fail to believe, if you say, I'm not going to listen
to this. It's because of a choice you've made. And that is why
it is so evil. And Peter says, everyone that
does not hear that prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be destroyed
from among the people. I think of what Paul said, if
any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha, let him be damned upon the return of the Lord.
And that's because Christ is so altogether lovely and so evil
to not hear everything that the glorious Son of God says. Verse
24, Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. This is what the Old Testament has always taught. Yea, the children
of the prophets, and the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be blessed. Unto you first, God having raised
up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you. in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities, from his wickedness, and what
a blessing from God that is. Now, if you're wondering who
it is that restored this man to perfect soundness, who had
been laying from his mother's womb, had never walked, just
sat at the gate daily begging. And all of a sudden he springs
up. It's a true miracle, a true miracle. He springs up leaping and walking
and holding onto the apostles hands. It was by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth that this man was made to walk. This
is Todd Nugget, praying that God will be pleased to make Himself
known to you. 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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