I did choose thee. 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 Nyvert. I've entitled this message, What
Do I See in the Cross? In Luke chapter 23, beginning
in verse 33, and when they came to the place which is called
Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the mouth actors, one
on the right hand and the other on the left, Then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and
cast lots, and the people stood beholding." The people stood
beholding. There were many looking at that
naked man nailed to a cross. The people stood beholding. Matthew's
account says, setting down, they watched him there. What did they see? How did they see? Some saw with
sympathy, feeling bad for what this man was experiencing, seeing
the injustice of it all. Some with apathy. They could
care less what happened to this man. Some with hostility. They desired his crucifixion. They desired his death. They hated this man. Some saw
him politically. I believe that's the way Pilate
saw him. When he heard that he was king, he knew this would
put him in trouble in his job as a Roman leader. We can't have
any competition. But you know there were some
who saw him savingly, the thief on the cross. He heard the things
the Lord said from Calvary's tree, and he was made to say,
seeing the Lord Jesus nailed to a cross, seemingly so hopeless
and helpless, Lord. He knew he was the Lord. Remember
me when you come in your kingdom. He knew that he was going to
be raised from the dead and come back as a mighty reigning king. And he said, when you do, remember
me. And the Lord replied, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. What about the Roman centurion?
He was the one who presided over the death of the cross. But when
he saw what took place, here was his conclusion. Surely this
man was the son of God. That's what faith is, believing
He's God the Son. What do I say? Now, when I'm
talking about what I see in the cross of Christ, I'm not talking
about here's my take on things. Here's what I think. You may think this, and here's
what I think. No, I'm giving you what I see the Word of God
says regarding what was going on while that one was nailed
to the tree. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
God. Here's what I see first. I see
the hand of God. I see the will of God being done. I see what God purposed in eternity
coming to pass in time. Remember Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When Peter was
preaching on Pentecost, he said, This was God's will being done. This was God's purpose being
done. I come, lo, in the volume of
the book it's written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God."
This was the will of Christ. This was the will of God the
Holy Spirit. This was God's purpose unfolding. The cross, when I see that one
nailed to a cross, I see the will of God being done. When I think of this one being
nailed to the cross by the will of God, yes, men did it, men
are held responsible, but this was God's purpose taking place.
Next, I see the Old Testament Scriptures revealed. This is what all the Old Testament
Scriptures pointed to. You know, people talk about the
Old Testament as if it's not valid or something for people
way back then. No, not at all. You can't preach
the New Testament without preaching the Old Testament. And this is
the Old Testament revealed. This is God fulfilling the promise,
the seed of woman, the Lord Jesus Christ shall crush the serpent's
head. This is Abel's more excellent
sacrifice. that he was accepted while Cain
was rejected. This is Noah's ark, where there
was salvation and security and safety in the ark, and there
was nothing but judgment outside of the ark. Christ is the ark
that every believer is in and is protected from the wrath of
God while those outside of him suffer the wrath of God. This
is Abraham's ram that substituted for his son Isaac and he went
down the mountain rejoicing. This is the Passover lamb where
God said, when I see the blood, Christ is the Passover. When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. I understand the Sabbath
now. We rest in him. We rest in who
he is and what he did, and we don't work to earn our salvation. We see that he is salvation. I see the great high priest on
the day of atonement bringing in the blood for Israel. Now,
Paul said the gospel is how that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. And the New Testament had not
yet been written. He was talking about the Old Testament Scriptures.
In seeing that one nailed to a cross, I see the Old Testament
revealed. Now, thirdly, as I behold Him
nailed to the cross, I see what the writer to the Hebrews called,
in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20, the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Notice those words, the blood.
of the everlasting covenant. Now the word everlasting means
it never had a beginning and it will never have an ending.
It is eternal, the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now you
can't read the Bible and fail to see that God is a covenant
making covenant keeping God. That's who He is. Now what's in a covenant? What
is the blood of the everlasting covenant? Well, according to
Galatians chapter 4 verse 24, now I know there were other covenants
made that were given to picture this covenant. There's the covenant
God made with Noah, I'll never destroy the earth again with
water or a flood. There's the covenant to Abraham
and his seed. There's the covenant to David.
But Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 4 verse 24, these be
the two covenants. There are really only two covenants,
the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. The covenant
of works was made with Adam in the garden. In the day you eat
of this tree, you are to be perfectly obedient, and if you eat of this
tree, you shall surely die. Now the covenant of works is
any thing that makes salvation in
some way dependent upon you doing something. That is the covenant
of works. If salvation is dependent, Christ
can die for you, God can love you, God the Holy Spirit can
knock on your heart's door, but if you don't let Him in, you
won't be saved. If you don't accept Him as your
personal Savior, you won't be saved. If you don't, as an act
of your free will, Receive Him and accept Him. You will be saved. Salvation is ultimately dependent
upon some work you do. That is the covenant of works
and it's doomed for failure. It'll never work. If you believe
any aspect of salvation is dependent upon you doing something, you're
under the covenant of works and you're under the curse of the
covenant of works. Cursed is he that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Now, the covenant of grace is a covenant that God made with
Christ, and he made this covenant with Christ before time began. He gave Christ a people. You
remember Matthew 121 that says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. He gave Christ
a people, and he left the responsibility of the salvation of those people
in Christ's hands. You assume flesh for them. You keep the law for them. You
die for them and pay for their sins. You be raised for them.
You ascend back to me to intercede for them. You return for them. That's the covenant of grace,
and Christ sealed that covenant with His blood. The reason I'm
saved is because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
died for me and put away my sin, and now the very justice of God
demands my salvation because I have no sin to be punished
for. Christ put it away. In that one nailed to a tree,
I see the blood of the everlasting covenant. the sin payment for
all of God's elect. The same covenant David spoke
of in 2 Samuel 23, verse 5, when he was dying. Although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my
salvation and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. When I see that one nailed to
a tree, I see the total depravity of
our race. I see the sinfulness of men. When men are allowed to do what
they want to do, they nail God to a tree. In seeing that one
hanging on the tree, I see the total depravity of our race,
man's hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now somebody says, I
don't hate Christ. I don't know anybody that does hate Christ.
Well, You may not hate the Christ that you've made up. You know,
the Christ that's being preached in our day, the one who wants
to save you, but he can't unless you let him. The one who's waiting
on you and can't save you unless you let him, unless you accept
him, unless you, as an act of your will, decide to receive
him, and your salvation's ultimately in your hands. Nobody's mad at
that Christ. Nobody hates that Christ, but
the Christ of the Bible. The Christ who is absolutely
sovereign and your salvation is up to Him. It's not up to
you. You don't have any control in this. It's up to Him as to
whether or not you'll be saved or pass by. Now that Christ,
men say, we will not have this man reign over us. And they nailed
Him to a tree. But that is the Christ of the
Bible. And I see the utter depravity of our race in our hatred toward
the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. in that one nailed to a cross,
I see the evil of sin. He that spared not his own son
When sin was found on Christ, the sins of God's elect became
his sins so that he became guilty of them. God refused to spare
him. Awake, O sword, smite the shepherd. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. What evil sin must be that even
when God sees it in his only begotten and well-beloved son,
he forsakes him? And I see the reality when I
see that one hanging on the tree and giving up the ghost and dying. I see the reality of the wages
of sin. The wages of sin really is death. And Jesus Christ really did die. And me and you, we're going to
spend eternity either in eternal death, in hell, or in heaven.
And what will determine our place in eternity is if we have to
pay for our sins ourselves or if Christ paid them for us. And listen to me, if you want
Christ to be your Savior, He will be. There's never been anyone
who has said, Lord, save me. He said, no, He'll save all who
come to Him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out, but I see the true wages of sin really is death. Now when I see that one hanging
by his hands and feet, naked before a jeering mob, I see the
character of God Almighty. Every attribute that God is pleased
to make known concerning Himself is seen in His dealings with
His Son on the cross. Now understand this. Listen to
this statement real carefully. The cross was not God's response
to the fall and the sinfulness of man. God never responds. The cross The reason for the
cross is because of the purpose of God. The reason for the cross
is not man messing up and God trying to clean up things. The cross was to demonstrate
who God really is. And every attribute, that's God's
characteristics, His attributes, every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross. We see His sovereignty, what
He decreed in eternity, mustn't pass in time. We see His wisdom,
how He's made a way to be absolutely just and yet justify somebody
as sinful as me through the work of Christ on the cross. I see
God's absolute justice. He will not let sin go unpunished,
even if it's on His own Son. I see God's power, His power
in being able to actually put away sin so it is no more by
the work of Christ on the cross. I see God's love and God's mercy
and God's grace. I see God's immutability. Every
attribute of God that God has been pleased to make known is
seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me give
you a scripture. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 22 and
23 says, we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. We preach
Christ crucified, the Son of God nailed to a tree. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block. They stumble at this. You mean
to tell me that I can be saved simply by what somebody else
did for me and not by my works? I just can't believe that. To
the Greeks, it's foolishness. You expect me to believe that
God became flesh and God lived and breathed and God died on
a cross? Well, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks. Christ,
the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. When I see
that one nailed to a tree, I see the very power of God that He
would assume human flesh, that He would allow Himself to be
nailed to a tree. I see His power in putting away
sin to where it is no more. I see His power in being able
to justify somebody like me. I see His wisdom. No man could
ever contrive a way for God to remain just and yet justify somebody
who's unjust and make them truly just. Only God could do this. Only God could execute it. In
Christ crucified, we see the wisdom and we see the power of
God. And beloved, I see in the cross
of Christ a finished salvation. hear His words, it is finished. There's nothing for me to do.
He did it all, and I rest in Him. It is finished. In the opening chapter of the
New Testament, we read, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. It is finished. Mission accomplished. I see a completed salvation. I see God's salvation when I
see Christ nailed to a tree. There's my salvation. And I see
a completed salvation. No loose ends. Nothing left for
me to do. What he did is everything. He is all in salvation. And when he said it is finished,
the salvation of everybody he died for was completed, signed,
sealed, and delivered. In that one hanging on a cross,
I see a completed salvation. But don't we have to believe?
Yeah, you got to believe that. that He finished the work, and
there's nothing for you to do. He did it all. In the cross of Christ, I see
a finished salvation. We don't sing, Jesus paid a half
the other half I owe. No. We sing, Jesus paid it all,
all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Now if He left anything undone,
I'm undone. But thank God He did it all. And I say with Paul of old, God
forbid that I should glory. saving the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ." And that was Paul speaking. The name God used in
such an amazing way. He was used to write scripture.
He was used to foul in churches. And he said, God forbid that
I glory in any of that. All I glory in, all I have confidence
in, all I rejoice in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
when I stand beholding that one On Calvary's tree, I see the
only message to preach. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2,
Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There is no other message to
preach. Now what does that mean? Does that mean that every time
we preach we're dealing with the physical sufferings of the
Lord Jesus Christ as He was nailed to the tree? No, it doesn't mean
that. But it means there's no doctrine
of the Scripture that's understood apart from the cross. For instance,
God elected a people before time began to be saved. and they were
viewed in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
That's how God saw them. When we talk about justification,
and that's a believer being made sinless before God and perfectly
righteous before God, it's because of what Christ did on the cross.
He put away their sins and He gave them His righteousness.
When we talk about faith, Why? Christ crucified is the object
of faith. If we talk about repentance, you change your mind regarding
anything that is contrary to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the character of God. You don't believe that anymore.
When we talk about regeneration, well, regeneration comes when
you see, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. In that great chapter in
John 3 on being born again, you're born again through hearing and
seeing the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every doctrine
in the scripture is only understood in light of the cross. The cross
is the subject of the eternities. Before time began, we read of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and in eternity
future, when all time has been taken away, they're going to
be singing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. How often he's
described as the Lamb in the book of Revelation, which is
telling us of the end time. Now, in that one hanging on a
tree, I see the lens through which I view the world. What
do I mean by that? Well, Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Now, I enjoy life. I enjoy the blessings of family. I enjoy the blessings of the
things the Lord gives me. God has given us all things richly
to enjoy. I'm not talking about the world
in the sense of just the material, physical world. It's a beautiful
world. It's God's world. The earth is the Lord's in the
fullness thereof. But the world that hates Jesus Christ, the
world's philosophy, the world's maxims, the world's religion,
particularly the world's religion, I see as a crucified thing and
a worthless thing. And I look only to Christ crucified. It's only through the cross that
I live in this world now. Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. In
the life that I'm living right now, I'm crucified with Christ.
Yet I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
who loved me and gave himself for me. Oh, seeing his love to
me, I love him in return. The assurance the cross gives. Now, I'd like to look at a final
scripture in Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is known as the Psalm
of the cross. It begins with, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now, David felt forsaken, but
this is prophetically the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
was quoted from Calvary's tree. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And then we read in verse 16,
for dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have
enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet.
That's obviously talking about the cross. And then he makes
this statement. He says in verse 17, I may tell
all my bones They look up and stare at me. Now, the Lord could not see all
of his physical bones. He saw some of them probably
because of the crucifixion and the gashes and tears in his body,
but he couldn't see all of his bones. His bones, though, is
his body, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ. From Calvary's
tree he could look at all of his bones because all of them,
every believer, looks up and stares at him in wonderment in
amazement. Right now, I'm looking and staring
at the amazing grace of God in giving His Son to die for sinners. I love that hymn, I stand amazed
in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could
love me, a sinner condemned unclean, He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of His love for me. 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. 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
church at the information provided on the screen.