Tis not that I did choose thee Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niber. 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. I'm reading from the 23rd chapter
of Luke and the 12th verse. And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together, the same day that they had agreed
upon the outcome of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same day Herod
and Pilate were made friends together, for before this took
place, they were at enmity between themselves. Pilate and Herod, two men raised
up by God to be used with reference to the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This was prophesied in the second
Psalm, as we'll see in a moment. Now, they had been bitter enemies. They were political rivals, and
they hated one another. They were not friends at all.
But something brought them together where that very day the Scripture
says they were made friends. And what brought them together? How is it they were agreed? With
their sentiments regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. This made
them friends. The Scripture says, how can two
walk together except they be agreed? Well, the fact of the
matter is they can't. But they found something that
they could agree on, their hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hated
the Jews also, I know Pilate did, but they became in agreement
with their hatred concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and they
were made friends. Now one of the most eye-opening
experiences I ever had, this was when I was a young man working
in a print shop. And I was talking to a man who
was an atheist, and I was trying to preach the gospel to this
man. I wasn't trying to prove God's
existence. Everybody deep down knows that
God is. It's the only thing that's reasonable.
Somebody had to make all of this, and nobody made him. Deep down,
everyone knows that. But I was talking to this man
about the character of God, his absolute sovereignty, His justice,
His holiness, I was talking about the gospel, how that God elected
a people before time began, how that Christ died for the elect
and accomplished their salvation, how that God the Holy Spirit
comes to them. And this man who is an atheist
was listening to me, and he didn't like what I was saying. He didn't
like what I was saying with regard to the character of God. If there
is a God like that, I don't love Him. Now, while I was speaking
to this man, there was another man listening in who was a religious
man, a professing Christian. And he didn't like what I was
saying any more than the atheists liked what I was saying. And
all of a sudden, these men were joined together, men who had
nothing in common, one an atheist, the other a religious man. but
they joined together in opposition to the gospel I was preaching.
The two were made friends. I'll never forget that as long
as I live because it was remarkable to me that the religious man
had more in common with the atheist than he did with me and the gospel
that I was preaching. Now, you'll find this Religious
people don't have a lot of agreement. A Catholic is not going to have
a lot of agreement with a Baptist or a Presbyterian with a Methodist.
They all have their different views and different emphases,
and they're not going to really get together religiously, but
they're going to unite together in opposition. They're going
to become friends in opposition to the gospel. the true gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, men really are not aware
of the fact that they hate God and hate the gospel until they
hear the gospel preached, and they find out, that God I don't
love, that gospel I don't believe. Herod and Pilate were made friends. Now, I'd like to read a passage
from Acts chapter 4 where Herod and Pilate are mentioned. Verse
24, this is the early church after Peter and John have come
back after being arrested. They've come back to the church,
and we read in verse 24, and when they heard that, they lifted
up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art
God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that
in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said,
Why did the heathen rage? And the people imagine vain things."
Now, he's quoting from Psalm 2. Now, listen to this, the kings
of the earth. stood up, and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ."
They're continuing to quote the second psalm, and now they give
the application of that for the truth, "...against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate."
These were the kings of the earth prophesied about who would do
this. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel were gathered together. Who gathered them together? God did. He was in control over
this. They were gathered together for
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. everything that Pilate did, everything
that Herod did, everything that the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers
did, everything that the chief priests, part of Israel, everything
they did. were nothing more than doing
what God had determined before to be done. You see, God is completely
sovereign over the wicked actions of men, and He controls everything,
and these men were doing what His sovereign counsel had already
determined before to be done. I love this. He was exercising
absolute sovereignty over these wicked men. Now, what they were
doing was evil. What they were doing is what
they wanted to do, but they were pawns in God's hand performing
God's will. We read in Acts 2, verse 23,
when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, he says, him,
speaking of the Lord Jesus, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. you have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." Now, you're responsible for this.
We're responsible for our sin. He said that He was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now, I
want you to listen to this statement real carefully. The cross, all
our Lord suffered. The cross, was not God's response
to the fall of man. It wasn't God trying to fix what
man messed up. The cross was not God's response
to the fall of man. The fall of man was for the cross. This is God's eternal purpose,
the cross. Pilate and Herod made friends,
united together in their opposition to Christ. The Gentiles and the
people of Israel gathering together in their opposition to the Christ. This is all a part of God's eternal
purpose. The cross was not for the fall.
The fall was for the cross. What do I mean by that? Christ
is called, in Revelation 13, verse 8, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Now the cross was before the
fall, and the fall was given, purposed by God. Genesis 2, verse
17 says, In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't
say, if you eat, you'll die. He said, when you do, in the
day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Could God have prevented
the fall? Could He have kept Adam and Eve
from committing this sin? Of course He could, but He didn't. Somebody says, are you making
God the author of evil? Well, I know this. God reigns
and rules and is in control, and there wouldn't be any evil
if He didn't permit it. And it was according to His purpose
that He allowed it to happen for the cross. You see, the cross
is God's manifesting Himself. We cannot know God. We can't
know who he really is apart from the cross. Now, in the cross,
every attribute of God is made known. His justice, his hatred
of sin, even when it's found on his son, he's gonna forsake
his son and judge his son and kill his son. But we see his
love and mercy and grace that he would give his son for sinners. We see His sovereign purpose. This is what He's always purposed
and it comes to pass. All of God's attributes, every
single one of them, are manifest in the cross of Christ. What
would we know of the forgiveness of sins or the grace and mercy
of God if it were not for the cross? Every attribute of God
is revealed in the cross, and the cross is the most God-like
thing God ever did. Now, Herod and Pontius Pilate,
being made friends, were raised up by God for this purpose, so
the cross would take place. Now, what I'd like to do is go
back to this second Psalm. that is quoted, Psalm 2, David
says, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing, a thing that cannot take place? The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together. They become
united against the Lord and against His anointed. This is what the
early church quoted as referring to Herod and Pontius Pilate and
the Gentiles and the people of Israel. And here's what they
say, let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords
from us. We do not want to be under God's
rule. Let's break their cords and cast
their bands asunder. What they were doing is declaring
independence from God. Goodbye, God. We don't need you.
We're independent of you. We're not going to have your
cords and your bands controlling us. We don't like your sovereignty
and your power. We're getting rid of it. Now,
this is what Satan tried. You remember where the Lord said,
I beheld Satan falling as lightning from heaven? At one time, and
you can read about this in Isaiah chapter 14, he said, I'll exalt
my throne above the stars of heaven. I'll be as God. He was
saying, I want to be independent of God. And God cast him out
of heaven. He's a created being. He's a
very mighty being, but he's nothing compared to God. And God cast
him out of heaven. This is what was going on in
the Garden of Eden. The serpent was tempting them,
saying, you'll be as gods. If you eat this fruit, you'll
be as gods. You'll know good and evil. Right
now you're just programmed to do God's will, but then you'll
know good and evil, and you'll be able to choose the good over
the evil, and that's what's going to make you like God. You'll
be as God's. They were seeking independence
from God, and it's been that way ever since. Men trying to
cast God's bands asunder. We're not going to have Him reign
over us. We're not going to be controlled by Him. We don't want
that at all. The main thing that The main
place that's seen is in the cross. When men were left to themselves
to do what they wanted to do, they put-so they thought-they
were putting God out of business. We'll not have this man, Jesus
Christ, reign over us. We'll have nothing to do with
that. We're going to cast his bands asunder, we're going to
kill him. That's the one time men were allowed to do what they
wanted to do, and look what they did with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know the agenda is the same today. You know what Satan's
main tool to get, so he thinks, gets rid of God? It's the tool
of religion. That's what Satan uses more than
anything else. You know, he's not operating
in the bars and the brothels. That's men being left to themselves
and doing what they want to do, but his main sphere of operation
is in religion. We read in 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 13, that Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light, and his ministers ministers of righteousness, human righteousness
albeit, but still righteousness. And he uses religion, and here's
what he does. Preach a false god that's less
than absolutely sovereign and call him Jehovah. Make a false
savior who cannot save unless we do something to make what
he did work and call his name Jesus. Make a false spirit who
cannot give life apart from the cooperation of the creature and
cannot make holy apart from the cooperation of the creature and
call him the Holy Spirit. Get you a building together,
get you a bunch of people listening, close the Bible because that
stuff's not taught in the Bible. Goodbye God, we've got rid of
you under the guise of religion. Now that is what is going on
in our day. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us." Now verse 4 of Psalm 2,
"'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.'" This is something
you can't do. Somebody says, I will not have
God reign over me. You don't have any choice. He
does reign over you. You are in His hands right now
for Him to do with you whatsoever He's pleased to do. I'm in His
hands right now, and He can do with me whatever He's pleased
to do. He's God. And to hear puny, sinful man
say, we're going to cast His cords away from us and break
His bands asunder, he that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. What a vain thing. Why do the
heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing like they can get
out from under God's control? He that sitteth in the heaven
shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then, verse
5, in his own time, then shall he speak to them in his wrath
and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet, verse 6 says, yet, amidst
all this commotion of men thinking that they're going to become
independent of God, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill
of Zion. Now, I love the way the Lord
speaks of His Son. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. Now, Zion is the church where
His kingship is loved and adored, where His sovereignty is loved
and adored, and only holiness. He calls it my holy hill of Zion.
You see, He's made the church holy. He's made, He purposed
for them to be holy. He made them holy on the cross,
and in the new birth, He gives them the holy nature, partakers
of the divine nature. And it's the holy hill of Zion
that loves His kingship. Now listen to what the Father
says to the Son. The Father says to the Son, Thy
throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." God says,
I've set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Now, under what
office did they crucify Christ? Not as a prophet, not as a priest,
not as a healer. But his king, you remember they
made a crown of thorns. A king needs a crown. And they
were making fun of him. And they put a gorgeous robe
around him, stripped him of his own robe and put another robe
on him and gave him a reed for a scepter. Hail, king of the
Jews, making fun of him and hitting him with the reed. Then they'd
beat him. When he was put on the cross, what was the accusation
that was written over his head? Jesus of Nazareth. the king of
the Jews. Now, when Christ was hanging
on that tree, he was still king. He wasn't a helpless victim.
He wasn't a martyr. All that was happening was him
doing his father's will to glorify God and to accomplish the salvation
of his people. Now, he goes on to say in verse
7, I will declare the decree, the divine fiat. Oh, I love the decrees of God,
the irrevocable decrees. Yet I will declare the decree
the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now five times in the book of
John, Christ is called the only begotten Son. Now this begetting is something that's not an event
of time, but a fact irrespective of time. You know, He was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but not only was
He slain before the foundation of the world, He was raised before
the foundation of the world. And this is an eternal begetting. Do I understand this? No, I don't
understand it. Do I believe it? With all my
heart. He is the only begotten and well-beloved
Son of God. And His begetting is continual. I say once again, this is not
a begetting of time, but a fact irrespective of time. He the
Son possesses every attribute of pure Godhead. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and He is always the
only begotten and well-beloved Son, and His work is always powerful
and fresh to the Father. His death and His resurrection
are always new to the Father, always powerful, always fresh. He is the Son. Now let's go on reading in verse
8. The Father says to the Son, Ask
of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen. for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Now
listen real carefully. Whatever He asked for, He gets. When He said, Father, forgive
them, everyone He prayed for was forgiven. Remember, he said,
I pray not for the world, but for them which you've given me,
for they are thine. When he said, Peter, I prayed
for you, that your faith fail not, Peter's faith would not
fail because Christ prayed for him. You see, anything that he
asks for, he gets, because he's the only begotten and well-beloved
son, equal to the Father. Verse nine. Thou shalt break
them. This is speaking of the Lord,
Jesus. Thou shalt break them, these people who oppose you,
who say, let us cast off their cords and break their bands asunder.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them
in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth." Don't imagine these vain things. Have some true wisdom. Now, what does he say? Verse
11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Serve Him with fear. What is
the fear of God? The fear of God is when you're
afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone for everything in your
salvation. You're afraid to look anywhere
else. Now, if you can look somewhere else, you don't have any fear
of God. You don't have any respect for God. But if you fear Him,
you know that Who Christ is and what He did is the only hope
and a sufficient hope that you have. That's the fear of God. Rejoice that He's Lord, that
He's King, that He's in control with trembling. And then He says,
kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Somebody says,
well, where should I kiss Him? Well, I know this. Judas kissed
his cheek. The woman that was a sinner kissed
his feet. Kiss the son. Bow before him,
just like that woman who was a sinner did, knowing that he's
the Lord of glory and feeling like the only place she could
kiss him was his feet. Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed. are all they that put their trust
in Him." Now, David said this quite often in the Psalms. Blessed
are they that put their trust in Him. Now, what does it mean
to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? In Ephesians 1,
verse 12, we read that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. Now, who's the first person to
trust Christ? God the Father was. He trusted
Christ to save everyone that He gave to Him in eternal election. All that the Father giveth me,
shall come to me. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. Now the father completely
trusted the son. He didn't look for anything out
of me. He looked to the son to save me. He looked 100% to His
blessed Son to save me. Everything He requires of me,
everything He requires of anybody that He saves, He looks to Christ
for. Now, just as the Father totally
trusted the Son for my salvation, I am to totally trust the Son
for my salvation. I'm not to look to my works.
I'm not to look to my experience. I'm not to look to my feelings. I'm not to look to my good intentions. I'm to look to Christ alone,
nowhere else. Blessed are they How blessed
of God! The only way you'll do that is
if God's blessed you. Blessed are they that put their
trust in Him. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper, praying
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.