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 message, If
the Foundations Be Destroyed. Our text is found in the 11th
Psalm, the third verse. David says, if the foundations
be destroyed, what can the righteous do? If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Now, the word if is a hypothetical
if. It's the same if that Paul used
in 1 Corinthians 15 when he said, if Christ be not risen. He's
giving a hypothetical situation if Christ be not risen and the
disastrous results that would take place from that. He said
your faith would be vain and you'd be yet in your sins and
they who are falling asleep in Christ are now in hell if Christ
be not risen. Now thank God he is risen, but
if he was not, think of the horrible things that would take place.
And then the writer of the Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 6 said, if
these shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance would
be impossible. He's giving a hypothetical situation.
If somebody who's tasted of the heavenly gift, if they've been
made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come, if they've experienced
this, and if they fall away, there's no hope. There's no hope. at all for them. To renew them
away again to repentance would be impossible. Now, when David
says, if the foundations be destroyed, he's not saying that they could
be. The foundations of God cannot be destroyed. Thank God for that. But if they could, what would
the righteous do? Now, if you read this 11th Psalm,
you'll see how David groups all the world into two different
groups, the righteous and the wicked. And even now, while I'm
speaking to you, you and I are in one of those groups of people
that God calls the righteous and that God calls the wicked. Now, here's an interesting note.
The righteous, all without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all the wicked, without exception,
believe themselves to be righteous. They think there's something
good in them. They may be drug pushers and
pornography pushers, but the wicked still think there's something
in them that could turn things around and make it better. All
the righteous believe themselves to be wicked, And all the wicked
believe themselves to be righteous. Now, when David says, if the
foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? What are
the foundations he's speaking of? Now, if you would ask a church
member or a preacher, he would probably speak of the foundational
doctrinal distinctives of their particular denomination, Baptist,
Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, and so on. But did you know there's
no such thing as denominations in the Bible? Denominations are
purely man-made. Every single one of them. There are Christians and there
are non-Christians. There are believers and there
are unbelievers. But this thing of having denominations,
I'm a Baptist, I'm a Presbyterian, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Methodist,
that's purely man-made. There's no truth in that kind
of thinking. Denominations are unscriptural,
so I'm certainly not going to try to come bringing my denomination
on distinctives. What are the foundations? Well,
I think a good thing that could be said, I'm not going to use
it, but the five solas of the Reformation. Scriptures alone,
Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, God's glory alone. Those are good, but it's still
something cleverly composed by men. I could talk about the five
points of grace, and those would be good. They're certainly scriptural.
Total depravity. Men are totally depraved. God
unconditionally elected a people before time began. Limited atonement. Christ's intention of salvation
was limited to the elect. He never intended to save everybody.
God's grace is irresistible and invincible, and the perseverance
of the saints, everybody that God elected Christ died for and
God the Holy Spirit gives life to, shall persevere. That would
be a good statement of what is believed, but still that's more
of a logical thing. What does the Bible say the foundation
is? Now, that's what I'm interested
in. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? What
would the Bible call the foundations? Now, I'm going to read a scripture
from 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10 and 11. Verse 10, according
to the grace of God, this is Paul speaking, according to the
grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder,
I have laid the foundation. And another man buildeth thereon,
but let every man take heed how he build thereon. For other foundation
can no man lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the foundation. I love when he said to Peter,
upon this rock, upon this confession of me, thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. Upon this rock I'll build my
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus Christ is the foundation. He's the foundation of the knowledge
of God. You and I will never know God apart from Jesus Christ,
and all that we will ever see of God is Jesus Christ. Christ is God. Jesus Christ,
the Savior Prophet. Jesus Christ, the Savior Priest. Jesus Christ, the Savior, King,
our only foundation. Isaiah said in Isaiah 9, verse
6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. That
son wasn't born. That son's eternal. The child
was born in time, but the son is eternal. And the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Are you saying that Christ is
the mighty God and the everlasting Father? No, Isaiah said it. Isaiah
said it. We read in Colossians chapter
2, verse 9, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In John chapter 14, 9, when Philip
asked this question, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. The Lord said, I have been so
long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? Knowest
thou not that he that hath seen me hath seen the Father? All we'll ever see of God is
Jesus Christ. Now, let me repeat this. Jesus
Christ is God. I love saying that. Jesus Christ
is God, and a man or woman that does not know Jesus Christ is
dead in sins with no knowledge of the living God. The foundation
of everything is Jesus Christ. You see, He is God's motive. He is why God does everything
that He does. He is God's Purpose that in all
things he might have the preeminence Colossians 1 18 For it pleased
the father that in him should all fullness dwell God's got
an agenda the glory and the exaltation of his son and Everything he
does he does for the glory and the honor of his son He's the
foundation of creation The scripture says all things were created
by Him and for Him. Colossians 1.16, John 1.4, it
says all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything
made that was made. He's the foundation of creation.
He created the universe. He brought into existence matter. that was not there before. There
was a time when all there was was God, and He spake the universe
into existence. He made the worlds. And He's
the foundation of providence. That's everything that happens
in time. Everything that happens in time is His will being done. You see, He controls everything.
He controls the thoughts that are going on through your mind
right now. It could be you're under His judgment. It could
be He's going to have mercy on you. I don't know, but He's in
control. He's completely in control of all the free actions of men.
That's glorious. That's how we can say we know
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose, because He controls
everything and everybody. By Him, all things consist. He upholds, the Scripture says
in Hebrews 1, 3, all things by the word of His power. Everything that takes place in
time and eternity is neither more nor less than His will being
done. And my dear friends, he is the
foundation of salvation. When Simeon held that child up,
eight days old, brought to the temple to be circumcised, couldn't
have weighed more than six or seven pounds. He said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Christ is salvation. Everything God has for the sinner
is for Christ's sake. It's given in Christ. It's given
for His glory and it's mediated through Him. And God will not
speak to nor be spoken to apart from the mediation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is salvation. All the doctrines of salvation
are only understood in Him. For instance, election. God's
choice of his people before time began. The Bible teaches that.
You can't preach the Bible and not preach election. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him, before
the foundation of the world. What's election without Christ?
I was chosen in him. God didn't choose me independently
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was chosen in him. What about
justification? being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. You see,
God justifies people by punishing their sins in Christ and by giving
the righteousness that Christ worked out to them so that we
stand before God without guilt. What is justification without
the personal work of Christ? What about redemption, a sin
payment? You can't redeem yourself and
you can't make up for your own sins. But we read in Ephesians
1, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. What about sanctification? 1
Corinthians 1.30 says He's made into us sanctification, sanctified
in Christ Jesus. What about faith? Well, He's
the object of faith. Faith looks only to Him. He's
the author of faith. If you have faith, He made it
and He gave it to you. He's the one who sustains it.
He's the subject of faith. He's everything in faith, looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. What about
repentance? Him hath God exalted at His right
hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel,
even the remission of sins. Repentance is repenting of anything
contrary to Him. Any low thought of Him is to
be repented of. Any high thought of yourself
is to be repented of. We repent of everything that's
contrary to Him being the foundation. Why? The peace I have, Ephesians
2.14 says He is our peace. The reason I feel peace is because
everything God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. He is
our peace, having made peace by the blood of His cross. I
have hope. I have a hope that when I stand
before God in judgment, God's going to say, Well done, thou
good and faithful servant. and that's because he is our
hope. He did well, and if he did well, I did well because
I was in him. If he's a good and faithful servant,
I'm a good and faithful servant because I'm in him. My only standing
before God is Jesus Christ. He himself is the foundation. I love the Scripture. You are
complete. You don't lack anything. You
have all God requires. You are complete in Him. He is salvation. Heaven will be being in His presence,
being conformed to His image, and beholding His glory. He is the foundation. He's the foundation of forgiveness.
Ephesians 4.32 says, Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Now,
God didn't forgive you because you asked Him to. God didn't
forgive you because you deserve it. God forgave you if you're
forgiven. If I'm forgiven, God forgave
us for one reason, for Christ's sake, because of who He is and
what He did. And I need no other argument.
I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Jesus Christ Himself is the foundation. Now let me read you another scripture
found in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Paul begins this verse with a
nevertheless. Now, to understand what he's
saying, let's back up to verse 17 of 2 Timothy, chapter 2. And
their word will eat as doth a canker, or a cancer, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying
that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith
of some. These men have made a mess, and
people's faith has been overthrown through their erroneous, heretical
teaching. Oh, that's so bad. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God. Now remember, we're asking, what
does the Bible say the foundations are? Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are his. There's the foundation of God.
Even though the faith of many is overthrown, Hymenides and
Philetus have made a mess, nevertheless, the foundation of God stands
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. Now, there's a group of people
in this world that are His. My sheep, the Lord says, hear
my voice. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. He said concerning those
the Father gave him, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which you've given me, for they are thine. 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, there is a great
group of people that God calls His. And it says, The Lord knoweth
them that are His, to some, to many. He'll say, Depart from
me ye that work in iniquity. I never knew you. Now, He knew
exactly who they were, and He knew everything they'd done.
But he didn't know him. What that means is, I never loved
you. I never knew you to be one of
mine. I've never been in an intimate relationship with you. Now, concerning
all of his people, I know them. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Now, here's the foundation of
my salvation. Here's what I'm relying on. Not my knowledge
of him, but his knowledge of me. whom he did For no, them
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Oh, the very foundation
of salvation. is His knowledge of me. And the scripture says that stands
sure. That stands sure. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. In Hebrews chapter 6 we read,
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation. Now, if you're always having
to lay again the foundation, the superstructure is never going
to go up, is it? There's real problems if the foundation has
to be laid again and again and again. And the writer to the
Hebrews is saying, now here's something we should not have
to lay down again. This is the foundation. And he
named six things. Repentance from dead works, faith
toward God, The doctrine of baptisms, the doctrine of the laying on
of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
And those are the six foundations of the gospel. First, repentance
from dead works. You repent of all your works
before you knew the gospel. You see they're nothing more
than dead works. So one time you considered them good works.
works that could recommend you to God, and now you see they're
nothing but filthy, stinking rags, and your only hope is Christ
alone, and you repent of all dead works. Now, when I hear
someone say, well, God saved me, and after that I learned
grace, I learned how He saves, well, there's the problem. You
learned a doctrine and you never really bowed beneath Christ.
When God saves someone, they see that all their religious
works were dead and filthy before God gave them life to see who
Christ is and what he did as everything in salvation. Now,
the next thing he mentions is faith toward God. This is the
second foundation, repentance from dead works and faith toward
God. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
Now, that's faith toward God. Here's my faith. I believe on
Him who justifies the ungodly through the person and work of
Christ. I believe myself to be ungodly. I believe that what
Christ did is all that's needed to make me absolutely just before
God, and I'm relying on Him. Now, the third thing he mentions
is the doctrine of baptisms. Now, baptism is baptism by immersion. You go under the water and you
come out. It's for believers. It's not
for infants. It's not for unbelievers. It's believers. There's only
one kind of baptism, believer's baptism. But what is the doctrine
of it? What does it teach us? Is it simply a meaningless man-made
religious ritual? No. What I'm saying in baptism
is when Christ lived, I lived because I was in Him. That's
my only hope. When Christ died, I died. I was crucified with Christ because
I was in Him. When He died, I died. When He
paid for sins, my sins were paid for. And when He was raised from
the dead, I was raised from the dead. That's the doctrine of
baptisms. It's the doctrine of union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, one with Him, both He that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified. are all of one. And the fourth
thing he mentions is the laying on of hands. You say, what kind
of doctrine is that? Religious people like to lay
hands on one another, and I don't feel comfortable with that. I
don't know why they want to do that, like some kind of transfer
takes place when I lay my hands on you and the Holy Spirit comes
to you. I don't believe any of that,
but this is what the writer is talking about. Verse 20 of Leviticus
chapter 16, and when he hath made an end of reconciling the
holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar,
he shall bring the live goat, the scapegoat. And Aaron shall
lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all
their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon
the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of
a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let the goat go in the wilderness." Now here is the
laying on of hands. The priest lays his hands on
the head of the sacrifice, Symbolically, the sins of the people he's representing,
the sins of Israel, are transferred to that live scapegoat. And that scapegoat is led away
bearing all the sins and iniquities and transgressions of the people
of Israel. And that's exactly what was taking place on the
cross. My sins were transferred to the
Lord Jesus Christ and he bore them away and that's how I can
stand before God without guilt. And then there's the doctrine
of resurrection he speaks of. Resurrection. Christ was raised
from the dead for our justification. We're spiritually resurrected
when we're regenerated, brought from death to life. and the final
resurrection when we'll be glorified in God's sight. Absolutely perfect. The doctrine of the resurrection
and eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. You see, judgment's
already taken place. It's taken place eternally in
Christ. He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
and everything God does is eternal, and all judgment has been accomplished. Now, on Judgment Day, before
that great white throne, The sentences will be handed out,
but judgment has already taken place by what Christ did on Calvary's
tree. I'd like to read one final scripture,
Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion. This is what God lays. Behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone. a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth on him
shall not make haste. Now this stone that God has laid
is described as tried, proven, it always works, precious, precious
to God and precious to those who believe and sure, absolutely
sure. And what is it to lay on this
foundation? Whoso believeth on him shall
not make haste. Now Paul quoted this in Romans
chapter 10 verse 11. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Now if I believe on this stone
is all my righteousness before God. This is what it is to lay
down on the foundation. I trust who he is to hold me
up. I'm not going to be ashamed of
that hope. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of the gospel I preach.
I'm not proud of myself, but I'm proud of the gospel I preach.
It's the power of God unto salvation, and I won't be put to shame.
You're going to see my life brought up on a big screen and it's going
to be nothing but perfection, nothing but holiness, nothing
but righteousness. I won't be put to shame because
Christ is my righteousness before God and I have nothing to be
ashamed of. Now, what a foundation. Christ, oh, he is my foundation. God's knowledge of me. and the gospel that the Lord
Jesus Christ worked out that causes me to repent of my dead
works, have faith toward God, trust in union with Him, trust
my sins were put away in this divine transfer, and I look to
Him only as my foundation. This is Todd Kniper, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard,
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