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 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. I'm going to read a passage of
scripture from Jeremiah chapter 31 beginning in verse 18. God says this concerning Ephraim,
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, thou hast chastised
me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn
thou me. and I shall be turned, for thou
art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear
son," now this is God speaking concerning this one who had been
bemoaning himself, Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant
child? For since I spake against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him, and I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord."
I've entitled this message, Ephraim Bemoaning Himself. And what I think is so amazing
about this passage of Scripture is when Ephraim bemoans the Lord
is touched by this, he said, my bowels are moved because of
what Ephraim had to say. Now a lot of language in religion
does not get God's attention. He doesn't hear it. He doesn't
recognize it. It's not that he can't hear it,
it's that he won't hear it, because it's so contrary to the Gospel.
John said, if we say we have fellowship with Him, and a lot
of people make that claim, I have fellowship with God, I pray to
Him, He hears me, I walk with Him, me and God, we have fellowship
together. A lot of people make that claim,
but John said, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and
walk in darkness, walk in the darkness of superstition and
salvation by works, ignorant of how God saves sinners by Christ.
If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
John says, we lie and do not the truth. The Lord said, Not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom
of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven, in that day many shall say to me, Lord, Lord, have we
not preached in your name? And in your name have we not
cast out demons? And in your name have we not
done many wonderful works? And then shall I say unto them,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you."
A lot of what goes on under the name of religion God's not pleased
with. But when Ephraim makes this moan,
God is touched. Now, I'm interested in that.
I'm vitally interested in that. I want to know something about
what actually moves the Lord. Now, we read about Ephraim bemoaning
himself. Who is Ephraim? He was one of
Joseph's sons, and he's quite often used in the Scriptures
to represent all of God's people. God calls Israel quite often
Ephraim. As a matter of fact, he says
in verse 9 of this same chapter, Ephraim is my firstborn. He's my firstborn son. He's my
child. Ephraim is a child of God. He represents a child of God. And God says, I have surely heard
him bemoaning himself. Not flattering himself. not excusing
himself, not vindicating himself, not justifying himself, not making
resolutions regarding what he's going to do to make up for what
he did wrong, I hear Eve from bemoaning himself. This has something to do with
mourning. The Lord said, blessed are they
that mourn. This is talking about a mourning
over sin. This is what God heard. This
is what God was touched by. Ephraim bemoaning himself, mourning
over his sin. Now mourning, the best way to
understand mourning is what you do when somebody that you love
dies. You mourn. You can't bring them
back. There's nothing you can do as
long as they're still alive. There's hope that something can
be done, but when they're dead, you mourn. You mourn over your
sin when you see there's nothing you can do to correct your problem. And oh, how you mourn. And the Lord said, blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Now, this is very
personal. He heard Eve from bemoaning himself.
He wasn't bemoaning about others. was bemoaning himself, and it
was an honest, honest cry from his heart. It was real. It wasn't
pretend religion, it was real. And here's what he said, I was
chastised, I was rebuked, I was corrected, and it hadn't done
me any good. I'm no different, I'm just as
bad, I'm just as sinful as I ever was. All that you've brought
my way has done me absolutely no good. I'm still, like he said,
a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, a wild bull who could not
be yoked. There's no improvement. My sin is all my fault. It's
willful. I can't stop it. And oh, how
he bemoans himself over his sin. I'm a sinner. Sinner's my name. Sin is my nature. and sins are
my action. That is what Ephraim is bemoaning
himself. There's nothing I can do to change
myself. I'm sinful. I have nothing but
sin, warning and chasing, has done me absolutely no good. Now that's Ephraim's confession
concerning himself. Now look what he says next. God
says, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou
hast chastised me, and I was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke, it didn't do me any good. Now look what he asked
the Lord to do for him. Turn thou me. I can't turn myself. I can't
do anything about myself. I'm so sinful. I feel so isolated. I feel alone. Turn thou me, and
I shall be turned. All that can help me is what
you do. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Now, this sounds like a man who
is too weak to do anything. and he's looking to God to do
everything. I wonder if anyone listening
feels that way about themselves, if you're an Ephraim. Turn me
and I will be turned. Now this is not an isolated verse
in the scripture. There are a whole lot of scriptures
like this. Let me give you some examples.
We read in Psalm 23, 3 where David said, He restoreth my soul. And that's the same Hebrew word
translated turned. He turned my soul. He restored my soul. In Psalm
35, 17 we read where David said, Rescue my soul. And that's the
same word translated turned. David's saying, Rescue me. I'm
in trouble. I can't do anything about it. Rescue me. That's the
same thing Ephraim said. In Psalm 51, 12, David said,
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Same word, turn me
again. As a matter of fact, three times
in the 80th Psalm, three times in one Psalm, we read, Turn us
again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and
we shall be saved. Psalm 85, 4, Turn us, O God of
our salvation, and cause thine anger to cease. We read in Psalm
85, 6, Will thou not revive us again? That's the same word.
Will you not turn us again? Give us life. We feel so dead
we need to be revived and turned by your grace. Psalm 90, 13,
Return, O Lord, how long, and let it repent thee concerning
thy servants. Psalm 126, 1, When the Lord turned
again the captivity of Zion. were in captivity. Yes, they
were in Babylonian captivity, but they were also in captivity
to sin. And they said, turn us Lord, revive us from our sin. We read in Lamentations 5, verse
21, "'Turn now unto us, O Lord, and we shall be turned.'" Now,
this is the desire of every believer. Turn me. I can't turn myself. I want to be turned. Lord, turn
me. Here's some other scriptures.
David said, Iniquities prevail against me. Moses said, Thou
hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the
light of thy countenance. Isaiah said, we've sinned and
in those there is continuance. Now somebody like this needs
to be turned by the Lord, don't they? Nothing less will do. Turn thou me, O Lord, and I will
be turned. I love what the Shulamite woman
said, draw us. will run after Thee. Turn me, draw me, cause me to
approach into Your presence." Now this is the desire of every
Ephraim. And who put this understanding
in his heart? You know for one thing, most
people don't feel this way about themselves. don't see themselves
as this bad, or this sinful. They've never been, they've never
had it revealed to them that they really are sinful. They've
never seen their depravity and their sinfulness. They say, I'm
OK, I'm doing fine. Only God's people feel themselves
to be this way by their sin. Now who taught him from this?
God did. You know what a blessing when
God teaches a man he's a sinner. If you're ever taught you're
a It's because God is going to give you the grace to look to
Christ only as your salvation. Any sinner, he came to save.
God taught Ephraim that he was a sinner. And what a blessed
scripture this is. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom Paul said, I am the chief. Now, he
saves Ephraims, men who cry out, turn thou me. I'll be turned. The only thing that will do me
any good is for you to turn me." Now the Lord put this understanding
in his heart and the Lord put this desire in his heart. Now
understand this, anything that you ask God for He's going to
put it in your heart to ask Him. He said in Ezekiel 36, 37, He
talked about all these things that He's going to do for the
children of Israel. I'm going to give them a clean heart. I'm going to give
them a new heart. I'm going to save them. And He says, I'll
yet be inquired of the house of Israel to do it for them.
Everything I'm going to do for them, they're going to ask me
for. So if you cry out, turn me and I'll be turned, God put
that in your heart because He intends to turn you. Oh, thank
God for His grace. Turn thou me, and I'll be turned. Now, look what he says in verse
19. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth." Now this is what
he had to say after he was turned. First he said, after I was turned,
I repented. Not before then, but after that
I was turned, I repented. I was sorry for my sin. It's all my fault and I'm sorry. It's a change of mind about sin.
It's a change of mind about God. After I was turned, I repented. But you know this word repent
in the Hebrew is the same word that's generally translated comfort. The same words that God used
in Isaiah 40 verse 1, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned, for
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."
Now, what Jeremiah is saying also, yes, he was sorry for his
sin, but when he was turned, when the Lord turned him, and
he was enabled to look to Christ, he was able to believe the gospel,
he was comforted. Now, when you're turned, you're
comforted by the message of the gospel. And that message is found
in Isaiah 41 and 2. First of all, warfare's over. It's accomplished. This is the
glorious thing about the gospel. It doesn't tell you what to do.
It tells you what has been done. The message of works is do. Do
this. Do that. Quit doing this. Quit doing that.
The message of the gospel is, it's done. It's finished. The warfare is accomplished. And your iniquity, because of
what Christ did for you, your iniquity is pardoned. It's blotted
out. It's forgiven. It's canceled. It's no more. Your warfare is
accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned, for
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, Jeremiah says, surely after
that I was turned, I repented, I was comforted, and after that
I was instructed. After God taught me, here's what
I did. I smote upon my thigh. I was
ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach
of my youth." Now, when God instructed me, when He gave me true saving
knowledge, here's what I did. I smote on my thigh. Now what
does that mean? That means all my sin is all
my fault. I can't blame the sovereignty
of God. I can't blame my raising. I can't blame my circumstances.
All my sin is all my fault. Now, my dear friend, until you
and I come there where all of our sin is all of our fault,
we'll never ask for mercy. We'll be trying to bargain with
God and make this plan and that plan and strike a deal with God
and God won't hear. It's only when all my sin is
all my fault that I cry for mercy. He said, when I was instructed,
I smote my thigh and I was ashamed. Now, you're only ashamed of what
you're guilty of. He said, I was ashamed, ashamed
of myself, yea, even confounded, humiliated, and I did bear the
reproach of my youth. Now, what is he talking about
when he talks about bearing the reproach of his youth? He's talking
about bearing the reproach of his original sin. He was born
with an evil nature, just like you and I are born with an evil
nature. That's what happened to Adam when he fell. He became
spiritually dead, he became a sinner, and everybody is born sinful. And this is something that a
lot of people aren't aware of, but every believer's aware of
it. You know, an unbeliever doesn't really understand sin. He thinks
sin is more behavioral things rather than a wicked heart and
so on that Ephraim was bemoaning himself about. But if I'm ever
taught the Gospel, I'm going to bear the reproach of my youth.
I'm going to bear my sin. It's ever before me. David said,
My sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. He said, Behold,
I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Now, every Ephraim He knows he
deals with his sinful nature all the time, and he bemoans
himself. But look how the Lord responded to these words. He
says in verse 20, after Ephraim says, I was chastised. It didn't
do me any good. After I was turned, I repented.
And when I repented, I saw shame and my humiliation and bearing
the reproach of my youth. Now look what God Himself says
about this speech. He says in verse 20, "'Is Ephraim,
my dear son, a dear son to God? Is he a pleasant child, a delightful
child is what it means? For since I spake against him, God's never pleased with sin.
No, not in His people. He is never pleased with sin.
John said, these things I write unto you that you sin not. And
he spake against him. I think of what was said about
David's sin with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah. It says, the
thing that David did displeased the Lord. And he's displeased
with sin. There's no way he's accepting
of it. But still he says, though I spake
against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore, God says,
my bowels are troubled for him. He was moved to sympathy. That's
our Lord. We have not a high preach that
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. How can He
be touched with the feelings of our infirmities? Because when
He was on the cross, He was made sin. He never committed sin,
but He experienced all the shame and the guilt and the sorrow,
separation from God that sin brings. So he can be touched
by the feeling of our infirmities. And he was moved to sympathy
with what he was saying about himself. Now Ephraim's name means
a double ash heap. What a name to give someone.
double ash heap. What is more weak and unstable
than ashes? And he was a double ash heap.
Yet, look what God calls him, a dear son, a pleasant child. Now here's my question right
now, how can that be? Ephraim doesn't see himself this
way. He sees himself as nothing but sinful. And God sees him
as a pleasant child, a dear son, one pleasing to Him. How in the
world can that be? Well, there is in Heaven right
now as we speak a great multitude of people singing the praises
of the Lamb. 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
and thousands. And they're in Heaven singing
His praises and Paul calls them in Colossians chapter 1 verse
12, the saints in light. I love that term, the saints.
Every believer is a saint, a sanctified one. Every believer. It's not reserved for some super
holy, pious people. Every believer is a saint. And
he talks about the inheritance of the saints in life, this great
group in the light. And Paul tells us that he hath
made us meet, made us sufficient. He hath made us meet, fit sufficient
for the inheritance of the saints and light. That means all I need
to be in heaven with that great group I have right now. As sinful as I am, you've been
talking about how sinful you are, you're fit to be in heaven,
sure I am. Sure am. He hath made me meet. I have the very righteousness
of Christ. My sin has been blotted out, and we stand perfect in
Him. And it's not something that's going to happen sometime in the
future. He hath made us meet right now. Now, what is this
meetness? What's being saved from your sins? In Matthew 121
we read, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. And that's exactly what He did
when He died on Calvary Street. I was saved from the penalty
of sin. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He justified me. I'm saved from
the power of sin. What do you mean by that if you
say you're so sinful? Well, there was a time I didn't see it. And that's
when I was under the complete dominion and power of sin. But
He's given me a new nature, and sin shall not have dominion over
me, for I'm not under law, but under grace. That's what the
Bible says. And saved, really, from the presence of sin. Ephesians
2, 6 says we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
I'm united to Christ. If He's in heaven, I'm there,
too. That's how glorious this complete, full, free salvation
is. 1 John 4, 17 says, as He is,
so are we in this world. Is He holy? So is every believer. Is He altogether righteous? So
is every believer. Is He perfectly accepted and
altogether lovely to the Father? You know He is. So is every believer
because as He is. He's our meekness. He's our fitness. My fitness to be in heaven doesn't
have anything to do with something I've done. It's wholly to do
with what He has done. Oh, what good news that is to
an Ephraim. As He is, so are we in this world. Now, Ephraim's bemoaning himself
and look what the Lord says regarding him. He said, for since I spake
against him, I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my bowels
are troubled for him. Now look at this next statement.
He says, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. Now I'm thankful for that word
surely. That means it's for sure. Ephraim, everyone bemoaning themselves
like he did, everyone who cries, turn me and I'll be turned. God
says regarding every one of those individuals, I will surely have
mercy on him, saith the Lord. That means there's nothing you
can do to mess it up. There's nothing you can do to prevent
it. will surely have mercy on him." Now what is mercy? What
is mercy? Well, you can't really understand
mercy unless you're absolutely guilty and all your sin is your
fault. That's where God does not deal
with you according to your merits. He has mercy on you. His mercy is in the Scriptures
called the sure mercies of David. David said on his dying bed,
my house be not so with God. And his house was a mess. And
I think he was also talking about this house, his body, his sinful
flesh. Although my house be not so with
God yet, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. You see this covenant was made
time began when Christ became the surety of every Ephraim and
guaranteed their salvation, and guaranteed to bear their sins,
and guaranteed to bring them back to the Father. That's what
He did for every Ephraim. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things." All my salvation's been ordered. Ordered in all
things and sure, absolutely certain. When Christ said, it is finished,
the sins of every Ephraim were put away. And David said, this
is all my salvation and all my desire. Now, I can say with David,
all my salvation is found in God's everlasting covenant. Not only is all my salvation
found in God's everlasting covenant, but this is where all my desire
is. My desire is simply to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now wherever there's an Ephraim
bemoaning himself, crying, turn now me and I'll
be turned. I'm so sinful, I'm so Helpless,
I can't do anything. I need you to reach down and
turn me. I need you to reach down and
come to me. For every Ephraim, God says,
I will surely have mercy on him. And here's what Ephraim will
do. Ephraim will look to Christ only. And that's what you're
called on to do. to look to Christ only as all
that's needed to make you perfectly accepted before God. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To request a copy of the sermon
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