Is 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
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.
Before I begin the message this morning, I want to let you know
about a special meeting we're going to be having this weekend
beginning Friday night at 7 o'clock. We'll have services Saturday
morning beginning at 10, Saturday evening beginning at 6, and Sunday
morning beginning at 10 once again. We're going to have a
Sovereign Grace Bible conference with eight different speakers. wonder what the term sovereign
grace means, and actually, sovereign in grace is kind of redundant.
If it's grace, it is sovereign grace. Now, God's sovereignty
means that he does as he pleases, and he has grace on whom he will. And when we speak of sovereign
grace, we're speaking what the Bible speaks of when it speaks
of electing grace, God choosing who would be saved. It speaks
of redeeming grace, Christ redeeming, actually redeeming, not simply
making redemption available, but actually redeeming all that
the Father gave him. We're talking about irresistible
grace, where God the Holy Spirit invincibly and irresistibly gives
those the Father elected and those that Christ died for life
from the dead. It's saving grace. Sovereign
grace is saving grace. So we're going to have eight
different speakers in this meeting speaking of the sovereign grace
of God, the free grace of God, the grace of God. As I said,
sovereign and free are somewhat redundant. If it's grace, it
is sovereign. And if it's grace, it is free. And we'd love to have you come
out and hear the gospel preached beginning this Friday night.
I'll remind you at the end of the service. Once again, we have
nursery provided for every service. In Matthew chapter 22, we have
a very interesting chapter. There are some issues being raised,
and men love to raise issues to avoid the issue. Now let me
tell you what the issue is right off the bat. The issue is found
in verse 42 of Matthew chapter 22. This is after the Lord listened
to these men raise these various issues, and He raises this issue. He says, What think ye of Christ? That is the issue. All other issues are non-issues. What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?" Now, at the
first of this chapter, beginning in verse 15, then went the Pharisees
and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. That
was their motive. They wanted to trip him up in
his speech and find some inconsistency in him. So listen to their flattering
language. And they sent out unto him their
disciples with Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art
true, and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither carest
thou for any man. What flattering speech! For thou
regardest not the person of men. You know, they had some measure
of respect for him. They could see really this was
true of him and they're trying to butter him up and flatter
him. So they ask this question, tell us therefore what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or no? Now the issue here is separation
of church and state. religious involvement in politics. How should Christianity affect
the government? How should we pay taxes? How
should we be involved? Now, men have always made an
issue of that, and that is not an issue when religious people
try to use political platforms, it's just wrong as it could be.
There's no sincerity to it. It's trying to use religion to
further your own goal. And I love the way the Lord answered
them. But Jesus perceived their wickedness. You see, this is wickedness when
you're doing this. And he said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
I love the way the Lord talked to these people. He said, show
me the tribute money. And they brought him a penny.
And he said unto them, whose is the image in superscription?
And they said unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, render
therefore unto Caesar's the things which are Caesar's, and to God
the things which are God's. What a brilliant answer. And
they could not answer him or reply to him. So, verse 23, the
same day came to him the Sadducees. Now these were the liberals.
The Pharisees were the conservatives, and the Sadducees were the liberals,
which say there is no resurrection. They didn't believe in a literal
bodily resurrection, which, by the way, the Old Testament taught.
In the oldest book of the Old Testament, in Job 19, Job said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand upon
the latter days upon the earth. He was referring to the resurrection
even then. But these fellas didn't believe
in the resurrection. So they give the Lord this scenario.
Master, Moses said, if a man die having no children, his brother
shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed into his brother.
Now, there were with us seven brethren. And the first, when
he married a wife, deceased, and having no issue or children,
left his wife unto his brother. Likewise, the second also, and
the third unto the seventh. And last of all, the woman died
also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
and this is hypocrisy, they didn't believe in the resurrection,
but they're trying to entrap him in a speech. Therefore, in
the resurrection, whose wife shall be of the seven? For they
all had her. Jesus answered and said unto
them, you do err. not knowing the Scriptures nor
the power of God. Now here is the source of all
error, ignorance of the Scriptures. This book is the inspired, infallible
Word of God. ignorant of the Scriptures and
ignorance of the power of God, what the power of God really
is. You see, God is all-powerful,
and whatever He wills must take place. And He says to them, you're
ignorant of these things. For in the resurrection they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but there is the angels
of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection
of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you
by God?" Now I love this slam on the Sadducees. He says, have
you not read? Of course they've read. They'd read it many times,
but obviously they didn't understand the meaning, and that's why he
says this. Have you not read that which was spoken unto you
by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. And when the multitude heard
this, they were astonished at his doctrine, the way he had
answered the Sadducees. But when the Pharisees had heard
that he'd put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together,
then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting
him. We see his motive was bad. This wasn't an honest question.
He was tempting him, saying, Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? What's the most important commandment?
What's the greatest commandment? Now, that's another way of saying,
what's the greatest sin? Because if you know what the
greatest commandment is, then you'll know what the greatest
sin is. And religious men are always trying to make an issue,
what's the worst sin? I may be an adulterer, but at
least I'm not a drunk. I may be a drunk, but at least
I'm not a homosexual." They're always trying to bring up different
issues of sin, saying, which one is the worst? And they're
thinking, generally, it's the one that I think I don't commit.
That's what the men are looking for. But their question was,
give us the greatest commandment. In other words, what is the worst
sin? Verse 37, Jesus saith unto them, Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. Now the greatest commandment
is to love God with all your heart, And I'm talking about
the God of the Bible, God as He is, to love Him with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and
with all your mind. And it appears to me, from that
definition of the greatest commandment, you and I are continually guilty
of committing the greatest sin. because not one of us has loved
God like that or loved his neighbor as himself. So while the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them, they brought up these
three issues, the issue of religion and government. the issue of
the end times, what's going to happen on the resurrection, and
the issue concerning what the greatest commandment is or what
the greatest sin is. And so the Lord turns the tables
on them. And while the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of
Christ? Now, this is the one issue that
trumps all other issues. What do you think of Christ,
whose Son is He? Now this is the only issue. What do you think of Christ? And do you know you can tell
what God thinks of you by what you think of His Son? If you
have high and exalted views of Christ, high and exalted thoughts
of Christ, God has high thoughts of you. And if you have low thoughts
of Christ, if you esteem Him to be less than He is, you can
write this down. God has low thoughts of you. This is the one issue, what think
ye of Christ? What do you think? What do you
think? I know what God thinks. He said
in Hebrews 1, the father said to the son, thy throne, oh God,
is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. I know what the angels think.
Let all the angels of God worship him. I know what the spirit thinks. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it unto you. I know what demons think.
We read in Luke 4, 41, and devils came out of him crying and saying,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuking them,
suffered them not to speak, for they knew he was Christ. I know
what the natural man thinks of him. When the high priest said,
What think ye? They said, He's worthy of death.
We will not have this man to reign over us. That's what the
natural man thinks of him. But what do you think? Not what
does your church think? Not what does your husband think?
Not what does your mom or dad think? Not what does your child
think? But what do you think? What are your thoughts concerning
Jesus Christ? Now, you know most people don't
think in their religion. You can see that by the crazy,
irrational things they believe that are not found in the scriptures
and the traditions they believe. Most people just don't think
in their religion. But what do you think of Christ? Now, you can tell a lot about
what somebody thinks of Christ by what they think of themselves.
I can tell what you think of Christ by what you think of yourself. Do I see myself as a sinner,
someone without the ability to perform righteousness? Now, if
I see myself as a sinner, there's only one reason. Because I've
seen Christ and I know who He is. If you've never seen Christ,
you'll never see yourself as a sinner. It's a sight of Him
that makes you see who you are. And if a man has high thoughts
of his own ability and of his own righteousness, I know that
he's never seen the Lord. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
and I repent in dust and ashes. Isaiah said, in the year the
king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord high and lifted up,
sitting on a throne, and then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. Daniel said, when I saw him,
my comeliness turned to corruption. Paul went from being the chief
of Pharisees to the chief of sinners when he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. Or Peter said, when he saw who
Christ really was, he said, depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful
man. Now, am I sick of sin? And I'm
not talking about somebody else's sin. I'm talking about my own
sin. Am I sick of sin? What does God's law say to me?
Do I look at it and think I've kept it at any time? All I've
proved by that is I don't know who Christ is because all who
know Christ see themselves as the chief of sinners needing
His mercy. Now, what think ye of Christ? What is His worth? Is He worth
losing something to you? A friend? A job? Your life? Is he worth losing
something to you? You know, the scripture says,
To you therefore which believe, he is precious. Is he precious to you? To you
therefore which believe, he is precious. He's precious to the
believer. He's precious in his person. He's God. He's man. He's the God-man. He's precious in His attributes.
His attributes are His characteristics, who He is. He's precious in His
holiness. altogether unlike me and you. No way he can be compared to
anybody because of his holiness. He's precious in his sovereignty.
He controls everything and everybody, and that's precious to me. He
controls every event. He controls every person. He's
absolutely sovereign. That means his will is always
done. He's precious in his power. He has the power to make sure
his will always comes to pass. I'm so thankful for that. That's
precious to a believer. He's precious in His wisdom that
He's made a way. He's found a way to be just and
yet justify that one who believes on Him. How God can remain just
and yet justify someone who in and of themselves are unjust.
Only Christ made the way for that to happen. I love His meekness,
His lowliness. The fact that when sinners were
around Him, they didn't feel judged and threatened because
He's meek and lowly in heart. How we love His immutability,
the fact that He never changes. How we love His independence,
how He has no needs. He's completely self-sufficient.
admire His justice. He will not let any sin go unpunished,
and He would rather die than let His Father's law be dishonored. How we love His mercy and His
grace. What do you think of Christ?
What do you think of the Christ means, the Messiah, His offices,
when He refers to himself as the Christ. He's talking about
that prophet, that priest, and that king. Those are the three
offices of Christ. What do you think of him as the
prophet? He's the very Word of God, and he brings us the words
of God. I love what Peter said after
the Lord said, will you also go away? He said, Lord, thou
hast the words of eternal life as God's prophet, and we believe
and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living
God. What do you think of his office
as priest? Now, you know about those other
priests. Every high priest standeth daily ministering, offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. You know,
when a man gives himself the title of priest, he's taking
that which belongs to the Christ. Christ is the true priest. This
man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down, having
finished his work at the right hand of God, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, I need
him as my priest to represent me, to bring me into God's presence,
to pay for my sins. I need him to intercede for me.
And what about his office as king? He's the king of kings,
and he's the Lord of lords, and how I need him to be my king. A king is one whose will is done. I need him to cause me, because
it's his will. I need him to cause me to do
his will, to rule and reign over me. What do you think of the
offices of the Christ? Now, I would like to attempt,
like I said, it's an attempt, But I would like to attempt to
tell you what I think of Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
God, the Son of Mary. And I want to be careful that
every statement I make concerning what I think of Christ is scriptural. Because if it's not scriptural,
it's no good. It's not even real. Now, what
do I think of Christ? Well, first of all, as Paul said
in Colossians 3, verse 11, Christ is all, in all. Now, that's what I think of Christ.
Christ is all. He's all that God is, insomuch
that He said, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. All you or I will ever see of
God is Jesus Christ. He's all in all the purposes
of God. Every purpose of God is to glorify
His Son. That is God's purpose. He's all in every counsel and
purpose of God. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell. And I love to think about this.
He is all that God requires of me. Everything God requires of
me, He looks to His Son for. And everything God requires of
me, I look to His Son for. He is all in my salvation. You see, He's all in the Scriptures.
John 5.39, the Lord said, you search the scriptures and then
you think you have eternal life? And they are they which testify
of me. He's all in every Bible doctrine,
no matter what that doctrine is. Let's start with election. God's choice of his people before
time began. Ephesians 1.4 says, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
There wouldn't be an election without him. The elect were chosen
in him. What about justification? Being
made to be just before God without sin? Well, he's all in justification. It's his righteousness that I'm
justified by. His blood redeemed me and caused
me to be. redeemed. He's all in preservation. We're preserved in Christ Jesus.
He's all in the forgiveness of sins. Be ye kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. He doesn't have to have any other
reason. He does it for Christ's sake. He's all in heaven. Heaven
will be worshiping Him. And beloved, He is all to me. He's all I have. I don't have
any other plea that God would accept me, but Christ. He's all
I need, and He's all I want. He is my life. Paul said, When
Christ our life shall appear, His life is the life that justifies
me before God. His life is my life. He is my
peace. Ephesians 2.14 says, He is our
peace. The reason I have peace is because
I know that God's at peace with me for Christ's sake. He is my
hope. 1 Timothy 1.1 says the Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. According to 1 Corinthians 1.30,
he's my wisdom, he's my righteousness, he's my sanctification or holiness,
and he's my redemption, he's my full deliverance. He said
I'm the way, he's my way. He said I am the truth, and he's
my truth. He says I am the life, he's my life. He said no man
comes to the Father but by me, and the only way I come to the
Father is by him. You see, he's my savior. Matthew
121 says thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins Oh, he's my Savior. He saves me from
my sins from the condemnation from the power from the presence
of He's my Redeemer. Job said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. He's my husband. What a husband
he is. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish
before him. He's my Lord and He's my God,
just like Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God. He's my Lord
and He's my God. Now what think ye of Christ,
the Lord said, whose son is he? And they say unto him, the son
of David. Now they gave a half an answer. What they said was true. But
it was only half the truth, and no one is ever saved by half
the truth. Now let's look at how our Lord
replied to these men when they said, he's the son of David.
He saith unto them, how then doth David in spirit call him
Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto my
Lord. sit thou on my right hand, till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then called him Lord,
how is he his son?" He quoted from Psalm 110 how that the Son
of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, was in fact
David's Lord. Now remember, the Lord is the
one whose will is done, the master, the one who has power to decide,
the possessor and disposer of a thing, the one who has control.
Now, if I ever see or think rightly concerning Him, I'm going to
think rightly concerning His Lordship. You see, He is the
Lord. I love it when the disciples
had gone fishing, and they hadn't caught anything, and the Lord
said, children, have you any meat? And they said, no. He said,
cast on the right side. They cast on the right side.
And then John recognized Him. It's the Lord. And when you recognize
Him truly, you recognize Him as the Lord. That means He's
the Lord of creation. You know what that means? He
created the heavens and the earth. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the Lord of providence. By Him, all things consist. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. That means everything that takes
place in time, He's in absolute control of. His will is always
done. Whatever happened, His will was
ultimately behind it, the first cause of all things and absolute
control. And I might not know why He does
what He does, but I know He does it, and I know He's too wise
to err, too kind to be cruel, and whatever He does is right.
And most especially, He's the Lord of salvation. That means
if I'm saved, He saved me. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of works. It's of the
Lord. He is the Lord. And anytime anybody
finds out who He is. They recognize, acknowledge,
and bow to Him as Lord. He's Lord of creation, He's Lord
of providence, He's Lord of salvation, and He's my Lord. He is the Lord
of my life. He's my Master. What think ye
of Christ? He is the Lord. Now let me remind
you of the special services that we're going to be having at Todd's
Road Grace Church beginning this Friday night at 10 o'clock, Saturday
morning at 10, Saturday evening at 6, and Sunday morning at 10
we're going to be having a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. We'll
have eight different speakers and we'd love to have you come
out and visit with us and hear the gospel. There will be a nursery
provided for every service. The doctrine of grace will be
clearly preached. God electing a people, Christ
dying for those people, God the Holy Spirit calling those people.
Salvation is of the Lord. 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.