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 Kniper. I've entitled this morning's
message, Settle Out of Court. I think you'll see why I've entitled
it that way after I read our text. This is one of two times
the Lord Jesus says this, once in the Sermon on the Mount and
once here in Luke chapter 12, beginning in verse 58, when thou
goest with thine adversary To the magistrate, as thou art in
the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from
him, lest he hail thee to the judge, and the judge deliver
thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the
very last mite. settle out of court. If the Lord does not return during
our lifetime, every one of us, with no exceptions, we're going
to die. We may die suddenly, We may die
after a long protracted illness, but the time is coming when our
hearts will stop pumping, our lungs will stop heaving, our
organs will shut down, and we will close our eyes in death. The writer to the Hebrews said
in Hebrews 9, verse 27, and as it is appointed to men, wants
to die and after that the judgment. Now here are two appointments
that you and I must keep and will keep death and judgment
when God will judge us according to our works and God's judgment
is completely fair completely just completely impartial. and He will give us on Judgment
Day exactly what we deserve. Two appointments we must keep,
death and judgment. Now the Lord gives us an illustration when you go with your adversary.
when you go with your adversary. Now the devil is called our adversary
in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, your adversary the devil as a
roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour. He is certainly
called our adversary because he is the accuser of the brethren,
the slanderer of the brethren. He brings accusation to God against
God's saints day and night. He's called the accuser. And
in that sense, he certainly is our adversary, but the adversary
in our text is not the devil. The adversary in our text is
the law of God. the law of God that can bring
accusation against us. When Christ says in Matthew's
account, agree with thine adversary quickly, he's certainly not saying
we should agree with the devil. He's saying that we should agree
with our adversary's charges against us. Now, the word adversary
means an opponent in a lawsuit. That's what the word means. an
opponent in a lawsuit, one who brings accusation against, and
the adversary is the law of God. The adversary is God Himself,
and we do not want to be brought into judgment with Him. David
said, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy
sight shall no man living be justified. I don't want to stand
before Him in judgment. I want to settle out of court. Now he says in verse 58, when
you go with your adversary to the magistrate as thou art in
the way with him, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered
from him. That's the settling out of court. lest he hail thee
to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the
officer cast thee into the prison. I tell you that thou shalt not
depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite." Now
the prison is hell and we will not be released until the very
last penny of debt has been paid. You know hell is such a terrible
thing to even think about. The Apostle Paul never even uses
the word in all of his writings. The Lord Jesus spoke more of
it than anybody else. But Hell is the place where God
pays His debts to us. He gives us exactly what is due
us. It is the place of the justice
of God, the satisfaction of justice. And the reason we'll never get
out of Hell is we can never satisfy the justice of God. Now, this
thing of hell, this horrible place where men will be tormented
for their sins, says two things about God. It says He is all
powerful and able to inflict the punishment that His justice
demands. And it tells us He is absolutely
just. He gives people exactly what
they deserve. If I go to hell, it's because
that is what I deserve. And this tells us two things
about men. Men are guilty. God wouldn't send them to hell
if they weren't guilty. And they have a complete inability
to satisfy the justice of God. That's why hell is forever, and
yet they're held completely responsible for their actions. If I go to
hell, it's all my fault. I can't say I'm going to hell
because God didn't elect me or Christ didn't die for me or God
the Holy Spirit didn't call me. I can't say that at all. If I
go to hell, it's because of my personal sin against God. Now, the Lord says, while you're
in the way, while you've not yet died and you're not yet standing
before the great white throne of judgment, While you're in
the way, settle out of court. The Lord says, you see that you
give diligence. to be delivered from him. And
that word delivered is in the perfect passive tense. That means
you cannot deliver yourself and someone must deliver you. If you're going to be delivered,
somebody's going to have to do something for you. And notice
the Lord says, give diligence that you may be delivered of
him. Give pains. Don't be fatalistic or laissez-faire about this.
Ask the Lord to have mercy on you. Ask the Lord to do something
for you. Be like that Syrophoenician woman who, when the Lord was
silent to her, she continued crying. She didn't give up. Remember
blind Bartimaeus when they told him to hold his peace? Scripture
says he cried the more a great deal. I think of the importunate
widow who kept continually coming to the judge and just wouldn't
give up. I think of Jacob wrestling with
the angel. He said, I will not let you go.
And he was wrestling with the Lord Jesus Christ at that time.
And the Lord had initiated this to teach him something. But he
said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. Oh, give
diligence, make pains, do whatever you can to see that you are delivered. Now, where is this deliverance
I'm speaking of? This deliverance is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, you don't want to stand
before God in judgment. All He can do is condemn you. I don't want to stand before
God in judgment. All He can do is condemn me. I need someone to deliver me. I need someone to save me. Now listen to this verse of scripture.
1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15, Paul says this is a faithful
saying and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought
to rejoice in this. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. That was his purpose in coming.
He came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul says, I
am the chief. Now, here's where deliverance
is found. It's found in the Lord Jesus Christ. His very reason
for coming into this world was to save sinners. Not to condemn
sinners, we were already condemned. To save them, that was His purpose
for coming. Why, He's called in Revelation
13, 8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior, and He came to
save. Now, how does He save? How is a sinner saved? It says
He came to save sinners. How is a sinner saved? Well I would like to read a passage
of Scripture from 1 John chapter 3 beginning in verse 3. John says, or verse 4, Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law. sin is the transgression of the
Law. Breaking any of the Ten Commandments
that is sin. And remember the Law is very
spiritual it's not just outwardly it's inwardly as well. Yes adultery
is forbidden but if I lust after a woman in my heart the Scripture
says I have committed adultery with her already before God.
So remember the Law is very spiritual. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
you know that He was manifested to take away our sins. That's why He came. He came to
take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Now, on the cross,
He took away the sins of His people. He put them away. He
made them to where they are no more. Just like that Old Testament
picture of the priest coming in from the Holy of Holies after
having offered the blood, and then he would place his hands
on the head of the scapegoat. and it signified the transference
of the sins of Israel to that goat. And then he would take
that goat by a fit man and lead it into the wilderness to a land
not inhabited signifying the sins were gone. Now, they weren't
really gone. He just typified what the Lord
Jesus Christ was going to do when He came into this earth.
He took my sin and my sorrow. He made it His very own. He bore
the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. My sin became
His sin and He put it away. Now, that's what our Lord was
doing on the cross. He came to take away sin. Now, here's my
question. Did He do it? actually put away
sin? Now the reason I ask that question
because somebody says, well obviously He did, of course He did. Well,
how is it that you believe that He can die for somebody and they
wind up in Hell anyway, even after He paid for their sins?
If you believe that you don't really believe He took away sin. But Beloved, everybody He died
for, Their sin is blotted out. It's canceled. He's taken it
away. Verse 5 says, You know that He
was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. Now, that's how I settle out
of court, simply being in Christ, looking only to Him. Now, somebody
may ask the question, Well, how can I know if I'm in Christ?
There's one way of knowing, and I mean knowing whether or not
you're in Christ. Do you trust Him as your righteousness before
God? Do you trust what He did as all
that's needed to make you perfect before God? Are you resting Him? Are you glorying only in His
cross? Do you really believe that all
that God requires of you He looks to Jesus Christ His Blessed Son
for? And you are relying on that.
Now if you are, you are in Him. He came to take away your sins
and bless God they are taken away. Now listen to this scripture
in 1 John 4 verse 17, now if you have settled out of the court
here is the way it is going to go with you in judgment. John
4, verse 17 says, herein is our love made perfect that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment. Not frightened to death, not
afraid that He's going to finally give me what I've got coming
because of my sin. No, no, we have boldness, confidence
in the day of judgment. And here's why, because as He
is, so are we in this world. Well, how is he? Absolutely righteous,
perfectly holy, perfectly accepted by God, altogether lovely to
God. As he is, so are we in this world. Now, that's what it is to settle
out of court. You don't want to stand before God in judgment
on your own. I don't want to stand before
God in judgment on my own. I want to look to Christ only. Now, in Matthew's account, the
Lord says on the Sermon on the Mount, agree with thine adversary
quickly. He's using the same picture at
a different time. with an adversary quickly whilst
thou art in the ways with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee,
Thou shalt by no means come out till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing." If you stand before God in judgment, you will be
cast into prison, and there will be no way of you getting out
unless you can pay for your sins, which you can't. Now this time
He says, Agree, not just be delivered from Him but agree with thine
adversary quickly. Now in the context of this statement
by our Lord He had been talking about the sin of murder. In verse
21 of Matthew chapter 5 He says, You have heard that it was said
by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. And this is one of
the Ten Commandments. Now, if you polled 1,000 people, I bet
most of them, if you asked them, what is the greatest sin in the
Ten Commandments, they'd say, well, the sin of murder. It's
the worst. I mean, the other things are bad, but taking someone's
life is the worst of the things you can do according to the Ten
Commandments. And probably most people are not guilty of murdering
anybody. I've never killed anybody. You
know to my knowledge I've never taken anybody's life. I've never
shot anybody. I've never tried to slay anybody.
I'm not guilty of physical murder. And I say that's the way most
people view this. The worst sin you can commit
as far as the Ten Commandments is killing somebody and I've
not murdered anybody. Well the Lord shows us the spirituality
of this commandment. And if I ever learn what the
Lord means by murder I find out that I am in fact a murderer,
a bloody murderer. Now the Lord says in verse 22,
but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Whoever is mad
at his brother or envious of his brother, as a matter of fact
John put it this way in John chapter 3 verse 12, to hate your
brother is to be a murderer. All I've got to do is hate my
brother and I'm a murderer in God's sight. Now, hate doesn't
simply mean this malicious desire for vengeance or ill will because
I feel like I've done wrong. The word hatred also means to
disregard, to not pay any attention to. You know when the Lord tells
us, if any man will come after me and hate not his mother and
father in his own life also, he can't be my disciple. He's
not telling us that we have to hate our parents with a malicious
hatred. He's saying in comparison to
following me, I disregard everything. And to merely disregard my brother
is to murder him, to be angry without a cause, to be jealous,
resentful without a just reason because of what maybe they have
that I do not have. He goes on to say in verse 22,
and whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha, shall be in danger
of the council. Now, if you say Rekha, that means
your thoughts come out in words, and you say, my brother is empty-headed
and stupid. And you're not really making
a judgment of his intellect, but his moral strength and moral
character. You feel yourself to be better
than that person, and you make this judgment against that person.
God calls this murder. And it says in verse 22, but
whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Now, when you say thou fool,
you're calling him a morally worthless wretch. That's what
you're calling that individual. Now, I love what Paul says in
Romans 2, verse 1, he says, Now, everybody listening to me is
a murderer. You might not have murdered with
guns and knives, but with slander, with gossip, with innuendo, destroying
the character of your brother by rumor, by silence, by false
expression. Now the Lord takes this further.
He says in verse 23, Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there are members that thy brother hath ought against
thee, You're giving a gift and then you remember your brother
has a reason. My brother has a reason to be
upset with me. I have promoted myself at his expense. I've wronged
him. I've spoken ill of him. I've
murdered his character. Well, don't think God will accept
your gift. You first be reconciled to your brother. Do unto him
as you would have him do unto you. Now let's stay in the context.
He says in verse 25, agree with thine adversary quickly. the
one who's bringing you to a lawsuit. Agree with what he says. You're
a murderer. I agree. Guilty as charged. I am guilty
of what I've been charged of. I've been guilty of murder. I've
been guilty of murdering my brothers and sisters by slander and innuendo
and things I've said speaking ill of them. Agree with your
adversary and do so quickly. Quickly. Don't wait around. Give
quick agreement. Agree with thine adversary quickly
whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Agree with him, settle
out of court. You don't want to stand before
God based upon how you've stood with this thing of murder. Every
one of us have been guilty of murdering men and women, but
you know this word agree. It means more than just agree. It means be well disposed toward. Not merely. An agreement, I agree
that's the truth, but there is in your heart a disposition of
of joy even, well disposed. You like what's being said. Now,
does that mean I like what's being said when I find out I'm
a murderer? Well, I'll tell you what it does tell me, and I like
this. When I find out what I am before
God, a murderer, a sinful, evil, wicked man, in and of myself,
It makes me look nowhere inside for deliverance. I know that
I must be delivered by somebody else. I can't deliver myself. It causes me to look away from
myself and to look toward the Lord Jesus Christ as my only
salvation before God. So yes, I'm well disposed for
this. I'm well disposed towards God's
way of saving sinners. I love God's way of saving sinners.
You know, when I hear, for instance, of election, I know I need to
be elected. He needs to choose me or it's
over for me. When I hear of Christ's effectual redemption for His
elect, how that He, by one offering, hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified, how He's actually put away their sins,
I'm well disposed toward that. I want to have my sins put away
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I hear of God's
grace, how it's not just an offer, but it actually saves, it's invincible
and irresistible, by grace you are saved, you know what that
does? That makes me happy. I'm well disposed towards His
way of saving by grace. It's the only hope I have. When
I hear of God's people persevering because they're preserved, it
makes me happy. I'm well, well, I love that. That's the way I want it to be.
I would want it to be any other way. I'm agreeing with my adversary. I'm agreeing with His way of
saving sinners. In Romans chapter 10, verse 9,
Paul says, with the heart. Man believeth unto righteousness. Now, the only way a murderer
can be righteous before God is by the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He makes a sinner, he makes a
murderer righteous. And he did that by taking their
sin to himself. He bore that murder, he bore
that sin, he bore that filth, it became his. That's why His
Father forsook Him on the cross, because He was bearing the sins
of His people. And just as truly as He took
my sin on, He gives me His perfect righteousness, so that I stand
before God without guilt. And I'm well disposed toward
that. Now what does that mean with
the heart man believeth under righteousness? Well in the scriptures
the heart means the whole man. It means the understanding, it
means the will, and it means the affections or the emotions. Now, with my understanding, I
understand that the only righteousness I have before God is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. I know His righteousness is the
only righteousness there is. I know I'm not saved by any personal
righteousness. I don't have any personal righteousness.
As a matter of fact, the Scripture says our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6. I understand that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness that I have before God. But not
only do I understand it, that's the way I want it. If you're
giving me, if I'm given a choice, would you ever rather be saved
by your righteousness or the righteousness of Christ? I'd
say the righteousness of Christ. That's a no-brainer. I'd much
rather have the righteousness of God, the righteousness of
Christ. I'm well disposed toward that. But not only do I understand
that, Not only is that the way I would choose, this is what
moves my heart. I love this. I love being saved
by Christ. I'm agreeing with my adversary
quickly. I'm settling out of court. I
don't want to stand before God in judgment in my own works. No, I want to settle out of court.
I simply want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle
Paul put it this way in Philippians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, O that
I may win Christ and be found in him. When my adversary comes
after me, I simply want to be found in him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Have you settled out of court?
Now the only way you can settle out of court is by believing
on Christ. And if somebody says, what does
it mean to believe on Christ? It means to look to him only
as everything that God requires of you. You're not looking anywhere
else. You're not looking to your works.
You're not looking to your intentions. You're not looking to your resolutions.
You're looking to Christ only. You really believe that He is
able to save you without your works. Now, if you look to Christ,
and that's what faith in Christ is, faith in Christ is believing
He is able, believing He's able to save you. You look to Christ,
you settle out of court, and on judgment day, you're going
to be accepted, you're going to have boldness, you're not
going to have any fears. If you don't settle out of court,
It's going to be hard for you on Judgment Day. May the Lord
give us all grace to look to Christ. 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. That's our prayer.
Amen. 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
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