I did choose the Lord Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. 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 going to be speaking from the twelfth chapter of Luke this
morning, and I'm titling this message, The Immersion. I'd like
to invite you to services at Todd's Road Grace Church this
morning. If you can get there by 10 o'clock, this is the last
day of our Sovereign Grace Bible Conference, and we'd love to
have you come out and hear the gospel. There will be two speakers
bringing messages regarding the sovereign, saving, successful
grace of God in Christ Jesus. In Luke chapter 12, beginning
in verse 49, Before I read it, let me tell you why I entitled
this message The Immersion. The word baptized in the scripture
is not a translation. It's simply a transliteration.
The Greek word is baptized. If it were translated, it would
be translated immersed or immersion. Remember that as we read this
passage of scripture. To immerse something means to
emerge it underwater, cause it to be completely submerged, and
it comes back out. Luke chapter 12, beginning in
verse 49, these are the words of the Lord Jesus, and he says,
I am come to send fire on the earth. And what will I if it
be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and immersion to be immersed with. And remember, he had already
gone through water baptism. And how am I straightened till
it be accomplished? Now, these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And thinking of the baptism,
the immersion that he had ahead of him, he said, how am I straightened?
How am I pressed upon? How am I stressed until it be
accomplished? Suppose you that I'm come to
give peace on earth, to make it to where everybody gets along.
I tell you, nay, but rather division. Now the Lord says, I've come
to send fire upon the earth. And in the context, he's speaking
of the fires of division and persecution. He said, I didn't
come to make men get along. I didn't come to send peace on
the earth, but rather division. You see, the gospel divides.
Somebody believes the gospel. They can't join up with somebody
who doesn't. There's a division that takes place. Grace and works
cannot co-exist. The gospel divides. And the Lord
didn't pretend it to be anything else. I've come to send, I didn't
come to send peace on the earth, the division. Now, he said, I
am come. And anytime the Lord tells us
why he came, we ought to listen real carefully. He said, I am
come to send fire on the earth. Now, fire in the scripture always
represents God's judgment. We read of the fires of hell. What an awful place where all
who do not believe on Christ will spend eternity. Fire came
down from heaven to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. I think of Elijah
on Mount Carmel with the people of Israel and the prophets of
Baal. He said, let the prophets of Baal make their sacrifice. I'll prepare mine. And the God
that answers by fire, let him be God. And if you'll remember,
fire fell down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. It consumed
the rocks, the dust, licked up the water. When it was over,
there was nothing left. Fire. Christ said, I came to
send fire upon the earth. And the fire that I send has
already been kindled. This fire sets men's hearts ablaze
with love to Christ. Fire puts out light. Fire puts
out heat. Fire burns up dross. Fire purifies. Fire puts out tremendous energy,
and it makes rapid advancement. Now, the fire of God is the great
need of our day. White hot love for Christ. White
hot zeal for his glory. A fire that continues to get
hotter. Beloved, the gospel is not a
cold thing. It's certainly not a lukewarm
thing to be handled with apathy and indifference, but it is a
fire. The fire of God's wrath came
down upon Christ. Christ said, I've come to send
fire upon the earth, and that's exactly what he was talking about
when he said, I've got to be baptized with a baptism, or immersed
with an immersion, and how my soul is straightened till it
be accomplished. He knew he was going to be immersed
in the fire of God's wrath. He says, I've come to send fire
on the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled? But I
have a baptism to be baptized with. Now, I love baptism. It's so simple, and it's so beautiful
how it pictures the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I'm
baptized, here's what I'm saying. Here's my hope of salvation.
When Christ lived, I lived. He lived for me. He kept the
law for me. When he died and was buried,
I died with him. I was buried with him. When he
made that sin payment, that's my sin payment. And when he was
raised from the dead, I was raised with him. That's my hope, that
when he was raised from the dead, I was raised, all my sins are
paid for, and I'm justified before God. That's what baptism typifies. It's not just a meaningless religious
ritual, but we see the gospel so clearly in it. As a matter
of fact, baptism is the believer's public confession of Christ.
It's not walking down an aisle and talking to people. It's our
public confession of Christ, confessing Him in believers'
baptism. All of our salvation is in Him. Now, the Lord had already gone
through water baptism. Somebody might say, well, why
was the Lord baptized? He wasn't a sinner like you and
I are. Well, when we're baptized, We're confessing our union with
him, our only hope. But when he was baptized, he
was confessing his union with us. But he had not gone through
the baptism he's speaking of now, the baptism of fire, the
baptism of the wrath of God. Now, when the Lord went through
water baptism, I love the way the scripture says he came out
of the water and the heavens were opened. And a voice came
from the heavens, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well
pleased. Oh, the approval of the father
toward the son. He's so pleased with his son. He's altogether beautiful. His
obedience is perfect obedience. His character is a perfect character. Oh, the father was pleased with
his son. The father loveth the son and
giveth all things into his hand. But this baptism is not like
that at all, when he would be immersed under the wrath of God
and become a curse after he has made sin. Scripture actually
says he's made a curse. And he said, how am I straightened
until it be accomplished or finished? Now, listen to these words from
Lamentations 1, beginning in verse 12. And these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of his immersion him
experiencing the wrath of God verse 12. Is it nothing to you
all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. From
above he hath sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against
them. He hath spread a net for my feet,
he hath turned me back, he hath made me desolate and faint all
the day. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. There wreathe
and come up on my neck. Now somebody says, how could
those be his transgressions if he never sinned? Beloved, when
he went to Calvary's tree, the sins of his people became his
sins so really that he called them my transgressions. He became guilty of my sins. He actually became guilty of
them. You see, He, His own self, bear our sins in His own body
on the tree. Somehow, this is mysterious,
but it's the gospel of substitution. God took my sins and made them
Christ's sins, so that He became guilty of them, and He takes
the righteousness of His Son, and He makes it my personal righteousness
before God. But the only way I can be righteous
is for him to be made sin and to be immersed under the Father's
wrath." Now, I've already alluded to this, but there is a place
called hell. And all who do not believe Christ
will spend eternity there. Now, somebody says, why eternity? Why can't there just be annihilation?
Why does it have to go on forever? If someone brutally murdered
your child, is there anything that they could do that would
make satisfaction for you? No, if they would give you $10
million, that would not make satisfaction for that child you
loved that they brutally abused and murdered. The only thing
that could ever give you satisfaction is if that child was raised from
the dead. Now, Christ Jesus the Lord He
made complete satisfaction. You see, His death was unlike
our death. We could never make satisfaction, but because of
who He is, the God-Man, He fully satisfied the justice of God.
He bore the full equivalent of hell. And it was so much more
painful for him because of his holy soul. He was made sin, the
scripture says. He was made sin. The sins of
God's elect became his sins. He bore them in his own body
on the tree. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it? Altogether. He was guilty and
He was completely immersed under the wrath of Almighty God. He experienced what all damned
souls experience only much more acutely because of who He is. I think of the words of the songwriter
Ye who think of sin, but lightly, Nor suppose the evil great, Here
may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate,
Mark the sacrifice appointed, See who bears the awful load,
Tis the work the Lord's anointed, Son of man and Son of God. Is it any wonder he's called
the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? You see, he's suffered
more than anyone has ever suffered. And I realize some may have suffered
more physically. but none suffered spiritually
like him because he in his holy soul was made to lose the approval
of his father whom he delighted in. He was made sin and felt
nothing but the awful frown and the wrath of his father against
sin. Now the immersion of Christ is
the subject of the eternities. Revelation 13, eight speaks of
the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.
Before creation, He was the Lamb slain. And there's only one reason
for death, being slain, because of sin. Before there was ever
a sinner, there was a Savior. And He was the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. And in eternity, what
is the song going to be? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Now, when I'm in heaven, you
know, I'm not going to be a sinner anymore. I'm not gonna have any
sinful thoughts. I'm not gonna have any sinful
propensities. I'm gonna have a completely holy, pure mind.
I won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner when I'm
in heaven. I'm gonna be perfectly conformed to his image, but I'm
gonna look upon my Redeemer, and I'm gonna see those scars
in his hands and in his feet, and I'm gonna know that the only
reason I'm there is because of him. Now, his immersion, was
predestinated by God. Him being delivered by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. Acts 4, verse 27, For
it is the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. Now this immersion
of Christ, this being completely submerged under the wrath of
God, was predestinated by God Himself. And it was voluntary. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. No man taketh it from me. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my father. You see, he was no
victim. When they drove the nails in his hands and feet, he was
willing it to take place, and he was giving them the strength
to do it. What he did was completely voluntary. And thirdly, this
immersion of Christ was substitutionary. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. He didn't lay down his life for
goats. He laid down his life for the sheep. That is all of
God's elect. That's who he died for. Everyone
the Father gave him. You see, there'll be nobody in
hell that Christ died for. There'll be nobody in hell who
is elect of God. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. It was substitutionary, and I
think one of the most beautiful examples of that is thinking
of Barabbas, laying there in his prison cell that very day,
scheduled to be crucified. Can you imagine how Horrified
he was at what was going to happen to him in a short time. And he
hears the guards coming and they open up the cell door. And I'm
sure his body is just filled with dread at the thought of
being nailed to a cross. And they said, you've been set
free. Somebody took your place. The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ was substitutionary. He did it
for somebody, and he accomplished something by what he did. And
his substitutionary death, his immersion, was punitive. It was
punishment for sin. Now you write this down. God's
going to punish sin. Most people don't believe that,
but it's so. God must punish sin. That's who he is. And his
death was the fulfilling of the scriptures. Everything he did,
he did that the scriptures might be fulfilled. It's almost like
they were reading, well, what do we do next? Okay, part his
garments. What do we do next? Pluck out his beard. What do
we do next? Give him vinegar. All of this. Well, what do we
do next? We pierce his hands and feet. All of this was foretold
in the Old Testament scriptures. Everything that he was to do. And his death was the great act
of obedience. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." What an act of obedience. He
was obeying his father's will when he went to the cross. But
finally, his death was an accomplishment. I love thinking about that. He
spake of the deceased which he should accomplish. He said, regarding
this baptism that I have to be baptized with, how is my soul
straightened until it be accomplished? His first words, recorded words,
anyway, that we know of, is, I must be about my father's business.
You know what his last words were? It's finished. It's accomplished. I did it.
Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. And that's exactly what He did. He saved His people from their
sins. Mission accomplished. Now, whatever
it was He intended to do, that's exactly what He did. He accomplished the complete
salvation of all of His people. Now, what I'd like to do in the
closing moments is give you this same word accomplished or finished
and give you nine different ways this word is translated in the
New Testament that gives us some idea as to what our Lord meant
when he said it is finished. Now the first word is the word
accomplished. Whatever was he intended to do Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am the chief. And you
know what he did? He did it. He saved sinners. He didn't make
sinners savable. He didn't make their salvation
potential. He didn't offer salvation. He
saved them. That's what he intended to do,
and that's precisely what he did. And it's also translated
in Matthew 11, 1, end. He shall make an end of sins. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. When the story
is over, what's it say? The end. The end. Nothing left
to do. The story's over. He accomplished
salvation. It's also translated in Revelation
20, verse 17, expired. When I get a gallon of milk,
I always try to get one out of the back before the expiration
date hits it, because once it's expired, it's no good. Now, when
our Lord died on Calvary's tree, the veil in the temple was rent
from the top to the bottom. Separation is gone. Law is gone. That old covenant has expired.
It is no more. And it's translated in Revelation
15.1, filled up. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing
can be brought on it. It is filled up. It is complete.
We can't add anything to the work of Christ. And how I love
that, that all I need I have in Christ Jesus. It's all filled
up. I am complete in Him and nothing
else is needed. And then in Acts chapter 13,
verse 33, it's translated fulfilled. All the scripture was fulfilled
when he said it is finished. All the purposes and decrees
of God were fulfilled. His mission was fulfilled. I
love thinking of him saying, or the angel saying, he should
save his people from their sins. Now he has saved his people from
their sins. It's all over. He is filled. In Matthew chapter 10, verse
23, this word is translated go. The light's green. I'm now welcome
to come into the very presence of the Father. Nothing hold me
back. I don't have to wait till I get better. I don't have to
wait till I understand more. I'm welcome right now to come
into the very presence of God. And then in Matthew 17, verse
24, the word is translated, pay. It's paid. It's all paid. My
debt has been paid. I am debt free. We sing that
song, Jesus paid it all, but I think some people think Jesus
paid a half the other half I owe. No, Jesus paid it all, all the
debt I owe, and I now stand perfect and complete in him. And then
the word is also translated in Luke 2.39, perform. His performance is my salvation. You know, people stress about
their performance. Well, my performance is the performance
of Christ. Whatever it was he did, I did. That's my performance. That's
my righteousness before God. If you want to know the very
truth of my life, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the Lord's
performance. And that is my performance. Now,
while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father,
if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. And he knew even when he was
overcome with the thought of being made sin and immersed.
He knew the Father's will must be done. And thank God he accomplished
what it is he set out to do and how my soul rejoices, not of
his sufferings. Oh, it kills me to think of my
sins becoming his sins and him bearing the filth and the violence
of it. Now, he never committed sin.
He didn't commit my sins. I committed them. But that sin
was made to be His, and He owned it. It became His. And that makes
me feel bad to even think about that, but just as truly as my
sin became His sin, His righteousness becomes my righteousness. Now, we have this message on
DV and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. And once again, we'd like to
invite you to services at Todd's Road Grace Church this morning
at 10 o'clock. You'll hear a message exalting two speakers. This is
the last day of our Bible conference. You'll hear a message exalting
the sovereign grace of God. Why a sovereign grace Bible conference? What in the world does that mean?
Now the word sovereign means reigns. God is sovereign. That means He reigns. He's in
absolute control. His will is done. Grace is God's way of saving
sinners. Salvation is by grace. It's not
by works. It's by grace. Hence, sovereign
grace. I mean, in some sense, it might
be redundant to use the term sovereign, but sovereign grace
simply means grace that actually saves. Now, when someone believes
sovereign grace, that means they believe that God is sovereign.
God's will is done. You know, people talk about free
will and man's will. Well, it's either man's will
or God's will, and it's God's will. His will is done. If I'm
saved, it's because He willed my salvation. It's not of Him
that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. And this is what the Scripture
says regarding God. He's absolutely sovereign, and
His grace is sovereign grace. Now, anybody that believes sovereign
grace believes that men are dead in sins. That means they cannot
save themselves and are completely dependent upon God to do something
for them. Everybody who believes sovereign
grace believes in electing grace, that God, before time began,
elected, chose a people to salvation. Not because He foresaw they would
believe or because He foresaw they would repent, although He
did foresee they would, but because He willed that they would do
it. The faith and the repentance are the gift of God's grace given
to His elect. Everybody who believes in sovereign
grace believes in a successful atonement. Christ Jesus the Lord
died for the elect and accomplished their salvation. When he said
it is finished, the salvation of the elect was accomplished. And anyone who believes in sovereign
grace believes in the irresistible and invincible work of God the
Holy Spirit. He gives life. He doesn't offer
life. He doesn't try to give life.
He gives life. He births us into the kingdom,
born from above. And that work cannot be thwarted. It can't be stopped. And anyone
who believes in sovereign grace believes that everybody that
God elected and Christ died for and God the Holy Spirit calls
will persevere all the way to the end. They will not quit. Now, you cannot preach the gospel
and not preach sovereign grace. You don't believe in grace if
you don't believe sovereign grace. And this Bible conference we've
had, and like I said, I hope you'll come out this morning,
beginning at 10 o'clock. It's our last day. You'll hear
a couple of men preach. They will preach messages exalting
the sovereign grace of God, and that is a sinner's only hope. The only hope I have of being
saved is what God has done for me, not what I've done for God. but that what He does for me,
that He chooses me, that Christ dies for me, that God the Holy
Spirit gives me life and they enable me to persevere all the
way to the end. And this is the gospel I must
hear. I must preach this gospel. I must hear this gospel. And
this is the message that salvation is in. So we'd like to invite
you to come out to our Sovereign Grace Bible Conference and hear
the gospel of God's grace preached clearly. Once again, this is
Todd Nybert, 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
church at the information provided on the screen. She's not.