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. In Luke chapter 5, verse 8, Peter
makes a very unusual request. He says in Luke chapter 5, verse
8, when Simon Peter saw, when he saw it, he fell down at Jesus'
knees saying, depart from me. For I am a sinful man, O Lord."
Did you hear what he requested? Depart from me. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I am a sinful man, O Lord. I have entitled this message
a sinful man. Now, when Peter made this request,
he had not yet been chosen as one of the twelve. That took
place in the following chapter, in Luke chapter 6, but he had
had some experience of the In Luke chapter 4 we read where
the Lord had entered into his house and healed his mother-in-law. So he knew that Jesus Christ
was no ordinary man. And he heard this sermon that
the Lord preached. We don't know the content of
the sermon, but we know that Peter was sitting listening as
he preached. In Luke chapter 5 verse 1, and
it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the
word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two
ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were gone out
of them and weren't washing their nets, Peter being one of them.
And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, Simon
Peter, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from
the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the
ship. And Peter heard this message. And Peter had some impression
of the Lord as being not a regular man. He saw him heal his mother-in-law. So after the message, verse 4,
now when he had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out
into the deep, and let down your nets for a big haul, a big catch. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master. Now, that's a word of respect,
but it's not the same as calling him Lord. In the verse I read
in verse 8, he said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
Lord. The term master is a term of
respect. but it's not the same respect
as the Lord. He called him master. Master,
we've toiled all night. We've been fishing all night.
We know fishing, we do this for a living. We fished all night
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, it's almost like
he's humoring him. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the
net. Verse six, And when they had
this done, they let down the net, they enclosed a great multitude
of fishes. They let down the net, and the
Lord said, Fish, get in the net. And the fish got in the net,
and the net was full, so that it break. And they beckoned unto
their partners which were in the other ship, that they should
come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships,
so that they began to sink, so filled with the fish. The Lord
said, Get in the net. When Simon Peter saw, he saw
the Lord in a new light. He did see him as master, a term
of respect, but now he sees he's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's the Lord of providence.
He's the Lord of salvation. He's the one in control. He's
the dictator. He now sees he is the Lord. When Simon Peter saw, he fell
down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me. You don't want
to have anything to do with one as unclean and sinful as me. Depart from me. I am a sinful
man, O Lord." Now, regarding this confession, regarding himself,
I am a sinful man, O Lord. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood did not reveal this to thee. If you've had this
revealed to you, oh, how blessed you are to have it revealed to
you that you are a sinful man or woman. Now, what is a sinful
man? A sinful man is a man full of
sin. That is all there is there, sin. A man who is full of sin would
say what Paul said in Romans chapter 7 when he said, I know
that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. nothing but sin. I think that we have a good illustration
of this in the following verse, in verse 12 of Luke chapter 5,
and it came to pass when it was a certain place, behold a man
full of leprosy. He didn't just have leprosy in
his forearm or on his forehead or on his back. His body was
completely covered with this loathsome disease. There was
not one square inch of healthy flesh. He was full of leprosy. That means all there was there
was leprosy. Now, if someone is sinful, that
means all there is there is sin. A man sinful is full of sin in
his experience. All he does is sin. If he does it, it is sin because
he did it. He cannot not sin. And because of this, he can't
look down his nose at anybody in moral superiority. He can't
say, well, I wouldn't have done that. He knows that if God took
his hand off of him, he would be as bad as the devil. That's
what this man thinks. He would be as bad as the devil
himself. He has no claims on God because
he's full of sin. Peter said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I am a sinful man. Now before I go on, what is sin? There is such a thing. What is
sin? How would the Bible define sin? I remember one time hearing people
interviewed on TV And they were asking, what do you consider
sin is? And they would all give their explanation of what they
thought sin was and it was always something that they didn't feel
like they did. They might have made mistakes but they knew the
sins that other people committed. But what does the Bible mean
by the word sin? The word means by definition
to miss the mark. But in 1 John 3, verse 4 we read
sin is the transgression of the law. The Ten Commandments. Let's just take one. thou shalt
not commit adultery." Now somebody says, well I've kept that one,
I've always been faithful. But the Lord said, whoso looketh
on a woman to lust after her in his heart has already committed
adultery. So obviously we have broken that
law even if we haven't done it on the outside, we've done it
on the inside. You see sin is internal, it comes
from the heart. Any lack of perfect conformity
to the Ten Commandments is sin. In Romans 3.23, we read that
sin is coming short of the glory of God. And we read in Romans
14.23, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And in James 2.9, we
read that the respect of persons is sin, showing partiality. James 4.17 says, to him that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it's sin. In Proverbs 24.9 we read, the
thought of foolishness is sin. Somebody says, well, I can't
be condemned for my thoughts. Yeah, you can. The thought of
foolishness is sin, and this is my favorite scriptural definition
of sin. Proverbs 24.9 says, the plowing
of the wicked is sin. Now, plowing seems to me to be
a very wholesome activity, but if a wicked man does it, that
makes it sin. Peter says, this is what I am,
a man full of sin. Sin is my nature. Sin is my action. Sin is my name. Now, I want to give you two scriptures,
one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. that
will define what Peter means when he says, I'm a sinful man.
In Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, we read, And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And when God looks in my heart
or your heart, the heart we have by nature, here's what he sees,
that every imagination of the thoughts of my heart is only
evil continually. And then in Romans chapter 3,
beginning in verse 9, Paul said, what then? Are we better than
they, us Jews? Are we better than the Gentiles?
No, in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles
that they're all under sin. And here's what that means. As
it's written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now, the text says when Peter
saw when he saw who the Lord was. That is when he had this
discovery of himself that he was a sinful man. This discovery
is the result of seeing who Christ is. And there's so many scriptures
that back this up. Job said in Job 42, I've heard
of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I abhor myself. and I repent in dust and in ashes. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
6 verse 1, in the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up and knew what he said about himself as a result
of seeing the Lord, woe is me for I'm undone. I'm a man of
unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Daniel said in Daniel chapter
10, when I saw him my comeliness turned to corruption and I retained
no strength. Now we see by light when Peter
saw Christ is the light. And if somebody says, I just
don't believe this describes me. I'm not completely sinful.
Well, quite frankly, the only reason you say something like
that is because you've never seen the Lord. If you ever see
the Lord, this will be your confession regarding yourself. I am a sin
full man, full of sin. You ever see the Lord? You're
going to see that about yourself. And if you don't see that about
yourself, quite frankly, you've never seen the Lord. And notice Peter's request, depart
from me. I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. All sense of entitlement vanishes. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Depart from me. I'm just so unclean and sinful. depart from me." Now this wasn't
because he wished to be away from the Lord's presence. He
couldn't imagine why the Lord would ever want to be in his
presence. That's why he says that. There's
no sense of entitlement here. You know, regarding the great,
glorious, holy, stupendous doctrine of election, God choosing who
would be saved before time began, and they're the only ones who
will be saved, and Christ paying for the sins of his elect, and
not All men without exception, but just as people." If somebody
replies, well, that's not fair, that's not right, that's a sense
of entitlement. You've never seen your sinfulness,
because if you ever see your sinfulness, you'd never say anything
like that. Peter says, depart from me, for
I am a sinful man, O Lord. Now do you remember a few minutes
ago when I said that this was a blessed revelation to find
out you're a sinful man? The gospel of Christ is utterly
unique because it is a sinner's religion. It's for sinners, not
good people, not righteous people, but It's essentially and fundamentally
a sinner's religion. All other religions are for good
people. The gospel is for bad people. Now listen to me. Your sinfulness
will not keep you from Christ. I don't care how sinful you are.
Your sinfulness won't keep you from Christ. It's your righteousness. That's what will keep you from
Christ. If you ever see your sinfulness, you'll come running
to him, seeking his mercy. It's your righteousness, it's
your goodness that keeps you from him. He said, the whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now listen to
me, if you have seen that you're a sinful man, God revealed that
to you. And He didn't reveal that to
you simply to make you miserable. He revealed that to you to teach
you the gospel. Everybody who comes to Christ
comes realizing that they are sinful men and women. Now remember that passage in
Scripture that I used to illustrate this, the leper who was full
of leprosy. Leprosy illustrates sin, and
there's an entire chapter in the book of Leviticus devoted
to the cleansing of the leper. Now, I'd like to read this to
you. In Leviticus chapter 13, verse 14, it says, when raw flesh
or healthy flesh or flesh without leprosy, when that appears, he
should be unclean. If he has some leprosy and some
clean flesh, he's utterly unclean. But look in verse 12. And if
leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and leprosy cover all the
skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot,
wheresoever the priest looketh, then the priest shall consider
and behold if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh. to where
there's not one square inch of healthy flesh. He's completely
covered with leprosy. If the leprosy has covered all
of his flesh, wheresoever the priest looketh, then the priest
shall consider, behold, if the leprosy hath covered all his
flesh, he shall pronounce him clean." Clean. Now, if you come to the Lord
with some sin, some mistakes, some badness, and some goodness,
you're going to be pronounced unclean. Go back to the leper
colony. But if you come as completely
covered with evil, completely sinful, that's what you are,
you will be pronounced clean, sinful. Now, in the original,
I am a sinful man, that word is an adjective. Obviously, it's
an adjective. An adjective is a word used to
express the quality or attribute of the thing named, like he is
a tall man, or he is a short man, or he is a sinful man. And an adjective is used to limit
and define anything as distinct from something else. He is a
sinful man as opposed to a good man. Sinful is the adjective
that describes me. I am a sinful man, O Lord." Now,
this word, sinful, is quite often translated sinners. And this
is the word the Pharisees used to describe those whom they considered
morally bankrupt. The harlots and the publicans,
or the Roman tax collectors, they were called sinful or sinners. And the Lord said to the Pharisees,
the publicans and the harlots, enter the kingdom of heaven before
you do. Now, why is this a blessed revelation
to find out that you're a sinful man? It sure didn't feel good
for Peter. He said, depart from me. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I'm a sinful man. Why is this a good revelation?
Well, first of all, because it's the truth. It's always good to
have the truth, isn't it? But this is who Christ came to
call. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ is called the friend of
sinners. If this is you, Christ is your
friend. It was said of the Lord in Derision,
this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them, but he does. If you're a sinful man, he will
receive you. Now if you're a good person,
he won't have anything to do with you. But if you're a sinful
man, he will receive you. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise, for no reason cast out. If you are a sinful
man, come and welcome. He is the friend of sinners. He receives sinners. Let me give
you something, some even better news. These are the people he
justifies. Remember the parable of the Pharisee
and the Publican? The Pharisee praying thus with
himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as others are. And he
talks about all the good things he did, the good things he didn't
do, or the bad things he didn't do. He said, I'm not like this
Publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that
I possess. And then we have the poor old Publican. He stands
back in the back. His head is down. He wouldn't
so much as look up his eyes to heaven, but he'd beat upon his
breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, the worst
man to ever live. You know what the Lord said?
He said, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. The religious fellow was condemned
by the Lord himself. The poor publican who confessed
that he was nothing more than a sinner, Christ said, He's justified. Now, how? How can that be? How can it be a good thing to
be a sinful man? Well, here's how. These are the
people that Christ died for, sinful men and women. Listen
to this scripture. In Romans 5, verse 6, when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners full of sin, Christ died for us." You see,
these are the people he came to save. 1 Timothy 1.15 says
this is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It doesn't say believing sinners.
It doesn't say repentant sinners. It doesn't say elect sinners. There's no word before sinners
to give a description, just sinners. Are you one of those? Do you
fit in that demographic? Then Christ came to save you. He came to save sinners. Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. It's a good thing to be a sinner.
And not good to commit sin, but it's a good thing to be a sinner
in this sense. Christ came to save sinners. Somebody says,
well, I'm afraid I'm too bad. You can't say that because in
this text Paul said, He came to save sinners of whom I'm the
chief. Paul's the worst man to ever live, so that's not going
to wash. You can't say I'm too bad to be saved. You can be too
good to be saved, but you can't be too bad to be saved. He came
to save sinners. Now here's a question. Did he
do it? Did he do what he said he came to do? What were his last words from
the cross? It is finished. I did. what I came to do. John 17 verse 4 says, I've glorified
thee on the earth, I've finished the work thou gavest me to do. Now let me show you how complete
this work is. In Romans chapter 5 verse 9 we
read much more than being now justified by his blood. We should
be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God. by the death of his son. When were we reconciled to God?
When we believed, when we repented. Now, I'm not taking away from
the importance of faith and repentance. There's no salvation apart from
these things. But he doesn't say we were reconciled to God
when we believed or when we repented or when we turned around. It
says we were reconciled to God when we were enemies by the death
of his son. When Christ said, it is finished,
every believer was reconciled to God. That's how complete this
saving work is. Now, how does his death save?
Well, if he stayed dead, his death wouldn't save, but he didn't
stay dead. He was raised again because the
Father was satisfied with what he did. Now, all that sinfulness
that I'm talking about became his sin. That's what substitution
is. My sin became His sin. That's why He died. There's only
one reason for death, sin. My sin became His sin, and He
died under the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute, and
His perfect obedience, His righteousness becomes my righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
He had made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. Now that is how a sinful
man is saved. Substitution and satisfaction. Somebody says, but isn't there
anything I must do? Don't I need to believe? Yeah,
you do. You need to believe what I'm saying. You need to believe
what I'm saying. You need to believe what God
says in His Word. Not because I said it, but because of what
God says. Well, what do I believe? Everything God says. Believe
everything God says. And when you see and feel what
Peter did, oh depart from me, you see why the Lord wouldn't
want to have anything to do with you. Remember this too, Lord
save me for I'm a sinful man. That's just as valid. As a matter
of fact, if you ever believe that you're a sinful man, here's
what you're going to say, Lord save me for I am a sinful man. Peter is ready to be a preacher. Look what the Lord says after
this in Luke chapter 5. He was astonished. He said, Depart
from me, I'm a sinful man. He was astonished and all that
were with him, a number of the fishes which were taken, and
so was James also, and John the son of Zebedee, which were partners
with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. You're not qualified to preach
unless you see yourself as a sinful man and then you can tell other
sinful men where salvation is. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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