is not that I did choose. 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.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nye. I've entitled the message I would
like to bring this morning, Persecution and the Gospel. In Luke chapter 6, verse 22,
the Lord Jesus Christ says to his disciples, blessed are you
when men shall hate you. and when they shall separate
you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your
name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day
and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great
in heaven. For in like manner did the fathers
unto the prophets. And then he says in verse 26
of the same chapter, woe unto you when all men shall speak
well of you. For so did their fathers to the
false prophets. One thing that occurs to me as
I think of the preaching that is done today, men are not offended
by the preaching and no one is persecuted for what they preach. Now, I realize some people act,
as a matter of fact, a lot of people, religious people particularly,
act in a very offensive way, and people probably get sick
of that, and they think they're being persecuted for Christ's
sake, when in reality, they're being persecuted for how offensive
they're acting in their religion. But who is getting persecuted
for the actual message they are preaching? where men grow angry
because of what is said, not because of the way someone conducts
themselves, but because of what is said. Now, you can't read
the New Testament and come up with any other conclusion but
that persecution was the norm in the New Testament, beginning
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul said, all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And if I'm
not suffering persecution, that has something to do with me not
living godly in Christ Jesus, me not saying what I should be
saying. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy
1, verse 8, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God." Now, he
went on to say in this same passage of Scripture, who saved us, here's
the testimony of our Lord, He saved us. And He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began." Now, did you hear what he said? He
said, he saved us. We don't save ourselves. We don't
contribute. He did it all. And everything that we have,
if we're believers, he gave us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Sovereign grace. All the believer
has is given them before time began. That demonstrates how
it has nothing to do with their works. And then he goes on to
say, But it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to life through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which
cause I also suffer these things. If I preach the truth, I will
suffer these things. In chapter 2, he said in verse
8, Remember, that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised
from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble
as an evildoer, even unto bonds." Now, Paul, everywhere he went,
he would be thrown in jail for his preaching. People would become
so enraged by what he said that he would be imprisoned. And it
wasn't his conduct. He was a loving man. He was a
gracious man. It's what he said concerning
God. It's what he said concerning salvation. It's what he said
concerning the state of man. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 11, he
says, it's a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we'll
live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. Listen to the words of our Lord
in the Sermon on the Mount. He said in verse 10, when he
was giving the Beatitudes, which describe what a believer is,
he said, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness
sake. for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now, when he's saying, blessed
are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, he's not
talking about the persecution someone involves for doing, experiences
for doing what's right. Yeah, it may be that someone
is persecuted at times for doing the right thing when somebody
else is doing the wrong thing and they don't want that person
to do the right thing, so they're gonna try to prevent it. But
that's not really what our Lord is talking about. When he's talking
about being persecuted for righteousness sake, He's talking about being
persecuted for making an issue that his righteousness, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, is the only righteousness there is. And the
only way a sinner can be saved is by having Christ's personal
righteousness as their own personal righteousness because no man
naturally has any righteousness at all. Someone who preaches
this message, man has no righteousness at all. Man is a sinner. And
the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness there
is. People will be, persecute people who preach that message
because they're having a hope in their own righteousness. And
if somebody says your hope is no good, they get mad and they
persecute them because of that. Look what our Lord goes on to
say in verse 11. He said, blessed are you when men shall revile
you. and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice
and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Now we
see from these verses of scripture I just read both by Paul, by
what the Lord said, that persecution was the norm in the New Testament. Now I think of the Lord Jesus
Himself during His public ministry. When He opened His public ministry
in Luke 4, at the end of His message, we read these words. This was the response of the
hearers to His message. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose
up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow
of the hill whereon the city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong." Now these people were so angry, they were
going to throw the Lord off a cliff and kill Him. But He passed through
their midst. But something He said just provoked
their rage. After the Lord healed a man on
the Sabbath day, the scripture says the Jews did persecute Jesus
and sought to slay him. When he identified to them who
he was, when he said, before Abraham was, I am, they took up stones to cast at
him. When he said in John chapter
10 to his detractors, You believe not because you're not of my
sheep, as I said to you. Now, that's another way of saying
to these people, you believe not because you're not one of
the elect. That's why you don't believe. He didn't say, you're
not one of my sheep because you don't believe. He said, you believe
not because you're not one of my sheep. You see, there are
sheep and there are goats. They're children of God, and
they're children of the devil. The Lord said to one group, you're
of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you
will do. Now when the Lord said this,
you believe not because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto
you. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. They were going to put him to
death over what he said. How many times during his earthly
ministry was he the object of rage? And he told his disciples,
you'll be hated of all men for my sake. And he said in Matthew
chapter 10, think not that I've come to send peace on the earth.
I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. There was always
a division because of him. And, you know, he ended up dying
a violent death. You know that. He was nailed
to a cross because men hated him. Now, I realize he came to
die, and he came for the purpose of dying to put away the sins
of his people. But when men put him to death, it's because they
hated him, and they didn't want to have anything to do with him. But he was raised from the dead,
and he commissioned the apostles to go and preach the gospel.
And as soon as they began to preach, Persecution began. In Acts chapter 2, the great
message on Pentecost, when Peter said, Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. When he said, God hath
made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,
they were beaten. And they were commanded to not
speak in His name at all. And the scripture says regarding
them after they were beaten and commanded not to speak in His
name, they departed from the council rejoicing. that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. They rejoiced
in this. This was a token of God's blessing. Now once again, let me emphasize
this was not rude or offensive behavior on their part that caused
persecution, but what they said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. You go on reading through the
book of Acts in Acts chapter 7, we read of the sermon of Stephen. And in his preaching, the people
reacted so violently, they stuck their fingers in their ears and
they said, away with such a fellow. And they ended up stoning him
and killing him. That's how angry they were at
his message. And then in Acts chapter 8 we
read of Saul of Tarsus where people had put their coats at
his feet to stone Stephen and he consented to their death.
And Saul of Tarsus was seeking to arrest and put to death all
who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everybody
was scattered abroad because of his persecution. But through
this the gospel was preached in so many different places where
it wouldn't have been preached without this persecution. So
we see God's blessing on this persecution. And then in Acts
chapter 9, we read of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the man who
hated the Lord Jesus Christ so desperately. God saved him. That's the way the Lord God is.
He saves even the chief of sinners. Paul said he was the chief of
sinners and God saved him. And as soon as Paul began to
preach, the Jews took counsel to kill him. They couldn't stand
what he had to say. In Acts chapter 12, James is
put to death and Peter is in prison and they had the same
desire and intention to kill him just the way they did James,
but the Lord delivered him. And then in Acts chapter 14 in
Lystra, after Paul preached, he was stoned. He was stoned. I mean, people, the people who
listened to him threw rocks at him thinking he was dead and
drug him out of town. In Acts chapter 16, after Paul
had preached, he was beaten, imprisoned, and his feet were
placed in stalks. In Acts chapter 17, he was ran
out of Thessalonica. In Acts chapter 18, he was the
object of ridicule in Athens. In Acts chapter 19, there was
an uproar and a riot at Ephesus. As a matter of fact, look at
his summary of his preaching in Acts chapter 20. He says,
beginning in verse 21, 22, And now, behold, I go bound in the
Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall
me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. They're waiting on
me. Paul knew that wherever he preached, he was going to be
beaten and he was going to be in prison everywhere he went. But he said, None of these things
move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
In Acts chapter 21, There was another murder attempt on him
and he's rescued by the Romans and he gives his message to these
people who wanted to kill him and at the end of the message
here's what they had to say, away with such a fellow from
the earth for it's not fit that he should live. Now, this was
the response to the apostles' preaching. It was the response
to the Lord's preaching, and it was the response to the apostles'
preaching. Look what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 regarding
his detractors. He said, Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more, in labors more abundant,
in stripes Above measure in prisons, more frequent in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck,
a night and a day I've been in the deep." He talked about all
the things that he experienced through preaching the gospel.
And once again, let me say, this was not because of his offensive
behavior. There's never been a man who loved the souls of
men more than the Apostle Paul, but it was because of the message
he preached. Persecution was the norm in the
New Testament. You can't read the pages of the
New Testament and come up with anything else. I think of what
Paul said when he said, if in this life only we have hope in
Christ Jesus, or of all men most miserable, because they had miserable
lives as far as the suffering they endured because of the preaching
of the gospel. Now I'd like to read a verse
of scripture in Galatians chapter 5, verse 11. Paul said, and I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, Why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. If I preach circumcision, and
what he means by that is if I preach law, if I preached works in any
way, nobody would be persecuting me. Everybody would be happy
with me. You see, you can preach a message that nobody's going
to be mad at. There's a Jesus preach that nobody's
mad at. He's the one who we can control,
the one who we can get him to help us whenever we decide we
want to, or we can keep him away from us. He's one we control. Nobody's going to be mad at that
Jesus. Nobody's going to be mad at a God who wants to save people,
but he can't unless they first give him permission. Now, that
God, nobody's offended by that God. They can just put him away.
But the God of glory, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
is what men become offended by. Now, the cross, Paul speaks of
the offense of the cross. What is the offense of the cross?
Here's what me and you are by nature. We are so evil that when
left to ourselves, we would nail God to a cross and watch him
suffer and die. Somebody says, I'm not that evil.
You are. And I am. The cross declares
the true nature of man. The cross declares the true nature
of God. And men are offended by the cross. Paul spoke of the offense of
the cross. Now, The cross, that's just the
message of the whole Bible. If I could use one word to describe
the entire message of the Bible, it would be the cross. The cross
is the whole counsel of God. The cross of Christ is how God
saves sinners. The cross of Christ is how God
makes himself known to us. You and I cannot know the living
God apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the offense
of the cross, Men are offended by the message of the cross.
Here's why. Let me give you four or five reasons why. First of
all, the cross, the message of the cross, salvation by crucified
Savior, the only way I can be saved is for Christ to die for
me. The only way God's justice can
be satisfied is not through my works or my doings, but through
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross offends men's sense
of personal wisdom because it says salvation can only come
by revelation. You can't figure this out. I
don't care how much you study. I don't care how smart you are.
You cannot figure out the gospel. You're totally dependent upon
God to make himself known to you. And if he doesn't make himself
known, you'll go to hell. That's the preaching of the cross.
Salvation through a divine revelation, not by men's education, not by
men's efforts, not by men's intelligence, not by men seeking God. The cross
declares that the only way I can know God is for God to make himself
known to me. I'm totally dependent upon revelation. God make himself, I can't figure
this thing out. The only way I'm going to know
God is if he is pleased in sovereign mercy to make himself known to
me. The cross offends men's sense
of personal righteousness because it addresses all men as sinners
and nothing more. Listen to this scripture from
Genesis chapter six, verse five. And God saw the wickedness. Now,
before I quote this, this is what God sees when he sees me
and when he sees you apart from Christ, when he sees what we
are in and of ourselves, when he looks into our heart, when
he looks into our mind, and he sees what we're made of. I don't
care who you are, this describes you. 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. Now that's what God sees when
he sees you. He sees every imagination of
the thoughts of your heart and my heart. I'm not differing myself
from you. This is the way all men are by
nature. And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Why, the scripture says even
the plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing seems like such
a wholesome activity, but if a wicked man does it, it's sin
because he does it. That's the way of a natural man. He's evil. Being that evil, he
can't save himself. He can't do anything to contribute
to his own salvation. Now, that offends men's sense
of personal righteousness. You mean to tell me that all
I am is evil? That's what the Word of God says.
All you are. The Scriptures even says our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And men find that message
offensive. The cross offends men's sense
of personal rights because it says we're in the hands of a
sovereign God and we have no rights. God can do with us whatever
he's pleased to do. You see, in this thing of salvation,
listen to me carefully. God is sovereign in salvation. What that means is He saves whom
He's pleased to save, and He passes by whoever He's pleased
to pass by, and whatever He does is right. He can save you, or
He can harden your heart and leave you to yourself and let
you go to hell, and whatever He does is right. He has mercy
on whom He will have mercy, and on whom He will, He hardens.
Romans 9, 16, that's what the scripture says. Everybody thinks
we have rights, and when people hear that God saves some and
passes by others, they say, well, how could that be fair? That's
not fair for God to not save everybody. We lost all rights
by our sin, and whatever God does is right. And that offends
men's sense of personal rights. We don't have any rights because
of our sin. We're in the hands of a sovereign
God who can save us or who can pass us by. Now, understand when
I'm saying this. That doesn't mean any sinner
who comes to God for mercy and says, oh, save me for Christ's
sake. God says, no, not going to do it. Not going to do it.
No. Anybody who seeks mercy will have it. Now, understand that. If you come to Christ, he won't
cast you out. But the only reason you come is because he caused
you to do it. If you come, it's because he
had mercy on you for Christ's sake. The cross Offends men's
sense of power and control because it says we don't have any. The cross offends men's love
of self because it calls upon us to deny ourself, take up our
cross daily, and follow Him. Now, if I preach the truth of
the gospel, men will be offended by that message. You know, I'd
be afraid if men were not offended by my preaching. Where's the
offense? I would like everyone to examine
what it is you believe. And is there offense there? Are
you persecuted for the gospel sake? Because the blessing of
the Lord is on those who are persecuted. The Lord said rejoice
exceedingly in that day. Now you examine your gospel in
the light of the New Testament. Is there persecution? My soul,
people try to hide the truth of the gospel. You see that so
much in religious institutions that call themselves churches,
and all they're doing is trying to make an appeal to the flesh.
They try to cover up the truth and make it more attractive and
package it in order to get more people in and grow and so on. But the offense of the gospel
is gone, and the Spirit of God's not in that. God is not in that. That's just a religious club.
Where is the offense Paul said, if I yet preach circumcision,
I wouldn't still be being persecuted. You see, if you preach works,
if you preach a message that will be pleasing to men, that
men will speak well of you, you're not preaching the gospel. Paul
said, if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. May the Lord deliver us from
that. Now I'd like to close by reading a passage of scripture
in Revelation chapter 12 regarding God's people. We read in verse
9, this is speaking of the final casting out of Satan, of Revelation
chapter 12, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent
called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. He
was cast into the earth and the angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation. and strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night." And that's what Satan has done. He's accused to God,
they did this, they did that, they thought this. And they,
versus these people he accused, and every accusation he made,
I have no doubt was true. Any accusation Satan would make
to God concerning me, he could back it up. They overcame him,
how? By the blood of the Lamb. I love thinking about this. The
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ washes away all sin and now nothing
can be laid to my charge. They overcame him by the blood
of the lamb, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
and by the word of their testimony. The word of their testimony was
this, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that
can make a sinner acceptable before God. Nothing else, not
his works, not what he does, just the blood of the lamb. And
it says they love not their lives unto death. Is the gospel you
believe worth dying for? Well, if it's not, it's not the
gospel of God. And I also know this, if the
gospel I believe is worth dying for, it's also worth living for
and preaching. And I want to preach in such
a way as men either gnash their teeth in anger at what I'm saying
regarding the character of God and the character of man, or
they jump for joy saying this is the best news I've ever heard. persecution and the gospel. That's the norm of the New Testament. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knight praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known. That's our prayer. 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.