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 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 Nybert. I'm going to read a passage of
Scripture from 1 Timothy chapter 6. I've entitled this message,
A Good Foundation. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning
in verse 17, Paul says to Timothy, Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God who giveth us all things richly
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in
store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that
they may lay hold on eternal life." Now, if you had never
heard the gospel before, and if you'd never read other parts
of the scripture, and this is the scripture that you heard,
what would you say a good foundation is? Now if all I had was this
passage of scripture and I didn't have the rest of the Bible, I
would think a good foundation is found in my good works, in
my willingness to distribute the good things I do, laying
up for themselves and store a good foundation. That's what it says,
laying up for themselves and store a good foundation. Now that shows how dangerous
this book is. You can pull a verse of Scripture
out of context and teach anything you want. Did you know that? You can prove anything from the
Bible if you don't look at it in terms of the whole book. If you just pull a scripture
out of context, I remember hearing a preacher once say salvation
is not all of grace because of Philippians 2.12 where it says,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work it out.
That lets you know that it's not all of grace, but they don't
go on to continue to read for it's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do is good pleasure. I don't know how many
times I've heard people quote James chapter 2. Faith without
works is dead. You're not saved by faith only,
but you've got to have works too. Look at what James chapter
2 says, and we're going to look at that in a moment. But here's
Paul's statement, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation,
when he's talking about their works, against the time to come,
talking about Judgment Day, that they may lay hold upon eternal
life. Now I want to read a verse of
scripture from Revelation chapter 19. Verse 8 says, and to her,
the lamb's wife, let me begin reading verse 7. Let us be glad
and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now that's the King James Version.
But if you had a new international version, you would read that
the fine linen, clean and white, is the righteous acts of the
saints, the righteous deeds of the saints. One of the reasons
I love the King James Version, and that's all I read, is because
these other versions, like the International Version, really,
I'm not saying that I think the King James Version is inspired.
I think the original is inspired. But I think the King James Version
is honest to the original. Like, that translation of that
verse is horrible. Do you have any works and acts
at all that you would consider fine linen, clean and white?
Well, if you do, you're deceived. You see, the righteousness of
the saints, the fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness
of the saints, is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
His name, Jehovah Zedkinu. This is the name wherewith He
shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. And instead of
the church, this is the name wherewith She shall be called,
The Lord Our Righteousness. There's only one righteousness.
Paul said in Philippians 3, 8, 9, O that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. Now, there is only
one foundation of salvation, and that is the person and work
of Christ. And we didn't lay that foundation,
God did. We didn't build this foundation,
God did. And if we're on this foundation,
it's because he put us on this foundation. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. In Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16
we read, Now I love those words to describe the foundation. Tried,
proven, proven. Precious, oh, the preciousness
of being saved by Christ. And sure, this foundation, sure. I love what David said in 2 Samuel
23, five, right before he died, he said, although my house be
not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my salvation.
and all my desire, though he maketh it not to grow. This is
the sure foundation. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth then that are his. My
foundation is Christ Jesus. My foundation is that all that
God requires of me, he looks to Christ for. What a sure foundation
that is. So, that being the case, what
does Paul mean when he says, laying up in store for themselves
a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay
hold upon eternal life? Now, there are a lot of scriptures
that give us some light as to what this means, but the first
one I want to quote is Revelation chapter 14, verse 13. And this
is speaking of the death of the believer. It says, are the dead
that die in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may have rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. Not blessed just of the dead, but of the dead
that die in the Lord. You know, they have rest from
their labors. Now that doesn't mean they're doing all this work
for Christ and now they get to rest from it. This rest from
labors is speaking of this struggle with sin. Same word is used when
the Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor. and are heavy
laden with a burden of sin. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is the rest
of believing. And the scripture says their
works do follow them. Now notice where their works
came in. Not in front of them. That's the cause of their salvation.
not beside them as a condition they met in order to be saved,
but behind them, following them, works that gave evidence that
they were, in fact, on the foundation. Now, there's many scriptures
that speak of this. In Matthew chapter 25, I think
of that great chapter our Lord gives regarding Judgment Day.
In verse 31, He says, When the Son of Man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon
the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd
divided the sheep from the goats, he shall set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit, not earn, but inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. This was prepared for you before
time ever began. You know, Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 2 Timothy 1.9 says
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. Everything the believer has was
given to him before the world began because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, he says, inherit this kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But look what he
says next, for I was hungered and you gave me meat. I was thirsty
and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited
me. I was in prison and you came into me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, Lord, when did we do these things? We're not even
aware of it. We didn't know we did anything.
When? When saw we thee a stranger naked
and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick or in prison
came unto thee? And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you've done
it to one of thee, least of these, my brethren, you've done it to
me. The evidence that they had had
salvation prepared for them from the foundation of the world was
seen in the way they treated the brethren. This also shows
the union of Christ and the believer. If you did it to one of the least
of these, you did it to me. It was their works that gave
evidence. And when he talked about the goats and he told them
to depart, they didn't do these things. Now what I think is very
interesting about this, the ones who did do them, didn't know
they'd done them. And the ones who didn't do it,
thought they had. Now I'd like to read a passage
of scripture from James chapter two. This is a passage of scripture
that many people go to to prove salvation by faith and works.
But let's read it. James chapter 2, beginning in
verse 14. James says, What doth it profit? My brethren, the old
man say he have faith, and have not works. Can faith save him? If he doesn't have any works?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed
and filled, Notwithstanding, you give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what does it profit? If you don't
give them anything, but just say, be warm and filled, it didn't
do them any good. Even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast
faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works. I'll show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there's one God, you do well. The devils also believe in triple.
You believe accurate doctrine, well, the devil does as well. But wilt thou know, vain man,
that faith without works is dead. And now he gives us the example
of Abraham. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? When he offered Isaac his son
upon the altar, Now do you remember the story? God had made a promise
to Abraham. that he was gonna have a son.
And he had a son by the name of Isaac. And God said that in
this son, this seed, shall all the earth be blessed. This is
the seed that the Messiah would come through. Now that was God's
promise to Abraham. You're gonna have a son. And
through that son's seed, the Messiah will come. Now Abraham
believed God. Then God said, Abraham, take
your son and kill him and offer him up as a burnt offering to
me on a mountain that I'll show you. And you know what Abraham
did? He rose up, took his son, went to that place, tied him
up and raised the knife to kill him. In his mind, that boy was
already dead. Now, what if Abraham would have
said, I can't kill him because God made that promise that the
Messiah would come through him, and if I do that, that'll mess
up God's promise and it won't come to pass. All that Abraham
would have proven by that is that he didn't really believe
God. But Hebrews 11 tells us that
he believed that even though he slew his son, God would raise
him from the dead because God had promised that the Messiah
would come through that boy. Abraham believed God. And what
proved he believed God? His works. the fact that he was
going to kill his son believing that God would end up raising
him from the dead because God's promise must come to pass. It was his works that made his
faith complete. Now there will be works that
give evidence that you were on the foundation and that I was
on the foundation. There will be works that will
follow us. Now somebody says, I'm not sure
if I see any works that give me any assurance. Well, I'm glad
you feel that way. But if you're a believer, other
people will see it. and they will see those works. I don't want to be someone who's
barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be one of those
people who, when they die, you think, well, I hope they were
saved, but you sure couldn't tell by the way they lived. I
don't want to be somebody like that. I want to be somebody like Abraham,
who his life gave evidence that he was a child of God. Now, let's
go back to that passage of scripture that I initially read in 1 Timothy
6 and see what Paul meant. He says in verse 17, that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy. Charge them that are rich in
this world." Now, I dare say most of us don't consider ourselves
rich, but here in the United States of America, at any rate,
compared to third world countries, we're very rich. All of us are. So just take this as you. Charge
them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded,
arrogant, pretentious, condescending. You know, the more money people
have, the more important they think they are, generally speaking.
People make an idol out of money, and they think they're somebody,
they've got some power, they've got some importance because of
the money they have. He says, charge them that are
rich in this world that they be not high-minded, thinking
they're something that they're not. In this same chapter, Paul
said, but godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought
nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing
out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content,
satisfied. If I have food and clothing,
and I think more than anything else that's talking about Christ
as our food and Christ as our clothing, but it's also talking
about literal food and clothing. Having food and raiment, let
us therewith be content, but they that will be rich. Fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which some have coveted after, and they've
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. Now charge them that are rich
in this world. that they be not high-minded. Humility is so beautiful. Humility. I love to see a humble
rich person or a humble middle-class person or a humble poor person
because humility is beautiful. And arrogance and pride and high-mindedness
is ugly, whether it's in the rich, in the middle class, or
the poor. Charge them that are rich in this world that they
be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, You know,
riches are so uncertain. I think of what our Lord said
of that rich fool. So, take thine ease. Thou hast
much goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and be merry. And
God said, thou fool, this night, thy soul shall be required of
thee." Now don't trust in uncertain riches, and as far as that goes,
don't put your hope on anything that's not certain. Let me tell you what's certain.
Grace is certain. The grace, the saving grace of
God. There's no miscarrying. Everybody
that is saved by the grace of God is saved. Saving grace. By grace are you saved. Through
faith. And that, even that faith, it's
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works. Lest any
man should boast. Grace is certain. The Bible is certain. This book
is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. If we don't have that,
we don't have anything, my opinion or your opinion. And what's that
worth? Nothing. Thank God He's given us a revelation
of Himself. The Bible is certain. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, 2 Timothy 3.16. Christ being saved by Him, having
His righteousness, that's certain. That's trusting in something
that's certain and something that is sure. Don't trust in
uncertain riches. Let me quote this scripture,
and this is what I'm banking on. This is what I'm relying
on. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us. That's what I'm relying on, that
He did it all. He saved us and He called us with a holy calling. Now what came first, the saving
or the calling? It says He saved us and He called
us. When was I saved? Before the
foundation of the world, when Christ died on Calvary's tree.
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 our sure and only foundation
of hope is Christ Himself. I'm not trusting in uncertain
riches, but Christ himself. I'm trusting on his person being
able to save me with no contribution from me. That he is able to save
me. I'm trusting his life as my righteousness
before God. I'm trusting his death as my
sin payment. I'm trusting his resurrection
as God's complete acceptance of me. When he was raised from
the dead, God said, I'm satisfied with him and everybody he represented. I'm trusting his intercession.
representing me as my great high priest, as why I'll continue
in the faith, grounded and settled. I'm trusting him. I'm not looking
to my works. I better not be. I'm trusting him only. He only
is certain. He said, tell them that they
don't trust in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God.
The living God. I don't say God's alive. I say
God is life. He's life. He's the utterly independent
living God who has no needs. Tell them to trust in the living
God, the one who gives us richly all things to enjoy. The Lord
is so good. The goodness of God. Now I know
that we can make a mess of our lives by our sin. There's no
doubt about it. But God is so good. He gives us all things richly
to enjoy. Material things are a blessing
when we don't make an idol of them. Food, what a blessing it
is to eat good food. I love good food. What a blessing
a family is, people who love you. What a blessing a true friendship
is, where you have a friend that sticks closer than a brother
that's there for you. All the blessings of life, He's
given us all things richly to enjoy. Now, an unthankful attitude
or murmuring and so on is so ugly, but what a blessing it
is for someone who just enjoys, enjoys, humbly enjoys what the
Lord has given them. He's given us richly all things
to enjoy. And then he says in verse 18,
that they do good, charge them to do good, that they be rich
in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Tell
them that they be rich, not merely in money, but in good works,
works of mercy, works of forgiveness, works of doing good, ready to
impart generosity, freely you've received, freely give. You know,
if the Lord has done something for you, it'll make you generous,
rich in good works, willing to distribute. willing to do whatever
He would have you do. That's what happens when the
Lord saves somebody. They have a new nature. They have a nature
that wants to honor the Lord. Now He says to do these things,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the
time, these works that give evidence that He'd done something for
them, that they may lay hold on eternal life. And notice It doesn't say these
good works will give them eternal life, but he does say these good
works are evidences that the Lord has done something for them
and that they lay hold upon eternal life. Now, eternal life is the
life of God in the soul of a man. It's the capacity to have fellowship
and communion with the living God. where I hear His voice,
not audibly, but I hear His voice in His Word. I hear His voice
in this world. The creation speaks of His glory.
I hear His voice in the gospel when He says, Come unto Me. And
He hears my voice. When I call upon Him, He hears. When I pray, He hears. That's
true of every child of God. They have eternal life, the life
of God in the soul of man. Now, how does one have this eternal
life? Well, first, God's got to purpose it for you. In Acts
chapter 13, Luke tells us that as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. The only folks who had eternal
life were the ones who were ordained to eternal life. Eternal life
has something to do with being God's gift. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal life
has something to do with hearing Christ's voice. The Lord said,
My sheep, hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Someone says, do you believe
in the eternal security of the believer? Of course I do. The
Lord said, I give 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's able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. Eternal life has something to
do with faith. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Eternal life has something to
do with knowing God in Christ. The Lord said in John 17, two
and three, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only
true God. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent." Paul says, lay hold on eternal life. Now you see it's
the gift of God. You see it's not something you
can produce, but you want it. You want. Do you want eternal
life? How does someone lay hold upon eternal life? By believing
the gospel. If you're drowning and somebody
throws you at a rope, you seize it. You seize it because you
know if you don't have it, you'll drown. You don't ask, what's
it mean to seize it? No, you just seize it because
you need it. Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what
I'm asking you. Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you need
His righteousness? Do you need Him to represent
you before the Father in judgment? Then lay hold, believe the gospel. That's God's command to you.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. 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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