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 Nyberg. In the 138th Psalm, the second
verse, we read David saying concerning God's word, thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. God has made himself known in
his word. The Bible is written by inspiration
of God. There's no error in it. It is
the Word of God. I'm so thankful for the Bible. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, 2 Timothy 3, 16. Now, while the Bible is the Word
of God, It's also true that there are
many people who have never seen the Bible. Most of the world's
population does not have the Bible. Now, that's just the facts. What about those people without
a Bible? Now, I'm going to try to bring
a message this morning on people without a Bible. And next Sunday,
I would like to bring a message on people with a Bible. But what
about those people without a Bible that have no written revelation
from God? Now, Paul describes these people
in Romans chapter 1. And if you could get a Bible
and follow along with me, I know it would be helpful in Romans
chapter 1. people without a Bible. Now he begins this description
of these people in verse 18 of Romans chapter 1 when he says, is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness, sins against God, and unrighteousness, sins
against men, who hold down, hold, hold down, suppress the truth
in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them, for the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
These people who have no Bible, yet because of the light of creation,
they are held responsible before God and they are without excuse
for their sin. Now let's think about what Paul
said, for the wrath of God. is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Now, there is such a
thing as the wrath of God. Don't kid yourself. There is
such a thing as the wrath of God, sometimes called His anger
and His indignation and His fury. Now, God is. He is as He is. He said to Moses, I am that I
am. Now, there is such a thing as
the goodness of God. There is such a thing as the
love of God. There is such a thing as the
wisdom of God and the sovereignty of God and the immutability or
changelessness of God, the power of God, the eternity of God. the justice of God, and the wrath
of God. Wrath, or the wrath of God, is
an attribute of God. Now, His wrath is not like our
wrath. His wrath is derived from His
justice. God is just. And you know, all of us know
that intuitively. God is just. He's not unfair. He's absolutely
just. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. The justice of God makes him
to punish sin. That's what the wrath of God
is. The wrath of God is to punish sin. It's to punish wrongdoing. God is just. God must punish sins or he wouldn't
be just. You know, people present a God
that wants to justify people, but He can't unless they allow
Him to. Well, that's ridiculous. Can you imagine a human judge
saying to the defendant, do you want to be just or do you want
to be guilty? It's up to you. Take your pick. Well, we'd know
better than that. A judge like that, we'd get rid
of. And God is the judge of the earth. He is just and His wrath
is against sin. His wrath is the satisfaction
of justice. His wrath doesn't reform men.
It doesn't make men better. It doesn't restrain sin. All
the wrath of God is is the punishment of sin. God is just and He must
punish sin. If there were no wrath of God,
there would be no justice of God. And everyone knows this
intuitively. We all really believe that God
is just, that he will reward the righteous, and that he will
punish the wicked. Men are born with that knowledge
in them. Everybody knows that what I'm
saying is so. Now, Paul tells us that the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, sin
against God, and unrighteousness, sin against men who hold who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now this is the man who has no
Bible. Verse 19 of Romans, it says,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in him. For
God hath showed it unto them, even though they have no revelation
from God, yet they are held responsible for their sin. No man can plead
ignorance, because all have been shown the light of creation.
Look what he says in verse 20. He says, For the invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made. even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Now, the light
of creation reveals this. Somebody made all this. Everybody
deep down knows that's so. Somebody made all of this. I know there are those who claim
to be atheists and they don't believe in God, but I don't believe
them for a second. When they go to bed at night
and they're left all alone, they know somebody made all this,
and He is very powerful. what power it took to make all
this, and He was before all this. He's eternal, and He's divine. Notice what it says, "...the
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power." power. He was before this, He made this,
He was before it, and what power it took for Him to create the
universe. And the Godhead, even His eternal power in Godhead,
everybody knows this, not a man didn't do this. This is divine,
so that they are without excuse before God. Now somebody says,
well what about that innocent person who's never heard of God
and never heard the Bible? There's no such thing. Every
man, just because of the light of nature, is rendered without
excuse. These people without a Bible
are without excuse for their sin before God. Now let's go
on reading. Verse 21 says, Because that when they knew God, they
could see who God is by the light of nature, his eternal power
in Godhead. When they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful, but they became vain
in their imaginations. And their foolish heart was darkened,
professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. Now, who Paul
is referring to is the Greek philosophers, who philosophy
means the love of wisdom, and they thought they were lovers
of wisdom. Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle, and all of those
different Greek philosophers who considered themselves to
be such wise men. They professed themselves to
be wise, but the like they saw of creation, they put out, because
they did not like what they saw. And here's what they did, verse
23. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God unto an
image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed
beasts and creeping things. They didn't like what they saw,
so they humanized God. They brought him down to a level
that they thought they could grasp and understand. I think
of what Luther said to Erasmus. He said, your God is too human.
He's too much like a man, and that's the truth with regard
to most people's view of God. They have a God that they can
control, a God that they can manipulate, a God that they can
tame. I think of what the Lord said
in Psalm 50 verse 17, thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as
yourself. Men don't like what they see
in God, so they change him and make him like a man, and even
worse, like a beast. And verse 24 says, wherefore
God also gave them up. God let them have what they wanted. He removed his hand. That's one
three times. This is said in this passage of scripture. God
gave them up. He left them to themselves as
an act of his justice. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than
the Creator, or rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Now, they worshiped the creature. They humanized God. They made
a God that they could understand, and that they could control,
and that they could manipulate, and that they could agree with.
They changed the truth of God, and in doing this, they worshiped
the creature rather than the Creator. You know, all you have
to do is believe that man has any kind of control over God.
You can just believe that man has a free will and he can trump
God's will and you're worshiping the creature rather than the
creator. Verse 26, for this cause God
gave them up. unto vile affections. For even
their women did change the natural use into that which is against
nature." You know, if God leaves you to yourself, if God leaves
me to myself, there's no crime that we will not commit. There's
no wicked thing we will not do. And that's what the Lord did
with these people. As an act of His justice, He left them
alone. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use
of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another, men
with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompense of their error which was meat. And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
there we have it again, they didn't like what they saw, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind. A mind without judgment,
a mind void of discernment, a worthless mind. God gave them over to a
reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. And
then Paul paints one of the grimmest pictures of humanity you'll ever
hear. Listen carefully to how he describes
these people without a Bible, who suppress the truth. He says
they're being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
sexual sin, wickedness, malice, covetousness, maliciousness,
a vicious character. full of envy, full of murder. Maybe they haven't murdered somebody's
body, but they've murdered men's characters by slander and innuendo,
full of debate, quarreling and arguing, deceit, malignity. That's a disposition that puts
the worst construction on what others say and do. Whisperers,
slanderers, backbiters, Now, this is what the natural man
is guilty of, being a hater of the living God. Now, nobody hates
the God they feel comfortable with. Nobody hates that small
g God that they think they control. But the God of the Bible, the
absolute sovereign God of glory, men hate. If God's throne were
in man's reach, it wouldn't be safe for a moment, but thank
God it's not. This is what men are guilty of.
Men are guilty of hating God as He is. The altogether glorious
God, this is the baseness of man, man without a Bible, he
hates the living God. Haters of God, despiteful, insubordinate,
proud, boasters, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to
parents, no respect for authority, no regard for authority, without
understanding, without discernment, covenant breakers, they break
their promise without natural affection, implacable, they can't
be approached, unmerciful. horrible description of men without
a Bible, who, knowing the judgment of God that they which commit
such things are worthy of death, they know these things are evil,
but they do them anyway. And not only do they do them,
but they have pleasure in them that do them. They try to bring
others back or down to their level. Now, this is a wicked
bunch of people, isn't it, that Paul describes, these people
without a Bible. Now, Paul throws us a curveball. If you have your Bibles, I hope
you can open it. If you haven't looked in a Bible yet, let's
see what Paul says next about this. In Romans 2, verse 1, he
says, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
you condemn yourself, for you that judge do the same things."
Now, when I named what Paul did, that horrible description of
human nature, the wickedness of men, and you heard that and
you said, yes, such people are morally reprehensible. They're
wrong. They ought to be judged by God. God is just and God ought
to judge those people. Paul says, watch out, you that
judge those people, you're playing the hypocrite because you do
the exact same things. You yourself are guilty of those
things. He says in verse 2 of Romans
chapter 2, but we are sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth against them which commit such things. We know that. And
thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of
God? Do you think you're going to get off? Or do you despise
the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
You won't repent unless God brings you there. That's how hard-hearted
the natural man is. He says in verse 5, But after
thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up thyself wrath against
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God. who will render to every man
according to his deeds. God is absolutely just, and he
will give you exactly what you have coming. Now, to them who
by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life. Anybody who, that would describe
them, a patient continuance and well-doing, and there's never
been a man that's done that. But if you could, you'd have
eternal life. But unto them which are contentious, their argument
of against God, and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness,
here's what's going to come to them, indignation, wrath, tribulation,
and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew
first, the people with the Bible, and of the Gentile also, the
people without a Bible. But glory, honor, and peace to
every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for there's no respect of persons with God. You see,
God is not going to give you some kind of slack because of
some kind of person you are, because of your race or nationality,
or because you do this or you, no, God has no respect for persons.
He gives everybody exactly what they have coming. He's absolutely
impartially just. We read in verse 12, for as many
as have sinned without the law, shall also perish without the
law. And as many as have sinned in the law that have this book
called the Bible shall be judged by the law, for not the hearers
of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall
be justified. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law," now he's talking about all the non-Jews, the people
who never had a copy of the Bible, They'd never heard the Ten Commandments. They'd never heard the law. They
didn't have any written revelation from God. For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, in other words, even though they've never seen the
Ten Commandments, they know it's wrong to murder. They know it's
wrong to steal. They know it's wrong to commit
adultery. They know it's wrong to covet.
People know the difference between right and wrong. They're born
with that knowledge in them. And here's what they do. These
having not law have the law or law unto themselves which show
the work of the law written in their hearts. And here's what
they do, their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts
that meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Now this
is what they do. They either have an accusing
conscience and feel guilty or they excuse themselves. They
find a reason, it's not my fault. They vindicate themselves, they
justify themselves. That's what every natural man
does, even these men without the law. Paul says, verse 16,
in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. by Jesus Christ according to
my gospel." Now God is going to judge the secrets of men. The secrets of men are what we
really are, but we try and keep hidden from the view of others.
The secret sins, the secret desires that God sees so clearly God
is going to judge the secrets of men. Now, what do you think
of that? All of your secrets are going
to be exposed. God is going to judge the secrets
of men by Jesus Christ. Every man is going to be put
beside Jesus Christ by God in judgment. And if he's not exactly
like Christ, all of his secrets will be exposed. God is going
to judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. But notice Paul
says, according to my gospel. Now, Paul had earlier called
the gospel, the gospel. But here he calls it my gospel,
the gospel that is good news, the gospel that comes as good
news to me. He's going to judge the secrets
of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now what is this
gospel that Paul called my gospel? In Romans 1, verse 16, he tells
us. He says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You know, I'm ashamed of a lot
of things. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm certainly
ashamed of the stuff that goes on under the name of Christianity.
It's foolishness. I'm ashamed of it. But I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's a gospel worthy of God.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed." Now, God is going to judge the world, Paul
said, according to my gospel. Now, my gospel makes it to where
I don't have any secrets. My gospel makes it to where I
have the very righteousness of God. And when my life is seen
and viewed and exposed, there's no sin. Now, what kind of gospel
is that? I mean, I read these descriptions
of these men and I know that I'm guilty of it. So what is
it that is good news to me? Well, Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. Oh, I love his title, the Christ,
the prophet, the priest, the king. That's what that's a reference
to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it, the gospel, it's
an objective message. It, the gospel, it's, it's not
subject to men's thoughts. It's what it is. It's what God
says it is. It, the gospel. not my ability
to present it, not my ability to make it culturally relevant.
All that stuff is is foolishness. It by itself, the objective gospel,
God's gospel, the gospel of God, it is the power of God. Now, the omnipotence of God,
only God can make something to be what it was not. God makes
me to be perfect. I'm not in and of myself. I'm
nothing but sin. If my secrets would be exposed,
if your secrets would be exposed, God would send us straight to
hell. But here is the gospel. God takes my sin and makes it
not to be. That's what Christ accomplished
on the cross. He bore my sin. My sin became His sin, and He
put it away. He satisfied the justice of God,
and His righteousness is given to me so that I'm the very righteousness
of God. And when my secrets are seen,
they're all good. They're all just like Christ.
Now, that's the gospel. That is the gospel. It's the
power of God into salvation. It's a saving gospel. Salvation. What is salvation? Well, Matthew
121 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. That's what I need. I need to
be saved from my sins. And I can't save myself from
my sins. I can't put them away. But here's what Christ did. On
Calvary's tree, He saved His people from their sins. He saved
us from the condemnation of sin. He bore the condemnation for
us. He saves us from the power of sin. The natural man is under
the power of sin. He can't get himself out from
under it. Christ gives him a new nature, and he saves us from
the very presence of sin. We're in glory, and we'll no
longer be sinners. That's a hard thing to grasp,
but it's true. In heaven, I won't even remember
what it's like to be a sinner. I'll look at the scars of my
Lord, and I'll know the only reason I'm there is because of
Him, but I won't even remember what it's like to sin. That's
how clearly the Lord is going to save. That's how completely
the Lord is going to save His people from their sins. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation. And this gospel is a discriminating
gospel. It's not the power of God to
salvation to everybody, but it's the power of God to salvation
to those who believe. Those who believe. Only those
who believe. The only people who believe are the people God
gives faith to. You can't just up and come up with faith. God's
got to give it to you, and when He gives it to you, you believe.
You bow down and believe all that God says and you rely on
His Son. Now it's the power of God to
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed. Now this is a revealing gospel.
This gospel reveals the righteousness of God. It first of all reveals
His righteousness in my condemnation and your condemnation. If God
sends a man to hell, he's getting exactly what he deserves. God is righteous. But the gospel
also reveals the righteousness of God in salvation. You see,
if I'm saved, I actually deserve to be saved because I have the
very righteousness of God. Now, in and of myself, I realize
I don't deserve that, but when He gives me His righteousness,
it becomes mine. I love one of His names, Jehovah
Zedkinu, the Lord our righteousness. Now this gospel makes it so I'm
going to be set right beside Christ and God's not going to
be able to see the difference between me and Christ. As a matter
of fact, all he'll see is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he'll
say, well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. Now that is my gospel. Now, that horrible description
of men without a Bible, I describe myself and I describe you, what
we are by nature, men without a Bible. Thank God there is something
called the gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
objective gospel, which is the power of God into salvation.
But not only is it the gospel of God, it's my gospel. It's good news to me. And the
gospel is good news to every sinner who sees their need of
salvation and they know they can't save themselves and they
cry to God for mercy for him to do something for them. You
know he answers all those people. This gospel that Paul calls my
gospel is for anybody who needs it. He healed them that had need
of Him. We have this message on DVD and
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