that I did choose. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. 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.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nimer. I'm reading this morning from
Luke chapter 9, beginning in verse 28. And it came to pass
about eight days after these sayings, he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to
pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered. and his raiment was white and
glistering. In Matthew's account it says
his face did shine as the sun and his raiment became white
as light. And Mark's account tells us that
his clothing became so bright as no fuller or launderer on
earth can make them. This was a supernatural occurrence
and the only way we can, we can't explain it, but all we can say
about it is that at this time the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
burst through his humanity. That's Believed, not understood,
not explained, simply believed. His countenance was altered. And behold, verse 30, there talked
with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah. Now this time, two men, Moses,
the representative of the law, and Elijah, the representative
of the prophets, They came and spoke with the Lord at this time.
And we don't have to guess as to what the subject of their
conversation was. It says in verse 31, who appeared
in glory and spake of his decease or his death, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. Now, did you hear the language? These men spake of his death,
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Now, since when is
death an accomplishment? When a man dies, It's the final
showing of his weakness and his sinfulness and his inability
to prevent it. But here, when the Lord Jesus
Christ dies, it's called an accomplishment. They spake of the decease which
he should accomplish. When any other man dies, it's
a defeat, but when Christ dies, it's an accomplishment. Now,
how is that? You know, the death of Christ
is shrouded in mystery. We just can't understand what
all was going on. That's why the Lord made it dark
over all the earth while he hung on the cross. That's to let us
know that we can't really comprehend all that was going on. I can't
understand how the God-man died in the first place. He's fully
God, he's fully man, the God-man, and the God-man died. I had someone
call me once to correct me for saying that. He said, well, the
man part died, but the God part didn't. Do you really think you can explain
something like that? I mean, this is mystery. It's not something you can give
an explanation to. It's something that's just believed
that God-man died, and his death, the Scripture says, was an accomplishment. Something was achieved. Something
was accomplished through his death. Now let me give you some
things the scripture says regarding the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, his death was predetermined by God. It was ordained by God,
actually before the foundation of the world. And how many times
did the Lord tell his disciples, I'm going to die, and after three
days I'm going to be raised from the dead? He let them know this
was going to take place before it took place. We read in Acts
4.28 for both Herod, Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the
children of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." God determined. He determined before the death
of his darling son. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain, Peter said on the day
of Pentecost to the murders of Christ. Now, his death was predetermined. And the next thing I'd like to
say about his death is his death is the subject of the eternities.
Before time began, Christ was called the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Literally, the Lamb having been
slain. Not the Lamb that would be slain,
but the Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world.
Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. And this
was the great subject of eternity past, if I can speak that way,
and eternity future. When time is no more and the
world has been burned up and the works thereof, and there's
a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
At that time, you know what the song of heaven is going to be?
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. You can read about it in Revelation
chapter 5. That's true heavenly worship.
That is the subject of the eternities. Eternity past and eternity future. And it's the subject of believers
right now. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. We see something of the accomplishments
of His death. Now, the next thing I'd like
to say about His death is He is the only voluntary death to
ever be. His death was the only voluntary
death ever. Now somebody says, well what
about someone who takes their own life? Well, they're going to die anyway.
No one has a the choice as to whether or not they're going
to die. Everybody's going to die. I mean, you know that. But
the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have to die. He said, no man
takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to bring it up. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He voluntarily died. The God-man, he who knew no sin,
voluntarily gave himself up to the death of the cross. And his
death, the death of the God-man, was substitutionary. For the
scripture says, for Christ in 1 Peter 3, 18, for Christ hath
also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the spirit. He died the just for the unjust. His death was a substitutionary
death. Well, who did he die for? Needful question. Who did he
die for? His death was a substitutory
death. He died for somebody. Who did he die for? Well, he
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. He said, other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
and there'll be one fold and one shepherd. He laid down his
life for the sheep. And not everybody's a sheep,
there are goats. The Lord looked at the Pharisees
and he said, 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. No man
is able to pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man can take them from
my Father's hand. His sheep are the elect, those
who believe." Now, listen very carefully. The death of Christ
was not making salvation available. There's no achievement in that.
He actually accomplished something by his death. He accomplished
the full salvation of the elect. Every single one of them were
saved by his death. When he said, it is finished,
the salvation of everybody he died for was accomplished. Now,
the fact that he didn't die for everybody doesn't prevent someone
from being saved. There's nobody that's gonna come
up to him and say, Lord, have mercy. He said, nope, didn't
die for you. That never will happen. Anybody who comes for
mercy will be saved. But understand this, his death
was an accomplishment. And when he died, he accomplished
the full salvation of all of his elect. His death next was
punitive. It was substitutionary. He died
for his sheep and he accomplished their salvation, but his death
was punitive. It was punishment for sin. Now there's only one reason for
sin or for death. And that reason is sin. The wages
of sin is death. That's why there is death. The
only reason anyone would die is because of sin. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. He bare, the scripture says,
our sins in his own body on the tree. Now he was made sin. What all that means, we can't
fully comprehend, but He was made to be sin. 2 Corinthians
5.21 says, For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Now here's what that means. The sins of those He died for
became His sins, so that He actually became guilty of those sins.
They were His sins. No, he never committed sin. Don't
anybody misunderstand me? He and his own person, even when
he was on the cross, never committed sin. But he took my sins and
my sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died. alone. The reason he died was to be
punished as the great sin bearer. He was punished and suffered
the full equivalent of an eternal hell, what all damned souls experience
in his death, in his death on the cross. Many hands were raised against
him. None would interpose to save,
but the stroke that pierced most deeply was the stroke that justice
gave. It was the justice of God punishing
him. And so on the cross, here's what
he achieved, the satisfaction of divine justice. God said,
the soul that sins shall surely die. He said, I'll by no means
clear the guilty. And that's what took place on
the cross. And his death was the greatest
act of obedience ever known. The scripture says he humbled
himself and became obedient to death. even the death of the
cross. His father told him to do it,
and he said, yes, father. Oh, what an act of obedience. He's the only one who could truly
say, as Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Job
demonstrated a lot of mistrust throughout that entire book,
but the Lord Jesus truly said, though he slay me, and it was
the Lord who was slaying him, it was his father who was slaying
him, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. And his death was
an accomplishment. the greatest of all achievements. Now let's consider, they spake
of the decease which he should accomplish. Let's consider just
what it was he did accomplish by his death. First of all, and
most importantly, he accomplished the glory of God. In John chapter 17 verse 4, right
before he was betrayed, knowing his time was about there, he
said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son. And when he
was talking about the hour, he was talking about the hour of
his death. glorify thy son, that thy son also might glorify thee."
And then he said in the fourth verse of that same chapter, in
that great prayer for his people, he said, I've finished the work
that thou gavest me to do. I've glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. Now what was
the work the father gave him to do? In Matthew 1, verse 21,
the angels, when they announced His birth and His coming into
the world, they told Mary and Joseph, Thou shalt call His name
Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. That's
what he came to do. He came to save his people from
their sins and he did it and that glorified God. Now I want you to think about
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in this sense. His death is the
definition of the glory of God. Now how could that be glorious? He demonstrated how just God
is. God will not let sin go unpunished. He's a just God. He said, I'll
by no means clear the guilty. And even when sin is found on
his son, he will not clear him because God is absolutely just. But how this demonstrates the
grace and mercy and love of God for sinners that He would give
His Son to be a substitute for them. The cross demonstrates
the wisdom of God. God is so wise. God's just. He's
not going to clear the guilty. Yet God is so wise that He's
made a way to remain just and be just and yet justify people
who are guilty. He's made a way to remain just
in a way that honors His justice and yet justify people who are
unjust. And that's what the cross declares.
You see, my sin became His. He was punished for it. God is
just. and His righteousness becomes mine and God justifies me by
giving me His righteousness. Oh, how God's power is demonstrated
in Him putting away sin. How God's purpose is clearly
revealed when the Lord died on the cross. He was the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world and now he's doing it in time.
How his sovereignty is displayed. There were two thieves on either
side. One died in his sins, one died
in two sin because Christ died for him and put away his sin.
You see the cross is a display of the full and complete glory
of God. And what else do we see in the
accomplishments of His death? Well, there's a lot of things.
I don't know how to say this, but the Lord achieved glory which
He would have never had, had He never died. We read in Philippians
2, 8-11 that He became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Wherefore? Because of that, because
He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee is gonna
bow and every tongue is gonna confess that he's Lord to the
glory of God the Father. He achieved glory for himself
that he would not have had had he not died on the cross. That's
the accomplishment of his death. And his death, what else did
he accomplish? His death was the fulfillment of the scriptures.
How many times do we read regarding what took place around the events
of the cross, this happened, that the scriptures might be
fulfilled. You see, everything about his
death was foretold in the scriptures. They pierced my hands and feet.
That's in Psalm 22. They cast lots for his garment. They gave me gall for by drink
and vinegar to drink. That's in Psalm 69. All these
things that surrounded his death were foretold in the scriptures
and everything he did, he did that the scriptures might be
fulfilled. He accomplished the fulfillment
of the scripture. Now, what did he achieve or accomplish
by his death? I love this. He defeated Satan. Satan, the God of this world,
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works
in the children of disobedience, the wicked one, the accuser of
the brethren, the slanderer, Satan, the god of this world,
hates the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Christ was nailed to
a cross and died, Satan thought, I have him defeated. I have him
defeated. And he didn't know that all this
was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy You'll bruise his heel,
and indeed Christ's heel was bruised on the cross, but he'll
crush your head. The head of Satan was crushed
and defeated by the work of Christ on Calvary's tree. Oh, what glory
there is in the full defeat of Satan. Now, what did he accomplish
by his death? He accomplished, listen to this,
don't miss this, he accomplished The complete putting away of
sin. Now, if he died for you, what
that means is you now no longer have sin. Your sin has been put
away. Hebrews 9.26 says, for now once
in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. And my dear friend, that's exactly
what he did. First John 3.5 says he was manifested to take away
our sins and in him is no sin. You see, he did take away our
sins. And if I'm in him, that means
I have no sin. Now how is it that God says,
and He says this in Hebrews chapter 8, He says, I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now how can God actually not
remember sins? God's got a, He's omniscient,
He knows all things. He can't forget anything. He
remembers things. How is it that He can not remember
sin? How can He not remember the things
that I've done, the things that I've thought? I remember them,
I'm aware of them right now, but Scripture says there are
sins and there are iniquities, I will remember no more. How
is that? Because there's nothing there
to remember. He put away sin. It is gone. It's separated from me as far
as the east is from the west. It's gone. He put it away. He
cancelled it. He erased it. That's what he
did on the cross. When he said it is finished,
the sins of everybody he died for were put away. And now every
believer stands before God without guilt, their sins having been
put away. It's what the Bible calls justification. I love this. I'm justified. Yes, I'm forgiven. I'm forgiven,
but there's a reason. Because I'm justified. That doesn't
mean just as if I never sinned. I was listening to a preacher
just this week, and he made this statement. Justification is just
as if I never sinned. No, justification is not just
as if I never sinned. Justification is I never sinned. No, not once. I stand perfect
before God. Now, how can that be? How can
that be? Because of the accomplishments
of his death. Not only did he put away my sin, but listen to
this scripture. I've already quoted it a couple
of times. For he hath made him To be sin for us who knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now there's justification. I
am the very righteousness of God. What glory he achieved by
his death that he made his people the very righteousness of God. What did he accomplish by his
death? The complete reconciliation of his people. He's reconciled. The scripture says in Romans
5.10, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we should be
saved by his life. You see, his death accomplished
the complete reconciliation of God's people. I'd like to read
a passage of scripture to you from Colossians 1. In verse 20
of Colossians 1, we read, And having made peace, having made peace through the
blood of His cross. Now that's His death. Did you
hear what it said? Having made peace. I've heard
people say, have you made your peace with God? No, I've not
made my peace with God. Christ made my peace with God.
No man can make the peace with God, but he did look what it
says and having made peace Through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things unto himself By him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now
hath he Reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."
And that could read, because it's actually in the tense, having
presented you. This is not a future thing that's
going to take place. This is what He did when He died. He presented us to the Father
wholly, totally reconciled. God doesn't have a reason to
be mad. He reconciled us, and now every believer, because of
His reconciling death, is wholly unblameable and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. And his death accomplished, and
this just takes place because of all that he did, his death
actually accomplished the forgiveness of all sin. Now, I'm forgiven,
but that doesn't mean God just wipes it under the swoops under
the rug and says, well, we'll just forgive it, forget it and
forget it. No, I'm forgiven because I'm justified by Christ. I'm
forgiven because I'm reconciled. I'm forgiven because he died
for my sins. I'm forgiven because I'm the very righteousness of
God. He forgives sins for Christ's sake. And in his death, he accomplished
the beauty of the church. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might wash it and cleanse it with the washing of the water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but if it should
be holy. You see, every believer, the
bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the church, the bride
of Christ, the body of Christ, they're all beautiful. The Lord
looks at them and says, you're beautiful. There's no spot in
thee. There's no... Deformity, there's no ugliness
in you, you're altogether beautiful. That's the way the Lord Jesus
Christ views his bride, and that's because that's the way his bride
actually is. Now, the death of Christ is the
great magnet. The Lord said, and I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, and he's talking about his death,
and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men,
and the men is in italics in the King James Version, that
means it was supplied there by the translators, but it reads
literally, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
the all to me. You see, there's something in
the death of Christ that just draws the believer, the accomplishments
of his death, the achievements of his death. Now, the man who
wrote Amazing Grace, was a very wicked man before his conversion,
as everybody else is. He was a slave trader, and the
Lord saved him. And he wrote this hymn, in evil,
long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till a new object
struck my sight and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging
on a tree. In agonies and blood, who fixed
his languid eyes on me, as near his cross I stood. Sure never
till my latest breath can I forget that look. It seemed to charge
me with his death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience
felt and owned the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw
my sins as blood had spilt and helped to nail him there. Alas,
I knew not what I did, but now my tears are vain. Where shall
my trembling soul be hid, for I the Lord have slain? A second
look he gave, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for
thy ransom paid, I died that thou mayst live. Thus while his
death my sin displays in all its blackest hue, such is the
mystery of grace, it seals my pardon too. With pleasing grief
and mournful joy my spirit now is filled that I should such
a life destroy, yet live by him I care. To request a copy of the sermon
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