I did choose thee, Lord, 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 Nyvert. I've entitled the message
for this morning. Where is the offense? Where is the offense? Text is Galatians, chapter five,
verse 11. Let me read it to you. Paul said
in Galatians five, verse 11, And I, brethren, If I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. When is the last time someone
offended you? You felt as though you had been
wronged. You felt as though your rights
had been violated and you were mistreated. When is the last
time you were offended? This word is also translated,
offense, a stumbling stone. When is the last time something
that someone said made you stumble? It made you think I cannot go
in that direction because I see it will cost me things that I
do not want to give up. So you stumble at what is said,
the offense, the stumbling stone of the cross. Where is the offense? Now, this word offense is where
we get the word in the English, a scandal. Where is the scandal? A scandal is something that arouses
strong feelings, even excites prejudice, an unfavorable bias
that was already there, but it comes out when you hear what
is being said. It comes out in the open. becomes
a hindrance that causes you to stumble and fall. The offense,
the scandal of the cross. Jesus Christ violently nailed
to a cross. The greatest scandal that has
ever taken place. Jesus Christ suffering bleeding
and dying on a cross. The greatest scandal to ever
take place. Now, why was He on the cross? Why did He die this scandalous
death upon the cross? Now, there is only one reason
for death. Jesus Christ died on that cross. And there's only one reason and
one reason only for death. Paul said in Romans 6, verse
23, the wages of sin is death. The only reason someone dies
is because of sin. Now, the Scripture says in 1
Peter 2, verse 24, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. Not only did he bear the punishment
of sin, he bore the sins themselves of the people he died for in
his own body on the tree. Now somebody may think, do you
mean that He actually, the sinless, perfect Son of God, do you mean
He actually bore our sins in His own body on the tree? The
sins themselves? The sins themselves in His own
body? Why, that is scandalous. I can't believe that. He actually
had sin born in His own body? Why, that is scandalous. How
can you say something like that? Well, Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21, For He, God the Father, hath made Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be sin. for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now, just as
truly as He bore our sins, the sins of all who believe, the
sins of all of the elect, He bore the sins of those who believe
in His body on the tree, just as truly as He bore their sins,
everybody He died for, bears His righteousness in His own
body, so that every believer is nothing less than the very
righteousness of God. I am, if I'm a believer, and
this is true of every believer, if I'm a believer, I myself am
the very righteousness of the eternal God. Somebody says, that's
scandalous to say something like that about yourself. But it's
precisely the truth regarding the believer. Now, the scandal
of the cross, his bloody death on the cross, what did his death
accomplish? Luke 9, verse 31, we read where
Moses and Elijah spoke with our Lord, on the Mount of Transfiguration
where the Lord's deity bursts through His humanity and His
face shined like the sun and the disciples saw Him speaking
with Moses and Elijah and the Scripture says they spake of
the decease which He should accomplish. His death accomplished something. Well, what did His death actually
accomplish? Listen to this Scripture. Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 14 says, For by one offering It's talking
about His death on the cross. For by one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. When He said, now
here's what He accomplished. Listen real carefully. When He
said, It is finished, the salvation of Todd Nybert, and everybody
else that he died for was actually finished. I was perfected before
God then so that I was declared by God to be holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight without sin. Now somebody says,
do you mean to say that what he did actually saved you with
nothing done on your part? That's exactly what I'm saying. Somebody says, well, that's scandalous.
Where's the need for good works? Where's the need to try to straighten
up and fly a ride if what He did only by Himself completed
salvation? That's scandalous. Now, when
the Lord was carrying the cross towards Golgotha's hill, He saw
some women weeping for Him. He said, daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. You see, the Son of God does
not want your pity. Poor Jesus, mistreated so. Don't forget, it was not men
who killed him. Now let me repeat that. It was
not men who killed Jesus Christ on the cross. Men were simply
the instruments of His death. It was God the Father who killed
God the Son. It was God who killed Christ. Listen to this scripture in Acts.
Well, Isaiah 53, 10 says, It pleased the Lord to bruise Him,
to crush Him. Acts chapter 4 verse 28 tells
us they did only what God's hand, and counsel, notice His hand,
His hand is the hand that did the smiting, They did only what
God's hand and what God's counsel determined before to be done. It was God the Father who killed
God the Son. Somebody says that's scandalous.
No, it's the truth. Now, in our text, Paul said,
and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Now, what is this thing of the
preaching of circumcision? If I preach circumcision, why
am I still suffering persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased? Well, look up in this same chapter
at verse 2 in Galatians chapter 5. We read, Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing." Now, did you hear that? If you be circumcised,
you can forget Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He did will
not benefit you at all. And then He says in verse 3,
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. If you're circumcised, if you're
circumcised, the only way you can be saved is if you personally,
with no help from anybody, keep God's holy law perfectly yourself. If you break one commandment,
if you tell one lie, if you have one lustful thought, If you have
even one covetous desire, you will spend eternity in hell. If you be circumcised, you're
a debtor to do the whole law. Christ will profit you nothing. Now does that mean if you're
physically circumcised that you cannot be saved? No. Paul was circumcised. He said
in Philippians 3, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, touching
the law of Pharisee. Paul had been circumcised, and
many of you listening have been physically circumcised. Well,
what did Paul mean when he says, if I preach circumcision, then
is the offense of the cross ceased? Well, let me read a passage of
scripture from Acts chapter 15 that will shed a lot of light
on that. We read in Acts chapter 15, verse 1. And certain men,
which came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be
saved. Now, they weren't denying the
necessity of Christ and His cross, but they also said you also have
to be circumcised to be saved. And Paul and Barnabas had an
argument with them. And they went to tell the apostles in
Jerusalem about this issue. And we read in verse 4 of the
same chapter, and when they were come to Jerusalem, they were
received at the church and the apostles and elders, and they
declared all the things that God had done with them. But there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to Command
them to keep the law of Moses. Now circumcision is a part of
the law and actually it's the easiest commandment to keep. What would be easier? To be physically
circumcised or to never tell a lie? What would be easier? To be circumcised Why, actually
it was very easy. You didn't even know what was
going on. You were only eight days old when it happened. What
would be easier, to be circumcised or to never have an evil thought?
Now, circumcision represents the law. It is saying something
you do, some act of obedience on your part is needful along
with the work of Christ for you to be saved. Yes, you have to
have the death of Christ. He must die for your sins, but
there's something you must do in order to make what He did
work for you. If I believe that Jesus Christ
died for everybody, and paid for everybody's sins, and made
salvation available for everybody. But those people that He died
for cannot be saved unless they do something, like accepting
Him as their personal Savior. They do something to make what
He did work for them. Why, that is making salvation
ultimately dependent upon man, and not on what Christ did. If
I believe that God loves all, Christ died for all, God wants
everybody to be saved. The Holy Spirit is calling everybody,
but it's up to man as to whether or not they'll be saved. What
he does, I believe in circumcision. I believe that salvation is ultimately
dependent upon man. That's what Paul means. That
means salvation is ultimately dependent upon something man
does. Now, if I believe circumcision,
if I'm circumcised, if I think there's something that I must
do in order to make what Christ did work for me, Christ will
profit me nothing. If I believe my position in heaven
will be determined by my works here on earth, if I believe in
circumcision, it is adding to the work of Christ. Now, all
I have to do, Paul says, is preach circumcision, something along
with Christ, and nobody's going to persecute me. Nobody's going
to be offended. Nobody's going to look at that
message as scandalous, when you put salvation in the hands of
men, rather than in the hands of God Himself, the Sovereign
God. He says, if I preach circumcision,
if that's what I preach, Nobody is going to be persecuting me
because nobody is going to be offended by that message. Nobody
is going to feel violated by that message. But Paul says,
I'm still being circumcised. I'm still being persecuted. Therefore,
the offense of the cross, if I preach circumcision, the offense
of the cross is ceased. But I'm still being persecuted,
so therefore I am not preaching circumcision. I'm preaching Christ
only. Now, when I hear a man stand
up and claim to speak for God, this is the question I ask, and
this is the question you must ask. Where is the offense? Paul said in Galatians 1.10,
Do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased man, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Now, when the Lord walked upon this earth, He offended men. They were offended by His claims.
They were offended by His person. He didn't measure up to what
they thought Messiah should be. They said, is not this the carpenter?
They were offended when He described the religion of His day. You
can read about that in Matthew chapter 15, when He described
the accepted, conservative religion of His day, what we would call
conservative Christianity, transgression, human tradition, hypocrisy, and
vain. And then he went on in Matthew
15 to destroy their notion of sin by saying, not that which
goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth,
what comes out of the heart. That's what defiles a man. And
the disciples said the Pharisees were offended when they heard
that saying. And the Lord said, let them alone. They'd be blind
leaders of the blind. Men were offended most especially
at his preaching. We read in John chapter 6 beginning
in verse 59 after they heard a sermon that he preached. These
things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum many
therefore of his disciples. Now these were people who followed
him to be fed of him. Many of His disciples, when they
had heard, they heard what He said. They said, this is a hard
saying. This is an austere, harsh, unsympathetic
statement. This offends us. We don't like
what He said. We stumble at this. We can't
go in this direction. This is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? When Jesus therefore knew it
Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth
this offend you? Are you offended by what was
said? Now what did He say in this message
that offended these people so greatly? As a matter of fact,
they ended up leaving Him and walking no more with Him. Let's
see what He said. In verse 27 of this same chapter,
He said, Labor not for the meat which perisheth, But for that
means which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto you. For Him hath God the Father sealed. Then said
they unto Him, What shall we do? They heard Him say something
about labor. And they said, What shall we
do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said
unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him
whom he hath sent." Period. Now, faith only defends men's
sense of personal contribution to salvation. Do not my works
count for anything? No, they do not. This is the work of God. that
you believe on Him whom He has sent, and what He sent Him to
do, and what He accomplished in what He did. You know, in
this same passage of Scripture, He declared divine election. He said in verse 36 to these
people, But I said unto you that you also have seen Me, and believe
not. He saw that these people were murmuring and having a hard
time and being offended at what He said. And then he said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. The fact that you don't
believe is no discouragement to me because all that the Father
giveth me. He's talking about those the
Father gave him in eternal election. Every single one of them will
come to me. God chose who would be saved
before time began and gave them to the Son. Now this offends
men's sense of personal rights. How can it be fair for God to
choose to save some and not choose to save others? What they're
saying, how can it be fair for God to not save me? That's not
fair. This offends men's sense of personal
rights. I'm offended by that. And then
in this passage of Scripture, he talked about his own death,
his own saving of God's elect. He said in verse 38, for I came
down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him
that has sent me, and this is the Father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he hath given me. That's talking about
the elect, those God chose before time began to be saved. All that
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. Now his death for the elect offends
men's sense of control. It tells us I have no control
in this thing of salvation. It's out of my hands. I'm totally
dependent upon him to die for me. He can pass me by if he's
pleased. I'm totally dependent. And then
they murmured of this. Jesus therefore, verse 43, answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, No man can
come to me. You're murmuring at what I'm
saying? Well, you're not able to come to me. Because of your
depravity, because of your inability, because of your sinfulness, you
are not able to come to me, except the Father which has sent me
draw you. You're in the hands of a sovereign
God. You're totally dependent upon Me to draw you." Now, he's
talking about man's sinfulness that renders him unable to come
to Christ. Now, this offends men's sense
of personal righteousness because it says, you don't have any.
You can't even come to Christ unless He causes you to. You're
so sinful. And this is the indictment against
all men. It levels all men the same way. I'm so sinful. I'm so unable
that unless God draws me, I can't even come to Christ. I'll go
to hell if He doesn't do something for me. And then he says in verse
45, it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. Here he, irresistible,
invincible grace toward all of those the Father gave him, all
that Christ died for, all he draws, they all come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, irresistible grace. Now irresistible grace, someone
says, you mean I can't resist grace? That's exactly what I
mean. If God gives you grace, you can't resist it. He's going
to have you. Now that offends men's sense
of personal wisdom and so on. It says, I can only know Him
if He reveals Himself to me and teaches me. I can't figure this
out on my own. I'm completely dependent upon
His grace feeding on Him. And you know, men are just offended
today as they were in our Lord's day. Men haven't changed. Men are just as sinful and just
as offended by the gospel today as they were in our Lord's day.
You see, a man's enmity is seen when he hears the truth. The
problem is most preachers preach in a code language. They say
things that will keep everybody happy, And no one will be offended,
and thus they remove the offense from the cross. And be sure of
this, when the offense is removed, the message is not there, and
there's no saving power in it. But you know, our Lord also said,
Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me. Now, believers
are not offended by these things that the natural man is offended
by. I'm not offended by his claims. I bow before who he is. He's
the God-man, the creator of the universe. I'm not offended by
his denunciation of human religion. I see its truthfulness. I'm not
offended by faith only, because I see if works are necessary,
I won't be saved. I'm not offended by election
because I have no claims on God, and I know the only way I can
be saved is if He freely and sovereignly chooses me to be
saved. I'm not offended by His redemption
for the elect only. The Bible teaches it. It makes
sense, and it's my only hope that Christ died for me. I'm
not offended by depravity because I know that's true concerning
me. I'm not offended by irresistible grace. I see my need of it and
I say, oh Lord, draw me, save me irresistibly and invincibly
by your grace. I'm not offended by perseverance
because I want Him to preserve me and I know I must persevere
and I know He must preserve me for me to persevere. I'm not
offended by these things. You know, preachers fear offending
people. But you know, God's preachers
fear not offending people. Now, I don't want to offend you
by the way I treat you. I don't want to offend you by
some offensive behavior on my part or in my character. I really
don't want to do that. I want to treat you so well. But I do want you to be offended
by the gospel, because only when you're offended do you hear what's
being said. And before people get glad, they
first get mad. And what I pray for is a return
of the preaching, the declaration of the offense of the cross. May the Lord grant that to us
in this day. Now, we'd like to invite you
to services at Todd's Road Grace Church. Our Bible study begins
this morning at 9.45, the morning worship at 10.30, and tonight
at 6 p.m. We have this message on CD, DVD. If you call the church or write
an email, we'll send you a copy. 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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