And I did choose thee, Lord,
for, Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. 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 Nivert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Repentance for the Remission of Sins. Now, there is such a thing as
sin and sins, sins against God. And thank God there is such a
thing as the remission of sins, the full, free forgiveness of
sins. I'm so thankful for that. But
did you know that most people, you may be one of them, believe
that salvation ends with the forgiveness of sins? If I do
this and straighten up my life and stop doing that and repent
and believe, I will be rewarded with the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins comes at the end of the things that
I do if I do the right things. I will have the forgiveness of
sins." But did you know that that is not true? Salvation,
God's salvation, does not end with the forgiveness of sins.
Actually, that kind of thinking is a belief in salvation by works.
Forgiveness being dependent upon what you do rather than what
Christ has done. Salvation does not end with the
forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with the full,
free, frank forgiveness of sins. You don't do something to be
forgiven. You find out you've been forgiven
by what someone has done for you. Salvation is not what you
do for God. Salvation is what God does for
you. Now, in Luke chapter 3, We have
the opening of the public ministry of John the Baptist, and he is
the one who came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. Now, I'd like to start reading
in Luke chapter 3, verse 1, when Luke tells us about the political
climate of the world when John the Baptist entered. Now, in
the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, Caesar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip, Tetrarch of Ituria and of the region of
Trachonitis, and Lysanias, the Tetrarch of Abilene, and Annas
and Caiaphas being high priests. Seven men are mentioned, and
these men make up the who's who in the Hall of Shame. All of
these men were known for extreme corruption and wickedness. The
fact that there were two high priests lets us know that this
office had degenerated into a purely political thing, because in the
Bible there's only one high priest. And so one was, at least one
obviously, was appointed for political reasons. The world
had never known darker times, politically or spiritually. And in the midst of this darkness,
the Word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the
wilderness. John was the one to prepare the
way for the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the cousin of Christ.
He was six months older than Christ. He's the one that was
prophesied in Isaiah, in Malachi, who would prepare the way of
the Lord. He's the one to announce the
way of the Lord. He's the last Old Testament prophet. He's the first New Testament
preacher. And the Word of God came to him. He didn't put himself into this
office. The Word of God came to him. Not the Word of man,
but the Word of God. Not man's opinions, but the Word
of God. Now, this is what I want to hear.
The Word of God. I'm not interested in hearing
what man has to say. I want to hear what God has to
say. And I want to preach the Word
of God. John came declaring the Word
of God. Now, if God's Word comes to a
man and he's truly proclaiming God's Word, two things can be
said about that man. He preaches with boldness and
he preaches with meekness. He preaches with boldness because
he's declaring God's Word. This is not my opinion. These
are not my thoughts. This is the divine Word of God. A message not so much to be proved,
but to be believed. The Word of God. But he brings
this message in meekness. If the Word of God comes to a
man, he's aware of his own weakness and sinfulness and need of grace. So the Word is proclaimed with
boldness and with meekness. Boldness without meekness turns
into arrogance. Meekness without boldness is
weakness. And John the Baptist is a great
type of the preaching of the gospel. He came with the word
of God and the word of God came to him in the wilderness. Not
in the temple or synagogue, not in the hallowed halls of academia,
not from a seminary, but in the wilderness. The Scripture says
in verse 3, He came into all the country about Jordan preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Now we need to do some defining
of the terms here. What does the Bible mean by this
word baptism? He preached the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. Baptism means immersion, submergence,
and emergence. Immersion, going down into the
water. Submersion, being all the way
under the water. Emergence, coming back up out
of the water. That's what the word means. And
it's given to typify the gospel. Baptism, when I'm baptized, here's
what I'm confessing. When I go under the water and
come back out, I say my hope of being saved is that when Christ
lived, He lived for me. And He obeyed the law for me.
And when He died, I was in Him and He died for me. And my sins
were put away by what He did. And when He was raised from the
dead, I was in Him. He was raised for our justification.
You see, baptism pictures the gospel. Salvation because of
the life, the death, the burial and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, what about this word repentance? He came preaching the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Most people view repentance
as you being real sorry for your sin and you don't do it anymore. And if you do it again, you weren't
really sincere in your repentance. Repentance is being sorry and
not doing it anymore. The question that comes to my
mind is how sorry is sorry enough? And what sin have you totally
quit? Have you ever quit being proud?
Have you ever totally gained control of your anger? Are you
no longer self-righteous? Do you no longer... Just go on
and on and on. If that's what it means, which
it's not... Now, don't get me wrong. We ought
to be sorry of our sin. We sure are. I am sorry about
my sin. And we ought not sin anymore. We ought to make it
our purpose to never sin again. These things rhyme to you that
you sin not. But repentance means a change of mind. That's what
the word means by definition. You repent when your mind is
changed. You used to believe something
and you don't believe that anymore. You've repented and even renounced
what you used to believe. You believe something differently.
a change of mind, the baptism of a change of mind for the remission
of sins. Now that word for is quite often
translated in the Scriptures concerning. It doesn't mean you
are baptized in order to get the remission of sins. It doesn't
mean you repent in order to get the remission of sins. It's a
change of mind concerning the remission of sins. Everybody
naturally believes that The remission or the forgiveness of sins comes
at the end of salvation. If I do this, this, this, and
this, I will be forgiven. I repent of that kind of thinking.
That's salvation by works. Salvation begins with the full,
free, frank forgiveness of sins. Now, how are sins forgiven? How are sins remitted? If God
does something for me and if He does something for you, we're
going to have a change of mind concerning the remission of sins. How are sins forgiven? The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, came into this world. He was before He came. He's the
eternal Son of God, the uncreated being, God the Son. He came into
the world and was made flesh. God became man, the God-Man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why did He do this? Why
did He come in the flesh? He came to save His people from
their sins, Matthew 1.21 tells us. Now, in the flesh, He never
sinned. He lived 33 years upon this earth
keeping God's law perfectly. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a sinful word. He never had a sinful action.
He's the only holy man to ever live. He kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned. Yet, He was
nailed to a cross and suffered untold agony and died. Now, why would this happen to
someone who never sinned? I can answer that question. The
sins of God's elect were imputed to Him. They became His and He
became guilty of them. The reason He died is because
He was guilty before God. The wages of sin is death. He had sin because the sins of
His people became His sin. He became guilty of the sins
of His people. And so God's wrath came down
upon Him. That's why He died on the cross.
That's why God forsook Him, because He was made sin. But He was raised
from the dead. Yes, He died bearing Our sins
in His own body, the sins of all His people, bearing our sins
in His own body on the tree. He died, but you know the moment
He died, His body didn't enter into a process of decay. He never
saw corruption. You know why? Because He paid
for sins. The justice of God was satisfied.
He was delivered for our offenses, and He was raised again for our
justification. Now, what is this change of mind
concerning the forgiveness or the remission of sin. Now, I
believe that I would be giving an accurate assessment of just
about everybody by nature. All of us are aware of shortcomings,
all of us are aware of failures, all of us are aware of sins. I'm not perfect. I do things
that are wrong. I commit sins. And most people
believe that God will forgive sins. And they think, well, if
I Straighten up. If I turn over a new leaf, if
I start living right, if I repent of all my sins, if I do whatever
it is God's telling me to do, then I will be given the forgiveness
of sins. The message that most people
believe is God loves you. Christ died for you. God wants
to save you. He wants to forgive you. And
Christ died so that you can be forgiven. You can be forgiven. However, forgiveness is ultimately
in your hands. God wants to forgive you. He's
trying to forgive you. But you have to accept Jesus
Christ as your personal savior before he can forgive you. He
wants to forgive you, but he can't unless you accept his forgiveness. Now, my dear friends, that's
foolishness. That's all that is. There's no gospel in that. Christ didn't die to make forgiveness
available to me. When Christ said it is finished,
I was forgiven. All my sin was put away when
Christ said it is finished. As far as that goes, the Lord
has called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before the creation of the world, even then, He was the Lamb slain.
And the only reason for death is sin. Even then, He was the
substitute and the Savior for His people. You know, before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. He's the Lamb slain
from the very foundation of the world. And you know, when the
Lord was hanging on the cross and said, Father, forgive them,
you know what the Father did? He forgave them. He forgave everybody
He was praying for. Now, when our Lord said, Father,
forgive them, He wasn't praying for everybody. He said in John
chapter 17 verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which you've given me, for they are thine. He was
praying for his elect. And when he said, Father, forgive
them, the Father forgave every one of them. And when he was
raised from the dead, they were all raised in him justified. Now, in the preaching of the
gospel, we don't say God will forgive you if, if, It's a declaration
of God's forgiveness. In Isaiah chapter 40, verses
1 and 2, we read, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to the heart
of Jerusalem. Speak to her intellect, yes,
but speak to her emotions. And speak to her will, persuade
her concerning this. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. And her iniquity is pardoned. for she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins." You see, what you find
out when you're forgiven is you find out you've been forgiven.
That's what hearing the Gospel is. You find out you've been
forgiven. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
died, The sins of everybody He died for were blotted out. Everybody
He died for, they were justified. That means they have no guilt. That means if I'm justified,
I never sinned. Now somebody says, what are you
saying you never sinned? Haven't you sinned? Of course I've sinned.
So have you. But if I'm in Christ, if I'm
justified, I'm not treated as if I never sinned. In Christ,
I never sinned. I'm justified. Therefore, my
sins, which I've most certainly committed, are forgiven. This
isn't so much understood, but believed and received and rejoiced
in. You don't do something to be
forgiven. You repent of that kind of thinking. You find out you're forgiven.
When Christ died, there was the complete remission of sins for
everybody He died for. Hebrews 10, 18 says, now where
the remission of these is, and there is such a thing as the
remission, the putting away of sins. He says, where the remission
of these is, there remaineth no more offering for sin. So don't try to bring an offering
for sin. You look to Christ only. Luke goes on to quote that passage
I read out of Isaiah chapter 40. Let's go back and see what
Luke says. He says in verse 3, and he came
into all the country about Jordan, preaching, declaring the baptism
of repentance, a change of mind concerning the remission of sins,
as it is written. Oh, we better have an as it's
written for anything we believe. This is the Word of God. Remember,
John came with the Word of God. Not with the word of man, but
the word of God. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah
the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
speaking of John the Baptist, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight. And look what he says next. He
says, every valley shall be filled. Every low place. Every low place. shall be filled to the full.
You know what that means? Everybody, without exception,
who is a sinner. And by a sinner, I mean, or the
Bible means, all you do is sin. That's what the Bible means by
that. You don't make mistakes sometimes. You don't pray and
rest sometimes. You realize that if you did it,
it's sin. You know, the Scripture actually
says the plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing seems like a
wholesome activity, but if a wicked man does it, that makes it sin.
You realize that all you do, all you are is sin? You have
no claim on God. If He passes you by, He's absolutely
just. Every valley, every low place
shall be filled, filled with all the fullness of God. Wherever
there's a sinner, like the one I described, there's a complete
Savior. And He saves these people completely. They're filled to the full. Colossians
2, 9 and 10 says, In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body, and you are complete. You're filled to the full. You're
nothing lacking in Him. Every valley, every low place
will be filled. And next He says, And every mountain
and hill, every high place shall be brought low. shall be abased." How much room is there for human
righteousness in God's salvation? How much room is there for pride,
something I can take pride in, something that I've done? How
much room is there for self-righteousness and creature ability in God's
salvation? Absolutely none. Every high place is going to
be brought down. Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians
10. He says in verse 4, For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, human
reasonings, and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ. Every thought I have is brought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The obedience of Christ
is my righteousness before God. My motive for serving God is
because His obedience is my righteousness. Any thought contrary to the obedience
of Christ is going to be pulled down. Here's the one reason I'm
saved. Because of the obedience of Christ.
The obedience of His life. That's my righteousness before
God. The obedience of His death. He became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. That's how He put away my sin. Every thought, every high thing
is to be brought down into captivity to the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then next he says in verse
5, And the crooked shall be made straight. Every valley, every
low place is going to be filled and exalted. Every high place
is going to be brought down and leveled and abased. And the crooked
shall be made straight. Now what does that mean? Crooked
means morally perverse. That's what crookedness is. Morally
perverse. The crooked should be made straight. Now, how's that? How's that? Not only did Christ die for me, but in time, I was born again. I was given a new heart. I was
given a new nature. That's the nature that believes.
That's the nature that loves. And someone who hears the gospel
and thinks, well, I can just go on and no change in my life.
I can just have salvation by grace. I'm saved by the righteousness
of Christ. Therefore, I don't need to worry about my conduct,
my attitude. I can just live as I please.
I can live as sinful. It doesn't make any difference. It's salvation
by grace. Somebody like that's never heard the gospel. That's
so contrary to the gospel. No, the crooked shall be made
straight. People who once hated God now
love Him. They love holiness. They love
obedience. They love walking with Him. The crooked shall be
made straight. And then the next thing he says
is the rough ways shall be made smooth. The rocky paths are going
to be cleared away and made smooth. Now how is that? Well, the obstacles
are removed when someone asks the question, what must I do
to be saved? They're given the correct answer,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If you rely on Christ, you are
saved. You're saved from your sin. You're
saved from the penalty of sin. You're saved from the power of
sin. You're saved from the very presence of sin in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're actually said to be glorified
already in Him. Whosoever believes on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ should be saved. Our Lord said in John
6, 29, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him. whom He has sent. Now, I don't
care who you are. I don't care how sinful you are.
I don't care how far away you may feel. If you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, if you rely on who He is and what He did
as all that's needed to make you perfect before God, you're
saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not, well, you need to get your
life straightened out. You need to do this. You need
to stop doing that. And once you do that, then you can start
getting on the road. No. All that's cleared away. Believe. Only believe. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him only. Look to Him only. And thou shalt be saved. The rough ways shall be made
smooth. And then he said in verse 6,
"...and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." All flesh. Saved flesh. Lost flesh. Everybody's
going to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. The Lord said in John chapter
17, verse 2, "...Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that
He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him."
Once again, it's a reference to eternal life for those the
Father gave Him His elect. All flesh is going to see the
salvation of God. Unbeliever, you who trust in
the works of the flesh and reject the way of salvation by grace,
you who see no safety in simply trusting the Lord Jesus Christ,
You who do not believe that His precious blood actually accomplished
salvation. You who seek to earn God's favor
by the things you do. You are going to be made to see
that He is salvation. And the one you rejected is the
only one who could save you. You can't be saved by your works.
And if you die in that condition, You will spend eternity suffering
the wrath of God. And you're going to know very
clearly that Christ is God's salvation. Believer, you see
He's God's salvation right now. And you trust Him. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. This is speaking
to every believer. And that's the place of every
believer. You're in Christ Jesus. That's what baptism signifies.
When He lived, I lived. When He died, I died. When He
was raised, I was raised in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him, of
God, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it's written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. We
see God's salvation, and I know how God can love me. I know how
I'm accepted. I know how my sins are forgiven
through God's salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, John
came preaching the baptism of a change of mind regarding the
remission of sins. Has your mind been changed by
the grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit in you, regarding
the remission of sins. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email us, send your copy. This is Todd Diver praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. 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.