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 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 Nibert. I've entitled this morning's
message, What Jesus Marveled At. What Jesus marveled at. Now there are a lot of things
that I marvel at. A lot of things that utterly
amaze me. I marvel at God's creation. The
vastness of this universe. I marvel at this earth. I marvel
at the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom. I marvel at the achievements
of men. I'm still amazed every time I
walk, talk on a cell phone. How does this work? I'm amazed
at the architectural achievements of men, the engineering achievements. I look at the advances in medicine
that have taken place even in my life. MRIs and CAT scans and
the things that doctors can do. I'm amazed. I'm amazed at the
literary works of men, the great books men have written. I'm amazed
at the arts. There's so many things that I
stand amazed by. Does the Lord Jesus marvel at
these things I've talked about? Does the Lord Jesus marvel at
the splitting of an atom and nuclear power? No, He made the
atom. He certainly understands how
the atom is split. He understands how energy comes
out of the splitting of the atom. And He caused men to learn that
to accomplish His purposes. All the things that men are impressed
by and marvel at, he doesn't marvel at. I want to read a passage
of scripture in Mark, chapter 13, verses 1 and 2. And as he
went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him,
Master, see what manner of stones and what manner of buildings
are here. He was so impressed with this
temple and the work it took to make this temple. He was amazed
by it. He thought the Lord would be impressed with it, too. And
Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?
There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. The Lord did not marvel at this. Now, what would it take to the
Lord Jesus Christ to marvel at something, to be amazed by something. Now, I can understand why I'm
amazed by so many things, because I'm so finite. My understanding
is so limited. I look at how somebody figured
out aerodynamics, how a plane is lifted up in the air, and
I think, how could they do something like that? How could they be
so brilliant? I have so many limitations. Hard at all to understand
why I marvel at things. But the Lord Jesus Christ knows
everything. He's never learned anything. He is in control of everything. He's everywhere at once. He's never surprised. Now what in the world could He
marvel at? He's God. He has the ability
to create. He understands this universe
all together. He calls the stars by name. He's
the one who hung them in space. He controls the galaxies. He
made the galaxies. He made the universe. What would
Jesus Christ marvel at? Now, interestingly, there are
two things that He said to marvel at. In Mark chapter 6, verse
6, it says, he marveled at their unbelief. He marveled. He saw their unbelief
and he was amazed. And then we read in Luke chapter
7, where he marveled at a Gentile's faith. When he heard what this
man said, the scripture says he marveled. and his faith. And he said, I say unto you,
I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. So they're
the two things the Lord Jesus Christ is said to marvel at. He marveled at their unbelief
and he marveled at a man's faith. Now, in Mark, chapter six, we
read in verse one, and he went out from thence and came into
his own country. And his disciples follow him, and when the Sabbath
day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue in his hometown.
And many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this
man these things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hand? Is not this the carpenter? He's a common carpenter. We've
known Him all of our life. He's the son of Mary. He's the
brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. Are not His
sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.
They heard what He said and they didn't like it. And they were
offended at Him. They were offended at the claims
He made concerning Himself. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet
is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his
own kin, and his own house, And he could there do no mighty work,
save that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their
unbelief. What if I said to you? I'm going
to confess to you my darkest sin, the sin that I'm most humiliated
by, the sin that nobody knows anything about. But it's my darkest
sin. What if I said, I'm going to
confess that to you? If you had any sins, you'd say, please don't.
Please don't. I don't need to know. But if
I did say that and you listened to my confession, what if I said,
My darkest, most evil sin is unbelief." You'd probably be
surprised by that statement, wouldn't you? You'd say, well,
at least it's not adultery. At least it's not murder. At
least it's not stealing. I mean, there are things worse
than unbelief. Hey, everybody has their fits of unbelief. But
you call that your darkest, and most scandalous sin, unbelief. I mean, OK, you just got an overly
sensitive conscience if you feel that way. Now, that lets me know. And I'd be the same way with
you. If you would say to me, I'm going to confess my worst
sin. And if I heard you say unbelief,
I'd probably feel a little bit of relief. Well, at least it
wasn't one of the bigger name scandalous sins and so on. But
when we think that way, What we demonstrate is we don't really
understand what unbelief is. Now, what is unbelief? Well, for me to answer that question
and have some understanding of what the proper answer to that
question is, I'm going to have to understand what faith is. What is faith? Faith is not believing in God. The devil believes in God. He's
sure of his existence, and he doesn't have a drop of faith.
Faith is not believing in God. Faith is believing what God has
said. It's not believing in what God
can do. Somebody says, well, my God can
do anything. He could send an earthquake, or He could change
the weather, and there's all kinds of things He can do because
He's so powerful. My God can get me out of this
mess. He can provide for all my needs. My God can make sure
that I get out of this financial mess, or He can heal me of my
sickness. Oh, my God can do great things. That's not faith. I mean,
I'm glad you feel that way, but that's not faith. Faith is believing
what God has said in His Word and relying on what He said in
His Word. Unbelief is not believing what
God has said in His Word. Now, what's the reason behind
unbelief? What God says in His Word is
the truth. Why would someone not believe
what God says in His Word? Now, there's only one reason.
It's because that person does not like what God says. He chooses to not believe it. That's what's behind unbelief.
It's a dislike for what God says. Let me give you an example. The
Bible is the Word of God. Now, somebody has a hard time
with that. They say, how can you expect me to believe that?
How can you expect me to believe that that book is the inspired,
inerrant, infallible Word of God? How can I trust that men
haven't changed the words? How can I trust that it's gone
through so many different variations and translations and people copying
it down over the centuries? How do you expect me to believe
that men didn't leave out things and add things and that we actually
have the pure Word of God. How do you expect me to believe
that? Well, do you believe that God can create the universe?
Well, of course He can. He's God. Of course you believe
that. God did create the universe. He who has the power to create
the universe has the power to preserve His Word, doesn't He?
Now, you can say I can't believe that, but here's what people's
problem with the Word of God is. If somebody doesn't believe
that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, here's the reason.
It's not because it's too hard to believe. It's not because
it's irrational. It's not because it's illogical. The reason they
don't believe the Bible is the Word of God is they don't like
what it says. Because if what it says is true, they're in trouble. That's why people disbelieve
the Word of God. When someone hears the gospel, they don't believe the gospel.
The reason they don't believe is they do not like what's being
said. Now, let me show you this in
the Scripture in John, chapter 3, verse 18. He that believeth
on him, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not condemned. But he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. that light is come into the world. And men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved or exposed." Now, that's the problem. The
Lord said this in John chapter 16, verses 8 and 9. He said,
when He has come, speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit,
He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment, of sin, because they believe not on Me. Now, here's Holy Spirit conviction. When you find out you're guilty
of not believing, and you find out that is your chief sin, To
not believe on the Son of God is to say that I can make it
without Him. It's to say that what He did
was unnecessary. I can be saved by my works. It's
to prefer your righteousness to His righteousness. It's to
prefer your works to being saved by His precious blood. And the
only thing that will cause someone to do that is they really believe
that what they do is better. Unbelief. That is the true conviction
of sin. Now, everybody who believes has
this in common. They love the gospel. They love
what the gospel says because it tells them how they can be
saved. They don't have any way of being saved by their works.
Therefore, the gospel comes to them as good news. They love
what they hear because in what they hear they see, this is how
I can be saved. I can't be saved by what I do.
But when I hear this message of Christ actually accomplishing
salvation, of Him making a full payment of sin and His righteousness
being the way I'm brought before God, where His righteousness
is my righteousness, that I can be saved because what He did
is counted to me and God did that. Oh, this comes as good
news to me. I can be saved by this, by this
One who came. Unbelief is trusting its own
works, and it says, I see no glory in that. The one who does
not believe the gospel finds the message offensive. Therefore,
they don't believe. When you hear that a man can't
be saved by what he does, if you're hoping in what you're
doing, that doesn't come as good news to you. To hear, you know,
the Gospel offends an acronym. It offends men's intellect. You
can't figure this thing out. You're totally dependent upon
God to reveal Himself to you. You're in His hands. It offends
men's sense of righteousness. It says we don't have any. Our
righteousness is filthy rags. It offends men's sense of freedom
and choice and will when it says we're slaves to sin and we're
totally in the hands of a sovereign God who can save us or pass us
by. That offends men. But it doesn't offend somebody
who's a sinner. It really doesn't. Now, this thing of unbelief.
This is why God sends men to hell. Because they refused to
believe. You say, what about somebody
who hadn't heard the gospel? Well, they refused to believe
the life they did have. The life of creation renders all men without
excuse. But let's forget about who hadn't
heard the gospel. Right now, you're hearing the
gospel. Don't worry about these other people. Right now, you're
hearing the gospel. You're hearing the truth that the only way that
you can approach the living God and be accepted by Him is through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. Now, you're hearing that the only way that you can be
accepted by God is for Christ to do something for you. Your
salvation is totally dependent upon Him. Now, if you believe
that, you'll call on His name and ask Him to do something for
you. But if you're trusting your works, you will reject the truth. The reason a man goes to hell
is because he rejects the light he has. He rejects the truth.
The Lord said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Unbelief is what prevents a man
from entering the promised land. Now, why did the Lord marvel
at unbelief? The scripture says he looked
at their unbelief and he was amazed by it because it more
than anything else, demonstrates just how evil all men are. For a man to hear the truth,
for a man to hear the truth that glorifies God, for a man to hear
the truth that tells how God, a holy God, can accept a sinful
man through Christ, and to reject that, to find no relish or no
love in that message, and to say, I don't believe that, That
shows the absolute and desperate wickedness of man. He marveled
at their unbelief. Now in Luke chapter 7, we read
in verse 10, when Jesus heard these things that this one individual
man said, he marveled at him. He was amazed by what he said. And he turned about him and said
unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not
found so great a faith. No, not in Israel. Now, what
did this fellow say? What was the content of his faith
that made the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, marvel? Well,
let's read the story. We read in verse two of Luke,
chapter seven, a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him
was sick. and ready to die. And when he
heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching
him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came
to Jesus, they besought him, instantly saying that he was
worthy for whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation,
and he hath built us a synagogue. And Jesus went with him. And
when he was not now far from the house, the centurion sent
friends. Notice, he didn't come himself.
He sent friends to him saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself. You don't need to come to my
house. I'm not worthy that thou should enter under my roof. Now,
these other fellows said he's worthy. He's built us a nation.
But here's a testimony about himself. He says, I'm not worthy
to have you come to my home. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come to thee. He sent somebody else. But say
in a word, all you have to do is will it. All you have to do
is say it, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man
set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one,
go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to my
servant do this, and he does it. I understand authority. I
tell somebody what to do, and they do it. And I know that you
have all authority. He believed that Jesus Christ
was God. I know that you have all authority. And all you have to do is will
it, and my servant shall be healed." When Jesus heard these things,
He marveled. And He turned about and said
unto them that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found
so great a faith, no, not in Israel. Now, when I read that
passage of Scripture and we heard what this man's faith was, I
wonder if anybody thought, I don't see anything all that impressive
about that faith. I mean, there's other instances
that I would consider more impressive. What about Abraham? When God
said, start walking, you go into a land that I'll tell you, and
he packed up, took his family, and started walking, not knowing
where he was going. Now, I'm impressed with that.
I'm impressed with Noah. Noah spent 120 years Building
a huge arc on dry land and I'm sure he was the butt of every
joke I'm sure people make it fun of him for 120 years. Can
you believe this guy's doing this? I mean, there's not water
anywhere him building this big arc him talking about rain coming
and destroying the world and he was a But 120 years he kept
building that arc before there was even a drop of rain I'm impressed
with Abraham when he was willing to offer up his son as a burnt
offering in obedience to God's command, believing that God would
raise him from the dead. You see, God had promised the
Messiah is going to come through that boy, the promised seed.
And he believed, even if I kill him, God will raise him from
the dead, because whatever God says, he will do. God cannot
lie. I'm impressed with David, a 17-year-old
boy running at Goliath without any fear. Knowing the Lord would
deliver that giant into his hands. I'm impressed with that, but
this man's faith, what's so impressive about it? What's extraordinary
about it? Well, first of all, any faith
is extraordinary because it's the gift of God. It's not the
product of man. If I have faith, it's because
God put that faith in me. It's the work of God. Paul said
in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved. through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So any faith is to be amazed
by because it's the work of God. It's not the product of man.
But there are two things that stand out about this man's faith
that Christ marveled at and said it was the greatest faith that
he had ever seen. Two things stand out about it.
First, in his faith, there's a complete lack of any kind of
sense of entitlement. He said, I'm not worthy. I'm
not worthy to come to you. I'm not worthy to even have you
come to my house. This man saw himself to be nothing
more than a sinner. And he had a complete lack of
any sense of entitlement. Now, it's a sense of entitlement
It keeps a man from believing. Now, salvation is by grace. Now, what's meant by that? It
means you cannot be saved by anything you do. You're totally
in God's hands. It's up to Him 100% as to whether
or not you'll be saved. You can't save yourself. There's
nothing you can do to obligate Him to save you because you're
a sinner. I'm a sinner. Salvation is of the Lord. As
a matter of fact, the only ones who will be saved are the people
God chose before time began to be saved. The only people that
will be saved are the people that Christ died for on Calvary
Street. The only people who will be saved
are the people that God, the Holy Spirit, invincibly and irresistibly
calls by His grace, and they're enabled to persevere all the
way to the end. Now, those are the only people
who are going to be saved, the people God saves. The people
who are not saved, He never saved them. He passed him by as an
act of his justice. If you go to hell, it'll be all
your fault. It'll be because you refuse to believe the gospel.
But if you go to heaven, it'll be all God's fault, won't it?
It'll be all his fault. That's what salvation by grace
means. And the only reason someone would reject this is because
they think God owes them salvation and they get upset because they've
got a sense of entitlement. Well, how could it be fair for
God to save one and pass by the other? How could it be fair for
Christ to die for one and not die for the other? And when we
make that objection, we're saying it's unfair for Him to not do
something for us. That's a sense of entitlement. But this man
had nothing like that. He said, I'm not worthy to even
come to you. I'm not worthy to have you come
to me, oh, if you would just speak the Word only. My servant
shall be healed." First, he had a complete lack of a sense of
entitlement, a very low view of himself, and secondly, what
a high and exalted view he had of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I understand authority, and I understand that you have
all authority. Because of who you are, all you
have to do is will it, and my servant shall be healed. Everything in faith hinges on
what you believe concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe
He's God? I know He is. But do you believe
He's God? Do you believe He's all-powerful?
Do you believe His will must be done? He has such power that
His will cannot be thwarted. Do you believe because of who
he is, there's such a saving efficacy in his blood that if
he died for you, you must be saved? Do you believe that your
salvation is a necessity if he died for your sins? Now, here's
the elements of great faith, a low view of self. and a high
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you say with that leper,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. It's up to you and
if you will it, it must happen. Now, that is what our Lord marveled
at. He marveled at the simplicity
and the power, the sincerity of this man's faith. He saw himself
to be nothing, worthy of nothing. But he knew that there was such
power in Christ that all he had to do was will it, and his servant
would be healed. And in Matthew's account, the
Lord says to this man, Go thy way as thou hast believed, so
be it done unto thee. Now, what did he believe? He
believed he was not worthy of even the least of God's mercies,
but he believed the Lord Jesus Christ was a great Savior. And
all he had to do was will his salvation, will the healing of
his servant, and he must be healed. Now, this is what our Lord marveled
at. Now, if you find nothing impressive
about that, it's because you've not seen what faith is just yet.
Oh, may the Lord enable us to see the glory and the simplicity
of this man's faith. The Lord said in John chapter
6 verse 29, this is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. May God give us the grace
to do so. Now, we have this message on
cassette and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. And I'd like to invite you to
services at Todrick Grace Church. This morning, Bible study 945. The morning worship is 1030.
And this evening, we'll meet together at 6 o'clock and you
will hear the truth. May God be pleased to make Himself
known to you. That's our prayer. Amen.