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. It was Thomas who said, Except
I shall see in his hand the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe. Now, that same Thomas has the
Lord appear to him. Verse 26 of John, Chapter 20,
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas
with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
thither thy finger, and behold my hand, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing."
And now, doubting Thomas, gives one of the boldest confessions
of Christ we have in all the Word of God. Here is Thomas'
reply, and Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my
God." I've entitled this message, When
He Becomes My. He is the Lord. He is the only
living and true God. But Thomas says, my Lord and
my God. When does thee become mine?"
Christ is the Lord. He's the Lord whether we acknowledge
it or not. I've heard preachers say, won't
you make Jesus the Lord of your life? Now listen to me real carefully. If you can make Him the Lord,
He's not the Lord, you are. To say you can make Him the Lord
of your life actually is blasphemous. He is the Lord, and it has no
bearing on whether you see it or whether I see it or not. We don't make him Lord in any
sense of the word. God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He is the Lord, and
the Lord means he is the supreme authority. He is the one who
controls. He is the one whose will is done. He is the cause. He is the cause
of causes. He is the decision maker. Now what that means is, is that
you and I are in His hands. It's up to Him as to what's going
to happen to us. You know, people say, won't you
accept Jesus? Where do you find that? The issue
is not, will you accept him? It's not like he's up for your
acceptance or rejection. Here's the merit. If the issue
is not, will you accept him? The issue is, will he accept
you? Well, you and I are in his hands,
and as to whether or not we'll be saved, whether we'll be in
heaven or whether we'll be in hell, it's up to him. He is the
sovereign Lord of all. He is in control. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. He's the Lord. Now, His Lordship is seen in
these three different areas. First, His Lordship is seen in
creation, when He created the universe from nothing. He willed
the universe into existence. He made something from nothing. Now, how much did you and I have
to do with that? Where were we when he created
the universe? How much help did he have? Did He ask our opinion? Did He
ask for our acceptance? No, He did what He did with no
help from us. The Scripture says regarding
Him in Colossians 1, 16, all things were created by Him and
for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. His Lordship, His well-being
then, is seen in creation when He willed the universe into existence. And if He willed it, it couldn't
be stopped. Light be, and light was. It was the Lord Jesus who said,
let us make man in our own image. His Lordship is seen in providence. Providence is everything that
happens in time. Everything that happens in time,
he purposed in eternity. Hebrews 1.2 says he upholds all
things by the word of his power, and that word upholds means literally
he brings all things. All things that happens, he brings
to pass. He's in control of everything.
Proverbs 16.33 says the lot is cast into light, but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord. He is utterly in control of every
event. That's why worrying is such a
waste of time. He's in control. Everything that
happens, he's the first cause behind it. He's the cause of
causes. He controls providence. Everything
that happens in time, he's in control of. Bad stuff, we would
call bad stuff, earthquakes, tsunamis, whatever it is, he's
in control of that. The good things that happen,
he's in control of that. It's all good if he did it. He
is in absolute control. Thirdly, His Lordship is seen
most especially in salvation. That means if you're saved, it's
up to Him. Salvation is of the Lord. You
know, that Leper understood this. He said, Lord, If you will, you
can make me clean. He knew he was totally in the
Lord's hands. If the Lord willed it, he certainly could make him
clean. Salvation is of the Lord. His Lordship is his sovereign
control of everything. It's seen in creation, it's seen
in providence, and it's seen in salvation. Salvation is of
the Lord. Now, he is Lord. He's the Lord. And he is God. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. He's the one who created the
world. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were created by Him,
and without Him there's not anything made that was made. He is God. Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe. In Luke 8, verse 39, after our
Lord had healed the demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes, he said
to him, Return to thine own home and show how great things God
hath done unto thee. And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city the great things Jesus Was he mistaken? No. He told things exactly as
they are. The thief understood this. When
he said, don't you feel God sitting here in the same condemnation,
he knew that one hanging beside him on a cross was God. He knew
that. Somebody says, how did he know?
Well, if you know it, so will you know it. God revealed it
to him. He saw Jesus Christ is God. Now, once again, whether
or not you and I believe this has no bearing on the fact he
is God. But notice the language of Thomas.
Now, remember, he is the Lord. He is God, whether you and I
believe it or not. But Thomas says, my Lord and my God. Now, when does the Lord become
my Lord? When does God become My God. Now remember, if He's my God,
that means He's for me. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He's not for everybody. He's
only for those who believe. He's only for those who are His
son. And if He's your God, that means He's for you. And if you
have God for you, who can be against you? My Lord and my God. When does Thee become mine? Now, here's the answer to that
question in Thomas' case, and it'll be the same answer for
us as well. There are two things that took
place in order for Thomas to be able to say, my Lord and my
God. Now, remember, at first he says,
I will not believe. I will not believe. And if God
left him to himself, that's where he would have stayed. But thank
God the Lord Jesus appeared to him and made himself known to
him. He said, Thomas, You see, he
heard what Thomas said, because he knows all things. He knew
the unbelief that was in Thomas' heart. And he says, Thomas, reach
forth thy hand and thrust it into my side. He made himself
known to Thomas. He revealed himself to Thomas. Thomas couldn't deny him when
he was revealed to him, when he saw him. He made himself known. Where is it? that the Lord will
come, my Lord, when he makes himself known." Paul said, "...when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood." He became Thomas' Lord in God when he revealed himself
to him, and then he said to Thomas, he said, Be not faithless, but
believing. And Thomas did what he told him
to do. He believed. Now, the ability
came with the command. Thomas, by nature, was unable
to believe. You and I can't come up with
faith. It's beyond the ability of the natural man. But when
he says, believe, you know what happens? You believe. He said,
be not faithless, but believing. And all of a sudden, Thomas says,
my Lord and my God. So, he became Thomas's Lord and
God, where Thomas could say, my Lord and my God, when he made
himself known, and when he commanded him with the irresistible grace,
be not faithless, but believe him. You know, the Lord said,
why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?
He said, many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, are
we not preached in your name, and your name hath not cast out
devils, and your name hath not done many wonderful works. Then
shall I say to them, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I
never knew you." You see, it's only those who do the will of
God. It's only those who do what he says. He says to Thomas, Be
not faithless, but believing. Thomas believed. Now when Christ
says, Believe, if he's speaking to you, you'll believe. If he
says, Repent, you'll repent. If he says, deny yourself, take
up your cross, and follow me, if he says that to you, that's
exactly what you will do. He becomes your Lord, and he
becomes your God. Now, when does he become my God
in the sense that Thomas said, my God, I'll be to them a God,
and they'll be to me a people. When does he become my God? I'll
tell you when. When I see him. as God, when
I see Him as the absolute controller of all things. You see, when
you see Him as God, you see His ability. You see His ability
to save when you see Him as God. If you don't see Him as God,
you haven't seen Him at all. Thomas said, My Lord and my God. Listen to this scripture from
John chapter 9, verses 35 to 38. The Lord said to the man
he'd healed and given sight to, he says, Does thou believe on
the Son of God? He answered, Who is he, Lord,
that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
hast seen him, and is he that talketh with thee? And he said,
Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. Now, Jesus Christ becomes
your God. That means he's for you, not
against you. but for you. He's not for everybody,
but He's for all who believe, all who are called according
to His purpose. He is your God when you believe and see that
He's God and you worship Him as such. Now, I'd like to read
a passage of Scripture from the 40th chapter of Isaiah. This is a very important passage
of Scripture. This is quoted several times
in the New Testament. It's a prophecy regarding the
coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in Isaiah chapter 40, verse
9, we read, O Zion that bringest good tidings, Get thee up into
the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings. Lift
up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say
unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold your God! Let's look what led up to this
statement, Behold your God, and oh, would to God that you and
I would be enabled by divine grace to behold God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, like I said, this is a prophecy
regarding John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. In verse
3, we read, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the wet places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken." the voice of one crying
in the wilderness. Now, during John's day, if you
were going to hear from God, you wouldn't have heard from
him in the synagogue or in the temple, although people were
meeting there together, supposedly in his name, and reading his
word. But you wouldn't have heard from
God in all that. You had to go out into the wilderness,
away from organized religion to hear the voice of God. And it's no different today. You're not going to hear from
God in man's organized religion. It's not going to happen. You
never have heard from God in man's organized religion. Oh,
you might hear an old God, but not the living God. Man's religion
is no good. God doesn't speak through all
the man-made denominations. When you went to hear John the
Baptist, you heard a man who never went to seminary, but oh,
what training he had. God trained him. He had no denominational
backings, but he had the voice of God, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now, what's
that mean, prepare the way of the Lord? That word prepare means
face, look at, look at the way of the Lord. Christ is the way
to the Father. He said, I am the way. He didn't
say, I'll show you the way, or I'll guide you along the way.
He said, I myself am the way. If you are me, you are there.
Prepare ye, look at the way of the Lord, and make straight in
the desert a highway for our go. Look at what he says in verse
four. Every valley, every low place shall be exalted. Every,
listen to me, every sinner, every sinner will be saved. Did you hear what I said? Every
sinner will be saved. What most people's problem is,
is they're not sinners. Not in the Bible sense of the
word. No, they have good works. They have the power of their
free will. They can choose the good when they want. They have
the ability. Well, that's not the people Christ came to save.
He came to save sinners. Every valley, every low place,
every helpless sinner. God's going to save. And every
mountain and hill, all self-righteousness and pride, all the things men
glory in, is going to be made low. He's going to cut it off. And the crooked, the fraudulent,
the sinful shall be made straight. And that's what our Lord did
on Calvary's tree. He made straight. every crooked sinner that he
died for. It's called justification. He
made us straight. And the rough places, plain. That's the sanctifying work of
Christ on the cross. And then he says in verse 5,
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. This
is sure. The voice shall cry. And he said,
what shall I cry? Now here is the true message
of evangelism. Do you want to know what true
evangelism is? Listen up, here it is. I heard
someone recently bemoan the shallowness of modern day evangelism. And
I thought to myself, there's no such thing as shallow evangelism.
If it's shallow, God doesn't have anything to do with it.
True evangelism is not shallow, it's God speaking through his
word. If it's shallow, it's just man-made religion, men playing
religious games, and nothing more than that. Here's the message
of true evangelism. The verse said, cry, and he said,
what shall I cry? And here it is. All flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The grass withers, the flower
fades because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the
people is grass." Now, here's the first part of the message
of evangelism. All flesh is grass. Now, what does he mean by that?
All flesh is grass. In Romans chapter 8, 7 and 8, we read, the carnal mind,
that's the fleshly mind, the mind we have by nature, the mind
we're born with, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is hatred toward the living
God. It might not hate the God it
feels comfortable with, the God that's made up, the God that
keeps in his back pocket and brings him out whenever he wants
to use him, to help him, but I'm talking about the God of
the Bible. The natural man hates. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then, those that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now, what all flesh is grass
means is that there's nothing the flesh can do to please God,
completely and totally depraved, unable to do anything to save
itself. All flesh is grass, and the goodliness
thereof. That's the good works. That's
the man's religion. Listen to this scripture. Our
Lord said, that which is highly esteemed among men. is an abomination
in the sight of God. Man's religion, man's righteousness,
the things man highly esteems, it's an abomination in the sight
of God. All flesh is his grass, and all
the goodliness thereof as the flower of the grass. It withers and it blows away,
but the Word of our God shall stand forever." Now, there's
one thing that will stand on Judgment Day. The Word of our
God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the Word. Who's going to stand on Judgment
Day? Jesus Christ, the Lord, and everybody
in Him. And the reason they'll stand
is because their sin's been put away. I have no sin. I'll be accepted through the
Lord Jesus Christ. My flesh is nothing but grass.
My flesh has nothing to do with salvation. It's only the Word
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that will stand. Now, he says
in verse 9, O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into
the high mountain of Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift
up thy vessels of strength. Lift them up, be not afraid.
Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Now, this is a reference to the
Lord Jesus Christ when he says, Behold, your God. All you and I will ever see of
God is Jesus Christ. Behold your God. Now, behold
Him with the eye of faith as He stands as the surety for God's
elect. With all that God requires of
His people, He looks to His Son for. You see, we were chosen
in Him, and He stood as my surety to guarantee my salvation before
I was ever born. He said, I'll keep the law for
Him. I'll pay for His sins. I'll be His surety. Behold Him,
behold your God as your surety. Everything that God requires
of you, He looks to His Son for. Behold Him as your surety. He became flesh. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. See that one lying in a manger
amongst the smell of the myrrh in the air in that barn. Behold
your God. He came to save His people from
their sins. Behold Him as He grows up and
keeps God's law perfectly. Behold your God. Beholden some thirty-three years
later in Gethsemane's garden, sweating, as it were, great drops
of blood at the thought of suffering God's wrath as the sin-bearing
substitute. Now, at this time, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was made sin. He wasn't sweating drops
of blood because of the physical pain that was ahead of him. He
knew that he was suffering the full equivalent of an eternal
hell in God's wrath against sin. And see him sweating great drops
of blood in Gethsemane's garden, knowing what he's doing. Behold
your God as he's nailed to a cross with the crown of thorns on his
head, crying out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's your God, Judah. That's
your God, believer. Behold him on the cross, behold
him say, It is finished. And they take him down dead.
Now, how did the God-man die? I don't know, but he did. He
died under the wrath of God, and they take him down dead.
Behold your God. As they put him in the tomb,
there he lies there, dead. But three days later, behold
him, He opens his eyes. He's alive. He's satisfied God. He's put away the sins of everybody
he died for, and now he's raised from the dead. Behold your God. Behold him walk out of that tomb.
Behold him ascend back to the Father. Behold him even now as
he's at the right hand of the Father, making intercession,
representing all who believe. Behold your God. Behold Him when He returns. Oh, when does the God of glory,
the Lord Jesus Christ, become my God? When I behold Him as
God and when I worship Him as God. I say with Thomas, my Lord
and my God. And what a blessed thing it is
to be able to call Him my Lord and my God. And we have this
message on cassette tape, DVD, or CD. If you call the church
or write, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Minor 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 a request to messages at ToddsRoadGraceChurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.