Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyvert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Now here's our pastor,
Todd Nyvert. I've been tired of the message
I want to bring this morning, the works of not working. Now I want to read two verses
of scripture that may appear to be at odds with one another. In Romans chapter 4, verse 5,
Paul said, to him that worketh not, to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now, this man does not work,
and yet he is counted by God as righteous. And then James
says in James chapter 2 verse 24, you see then how that by
works a man is justified and not by faith only. He also says in this passage
of scripture, faith without works is dead, being alone. Now, those two scriptures on
the surface seem to contradict one another. We read of that
one who does not work. Paul said in Ephesians chapter
2, verses 8 and 9, 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. And James still says, A man is
justified by works and not by faith only. Now, it's my prayer
that by the end of this message we'll understand that those two
verses do not contradict one another. Paul said again in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 6 that faith worketh by love. Now, anybody that is saved, Anybody
that God has saved, anybody that God has done a work of grace
in, He's given them a new heart and a new nature. They've been
born of the Spirit. They've been born again. They've
been birthed into the kingdom of heaven. Anybody that God has
saved understands that salvation is all of grace. You've been
given an understanding. You understand that your standing
before God is in Christ and it's not in your works. You understand
that you're accepted in the beloved and you understand. You might
not understand all the particulars, but in your heart, you understand
that salvation is of the Lord. You understand God saved you
and you didn't save yourself. You understand that. You understand
that if you're saved, it's not because you chose God. But because
He chose you. Election. Oh, I love the doctrine
of election because I love the God of election. It glorifies
God. It says God is God. And He chose
who would be saved before time began. And this is an act of
His grace. He didn't choose you if you're
saved because He saw you were better than somebody else. He
did it simply because He would. Oh, the glorious sovereignty
of His own will. You understand that if you're
justified, this was an act of God's grace. To be justified
is to be not guilty. And God graciously caused you
to be not guilty by taking your guilt and placing it upon His
Son and taking His righteousness and making it yours. Your sin
truly became The sin of Christ. Not that He committed sin in
Himself, but when your sin was laid upon Him, He became guilty
of it, and He suffered God's wrath, and His perfect righteousness
and obedience is given to you. And you understand that's a work
of grace. You understand that the new birth, regeneration,
is a work of God's grace. He birthed you. He gave you life. You didn't give yourself life.
You didn't decide to believe. He gave you life. If you persevere,
continue in the faith, You know that's the gift of his grace.
You know it's because he's enabled you to. And if you have any spiritual
understanding, you know that you would fall unless he keeps
you from falling. You understand that salvation
is of the Lord. You understand that salvation
is by grace. Oh, how I love the grace of God. But let me also say this about
grace, about not working. There are works that come from
not working. Like Paul said in Galatians chapter
five, verse six, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now, the passage of Scripture
that I want to read, we see all the works of not working. We see all the works of faith. We see all the works of grace.
Now, like I said, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you
know that salvation is by grace and not of your works. You won't
give any of your works any of the credit, right down to an
act of your free will. You don't say, my free will saved
me. I'm saved because I did anything. No, you give God's grace all
the credit. Now, I want to read a passage
of scripture in Hebrews chapter 11 regarding Moses. Moses believed
in salvation by grace. Oh, he believed it wholeheartedly.
He knew he was saved by the grace of God. But let's read the New
Testament account of Moses, beginning in Hebrews chapter 11, verse
23. And in this passage of scripture, we see the true works that come
as a result of not working. Verse 23 of Hebrews chapter 11,
we read, By faith, Moses, when he was
born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw
he was a proper child, a beautiful child is what the word actually
means, exceeding fair, fair to God. They saw that he was fair
to God and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By
faith, Moses, When he was come to years, he refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt. for he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover,
and the sprinkling of the blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. Now, in this history of Moses,
we see all these works that his faith produced. By faith, he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. By faith,
he chose affliction over the pleasures of sin. By faith, he
had an estimation of the reproach of Christ as being greater riches
than all worldly treasure. He forsook Egypt by faith, and
through faith, he kept the Passover. Through faith, he endured as
seeing him who is invisible. Now, we see the works that came
from Moses's faith of not working, believing his salvation was in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 23, it says, By
faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents
because they saw he was a proper child. He was a beautiful child. Stephen says in Acts chapter
7 that he was exceeding fair, exceeding fair to God. Now, you remember what happened
during Moses's time. Pharaoh had made a decree that
all the newborn babies, males, would be killed, would be thrown
away because they were afraid of the Jews becoming too powerful. They were multiplying so much,
so he wanted them all killed. And if you had a baby, that baby
was to be killed. Now, Moses' parents looked at
their baby. And they said, oh, he's such
a beautiful child, we're going to save him. No, it's not really
like that. It's not like if he wouldn't
have been cute, they wouldn't have saved him. No, everybody
thinks a baby's cute. But what this is talking about
is Moses was beautiful to God. And do you know that every believer
is beautiful to God? This is the truth regarding all
of God's people. They're all viewed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that makes every believer beautiful to God. How beautiful is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Oh, he's exceeding fair. He's fairer than 10,000. He's
the Bright and morning star, oh, the beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the beauty of His holiness. That's how beautiful every believer
is. Whether you feel like it or not,
that's how God sees you. And how God sees you is how you
really are, whether you feel it and see it or not. I love
what the little Shulamite woman said in the Song of Solomon.
She said, I'm black but comely. I am in myself ugly, but in Christ
I am beautiful and holy. Every believer has some understanding
of this. Now, Moses' beauty was given
to him at birth, and the beauty of every believer is given to
them when they're born again, born of the Spirit, and they're
given this new nature. Moses was a beautiful child.
God did something for him. And this is what every believer's
hope is. God has done something for us.
He's made us beautiful in his dear son. The beauty of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ is given to every believer. Now,
let's go on reading about Moses. Now, he was a beautiful, fair
to God. And here's how this was translated
in his life. Verse 24. By faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Now, do you remember what took
place? They put him in that ark in the river and waited to see
what would take place. And Pharaoh's daughter saw him
and took him into her own home and raised him. And because of
that, he was given all the privileges of being a son of Pharaoh's daughter. And some people say he was even
in line for the throne of being the next Pharaoh. But what did
he do? He refused all that. He refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. He rejected that, choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. Now, Perhaps being Pharaoh's
daughter could have given him all kinds of influence and he
could have reasoned with himself. You know, if I'm Pharaoh's daughter,
if I'm the son of Pharaoh's daughter, that'll give me political influence.
I can help my brethren. I can get them out of the mess
they're in. I'll have all kinds of money to help them, all kinds
of influence. And surely it would be better
for me to stay the son of Pharaoh's daughter so I can help my brethren
rather than just refuse that. You know, that's fleshly thinking.
If we think something like that, we think, well, the Lord can
be aided through our help and our influence and so on. And
that's ridiculous. The Lord doesn't need me. The Lord doesn't need
you. He doesn't need fleshly influence. And Moses understood
that. And he refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter. He rejected all the influence
of being maybe in line for the throne, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God. He wanted to be identified
with God's people rather than Egypt. He thought this is better,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, by the pleasures
of sin, he meant all that's associated, the wealth, the education, the
influence that was involved in being the son of Pharaoh's daughter
and all the power and prestige you would have in that. Things
that may be in and of themselves were not sinful. But he rejected
all that, the pleasures of sin, and he chose rather to be identified
with the despised people of God, who were in such a bad shape
at that time under the thumb of Pharaoh. Verse 26, and here's
why he did this. He esteemed the reproach of Christ. Greater riches than all the treasures
in Egypt. Now, let's camp on that for a
moment. He looked at the reproach of Christ. And he considered
that greater riches than all the wealth, all the influence
of Egypt. Now, what made him make that
estimation? What made him make that choice?
He chose this. He saw it as greater riches. What made him make that choice?
Well, the first question I got to ask is, what does the Bible
mean by the reproach of Christ? Moses looked at the reproach
of the Lord Jesus Christ and considered that the greatest
of all riches, greater than anything this world can afford. What is
the reproach of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, I want you to listen
to me real carefully. I realize that the Jesus that
is preached by most preachers is not someone the world hates. Sometimes I think his name ought
to be turned into genie, not Jesus. Just get your wishes out
of him. He's going to help you this way.
He's going to help you that way. He's a Jesus you can control,
who can't do what he wants unless you let him to. Nobody's offended
by that Jesus. That Jesus is not the Jesus of
the Bible, but he's a non-existent. Nobody's afraid of him. Nobody's
offended by him. But the Christ of the Bible,
men are offended by him. That's what the scripture says.
Isaiah 53 says he's despised and rejected of men. A man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. That's the
way the natural man looks at the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why
do I say that? The Christ of the Bible is God. He is in absolute control. Now, you listen to me. The fact
of the matter is You're in his hands. He's not in yours. The Christ of the Bible is the
one who can do with you whatever he's pleased to do. He's in sovereign
control. He can save you or he can pass
you by. And whatever he does is right.
Now, that Christ, men become offended at. They don't like
that Christ. They don't like his teaching.
Now, the reproach of Christ. The reproach of Christ. The natural
man reproaches. The word reproach means defame.
Defame. Now, here's what it is to bear
the reproach of Christ. Listen real carefully. Somebody
says, Do you really believe that the Bible is the inspired word
of God and that there's no error in it? Are you so gullible as
to believe something that silly? That that book is nothing less
than the word of God? Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that God controls everything? Do you really believe
that he is the first cause behind everything? Is the Bible declares
him to be absolutely sovereign, sovereign in creation, sovereign
in profit, sovereign in salvation, the first cause behind everything.
You don't believe in evolution? You don't believe in the Big
Bang Theory? You believe God is and that He's, as the Bible
claims Him to be, just, holy, righteous, that you're in His
hands and that He's the first cause behind everything? Do you
really believe that? And do you really believe what the Bible
says about men, that they're completely and totally evil and
depraved? Now, let me give you scripture.
Genesis 6, 5 says, God saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. Do you really believe something
so morose about man that he's nothing but evil? And do you
really believe that when Christ died, he died for the elect?
and actually accomplish their salvation. You mean to tell me
you don't believe He died for everybody and made salvation
possible for everybody and didn't give everybody a chance, but
that He actually saved everybody He died for? Do you really believe
that? Do you really believe that God's
grace is invincible and irresistible and cannot be resisted, that
men cannot reject it? Do you really believe that if
God has grace on somebody, they're going to be saved and they'll
be saved? Do you really believe that you're
saved by somebody else's righteousness, a righteousness that you had
nothing to do with? It's holy, what somebody else
did, and it becomes yours and you're saved by that? Do you
really believe that? Do you really believe that the gospel is the
only way and all other ways are wrong and that all other religions
are wrong? Do you really believe that? Yes, I do. Well, who are you? Why? That's foolishness. Why
the world doesn't believe that? How big is your church? How much
influence do you have? Do you really believe something
like that? That's the reproach of Christ. Men reproached Christ
when he lived upon this earth. The religious people hated him.
And they reproach him now. They reproach his gospel. And
Moses understood something about the reproach of Christ. And he
said that's greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. Now
listen to me. Give me the choice between bearing
the reproach of Christ and giving me a hundred million dollars,
and it's not even a choice. I don't even have to think about
it. I want the reproach of Christ. That's greater riches than all
the treasures of this world. Now, you see, when someone has
true faith in Christ, this love to his person, this belief in
his gospel, they will choose affliction over the pleasures
of sin, esteeming this reproach of Christ greater riches than
all the treasures of Egypt. You see, he had, as verse 26
says, respect under the recompense of the reward. What if you got
all this world had to offer? What good would it do you in
eternity? Absolutely nothing. But, oh, if you have Christ,
you have everything. In verse 27, it says, By faith
he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he
endured as seeing him who is invisible. Now, this is very
interesting. In the Old Testament account, he was afraid of the
wrath of the king. You remember that he murdered
somebody, hid the body when somebody Found out about it, he was scared
to death and fled into the land of Midian. Yet in the New Testament,
it says he didn't fear the wrath of the king. Now, there's a reason
for that. The Old Testament gives the account of the flesh. Oh,
his flesh feared the wrath of the king. But the New Testament
gives the account of the spirit, the new man. This is the real
Moses. The flesh, it was there, but
it's over. This is the account of the New Testament. By faith,
he forsook Egypt. That means he renounced Egypt.
Now, Egypt. Is typical, as a matter of fact,
if you look in Revelation, chapter 11, verse eight, Jerusalem, the
place where the Lord Jesus Christ is called spiritually Sodom and
Egypt. Jerusalem, the place where Christ
was killed, is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt. Egypt represents man, man's religion,
man's effort, man's philosophy, man's ways. Sodom, you know what
Sodom represents? It represents the Sodomites.
Now homosexuality in and of itself is no more sinful than fornication
or adultery or lying or anything like that. I can't stand the
way religious people become homophobic in the sense they feel like they're
righteous because they're not homosexuals. They almost pat
themselves on the back and despise somebody else. I do not approve
of that view in any way. But the Bible does condemn the
sodomites and homosexuality for this reason. For this reason.
It pictures that which cannot produce life. The act, but it
can't produce life, pictures man's religion. The act of supposed
worship, but it never produces spiritual life. It can't do it. Sodom and Egypt, Egyptian darkness,
Egyptian ways. Moses renounced all that. He renounced it. He turned his
back on it. He said, I won't have anything
to do with it. Where there's faith in Christ, there's a renouncing
of Egypt, of man's religion, of man's ways and so on. By faith,
he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he
endured as seeing him who is invisible. He persevered, looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 28, it says, through
faith, he kept the Passover. And the sprinkling of blood,
let's see, that destroyed the firstborn. should touch them. Through faith he kept the Passover. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
3 says that the gospel is how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures. And the Passover that you read
about in Exodus 11, 12, and 13 tells how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. Now God says there's a judgment
against Egypt. I'm going to pass through the
land, and I'm going to destroy all the firstborn of the land.
But there was one place of safety. Here's what the children of Israel
were called upon to do. He never told the Egyptians to
do this. He told the children of Israel to do it. The Paschal
Lamb wasn't for everybody. It was for God's people. He said,
you take a lamb without blemish and without spot, picturing the
perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never sinned. And
you slay it. And you take the blood, and you
put it over the doorposts of your home, and you get in the
house with the blood over the door. And God said this, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. He didn't say when I see
your works. He didn't say when I see your
good deeds. He didn't say when I see your good intentions. He
didn't say when I see your faith. He didn't say when I see your
acts of obedience. He didn't say when I see your Bible reading
or your praying. He said when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. What's the one thing God was
looking for? Blood. When I see the blood. He didn't
say, when you see the blood. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now, what if some Israelite would
have said, well, I think I'll put up gold. It's just as good. God
would have killed him. The one thing God was looking
for was blood. When I see the blood of that
paschal lamb, I'll pass in mercy over you." Now, what is the one
thing that would have proved you believed what God said? You
would have got in the house with the blood over the door. Now,
Moses believed God, he kept the Passover. He knew that if he
wasn't in the house with blood over the door, God would destroy
him. Now, how did he know that? Because he knew he was a sinner.
He knew God was holy. He knew God was just. He knew
that God is righteous and he cannot accept sin. Moses had
some understanding that the blood of Christ put away sin. He wasn't looking to the blood
of that physical lamb, but what that blood represented, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses looked to Christ, and the
prayer of Moses was, O that I may be found in him. Now, when God's passing through
the land, where do I want to be found? In one of those houses. with the blood over the door.
That's the only place I want to be found. And he said, you
take that lamb and you kill it and you eat all of it. How much
of it did they have to eat? All of it. How much of the gospel
do you have to believe? All of it. There's no part you
cannot believe. Moses kept the Passover. It says through faith, he kept
the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed
the firstborn should touch them. Now, Moses was somebody who believed
in salvation by grace. And you know what proved he really
believed that salvation was all of grace? His works, that he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose
affliction over the pleasures of sin. He esteemed the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured. He persevered
as seeing him who is invisible. You see, faith is not just in
a doctrine, it's in a person. That's what caused him to persevere.
Through faith, he kept the Passover. What is it that proved that Abraham
really believed grace? His works. Salvation. is by grace. And you understand, if God ever
saves you, that salvation doesn't come to you because of your works.
And what's the proof you really believe that? Your works. You see, faith worketh by love. If you request a copy of the sermon
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