Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 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 Nybert. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Who, What and Why of Grace. Now I'm going to read
my text, Ephesians chapter 2, the first seven verses. In the
first three verses we have the who of grace. In the next three
verses we have the what of grace, and in the seventh verse we have
the why of grace. Now let's read this passage of
scripture together. Beginning in verse one of Ephesians
chapter two, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins. That's the who of grace. wherein
in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That's the who
of grace, that's who he saves. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. That's the who of grace, those
who are by nature, children of wrath, even as others. Now, the next three verses were
given the what of grace. In verse four, but God. who is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that's what grace does. Grace
takes those who were dead in sins and brings them into heaven
by grace. And here is the why of grace,
verse seven, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Now, the who, those who are dead
in sins, the what, they're saved by grace, the why that he might
show for eternity the exceeding riches of his grace. Now just
about everybody would say they believe in salvation by grace
and not by works. If you ask any church member,
Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Christ,
whatever, a denomination you might pick out and say, do you
believe and does your church teach salvation by grace and
not by works? They would say, yes, I do not
believe in salvation by works. I believe in salvation by faith. I believe in salvation by grace,
salvation by grace through faith. That's exactly what I believe. But if you find out what they
mean by that, it's something like this. I do not believe in
salvation by works. You can't be saved by your good
deeds and your good works, but God has made it to where you
can be saved by faith. God's lowered the bar. You don't
have to come up with works to be saved. All you have to do
is have faith. All you have to do is believe.
Salvation is ultimately dependent upon not your works, but you
coming up with the faith. Now that's really just another
form of salvation by works. And I'm going to show you that
in a moment. Somebody says, I believe salvation
is by grace and not by works. And what they mean by that is
God offers you grace and as to whether or not you have it, it's
dependent upon whether or not you accept it or you may reject
it. God offers his grace to everybody
As to whether or not you're gonna be saved by his grace is dependent
upon your acceptance of that or your rejection of that. And
once again, that is salvation ultimately dependent upon something
you do. That is salvation by works. Now, people who do not believe
what verses one through three says about men being dead in
sins, and quite often will object to scriptural grace. And by that, I mean electing
grace. God choosing who would be saved
before time began, redeeming grace. Christ actually redeeming
the elect, not simply making salvation available if you do
your part, but actually redeeming the elect. When he said it is
finished, their salvation was accomplished. God the Holy Spirit,
his grace is invincible and irresistible. He doesn't offer life, he gives
life. He quickens you when you're dead in trespasses and sins.
Now, people who object to that, the only reason they object,
and they say, well, that's not fair for God to save some and
pass by others, and that's not fair for Christ to die for some
and not die for others, and it's not fair for the Holy Spirit
to give life to some and not to others. The only reason someone
would say that's not fair is because they don't really believe
they're sinners. They don't really believe or
understanding anything about this thing of being dead in sins. If you really believe you're
a sinner, you believe God would be fair if he passed you by.
You believe God would be fair if Christ never died for you.
You really understand that the only thing fair for you is hell. You really believe that. You
believe you deserve to be cast off. But if you don't believe
that, you're going to find all kinds of objections to his grace. Now, I love what verse 4 says
after it's explained that we're by nature children of wrath,
just like everybody else, and no man can change his nature.
An animal is not going to act contrary to his nature, and a
man is not going to act contrary to his nature. I'm by nature
dead in sins. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, and I can't change that. I can't change my nature. I'm
sinful, totally dependent upon God's grace. Now for somebody
that's described, that believes they are described in these first
three verses, dead in sins, a child of wrath just like everybody
else, given over to themselves. Anybody that believes that about
themselves, this is going to come as good news when the what
of grace is described. It starts with these two words,
but God, not but you turned it around. Not but you did better. Not but you changed your life
and became a better person and started doing good things and
quit sinful habits and so on and became a better person. It
says nothing like that. It says but God. He's the difference. Not you. Not you of your own
free will decided to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior
and ask Jesus into your heart. You know, the Bible never speaks
like that. But God, there's grace. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
you are saved. Now, grace means not of works. Look in verse eight of this same
chapter. For by grace are you saved through faith. That not
of yourselves, that faith, it's not of yourselves. It didn't
come because you conjured it up. It didn't come because you
decided you were gonna believe. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Now please listen carefully.
Salvation by grace means salvation is not of works. Works are what you do. Anything
that you do that salvation is dependent upon you doing something,
that is salvation by works. That's the long and the short
of it. That is salvation by works. If you believe Salvation begins
with an act of your will, where you decide to be saved. You decide to accept Jesus Christ. You decide to receive the forgiveness
of sins. It's dependent upon your decision,
your will, what you do. That is salvation by works. If in the middle of your salvation,
where you, through your suppression of the flesh and your reading
of the scriptures and your acts of self-denial and giving up
certain sins, you become more holy and more pleasing to God
and less sinful through your works. That's salvation by works. If in the end you believe, well,
yes, I'm saved by grace, but I'm going to be rewarded a position
in glory according to my works here on earth. Some are going
to have higher positions, more recognized, and some will have
lower positions dependent upon their works here on earth. My
dear friend, that's salvation by works. That's foolishness. That is contrary to the gospel. Now, the scripture says by grace
you are saved. By grace, you are saved. Now you put a work anywhere and
you no longer have salvation by grace. I love the scripture
in Romans chapter 11. Let me read it to you. The apostle
Paul says, beginning in verse five, he says, even so then at
this present time, there is a remnant a small number according to the
election of grace. And if by grace, if elections
by grace, if salvation is by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
Grace and works exclude one another. It can't be 99% grace and 1%
works. It can't be 99.99% grace and
0.1% works, the act of your will. It's either all of grace or all
of works. We read in Romans 4, beginning
in verse one, what shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, He'd have whereof to glory. He could say, well, at
least I did this. But not before God, for what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, there's
that word, to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. That means if there's anything
you do, I don't care what it is, if there's anything you do
that makes your salvation effectual, something you have to do that
depends on you, then there's the reward, not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. In other words, God owes you
salvation. It's not his gift. It's what
he owes you. Look at this scripture in Romans
chapter nine, verse 11, talking about Jacob and Esau. For the
children, Jacob and Esau being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. And this took place before they
were born. There were no good works to recommend them, no bad
works to disqualify them. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. not of works. Now, that's God's purpose. This
is God's word. Salvation is not of works, but
of him that calleth. Now, when we talk about what
God does in salvation, the what of grace, you gotta begin with
election. God choosing who would be saved before time began. Now, I realize people argue with
that. But the only person who will
argue with that is the person who doesn't really believe he's
a sinner, the one who believes he can be saved by his works.
This excludes his hope and he's going to argue with that, but
still you cannot really believe in grace. and not believe in
election. Somebody that doesn't believe
election doesn't believe grace. Someone that doesn't preach election
does not preach grace. Salvation is by grace. Justification
is by grace. This thing of a sinner being
made just before God and righteous before God, that's the work of
God's grace. You couldn't come up with that.
There's no thing you could do to make yourself just before
God. That's the work of His grace. When He gave your sin to Christ
and made Him to be guilty of it and gave Christ's righteousness
to you and made you to be just before God. Redemption, the redeeming
work of Christ, is by grace. It doesn't have anything to do
with something you did. It's wholly what He did. Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Every aspect of salvation is
by grace. Paul said in Acts chapter 15
verse 10, by the grace of God I am what I am. Now I'm a sinner
and it's only by the grace of God that I know that and understand
that. There are many people who don't really believe they're
sinners. Oh, they'll admit to committing sins, but if you tell
them that all they do is sin, they'll say, well, I can't go
that far. That's what the Bible says. Every imagination of the
thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually. Genesis 6-5,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now, people will say, yes,
I make mistakes, I do wrong things, but nothing but sin. I can't
go that far. Well, I'll tell you what, it's
only that person who needs grace. It's only that person who believes
grace. The what of grace is by grace you are saved. God offers
to save you, and it's up to you to accept it or reject it. The
Bible never speaks in language like that. By grace you are saved. Now, why? We see the who, men
dead in sins. We see the what, men are saved
by grace, totally saved by grace. Now, the why. He tells us that
in the ages to come, verse seven, Ephesians chapter two, verse
seven, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. God's grace always comes through
Christ Jesus. It's always mediated through
Christ. But he's going to show us, every
believer, everybody that he saved, the exceeding riches of his grace. You see, grace is who God is.
Now let me repeat that. Grace is who God is. When he answered Moses' request
to show him his glory, He said, I'll make all my goodness pass
before thee, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. When he proclaimed
his name before Moses, the first thing he said is, the Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious. I love that passage of scripture
in John 118, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. You see, grace reveals who God
is. He is gracious. Now, God saves these ones by
grace who are dead in sins, so that, in order that, in the ages
to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus." Now, God does what He does for
His own glory. That's God's motive for doing
what He does, His own glory. In the previous chapter, we read
that we're saved to the praise of the glory of His grace in
verse 6. And then in verse 11, that we
should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. In verse 14, we are which is the earns of our inheritance,
unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
His glory. God does what He does for His
glory. Now we greatly benefit from that. If you're a sinner needing grace
to be saved and you can't be saved by your works, oh, you're
the recipient of this being saved to the praise of the glory of
His grace. But understand, God does what He does for His glory. Now, if a man like me or you
acts for their own glory, If he does what he does so people
will see how great he is, or how holy he is, or how religious
he is, or how moral he is, and we want people to see how good
we are, for a man to act for his own glory is offensive. Because we know that that man
doesn't really deserve any glory. He may act with that motive,
but deep down he doesn't really deserve any glory. 1 Corinthians
4, 7 says, who makes you to differ from somebody else? And what
do you have that you didn't receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if you didn't receive it? If I do preach the
gospel, I don't have anything to glory of. God caused me to
do it. If I am accepted by God, I don't
have anything to glory of. God made me to differ. He did
something for me. And for me to seek to glorify
myself is offensive because I don't really have anything to glory
in. I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. God gets all the
glory in a sinner's salvation. And for a man to seek glory is
offensive because he doesn't really have anything to glory
in, and really he's trying to rob God of glory. But God works
and does what he does for his own glory. Somebody says, well,
isn't that being kind of egotistical? No, it's God. It's God. He really is this glorious. For
a man to seek glory is wrong because he doesn't have any glory
in and of himself. But for God to seek his own glory
is glorious because that's who he is. He's worthy of all the
praise. He's worthy of all the glory
because of who He is. Now, for me to think, well, God's
being egotistical, isn't He, is to bring God down to my level.
As a man is, so he thinks others to be. It's somebody sitting
in judgment on God and proving that they really have no understanding
of or love for who he is. God does what he does for his
own glory. In Revelation 13, verse 8, one of the most important
verses in the Word of God, Christ is called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Now I want you to think about
that very carefully. Christ is called the Lamb slain. That's talking about the Lamb
of God dying on the cross of Calvary. The Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, before the fall of man, before
the creation of the universe, before the creation of angels. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. The cross has always been. It didn't happen simply 2,000
years ago. Christ is called the Lamb having
been slain from the foundation of the world. You see, every
attribute of God is glorified and manifest in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that glorious? The cross
is the most God-like thing God ever did. And He manifests His
character in the cross. We see His justice. He's going
to punish sin. Sin will never go unpunished.
God is absolutely just. We see His grace that He would
give His Son for sinners like me and you. We see His love,
the love that He has for His people that He gave His only
begotten Son. We see His power in putting away
sin. We see His holiness, His hatred
of sin. We see His sovereignty in that
cross. There's one saved and one passed
by. God is sovereign in the dispensation
of His grace. That's who He is. We see His
immutability. This has always been His purpose.
It's now coming to pass in time. The cross is the revelation of
who God is. It's the manifestation. God's
doing what he's doing for his glory. The cross is what gives
him all the glory. Now the fall of Adam in the garden
and the ruin of our race was for the cross. No fall, no cross. No sin, no cross. The fall was
decreed by God just like everything else. Now if that angers you,
three things are true of you. Number one, you don't love God.
Because if you love God, you would love everything that he
does. Number two, you don't trust God. You're standing in judgment
of God and criticizing him for what he does. And number three,
you don't really believe you're a sinner. Because if you really
believe you're a sinner, you're going to love everything about
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's where you're going
to find your salvation. Now through the sinfulness of
man, God displays the exceeding riches of His grace. Now God
never intended to save everybody. He never did. He intended to
save only the elect, those He chose before time began. And
as far as I can tell from the scriptures, there's going to
be more people in hell than there will be in heaven. Now I don't
know that, but the Lord did say, wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat. And straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that
find it. And God's people are always described
as a remnant, a small number upon the earth. To think of God sending a man
to hell is a horrible thing to think about. But God does that
person that he sends to hell no injustice. They had no love
for him. They didn't believe his gospel.
As a matter of fact, if it were in their power, they'd kill him.
And that is manifested in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's what me and you are. Take a look at the cross, not
a look at yourself, a look at the cross. When God leaves men
to himself, they nail him to a cross. Now, let me read this
description of these people, Romans chapter 9, beginning in
verse 22. What if God, willing to show
His wrath, to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath? fitted to destruction. I think
it's interesting people just dismiss Romans chapter 9. They
say, well, it has something to do with prophecy. They say it
has something to do with Israel. That's just not fairly facing
Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9 speaks of the
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Now, if a man goes to hell, he
goes to hell because he sinned. not because he wasn't elect,
not because Christ didn't die for him, he goes to hell because
of his sin, his willful sin against God, and the scripture says he
was fitted to this destruction. We also read in Peter of men
who were ordained to this condemnation. We'll read that same thing in
Jude. Do I understand that completely? No. Do I believe it? Yes. Whatever
happens, God is in control of everything. But he endures with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction
that he might make known. the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory." All
this was done with them before the foundation of the world. Now, against the black backdrop
of God's wrath, we see His amazing mercy given to the vessels of
mercy. Now, what is the believer's response
to this? I know the unbelievers are going
to say, this is not fair. The believer will say, why me?
Why such grace to me when I deserve to be forsaken just like everybody
else? Thank God for His grace. I'm a trophy of His grace. Now
we have this message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg 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 todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.