It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, O Lord, that could not be. 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'm going to read a verse
of scripture from the 13th chapter of Hebrews, verse 9, and I have
entitled this message, The Doctrines of Grace or The Doctrine of Grace. In Hebrews, chapter 13, verse
9, the writer to the Hebrews said, Be not carried about with
diverse or various and strange foreign doctrines, plural. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace and not with meats which have
not profited them that have been occupied therein. Don't be carried
about like a tumbleweed without roots, carried whichever the
way the wind is blowing, don't be carried about by various and
strange doctrines. Paul spoke in Ephesians 4 of
those who are carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the
slight of men, by cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. The writer is employing us to
not be carried about with these strange doctrines. I think it's
interesting that in the Word of God, every time the word doctrines
is used in the plural, it's always with reference to false doctrine. There's the doctrine of God,
the doctrine of Christ, and there are the doctrines of men. Now, notice in verse 9 it says
it's good for the heart to be established with grace rather
than being carried about with all these different doctrines.
It's a good thing for the heart to be established with grace
and not with meats. Now, what's he talking about
when he speaks of not with meats? In the New Testament, there were
a group of people, happens over and over and over again. They
were always trying to bring back in Jewish law into the gospel,
and they would bring in the Jewish dietary laws, and they'd say,
if you eat this and don't eat that, you'll be more pleasing
to God. True salvation is by grace, but if you keep these
laws, if you eat this and refrain from eating that, you'll be more
pleasing to God. And there were also those who
were saying, if you eat meats that are sacrificed to idols,
you're doing wrong. Now, if you refrain from eating
that meat that was sacrificed to an idol, you're better off,
you're more pleasing to God. So, what they were doing, they
were saying there are things that you can do to make you more
pleasing and more acceptable to God. True salvation is by
Christ, but if you keep these laws, you'll do better. Paul
said in Romans 4, 17, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And any
doctrines that say that you're standing before God can be improved
by what you do or don't do is a denial that you're complete
in Christ. And it's a denial that salvation
is all of grace. Any doctrines that Make it to
where you can catch more people and grow more, and the church
can be more blessed, taking the edges off the gospel to bring
more people in. That's the doctrines and commandments
of men, and there's absolutely no profit in those things. It's
a good thing for the heart to be established with grace, not
carried about with false doctrines. such as eating and drinking,
things that can enhance your salvation. Those are false doctrines.
No profit comes from that. It's a good thing for the heart
to be established with grace. Now, here's the big question.
What does the Bible mean by the word grace? I dare say we've
all heard of the grace of God. But what does the Bible mean
by this term? Now, I ask that question because
I have a You can have the same word and
it may mean two or three or four different things. I have a friend
who's in China who has been translating messages into Chinese. She's been paying someone to
do that so people can hear the gospel there. And she gave one
of the messages to her husband and she said, I want you to read
this translation and tell me if it's a good translation. And
he said that the Chinese translator took the word grace and translated
it with the Chinese word for elegance. And we all know what
that means. Someone carries themselves with
grace and dignity or elegance. We use the word in that term.
But is that what the Bible means by this word, by elegance you're
saved? Absolutely not. Grace is God's
free and unmerited favor. The first time the word is used
is in Genesis chapter 6 verse 8 where Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Now a couple of verses before
that we read that God saw the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. That's God's testimony of man.
That's His testimony of me. That's His testimony of you.
That was His testimony of Noah. Noah was included in that group.
This is all men as a result of the fall were born with evil
natures. But Noah found grace, found unmerited
favor in the eyes of the Lord. Now what does the Bible mean
by grace? Well Moses was an evil man. Or Noah, just like everybody
else, just like me, just like you, what we are by nature. But
God gave him favor. Here's another way to define
grace scripturally. In Romans chapter 4, Paul is
talking about Abraham. And he says in verse 4 of Romans
chapter 4, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. If there's something you do that
obligates God to save you, that means when He saves you, it's
not a gift of grace, it's a debt He owes you. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
His faith is counted for righteousness." Now, did you hear that phrase,
Him that justifies the ungodly? Now, here's what grace is. It's
God justifying. And that word justify means cleared
of all guilt. It means you're not guilty. Not
simply forgiven. Just before God's holy law. Nothing to condemn me for. God justifies the ungodly. He's made a way to be just and
justify the ungodly, being justified freely by His grace. through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now there's what God's
grace is. It's in taking an ungodly person,
a sinful person, a person who deserves to be sent to hell and
justify them, making them without guilt. That is the grace of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Now listen to this scripture.
Romans 5, 6 says, For when we were yet without strength, not
simply weak, but without strength, without spiritual strength. In
due time, Christ died for the ungodly, not for the good, not
for the righteous, not for the moral. He died for the ungodly. Grace is for the guilty. God's grace is not His offer
to you, that He throws it out there to you and it's up to you
to accept it or reject it, to take it or turn it away. No,
God's grace actually saves. God's grace actually justifies
the ungodly. That's what the Bible means by
grace. Now, do you have no good thing to recommend you? No good
feeling? No good works? No good intentions
that could recommend you to God? Are you without strength? Are
you ungodly? Then grace is for you. Now, if you're a good person,
you don't need this. But if you're ungodly, this is for you. Let me give you a true story. This happened in London, England.
There was a famous painter that was commissioned to paint a part
of the city. And in that city, there was always
a street sweeper. He was known by everybody. He
was always in rags and dirty, sweeping the streets. The painter
wanted this man to be included in this painting, so he came
to this man and said, if you'll come into my studio and let me
take a photograph of you, I'll pay you handsomely because I
want you to be in this painting. So the man agreed, and he came
back the next day in order to have this photograph taken of
him, but he was completely different. He was all cleaned up. He had
nice clothes. He wanted to look good. You know
what the painter did? He refused him. He said, that's
not real. You're to come as you really
are. That's how I want you to come.
And that's the way we come into God's presence, the way we really
are. Not the way we dress ourselves
up to be, but the way we really are. And if I come into God's
presence and I come as I really am, I come as a sinner needing
His mercy. Grace is for the guilty. Add to it, for. Ephesians 2,
8 and 9 says, for by grace are you saved. Through faith. And
that, that faith, it's not of yourselves. It's the gift of
God. Not of works. lest any man should boast. By
grace are you saved through faith." Now, what's this faith thing
all about? Well, where there's grace, grace gives faith. By grace you're saved through
faith, and that faith, it's not of yourselves, it's not the product
of your free will, it's the gift of God. The reason you have faith,
if you have faith, is because He gave it to you. There was
a time when you didn't believe and you do now, and it's because
God by His grace gave it to you. Well, what is faith? Well, that's what grace is. What
is faith? Let me give you a verse of scripture that is so helpful
to understand what faith is. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed to him against that
day. Now, in that verse of scripture,
Paul talks about knowledge. I know whom. Not just what, I
know whom. What we believe is determined
by who we believe. But first in faith, there's knowledge.
You can't believe something you don't know any more than you
can come back from a place you've never been. I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded. Now, he was persuaded. He really believed. In true faith,
there's a persuasion. I'm persuaded that He is able,
I'm convinced that He is able to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that day. In true faith, there's a committal.
Now, in true faith, there's always these three things, knowledge,
belief, and committal. Now, regarding this thing of
grace, being justified freely by His grace, Him who justifies
the ungodly, I know something about Him who justifies the ungodly. I know the only way I can be
saved is if He justifies an ungodly sinner. Now, not only do I know
about this, I believe. I'm persuaded that He is able.
He's able. He's able to justify an ungodly
sinner in a way that's consistent with His justice. God is able
to do that. But not only do I know this,
not only am I persuaded of it, I'm committing myself to this.
All my eggs are in this basket. I'm burning my bridges. My only
hope of being saved is that He justifies the ungodly through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. Now, you may remember that I
entitled this message, The Doctrines of Grace or The Doctrine of Grace. Perhaps you've heard of the doctrines
of grace. It's sometimes even known as
the five points of Calvinism, a term which I loathe, and I'll
explain why in just a moment. But the doctrines of grace, this
came about sometime in the 1600s. There was teaching going on,
very much like the teaching is going on in our day, that men
were not totally depraved and unable as a result of Adam's
fall, but they still had the power of free will. They had
the power to choose or reject, and salvation was ultimately
in their hands. The belief in election, that
no doubt the Bible speaks of election, but that election,
God choosing who would be saved, was conditional. It was conditioned
upon Him foreseeing you believe. When He foresaw you believe,
then He elected you. The atonement of Christ was considered
to be universal. He paid for the sins of all men
without exception. And God's grace is something
that could be resisted. You could say no to the grace
of God. And if you're saved, it was also
true under this teaching that you could lose your salvation.
You could send away your salvation and you could make it to where
you're no longer saved anymore. So some men got together. some
faithful preachers of the gospel and they saw this evil going
on, this false doctrine being spread, and it's no different
than our day. They came up with what are called these five points,
the doctrines of grace, that men are totally depraved. Now what do I mean by that? It
means we completely lack the ability to do anything to save
ourselves. And that election was unconditional. God chose His people simply because
He would, not because of some kind of condition they first
met. That Christ's intention in dying was not to make all
men savable, but He actually saved God's elect. The atonement
was limited to the elect. It was definite. It was particular.
It was effectual. Everybody He died for must be
saved. God's grace cannot be resisted. It's almighty and invincible,
and all of God's people All those the Father elected, all those
Christ died for, all those God the Holy Spirit regenerates,
will continue in the faith. They will continue walking with
Christ. They will not leave Him. That's what has been called the
doctrines of grace. It's also been called the five
points of Calvinism, which I hate that term. It shouldn't be called
that. feel quite sure that John Calvin
would roll over in a grave if he knew somebody was calling
this the five points of Calvinism. The issue is, is this the doctrine
of Scripture? Is this just man-made, what I
just said, or is this the actual teaching of the Word of God?
Because this is all we care about. I don't care if a preacher from
the past believed this or didn't believe it. It doesn't matter. What does God's Word actually
teach regarding the doctrine of grace? Now, in John chapter
6, we have a message that the Lord Himself preached. We read
in verse 59 of John chapter 6, these things said He in the synagogue
as He taught in Capernaum, many therefore of His disciples, When
they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying. We don't like
hard sayings. Who can hear this? Who can be
expected to listen to such teaching as this? They didn't like what
he said. And as a matter of fact, as you go on reading in this
passage of scripture, they all left him. Verse 66, from that
time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. Now, what did he say that created this response to his
sermon? Well, in this same chapter, in
verse 44 of John chapter 6, he said, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me, draw him. Now, how many ways
are there to take that? No man has the ability to come
to Me unless he's drawn of my Father. If God leaves me to myself,
if God leaves you to yourself, we will not come to Christ. We'll be satisfied with things
the way we are. We lack the ability to make this
spiritual move. Now, that's the Lord saying.
No man can come to Me. except it were given him of my
Father, except he were drawn of my Father. There is total
depravity, a complete inability to come to Christ. In verse 36
of this same chapter, he said, But I said unto you that you
see me and believe not. He's speaking to those who don't
believe. He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. Now, there are some people who
will believe, the Lord says, those the Father has given me. This is a reference to divine
eternal election, those the Father gave Him. He said in John chapter
17 verse 9, I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou
hast given Me, for they are Thine. There we have unconditional election. And then in verse 39 of the same
chapter, This is the Father's will which is sent me, that of
all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day." There we have Christ's effectual redemption
of His people. All that the Father giveth me,
I will not lose one of them. Everybody that Christ died for
must be saved because their sins are paid for. The very justice
of God demands their salvation. Now that's what our Lord said.
Verse 39, This is the Father's will which sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing. And then read verses
44 and 45 again in this same message. No man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I raise
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
They shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father comes to me. There's irresistible,
invincible grace. They're drawn by God and they
come to Him. Everybody that has heard and
learned of the Father, none of them are able to reject because
they're given a new heart. And then in verse 51 of this
same chapter, he said, I'm the living bread which came down
from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. He'll persevere all the way to
the end. He will not quit. Now there we have all of these
things in this one message of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine
of grace. Now the doctrine of grace is
a unified whole. It is the doctrine of Scripture. And notice in our text, the writer
says, let your heart be established with grace. This is not just
about getting correct theology. Let your heart be established
with grace. Don't be carried about with all
these various and strange doctrines, but let your heart, that's your
mind, that's your understanding. That's your affections. That's
your will. I understand salvation is of
the Lord. It's all of His free grace. Not
only do I understand this, I love this. I love that salvation is
all of grace. I wouldn't want it to be any
other way. And this is what I want. This is the direction of my will.
This is what I desire. That salvation be all of grace. What do I want? I want salvation
to be all of grace. Let your heart be established,
confirmed, set in cement, the doctrine of grace. Let your heart
be established that this is the teaching of God's Holy Word. That salvation from the beginning
to the end is all of grace. And election is what proves that. Election states that God purposed
my salvation before time began. And if He purposed my salvation,
I was saved in Him before time began. Listen to this Scripture.
Romans 9, verse 11 says, 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, but of him
that calleth." Let your heart be established in grace. Let your heart be established
that men cannot save themselves, that they're dead in sins and
salvation must be holy of the Lord. Let your heart be established
in effectual redemption. The fact that everybody that
He redeemed by His grace must be saved. Let your heart be established
in invincible grace that all He calls must come. Let your
heart be established in the fact that everybody the Father elected,
everybody the Son redeemed, everybody the Holy Spirit calls, they will
persevere all the way to the end. They won't quit. They'll
continue with Christ. They're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Let your heart be established
in grace. Now in Ephesians chapter 2, this
is what I would like to close with if you want to know what
the Bible has to say about grace. I believe Ephesians chapter 2
speaks clearly on this issue as any other passage in all the
Word of God. In verse 1, Paul says in you,
speaking to believers, and you hath he quickened, given life
to. That's not a cooperative effort,
is it? That's his work alone. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Now what a description of what
you and I are by nature, dead. What can a dead man do as far
as life goes? Nothing. Dead in sins. Verse 2, 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, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
God." Somebody once said, here's what grace means, but God, not
that you turned it around, but you turned over a new leaf, not
that you became better and quit doing this, no, 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. And here's what all this means,
by grace you're saved. Now did you hear what he said?
He quickened us together with Christ. If I'm a believer, when
Christ was raised, I was raised. When Christ went to the Father,
I went to the Father. If He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, I am too. Let's go on reading. He's raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are ye saved through faith. There's no salvation apart
from faith. Somebody says, well, if I believe
that, do you have to believe? Do you have to repeat? Of course
you do. Of course you do. These are gifts of God's grace,
but you must believe and you must repent. And if you don't
believe and you don't repeat, you will not be saved by the
grace of God. Of course you will. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Let your heart be established
with grace. Any departure from the doctrine
of grace is a departure from the gospel. There's no separation
between the gospel and the doctrine of grace. And this I know. The only way I can be saved is
if salvation is all of grace, and this I must hear, and this
I must preach. And 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 toddsroadgracechurch.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
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