Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. 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. In John 13, verse 18, the Lord
is speaking to his disciples, and the time is right after he
had washed their feet. And he says to them, I speak
not of you all, for I know whom I have chosen. but that the scriptures
may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it
come, that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I
am. I've entitled this message, Not
Washed, Not Clean, Not Chosen. Now I'm going to be saying some
things this morning that perhaps you've never heard before. I'm
not saying they haven't been said before because these things
have been said ever since the gospel's been being preached.
I'm not going to be saying anything new. If something is said that
is new, it's not true. But I'm going to be saying some
things that perhaps you've never heard before, so I hope you will
give me your careful attention. What I just read was said in
reference to Judas, the name that will always be associated
with betrayal and infamy. He says, I speak not of you all,
for I know whom I have chosen, literally elected. Not only did the Christ believe
and teach election, he's the one who did the electing. John
15, verse 16, he said to his disciples, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. If someone would ask me, do you
believe in election? Of course I do. I'm a Christian.
It's what the Bible teaches. I believe the word of God. Now
earlier he said to his disciples, verse 10, Jesus saith to him,
Peter, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every wit. You are clean, but not all. For
he knew who should betray him. Therefore he said, you're not
all clean. He says of Judas, he's not clean. He is not chosen. Now, when the Lord says in verse
18, He quotes Psalm 41.9, that the scripture may be fulfilled.
He that eateth red with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
This is David speaking of Ahithophel, the man who betrayed him. And we would have never known
that this was a prophecy with regard to Judas, did not the
Lord tell us that? Because this was David's prayer
against Ahithophel. I think this is interesting.
Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba. And if you know
the story, David had Bathsheba's husband murdered so he could
marry her. And I'm sure that Ahithophel
had an axe to grind with David. I'm sure he resented David. And
there's always a human element in everything. And he was going
to join up with Absalom in this coup against David, trying to
get him off the throne. But the Lord tells us this was
actually a prophecy with regard to Judas Iscariot. Now he says in verse 19, now
I tell you before it come that he would be betrayed. I'm telling
you before it takes place so that you will know when it is
come to pass, you may believe that I am. You're going to, I'm
telling you what's going to come to pass because it's my will
and purpose coming to pass. I'm in control of everything.
And you're going to understand that I am. That's the name only
given to God. That is the name God spoke to
Moses from the burning bush. I am that I am. You're going to know that I am. He said, I am the resurrection.
I'm the truth. I'm the life. I'm the way, the
truth, the life. I'm the door. I'm the bread.
But here he does not use a predicate after I am. He simply says, I
am. And him saying that, he's saying,
I am God. And he's foretelling Judas's
betrayal. Now, Judas was a wicked man. He is not to be pitied as a victim
of God's sovereignty. He acted freely. He wanted to
betray Jesus Christ. You see, men do what they want
to do. But I'm so thankful that the
Lord is in complete sovereign control over the free and uncoerced
actions of men. Now, this man, Judas, According
to this passage, he was not chosen by God. He was not washed. He was not clean. Now, I've got a question for
you. Could this only be said of him,
that he was not chosen, that he was not washed? and that he
was not clean. Could you only say that about
Judas or maybe some extra bad sinners like Hitler or someone
like that? Mussolini, somebody that'll go
into history as wicked. Saddam Hussein, men who have
killed millions. Now listen to me. This can be
said of everyone who dies in unbelief. They're not chosen. They're not clean. They've not
been washed. Yes, we could say this about
Judas, but we could say this about every other unbeliever. They've not been chosen, they've
not been washed, they are not clean. Now, I believe I'm speaking
to some people who are chosen, washed, and cleaned, and I know
that I'm speaking to some people who are not chosen, who are not
washed, and not clean. And the only way I can be saved
is if I'm washed, if I'm chosen, if I'm clean before God. Do you
feel that way? Do you feel a need to be chosen,
to be washed, to be clean? Now, what I just said contradicts,
is actually opposed to most of what goes on under the name of
gospel preaching. Now, here is the message that
I hear being preached. I want you to listen carefully
and see if I'm not telling you the truth. This is the message
I hear being preached. Man is a sinner and needs to
be saved by God. So far, so good. That's true. And then we'll hear this. God
loves all men, without exception. And God wants to save all men,
without exception. And Jesus Christ died to save
all men, without exception. And God the Holy Spirit is calling
all men, without exception. God offers you forgiveness. God offers you His grace. God offers you His salvation. But as to whether or not you're
saved, it depends on whether or not you accepted His offer.
If you reject His offer, you won't be saved. He wants to forgive
you. But if you don't accept His forgiveness,
you won't be forgiven. He died for your sins, but if
you don't accept him as your personal savior and do whatever
it is you're supposed to do to be saved, you'll go to hell anyway. Now that is a fair representation
of what men preach. God loves all men without exception. Christ died for all men without
exception. God the Holy Spirit calls all
men without exception. But as to whether or not you're
saved, it's up to an act of your free will. You've got to let
him save. You've got to accept his forgiveness. Salvation is ultimately conditioned
upon, predicated upon, depended upon something you do. Now, in
this teaching, God can love you. Christ can die for you. God the
Holy Spirit can call you. He can pay for all your sins.
But you will go to hell anyway if you do not do your part. Your salvation is dependent upon
your acceptance of what? He. offers you. Now that's a fair representation
of what I've said. Now let me say this, if salvation
is dependent upon me or you in any way, we won't be saved. Now that's the fact of the matter
because we're dead in sins according to the scripture. If someone
comes preaching that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody,
God the Holy Spirit's calling for everybody, it's up to you.
It's up to you to accept him as your personal Savior. It's
up to you to invite him into your heart. And if you don't
do these things, you will not be saved. The man that preaches
that message doesn't know God. He doesn't know the gospel. He's
a false prophet. And if you believe that message, you have never
believed the gospel. You've never really bowed the
knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, be patient with me as I
try to explain why I'm saying this. I'm not trying to be divisive. I'm not trying to stir up a hornet's
nest. I simply want you to think about
the implications of this teaching that says that God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, God, the Holy Spirit's calling everybody,
but it's up to you as to whether or not you will be saved. Why is that such a bad message? And I'm saying it's, I hate that
message. I hate it. In my heart, I hate that message.
Now, why? Give me some reasons as to why
you're saying this. Well, first reason is it's not
true. It's just not true. It's not
what the Bible teaches. It's a false way. The Lord said,
all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. It's
just not true. If the message of I've been trying
to give that false preachers preach. God loves you. Christ
died for you. God, the Holy Spirit's calling
you. He's paid for all your sin, but it's up to you to do something.
If that is true, it places the burden of salvation upon the
sinner. It means your salvation is dependent
upon what you do rather than what God does for you. If Judas and Peter were both
chosen, were both clean, were both washed, and yet Peter is
saved and Judas is not, that means salvation had nothing to
do with Judas, I mean, with Peter being chosen cleansed and washed
because Judas was too. It means salvation is dependent
on what Peter did that Judas didn't do. That makes salvation
by works. It makes salvation dependent
upon what man does. And my dear friend, if the burden
of salvation is on me, I'm in trouble. I know I'll mess it
up. I have no doubt about the fact
that I will mess it up. Here's my third reason. This
kind of preaching is a denial of the justice of God. Do you mean to tell me that God
can punish Christ for my sin and then turn around and punish
me for the same sin? If that's the case, God is not
just. That's a complete denial of the
attribute of God's justice and righteousness. He's not going
to punish the same sin twice. He'll never do that. But if he
can punish a man's sins in Christ and then send that man to hell,
That's a denial of His justice. As far as that goes, it's a denial
of every one of His attributes. Now remember what I hear has
to be consistent with the attributes of God. For instance, God is
immutable. He never changes. But He can
intend on saving that sinner and change his mind and send
that sinner to hell. That's a denial of God's immutability. God is
independent. He doesn't need for me or you
to do something before He can do something for me. He does
it all. But if I say God can't save me
unless I first allow Him to save me, or if I first ask Him into
my heart, or if I first have a free will, my free will, decide
to let, that's a denial of God's independence. It's saying God
needs something to be done before He can do something for me. It's
a denial of God's purpose. If he purposed to save me and
ends up having to damn me, that's a denial of his purpose. It's
a denial of his love. To say that he loves me and turns
around and sends me to hell, well, where's their love in that?
It makes the love of God meaningless. Now, I want you to think about
this. If you had a child, And say three or four years old,
the child's out playing in the street. Well, you're not a very
good parent for letting them play in the street. But let's
say they were out playing in the street, and you see a car coming toward
them. And you say to your child, get out of the road, that car's
coming. And your child, let's say it was a rebellious child,
said, I'm not getting out of the road. Would you say to your
child, well, I'm not going to violate your free will. I want
you to get out of the road. I don't want you to get run over,
but I'm not going to violate your free will. And all of a
sudden, the car comes and runs over your child. And if somebody's
witnessing it, you know what's going to happen to you? You're
going to be put in jail for that kind of love. There's no love
there, and yet people attribute that kind of love to the love
of God. If God loves you, you will be
saved. You must be saved because of
who He is. That kind of thinking is a denial
of every one of His attributes. to think that Jesus Christ could
shed his blood for you and you end up in hell anyway, it puts
a limit on the power of the blood of Christ. You know, his blood
alone is not sufficient if that's what someone believes. God can't
say, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. No, he would have
to say, when I see your works, I'll pass over you. Or when I
see your sincerity, I'll pass over you. Or when I see your
will, I'll pass over you. Oh, that puts such a limit on
the power of the blood of Christ. Now, I've heard Christ's death
for His elect called limited atonement, and I know what's
meant by that. It means it's limited to the
elect. It's not for everybody, but if you think Christ can pay
for somebody's sins and that person still end up in hell,
you really put a limit on the power of the atonement. You say
Christ's blood is insufficient. It's not enough. Now, if I believe
that way, God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, God
wants to save everybody, but it's up to me. It puts man in
God's place and God in man's place. Who is the final authority
and who is the decision maker? Why? Man's free will exercises
power over God's sovereign will and stumps God's sovereign will. Well, let's go on. This belief that God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, has made salvation available for
everybody, offers salvation to everybody. It denies the satisfaction
of his sin-atoning blood. When he said, it is finished,
that would make that meaningless. What's finished? You gotta wait
and see what men will do. What's finished? The Lord said
in Luke 9, verse 31, when Moses and Elijah appeared to him on
the Mount of Transfiguration, it says, they spake of the decease
which he should accomplish. His death was an accomplishment.
Now, when you and I die, our death can hardly be called an
accomplishment. It just says we're sinners, we're
weak. We can't keep ourselves alive,
but when he died, he accomplished something. Hebrews 10, 14 says,
for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. The scripture says he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. You see,
there's an accomplishment in his death. He wasn't just making
salvation available. He wasn't just rolling the dice
hoping someone would end up believing on him. His death was an accomplishment
when he said, it is finished. The sins of everybody he died
for were effectually and eternally put away, made not to be. That's the satisfaction of his
sin atoning blood. Now, if Jesus Christ died for
everybody, without exception, wanting them to be saved. If
God loves all men the same, without exception, if God the Holy Spirit's
calling all men without exception, it would mean that Christ does
not get all of the glory in salvation. Let's take Judas and Peter. Peter,
we know is saved. Judas, the Lord called him the
devil, the son of perdition, one he had not chosen. Now, if
God loved Judas and Peter equally, if Christ died for Judas and
Peter equally, and Peter is saved and Judas is not, who gets the
glory in Peter's salvation? It's not the grace of God. It's
not the blood of Christ because Judas had that as well. It's
what Peter did that Judas did not do. Peter gets the glory
ultimately in his own salvation. And let me say this with regard
to man giving the glory. God said no flesh is to glory
in his presence. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
gets all the glory because he deserves all the glory. He did
it all. And if he doesn't get all the glory, that means salvation
is somehow dependent upon some work that I got to do. That takes
the gospel away. There's no gospel left for me.
I've got no hope if that's the case, if it's dependent upon
me. Now, someone But here's this
message. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God wants to save everybody.
But it's up to you to accept his offer. No one's saved from that message. No one's saved hearing that message. The one who brings that message
is not a true prophet, not a God called preacher. The one who
believes it is relying ultimately on something they did for salvation. There is no salvation in that
message. It is a false message, no gospel. Now here is the reason, my biggest
reason for hating this message. Here it is. All of my hope of
salvation is that Jesus Christ died for my sins. Paul said, Who is he that can
dim it? It's Christ that died. There's
the answer. That's the only hope I have,
is that Christ died for my sins and put them away. Now, if you
tell me, that he can die for my sins and I might go to hell
anyway if I don't do my part. You've taken away the only hope
I have of being saved because I know I will mess it up. I have no doubt about that. Now, with regard to Judas and
every other unbeliever, not chosen, Not washed. Not clean. Now, does this shut the door
of mercy on anybody? That's what I want to close with
us thinking about. Is there somebody says, well,
I want to be saved, but I'm not chosen. I'm not washed. I'm not
clean. I want to be saved though. Never
happened. You see, the good news of the
gospel is that God has chosen a great number of people and
that those people are clean before God because Christ has put away
their sins. They've been washed in the blood
of Christ. Now, I don't come to Christ on the
ground that I'm coming to you because I know I'm chosen. I
come to you because I know I've been washed. I come to you because
I know I've been cleansed. That's not the way you come to
Christ. That's not the way you come to God. Well, how do you
come then? Upon what grounds do you come?
I can't come into God's presence and say, I've been chosen, I've
been washed, I've been cleansed. Let me tell you why I come to
God. Let me tell you why I have boldness to come to him. Because
the scripture says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. I'm a sinner. I come on that
ground. I don't come because I know I'm
chosen. I come because I'm a sinner. And it says He came to save sinners.
Romans 5, 6 says, When we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. Well, I'm without strength and
I'm ungodly. Therefore, Christ must have died for me. I come
on that ground. Now, I'm a sinner and I need
this. I know I won't be saved unless
he chose me, unless he washed me, unless he made me clean. He healed them that had need
of healing. I need this. This is no discouragement
to anybody who believes they're a sinner. Now, if you don't believe
you're a sinner, you're not gonna find any hope in this message.
But if you really believe you're a sinner and you need this, this
is for you. The door of mercy is wide open. Listen to this scripture. Romans
10, verse 13 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. I'm a whosoever. I can fit myself
in that demographic. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord. You see, his name is who he is.
You're calling on his attributes to save you. Save me by your
sovereignty. Save me as an act of your will.
Save me by your grace. Save me by your power. Save me
by your wisdom. You're calling upon that name.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. I love that
word call. Lord, help me. I'm calling out. Lord, help me."
Listen to this promise. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, this doesn't shut the door
of mercy on anybody. It opens the door wide Are you a whosoever? Are you
a sinner? Do you need this? Then this is
the message of the gospel to you. You see, there are some
who are chosen, who are washed, who are clean, all who believe. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.