I did choose thee. 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. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibbert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Willing to Do His Will. Our text is found in John
chapter seven. I wanna begin reading in verse
14. Now, about the midst of the feast,
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled. saying, How knoweth this man
letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, My doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will, do his will. He shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him. Now in bringing this message,
there are two questions I want to answer. The first is a question
I'm asking myself and that I'm asking you. Am I willing to do
His will. Now, I hope you'll wait till
after this message before you answer that question. I want
you to hear what I'm going to say from the Word of God. Am I willing to do His will? And the second question I want
to answer is a very important question. How can I know if what
I'm hearing is from God or simply some man's opinion or some denominational
distinctive or somebody trying to shove their religion down
my throat? How can I know if what I'm hearing
is from God? How can I know if what I'm hearing
is the truth? You see, there are many voices,
there are many preachers, all claiming to bring the word of
God, yet saying things that are completely contradictory to one
another, and even contradictory to the scriptures. How can I
know if what I'm hearing is from God? Verse 14, now about the
midst of the feast, it's talking about the feast of the tabernacles,
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews, those
who heard him in the temple, marveled, saying, how knoweth
this man letters having never learned? They're saying, he never
went to school. How does he even know how to
read? Where did he go to seminary? How are we supposed to be expected
to believe what he's saying? He doesn't have the proper education.
How can we be expected to listen to this man? They marveled. You know, never man spake like
this man. He's the greatest speaker to
ever speak. And I'm sure they were astonished
at what he had to say. And they thought, where did this
come from? Very much like at the end of
the Sermon on the Mount, the scripture says, they were astonished
at his doctrine when he'd ended these sayings, The people were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority, not like the scribes, not like the religious professionals. What he said recommended itself
as nothing less than the very Word of God. He spake as one
having authority, and I'm sure these people were astonished
at his teaching, at his doctrine. Where'd this come from? Where'd
he go to seminary? And here's how the Lord answers.
Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine, my teaching. Don't ever think of the word
doctrine in a negative connotation. Don't think of it in a disparaging
way. I've heard people say things
like, I don't want to hear doctrine, I want to hear about Jesus. Well,
everything you say with regard to him is his doctrine. Old,
dry, dead doctrine. The doctrine of God is never
dry, and it's never dead. It may be the one who speaks
it, doesn't understand it, and is not giving the truth. It may
be the one who hears it, is hearing from a dried-out, dead heart.
But that doesn't make the doctrine dry and dead. God said, My doctrine
shall distill as the rain, and drop as the rain. Oh, the doctrine
of God. Christ says, My doctrine. is not mine, but his that sent
me." Now, what is the doctrine of Christ? I'm going to read
a passage of scripture from 2 John, and I'm going to begin reading
in verse 7. I want you to listen to these
words. John says, for many deceivers are entered into the world. Did you hear that? Many deceivers
are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and antichrist. Now, the doctrine of Christ is
to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. I confess this. That means I
state this publicly. This is not something I keep
in the background. I state this publicly. I confess
to being guilty of preaching this and believing this. that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Now, in that statement,
we have the whole gospel. Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. That means he was before he came. This is talking about
his eternal existence. Now, if I said, I came down from
heaven, you would do well to think he must be crazy. But when
the Lord says it, it's because He did come down from heaven
because He is eternal God. He's the second person of the
blessed Trinity. He never began to be. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the creator of
the universe. Jesus Christ is equal to God
because He is God. The only way you can be equal
to God is to be God. Jesus Christ is God, the full
deity of Jesus Christ. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. Paul said in Colossians 2.9,
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus
Christ is all-powerful. Jesus Christ is omniscient. He
knows all things. Jesus Christ is absolutely just. Jesus Christ is absolutely sovereign. He controls everything. Jesus
Christ is merciful and gracious. All that God is, Jesus Christ
is. In John chapter 14, the Lord
said, you believe in God? Believe also in me. Now when
he says believe also in me, That is sometimes translated, you
believe in God, even so, believe in me. You believe God is all
powerful, even so, believe in me. You believe God is all wise,
even so, believe in me. Oh, the deity of Jesus Christ,
he was, eternally was, He is the great I Am before He ever
came in the flesh. Secondly, He came in the flesh. Jesus Christ, eternal God, the
Creator, is no one less than God manifest in the flesh. He's a real man, bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh. He is a human being. In this one person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, there are two natures. The nature of absolute deity
and the nature of perfect humanity. The God, Man, Christ, Jesus. He came in the flesh, just as
God said He would. In Genesis chapter 3, right after
the fall, we read of the seed of woman that would come and
crush the serpent's head. You know, the Old Testament says,
somebody's coming. It's the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He came in the flesh, and listen
to this, He did what His Father sent Him to do. Whatever it was
He intended to do, He did. We read in the very first chapter
of the New Testament, Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's
exactly what he did. He did what he came to do. When
he said it is finished, his people were saved from their sins. He
said in the previous chapter, in John chapter six, verse 38,
for I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, With the
will of Him that sent me, and 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." Now that is
his doctrine. He says, my doctrine is not mine. You see, he's one with the Father.
What the Father says, he says. What he says, God the Holy Spirit
says. He speaks with authority. What
that means is if he said it, it's so. We don't have to have
an explanation in the sense that, well, who gives you the right
to say that? You know, my father used to say to me, do it because
I said, and I didn't dare ask him, well, what gives you the
right to do that? No, I did it because he said
to do it because I knew what would happen if I didn't. Now,
God speaks with that authority. When he says it, it is settled. That saying, God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. No, God said it, that settles
it. This is the doctrine of Christ. He said, my doctrine, the person
and work of Christ, the God-man and what he accomplished, Jesus
Christ and him crucified. My doctrine is not mine, but
his that sent me. Now let's go on reading in verse
17. He says, if any man will do his
will. He shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Now remember that initial question,
am I willing to do his will? What the Lord tells us, if any
man will do his will, He'll know the doctrine, whether it be of
God. And if I do not know the doctrine,
the reason is an unwillingness to do His will. If you don't know the doctrine,
if I don't know the doctrine of Christ and believe it in my
heart and receive it and rejoice in it and embrace it, there's
a reason behind that. It's because in my heart, there
is an unwillingness to do His will. Now, before you say, well,
I'm willing to do His will, and I can understand somebody saying
this, but before you say that, what does it mean to do His will? Good question, isn't it? What
does it mean to do? his will. I want to read a passage
of scripture from Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. These are the
words of the Lord. And he says, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. The only people who will enter
heaven are the people who do His will. Not that say they do His will,
but that do His will. What does it mean to do His will? Well, let's go on reading. The
Lord says in verse 22, many, not just a few, This is talking
about judgment day. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. Note the quantity, many. Note the quality, wonderful. These people thought they had
done God's will. We've preached in your name.
We didn't preach in our own name. We had works of power that only
you could have enabled us to do. We cast out devils in your
name. And in your name, all the good works we've done. Now hear
the words of the Lord. Verse 23. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Now that while these people believe
they'd done his will, They had not done His will, although they
thought they had all kinds of religious works that proved they
did. They didn't. What is it to do His will? Well,
in John 6, the previous chapter from the chapter we're looking
at, some people asked a very specific question. What must
we do to work the works of God? That's a very specific question.
We want to do his will. What must we do to work the works
of God? And he gave a very specific answer. This is, John chapter six, verse
29. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Doing His will is believing on
Christ. Doing His will is what Paul did
when he said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. With regard to the day of judgment,
I am looking only to Christ. I'm not looking to my works.
I'm not looking to my experience. I'm not looking to anything that
has anything to do with me. When He said, it is finished,
here's what I'm relying on. When He said, it is finished,
my salvation was accomplished. I'm looking nowhere else, nothing
more, nothing less, nothing else than Him and Him alone. Now that's
what it is to do His will. It's to look to His Son only. To Him that worketh not, but
believeth. on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." Now, if I'm unwilling to do his
will and look to Christ only, I cannot know the doctrine. I won't understand it. I'm still
dead in sins. But if I'm willing to do his
will, I'll know the doctrine, whether it be of God. Are you
willing to do his will? Are you willing to trust Christ
only? Are you willing to do nothing
and rest in what he has done? Now, if you're willing to do
his will, you'll know the doctrine. Now, the Lord says in verse 17,
if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh
of himself, listen real carefully. He that speaketh of himself,
seeketh his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him. Now, how can I know if what I'm
hearing is from God and not just some man's religious opinion
and dogma? How can I know if what I'm hearing
is from God? Here's the answer to that question,
and it's so simple. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Now, if I would ask you, who
gets the glory in your salvation? I dare say you'd say God does. The Pharisee in the temple said
the same thing. He said, I thank thee that I'm
not as other men are. He thought he was giving God
the glory, but he wasn't. He went down to his house condemned,
but he still said, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are.
Now, what determines Whether we give God the glory in our
salvation is the doctrine we believe. The doctrine of Christ. My doctrine will identify who
gets the glory in my salvation. Now listen real carefully. Most
people believe, and this is what they preach, that God wants everybody
to be saved. That God loves everybody. that Jesus Christ paid for the
sins of every man and woman to ever live. And He's made salvation
possible. He offers His salvation to everybody. There it is. He offers it out,
but it's up to you to accept it or reject it. Now, I have
no doubt that that is what is preached in probably 99% of the
pulpits in Central Kentucky this morning. God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants to save you. But He can't unless you, as an
act of your free will, allow Him to. He can't save you until
you give Him the okay. He can't save Him until you accept
Him as your personal Savior. You've got to accept Him. He's
up on the auction block, as it were, up to your acceptance or
rejection. Will you accept Him? Will you
make Him the Lord of your life? People say things like that,
as if you could make Him the Lord of your life. He is the
Lord of your life. He's the Lord. He's not in your hands, you're
in His. But yet preachers present this weak, Small J Jesus, small
G God that wants to do things, but can't unless we let them. The message of our day is God
loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
the Holy Spirit calls everybody. He wants you to be saved, but
your salvation is up to you. Now, if God loved Judas and Peter
equally, he loved them both the same, We know Judas was not saved,
he was a child of perdition. The Lord called him that. He's
not saved, he's in hell right now as I speak. Peter, the Lord
said, Peter, I've prayed for you that your faith fail not.
Peter's in heaven right now beholding the face of the Son of God, perfectly
saved. Now, Peter and Judas. If God
loved Peter and Judas the same, what does the love of God have
to do with salvation? Nothing. He loved him equally. It's what Peter did that Judas
did not do. Peter's the one who gets the
glory. If God willed the salvation of
Peter and Judas, and yet Peter is saved and Judas is not, it's
not the will of God that causes salvation. It's Peter's will
and what Judas didn't will. If Jesus Christ paid for the
sins of Peter, and paid for the sins of Judah, and Peter is saved,
and Judas is in hell, who gets the glory and their salvation?
It's not the blood of Christ, it's what Peter did that Judas
did not do. If God the Holy Spirit is calling
both of them the same, And Peter saved and Judas is not. Who gets
the glory and salvation? Peter does. It's what he did
that Judas did not do. Now, in salvation, who's getting
the glory? What's the preacher saying? Now,
if I'm saved, it's because God elected me. before time began. And He didn't do it because He
foresaw I believed. He did it simply as an act of
His will, because He willed to do it. If I'm saved, it's because
Jesus Christ died for me. I didn't help out. He put away
my sins before I was even born. My salvation is not dependent
upon me accepting what He did. My salvation was accomplished
when He said, it is finished. He gets all the glory. In my
justification before God. If I'm justified, that means
I say I'm sinless before God. Who gets the glory in that? Jesus
Christ. It's His righteousness. I didn't have anything to do
with it. He did it. In my regeneration when I'm born
again. I have as much ability to be
born again as I had the ability to be born the first time. Nobody
asked me. I wasn't around. It was an act
of God. And if I'm born from above, it's an act of God. In
my preservation, persevering all the way to the end, it's
not because of my goodness or my efforts. No. He gets all the glory. And when
I'm in heaven, listen to this. You know, so many people believe
that there's going to be a judgment of believers after the general
judgment. Then there's going to be a judgment
of believers afterwards. And the ones who were more obedient
and fought against sin more and studied more and had more self-deniers,
they're going to have a higher reward than the people who didn't
do as much. Now, here's me up in this mansion. You're down here in this little
shack. Who's going to get glory? Well, I'll get the glory for
being more obedient, more holy, more whatever. That's not of
God. That's giving man glory and wherever
men get glory, God's truth is not there. He said, my glory,
I will not share with another. Do you hear that? Now this is
how you can tell if what you're hearing is of God. Does it give
God all the glory? It's of God. Does it give man
any glory at all? Then it's of man. It's not the
truth of God. If any glory is given to man,
it is not of God. Now, if I'm willing, by the grace
of God, to do His will, I'm not going to be fooled when I hear
someone preach. I'm going to know the truth.
I'm going to know what's of God. And here is how I'll know if
it gives any glory to man, man's free will, man's works, man's
efforts. It's not of God. If it gives all the glory to
God. I can know it's of the Lord. It is the Word of God. Now we have this message on CD
or DVD. If you call the church or look
it up on our website, you can get it off that. You can get
a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying God will be pleased to make Himself
known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.neilert at
gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.