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 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 Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Today. Today. Right now. Present tense. In Hebrews chapter
3, verse 7, we read, Today, if you will hear
His voice. Today. We read in the Same chapter,
verse 13, exhort one another while it's called today. That's a sobering thought. There's not always going to be
a today. There's not always going to be
a present tense. There's not always going to be
a right now. The time is coming when time
will be no more. Today, while it's called today. Now, I would like you to think
real carefully about these statements I'm getting ready to make. There
are two false refuges that we are constantly tempted to hide
in. You know what those false refuges
are? Yesterday and tomorrow. Those are the two false refuges
that men seek to hide in. Yesterday, what I did yesterday,
what I experienced yesterday, what I believed yesterday. looking to something from yesterday
to give me present assurance. I must be saved because of something
that took place yesterday. I must be saved because of something
I believed yesterday. That is a false refuge. Faith is always in the present. If I gotta look back 10 minutes
for assurance, I'm missing Christ. Faith is always right now. I think of what the Lord said
to the church at Sardis. He said, you have a name that
you live and you're dead. You're living on the past. You're
living on past experience, past belief, past feelings in the
past. You're looking right now to the
past rather than looking to me only. You've got a name. You're
living on your past reputation. You've got a name that you live.
and you are dead. That's no different than eating
yesterday's manna. What happened if you ate yesterday's
manna? It would breed worms and stink. You'd put yesterday's manna in
your mouth and all of a sudden you had a mouth full of worms
that stank that you would have to spit out that could do you
no good. Yesterday is a false refuge. Tomorrow is a false refuge. Tomorrow it will be different.
Tomorrow I will fill in the blank. whatever it might be. Tomorrow,
things will change. Tomorrow, I'm going to whatever
it might be. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Now in both
of these instances, in hiding in yesterday and hiding in tomorrow,
hiding in yesterday is hiding in what you did Hiding in tomorrow
is what you intend to do. That, my dear friends, is salvation
by works. It's salvation by what you did
or by what you intend to do. Salvation by works. Now, these
are two false refuges. yesterday and tomorrow. Now, in verse 7 of Hebrews chapter
3, wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear
his voice. Now, if you have a King James
version, You will notice in verse 7, it says, wherefore, and a
parentheses starts. And that parentheses is not over
until verse 11. Now, the parentheses is not inspired. It was put there by the translators. But the translators believed
this was a parenthetical statement. It was a statement of explanation. And when you see a parentheses,
that means you can pull it out. and read the passage of scripture
without what that parentheses is saying, and it will be in
proper context. Now, what I want to do, we're
going to come back to this parentheses from Psalm 95, and it's a quotation
from Psalm 95. I want to pull that out right
now and read this without the parenthetical statement. It reads
like this. Wherefore, verse 12, take heed,
brethren, He's speaking to brethren. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another, while
it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end. Wherefore take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. Now can a believer depart from
the living God? Can a believer be saved one day
and lost the next? Is there such a thing as eternal
security? You know, I've heard people use
the phrase, once saved, always saved. Perhaps you've heard that.
Once saved, always saved. And somebody says, do you believe
in once saved, always saved? Well, it depends on who saved
you. If you saved yourself, no, I don't believe once saved, always
saved, you'll fall away. If I save myself, it won't last. But if God saved you, yes, I
believe in once saved, always saved. If he is the one who does
the saving, I believe the scripture definitely teaches the eternal
security of God's elect. The Lord said, my sheep shall
never perish. End of story. My sheep shall
never perish. My father, which gave them me
is greater than all. And no man can take them out
of my father's hand. That's why we believe in the
eternal security of the sheep. That being said, What is the
evidence of being a sheep? What is the evidence that you
are eternally secure? The evidence is perseverance. if you persevere, that will prove
you really are one of his. The Lord said, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples. Indeed, he that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved. Now the evidence that one is
truly saved is that he perseveres in the faith. He perseveres looking
to Christ. He doesn't quit. John said in
1 John 2, 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be manifest, that they were not all of us. Now he gives this warning. He
says, take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Now I've
seen people depart that seemed to me that they really were children
of God, and yet they've departed, they've left. I want to take
heed lest that happens to me, because I know how sinful I am.
I don't really know how sinful I am. I'm a whole lot worse than
I think I am. But I know how, I have some idea of how weak
I am. And if I'm not kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, I will fall away. Can a sheep perish? Well, if
you can, you will. Can sheep fall away? If you can,
you will. But God's people cannot because
they're kept by the power of God. And they're kept through
persevering. Now this thing of persevering
is not just remaining religious. It's continuing to look to Christ
all the way to the end. Take heed, be on your lookout,
lest there be in any of you Now, you know what that tells me?
I'm not to be thinking about you, I'm to be thinking about
myself. Take heed lest there be in me, Todd Nybert, an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And if I
depart from the living God, it's because I've been corrupted from
the simplicity that's in Christ. And I've sought to find a refuge
in yesterday or tomorrow rather than trusting the simplicity,
the singleness, the onlyness of Jesus Christ. What that means
is Christ is all in my salvation. Now I'm corrupted from that if
I start looking to something from yesterday for assurance
or something for tomorrow for assurance. Nothing is more evil than unbelief,
and it's in me. Do you remember when the disciple
said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief? A believer believes. I cannot not believe. But a believer
in his old man still has unbelief. My old nature never believes.
The new nature never does not believe. The old nature never
believes. Hence, I believe. I really do. Help thou mine unbelief. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from
the living God, but exhort one another daily while it's called
today. Today, if you will hear his voice,
here's that word today, the right now, the present, exhort one
another while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness, the deceptive nature of sin. And the scripture
says the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. That's talking about my natural
heart. That's talking about your natural heart. I don't trust
my heart. Somebody says, trust your heart. Scripture says, he
that trusteth his heart is a fool. I trust what God says, not the
things that go through my heart. Listen to these scriptures. Be
not deceived. Evil communications, corrupt
good manners. Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived.
God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. John 1.8 says, if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. When
a man thinketh himself to be something, when he's nothing,
he deceiveth himself." We read of the deceitfulness of riches
and the deceitful lusts and being spoiled through philosophy and
vain deceit. The deceitfulness of sin has
such a hardening effect to where I'm hard-hearted and I can't
hear the gospel. Exhort one another daily while
it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin, for we are made partakers of Christ if, now this is an
evidential if, it's not a conditional if, it's an evidential if, this
is the evidence that we're partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end. What's the beginning
of my confidence? When I first believed, when God
first gave me faith, I knew that all I had was Christ. I didn't have anything else to
recommend me. All I had was Christ. My only hope of being saved is
that Jesus Christ died for me. No other hopes, all in that. My only hope is that His righteousness
is given to me. That's all I had. Not only is it all that I had,
it's all I wanted. I don't want anything else. I
don't need anything else. Christ is all. All that God is, all that God
requires, all that I have. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. That is the beginning of my confidence
and we're called upon to hold that beginning of our confidence
steadfast all the way to the end. We don't graduate from that.
We don't make any progress beyond that. We look to Christ only. Does this mean that we don't
care about growth and grace or Walking with Christ, of course
it doesn't mean that. I want to be just like Christ.
I want to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. But at all times, all I have
is Christ only. And that's to be held steadfast
to the end. Now let's go back to this parenthetical
statement that the writer of the Hebrews gives to explain all of this. Verse seven,
wherefore, and now he quotes Psalm 95, verses seven through
11. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith. Now, I'm not interested in what
men say. I'm interested in what God says. This is what the Holy Ghost says,
the one who inspired men to write the scriptures. This is the third
person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. Wherefore
the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice." Now
the only way I understand today, and this helps me to understand
it, is the manna. You can read about this in Exodus
16. When the children of Israel left
Egypt and went into the wilderness, God fed them every day with manna
from heaven. Now this is given to illustrate
the Lord Jesus Christ, him being the bread from heaven. He said
that himself in John chapter six. But here's what took place. Every day, manna would fall from
heaven. And by noon, it would melt. You had to go out and gather
it. It wasn't just put in your house.
You had to go out and gather it. And you were to gather just
enough for that day. If you thought, well, I'm going
to gather double and eat today's tomorrow as well, you know what
would happen? When you would eat that bread
the next day, it would breed worms and stink. It would give you no value at
all. All you could do is spit it out.
Yesterday's manna is no good for today. I can't save for tomorrow. Manna was to be eaten that day
in the present. I'm to look to Christ right now. I'm not, you know, yesterday's
manna, I'm hungry today. Yesterday's manna won't do me
any good. Tomorrow's manna will breed worms and stink. I'm to
look to Christ only right now every day. No change, no progressing
past that. Looking to Christ only, the heavenly
manna every day. Don't try to save, don't try
to live tomorrow off yesterday's manna. It won't be any good.
Today, today the Holy Ghost says if you will hear His voice, hearing
His voice in the preaching of the gospel. Now if my voice is
the only voice you hear, you will have no benefit at all. The Lord said, the hour is coming,
and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. If I don't hear His voice,
it will be no saving benefit to me. If all I hear is the voice
of the preacher, It will do me no good. Now he speaks. If you will hear his voice, he
speaks by creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. He speaks by his word, that word
that is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Now let's go on reading in verse. 8. Harden not your hearts, as in
the days of provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty
years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said,
They do always err in their heart. They have not known my ways,
so I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. Now he is referring to what took
place in Numbers 13 and 14 when God said, go take the land. They had not been gone from Egypt
for very long, and God said, go in and take the land. So they
come up with a plan, well, let's send spies in. They couldn't
just come in simply because God said. They wanted to send spies
into the land to see the land. And they sent those spies in
for 40 days. They come back 40 days later,
and they come back with a load of grapes to show how indeed
it was a land that flowed with milk and honey. But they said
there are giants in the land. And we were like grasshoppers
in their sight. And there's no way we can defeat
these people. There's no way we can take this
land. Now, look what they'd just seen. They'd seen the Lord destroy
Egypt. They'd seen the 10 plagues. They'd
seen the parting of the Red Sea. But they forgot all of that.
And they thought, we're not able to take the land. They were looking
to their own ability. They murmured, Moses, they murmured
against God, you brought us out here to kill us. We would have
been better off staying in Egypt. And they actually spoke of stoning
Joshua and Caleb when they said, we'd be well able to take the
land. If God's for us, if he delights in us, we can take the
land. That's not going to be a problem. There'll be bread
to us. And the people spake of stoning them, and the Lord said,
how long will these people provoke me? Provoking him with their
unbelief, their failure to enter into his rest. I was grieved with that generation
said they do always err in their heart. Continually, nonstop,
they always err in their heart. They have not known my ways. Now, it's not that they didn't
intellectually hear of his ways. They'd heard his ways, but they
had not known them. They did not love them. They
didn't love Christ being the way. They didn't love his righteousness
being the way. They didn't love his life being
the only life God would accept. They didn't love him as the way
of peace. They didn't love him as the straight
and narrow way and the straight gate. The Lord is this straight
gate, this narrow way that's so narrow that if you have anything
other than Christ, you can't get through. Now let me repeat
that. I want you to hear that. Christ
is the narrow way in this sense. If you have anything other than
him that you'll plead before God, you can't get through. He
is the only way to the Father. Christ is the way. And he said,
so I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. Now understand this, faith is
described as a rest. What do you do when you rest?
You're not working, you're resting. And this concept comes from Genesis
chapter 1 and chapter 2 after God had finished The works of
creation in six days. On the seventh day, he rested. It was not because he was tired.
It's because the work was finished. He looked at what he did and
behold, it was very good. And he rested from all of his
works. Now listen to this scripture
from Hebrews chapter four, verses nine and 10. There remaineth
therefore a rest. A Sabbath of rest. Do you remember when the Lord
said, come unto me and I will give you rest? There remaineth therefore a rest,
not trying to work, not trying to do. There remaineth therefore
a rest for the people of God, for he that has entered into
his rest Listen to this, he also hath ceased from his own works,
as God did from his. Now if I enter into his rest,
I will cease from my own works. I'm not looking to be saved by
anything that I do, but only by what he did. Now, the writer
says, Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God, but exhort one another daily while it's called
today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end. Colossians chapter two,
verse six says, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, How'd
you receive him? Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to thy cross I claim. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in him. How do you receive him? Empty-handed. How do you walk in him? Empty-handed,
looking to him for all things. Now we're made partakers of Christ
if We hold the beginning of that confidence, Christ only, steadfast
to the end. Now we have this message on DVD,
CD. If you call the church, write
or look on our website, you can get a copy. This is Todd Nyberg
praying that 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.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.