Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. 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. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1, Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. I've entitled this message, Partakers
of the Heavenly Calling. If you are a believer, You have
been personally called by God himself. How special is that? If you are a believer, God himself
has called you. No man taketh this honor unto
himself. save he that was called of God,
as was Aaron. This is special grace. If you are a believer, he has
called you. If your neighbor is not a believer,
he didn't call your neighbor. If he called your neighbor, they'd
come. You see, his grace is irresistible and invincible. If he calls someone
by his grace, they come. What a special privilege to be
called by God. It's called a heavenly calling,
not an earthly calling. Believers are said to be the
called of Jesus Christ. Not everybody is called. Christ
said, Lazarus, come forth. What if he would have said that
to everyone else? They would have come forth just
like Lazarus, but this is a special personal call. Lazarus, come
forth. Oh, if he calls you, you'll come
forth. He that was dead came forth. Zacchaeus, make haste. Come down, today I must abide
at thy house. Zacchaeus made haste and came
down and received him joyfully. Matthew, follow me. Matthew arose,
forsook all, and followed him. Now there is nothing more special
than being called of God. If you are the called of God,
You are the recipient of special grace, partakers of the heavenly
calling. Paul said to the Romans, you
also are the called of Jesus Christ, beloved of God, called
to be saints. What's more special than that?
Now, does he call everyone that way? I've got to ask that question
because we really don't have an appreciation of the call if
we don't understand this. Does he call everybody that way? Now, the answer is no, he doesn't.
He does not call all men without exception. If he did, all men
without exception would come to Christ. He does not call all
men without exception. Now, somebody may be thinking,
how can it be fair for him to call some and not call others? How can that be fair? Now, if
that's the way I'm thinking, if that's the way you're thinking,
we're speaking as a person with a sense of entitlement. And we're
speaking as a person who has no understanding of our own personal
sinfulness. If we understood anything of
our own personal sinfulness, we would not think that. We'd be like Peter. When the
Lord made himself known to Peter, he said, depart from me, Lord.
I'm a sinful man. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. You wouldn't have heard Peter saying, it's not
fair for you to not love me and you not call me and not save
me. He saw himself to be the chief of sinners. Now, the person
he doesn't call, listen to this, the person he doesn't call doesn't
want what he has anyway. He doesn't want to be saved by
his grace. He wants to be saved by his works. He doesn't want
this at all. And he can't, how can you honestly
say, well, it's unfair for God to give me what I don't want
in the first place. It's not unfair for God to withhold from
you what you do not want in the first place. Now, This is what
is said of every believer, a partaker of the heavenly calling. Now this is the sovereign call
of God's grace. And let me give you some scriptures
that will demonstrate what is meant by that. This special call,
this sovereign call, this irresistible call, this invincible call. If
he calls, you will respond. Listen to these scriptures. Galatians
chapter one, verse 15, Paul says, when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me. Romans 9, 11, for the children. being not yet born, speaking
of Jacob and Esau, neither having done any good or evil. They didn't have any good works
to recommend them. They didn't have any evil works
at that point 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, but
of him that calleth. Second Timothy 1.9 says, he saved
us and he called us with a holy calling. Not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And don't miss
this. He saved us and he called us, which came first. The saving
or the calling? The saving came first. This salvation
was accomplished before He called us. When He said it is finished,
all of God's elect were saved. He saved us and He called us
with a holy calling. Romans 8.28 says, And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. Romans 8, 29 says, for whom he
did foreknow, then he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. If he predestinated you, he will
call you by his grace. Remember how Peter said, to give
diligence, to make your calling and election sure. You sure can't
make your election sure until your calling has been made sure. Those two things cannot be separated.
It's said of those who were with the Lamb in Revelation 17, verse
14, the one who was Lord of lords and King of kings, and they which
were with him were called. chosen and faithful. The called are the chosen of
God. Paul said, you see your calling,
brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen. There it
is. God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Now
I've given so many scriptures now with regard to the sovereignty
of his call, that if you reject this, all I can conclude from
that is He never called you. Because if He calls you, you
will receive and not reject and bow the knee to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, there's a content to this
call. There's a content to this call.
There are words that are involved in this call. There's something
here. It's not some kind of just all of a sudden you start coming
to God without hearing something. Second, Thessalonians 2, 13 and
14 says, but we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you. by our gospel. The call, the content of the
call, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture.
We preach Christ crucified. That's the gospel. How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? Through Christ crucified. Through Christ being nailed to
a cross and putting away the sins of those he died for and
making those sins to not be and giving them his righteousness
and it has nothing to do with their works. Now that's the message
of the gospel. We preach Christ crucified. As a matter of fact, Paul said
in the next chapter in 1 Corinthians 2, I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block. and to the religious. You know how they're going to
hear the gospel? When they hear that your works have nothing
to do with salvation, but it's all according to what He does,
they'll say, well, that's a license to sin. That's a blank check
to sin. If my works don't count, that
means I can sin all I want and it makes no difference. That's
how they respond to the gospel. They stumble to the Greeks. These are the worldly people,
the educated. They find the gospel to be nothing
more than foolishness. How can I make the world a better
place with that message? This is not doing me any good.
We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto
the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, oh, there
they are. but into them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God. The way my sins are put away
through the blood of Christ demonstrates the mighty power of God, what
power He has in taking my sins and making them not to be. Christ
is the wisdom of God. He shows the wisdom of God in
making a way for Him to be just and justify the ungodly. Now, what is the call? The gospel. gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no call apart from the preaching, the hearing, and the
believing, and the receiving of the gospel. Now, my third
point is this. First point is the call is God's
sovereign call. The second point is that the
call is the gospel. It's the gospel that's the power
of God and salvation. Now here's the third thing I
want us to consider. Who does he call? Who does he call? He doesn't
call everybody. Who does he call? Am I one of
the people that he calls? Well, let me answer that from
the scripture. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in Romans 9, verse 13,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you have any personal righteousness,
you exclude yourself from the call. It was he who said, I came
not to call the righteous. Now, if there's anything about
you that is righteous, If you're like that Pharisee who trusted
in himself that he was righteous and despised others, I thank
thee God that I'm not as other men are. If you see something
in yourself that makes you different from other people and makes you
better from other people, God's not calling you. He said, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I love saying this, the gospel
is a sinner's religion. The gospel is essentially for
sinners. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. He didn't come to save good people.
When I hear people say, well, I'm a good Christian, or he or
she is a good Christian, I think, you don't even know what a Christian
is if you say something like that. You're making somebody's
personal goodness what makes them a Christian. That's contrary
to the gospel. That's an oxymoron. A good Christian,
if you're a Christian, by definition, you're a bad person. And your
only hope is who Christ is and what he did. Now let me ask you
a question. I'm not asking you. Let me repeat,
I'm not asking you if you're one of the elect. I'm not asking
you if you're saved. I'm not asking you if you've
been born again. I'm not asking you if you know
that Jesus Christ died for your sins. I'm asking you this one
simple question. Are you a sinner? Are you somebody who, in and
of yourself, all you do is sin? You cannot not sin, and you're
not putting the blame on anybody but yourself. It's all your fault. You can't look down your nose
at anybody because of your own personal sinfulness, and you
have no claims on God. You have no claim on his salvation
because of who you are. You're nothing but a sinner.
That is who Christ came to save. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost hath made him so. Now, let me say this to you. Your sin will never keep you
from being saved. Your righteousness will keep
you from being saved. Your goodness will keep you from
being saved. That profession that you made
that you're hoping in will keep you from being saved. Your experience
of a changed life that you believe qualifies you as being saved
will keep you from being saved. But let me tell you what will
not keep you from being saved, being a sinner. Paul said, when
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now, the Lord said clearly, I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, what does repentance mean?
Please listen carefully. It means a change of mind. You have a change of mind concerning
God. You used to dislike the way he
is. You don't feel that way anymore. You bow to who he is. You have a change of mind concerning
yourself. You now believe what the Bible
says with regard to you. You really believe that you're
nothing but sin. You didn't used to believe that
way. Your mind's been changed. You have a change of mind about
the forgiveness of sins. You understand now that salvation
does not end with the forgiveness of sins. When you do this, this,
and this, and quit doing that, no, salvation begins with the
free, complete forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake. Repentance. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. You know, we read several times
in the scriptures of the hope of his calling. Ephesians 4.4
says, even as you are called in one hope of his calling. Now, before we consider this
hope, I want to remember that Paul said in Romans 8, hope that
is seen is not hope. Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now I have a hope
of justification on judgment day. You know what that means?
I have a hope that I will stand before God on judgment day, having
never sinned. Not treated as if I had never
sinned, but having never sinned. Somebody says, well, how could
that be if you've sinned? because Christ put away that
sin and it is no more. And the righteousness that he
worked out just as truly as my sin became his sin, his righteousness
is mine. He never sinned because he never
sinned, I never sinned. I have a hope that on judgment
day, I'm gonna be brought before the thrice holy God and I'm going
to be declared sinless without guilt, perfectly conformed to
the holy law of God, perfectly righteous. Now, I can't see that
hope right now, but I believe because of what Christ did. I
have a hope that everything between now and then is working together
for my good and his glory. Because Romans 8, 28 says, and
we know that all things work together for good. to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Every
event of my life, no matter how painful, whether it's what I
would consider good or what I would consider bad, it's all working
together for good. That's what the Bible tells me. Now, can I see it? No. No, I
can't. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. You see, we have a hope. Not something that we can see,
but that we're waiting on because we believe it's going to take
place. What a hope. The hope of His
calling. And this call of God, listen
to this, is without repentance. Without God changing His mind.
Romans 11.26 says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He never has a reason to change
his mind. Now, how many things have you done and said that you
regret? And if you could, you take them
back, you wish you never did them, you wish you never said
them. Oh, how you regret doing those things, saying those hurtful
words, committing those evil deeds. Oh, you wish you hadn't
done it. You know, God never has any regrets.
You know why? There are no unforeseen circumstances
with Him. He didn't say, well, I didn't
know they'd sin like this. I didn't know they'd do that.
No, He saw everything from the beginning. Known unto God are
all His works from the beginning. And He never has a reason. There's
no unforeseen circumstances with Him. No sins you've committed
that He didn't know you'd commit. He knows everything from the
beginning, and he never changes his mind. God is not a man that
he should repent. You see, you're in Christ, and
nothing can change that. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 24, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do
it. You see, everything he calls
you to do, He enables you to do. All He requires, He provides. When He told that man with the
withered hand to stretch forth his hand, he couldn't. But he could when Christ told
him to do it. You see, all that God requires you to do, He enables
you to do. What a hope that is. Faithful
is He that calleth you who also will do it. And this call of
God is a call to liberty. He hath called us, Galatians
5.13, He hath called us to liberty, to freedom. Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled
again in that yoke of bondage. Now, what is liberty? Well, here's
the only thing I know of freedom. I'm free if I don't owe anybody
anything. If I have debts, I have no freedom. But in Christ, all
debts have been wiped away. I stand before God without guilt.
Freedom is getting to do what I want to do. I want to serve
Christ. What a blessed thing that is,
the call to liberty. And this call of God is a call
to holiness. God has not called us to uncleanness,
but unto holiness. And you can only be holy if you
are holy. And if you are holy, you will
be holy. You know, the gospel of grace
does not in any way excuse, encourage, or condone sin in any form. I love that passage of Scripture
in 2 Corinthians 7, having therefore beloved these promises. Let us
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This call is a holy calling. and it is a call to holiness. And then we read in Ephesians
chapter four, verse one, Paul said, I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
or the calling wherewith you were called. Now he tells us
to walk worthy of this calling wherewith we were called. Well,
what's that look like? Well, he tells us with all lowliness,
humility, Humility is a just estimate of yourself. Oh, we
so naturally have inflated views of ourselves and they're so contrary
to the grace of God. Walk in all lowliness. You know,
the Lord Jesus Christ was humble. You reckon you and I ought to
be humble? with all lowliness and meekness, that's an attitude
before God that believes everything he does is right, therefore it's
good, with long suffering, patience, forbearing one another in love,
putting up with one another, knowing my brother's just as
sinful and weak as I am, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, giving every effort to keep the unity
of the Spirit, not sowing discord, not bringing on contention. By pride only cometh contention,
the wise man said, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. Now that's what every believer
who is called by God is called to do, to walk in lowliness,
to walk in meekness, to walk in long-suffering. to walk in endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Oh, what a glorious,
special thing this is to be called of God. And every believer is
a partaker of the heavenly calling. We have this message on DVD,
CD, on our website. You call the church, write, or
look on our website, and you can get the message. 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 your request to todd.nyberg at
gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. Hmm