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 this message, What
is Meant by the Grace of God? Now this is a term that many
people use. I don't know how many times in
my life I've heard people say, there go I, but by the grace
of God. When they see some unfortunate
situation or somebody in a bad position, there go I, but for
the grace of God. It's a word, it's a phrase that's
used very often But what does the Bible mean by this word,
grace? Now in Acts chapter 15, verse
11, Peter makes this statement, but we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Now, what led Peter to make this
statement? In verse one of Acts chapter
five, and certain men which came down from Judea, this is the
church at Jerusalem, taught the brethren and said, except ye
be circumcised, After the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. They were saying Christ is not
enough. Grace is not enough. And they
gave them something to do in the law that they must do or
they could not be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with them, they argued over this. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with
this vehemently. They publicly announced, we don't
believe this. They determined that Paul and
Barnabas and certain of them should go up to Jerusalem and
to the apostles and elders about this question, whether something
was necessary other than Christ alone, whether something was
necessary other than grace alone. And being brought on the way
by the church, they passed through Phenicia and Samaria, declaring
the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto
all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received at the church and the apostles and the elders,
and they declared all the things that God had done with them. But, now he tells about the issue
at hand, but there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees,
which believed. Now, there's a problem right
there. The Pharisees which believed,
the sect of the Pharisees which believed, they didn't just believe,
they had something along with it, the doctrine of the Pharisees. And here's what they were saying,
that it was needful, it was necessary to circumcise them and to command
them to keep the law of Moses. The blood of Christ was not sufficient. You needed also to be circumcised
and to keep the law of Moses. Now, anything in addition to
Christ is this. This is saying there's something
other than Christ alone that is necessary. And the apostle
and the elders came together for to consider of this matter.
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and
said unto them, men and brethren, you know how that a good while
ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth
should hear the word of the gospel and be saved. And God, which
knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy
Ghost even as he did unto us. And he put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith, these Gentiles
that had never been exposed to the law, they're saved the same
way we are, by faith in Christ. Now therefore why tempt ye God? What you're doing when you're
adding something to Christ alone. Why tempt ye God to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear? Now Peter is saying this is the
practice of hypocrisy. You can't bear that yoke, you
can't keep the law, and yet you're insisting on others that they
have to keep the law along with Christ being their Savior. Now Peter says this, but we believe,
and this is the statement of faith of every believer, But
we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved, even as they. Now this is given in a way that
it could actually be translated on in three different ways. We believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been saved. We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're being saved. And we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be
saved. And we will be saved even as
they. He doesn't say the Gentiles will
be saved the way we are. He says, we will be saved the
way those Gentiles are, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is meant by being saved
by grace? Everybody uses the term. I hear
it so often. But what does the Bible mean?
by this thing of being saved by grace. Well, let me say this
first. Grace is an attribute of God. Let me repeat that. Grace is an attribute of God. God said in Exodus 22, 27, I
am gracious. He said in Exodus chapter 34
verse 6, when he proclaimed his name, he proclaimed the Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious. There are many other scriptures
I could go to, but let me give you some scriptures from the
Psalms. God is called a God full of compassion. and gracious. The Lord is merciful
and gracious. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. Gracious is the Lord. Peter called him the God of all
grace. Now as God, he must be who he
is. He must be sovereign That means
he must control the free and uncoerced actions of
man he's in control of. Everything that's going through
your mind right now, he's in control of because he's God.
As God, he must be sovereign. He has a will, he has the power
to make his will come to pass, and he always does make his will
come to pass. He must be just. God's just. He must be independent. He can have no needs. He said,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The cattle on a thousand
hills are mine. He must be immutable, he cannot
change. He must be all that he is and
he must be gracious because that is who he is. Now he doesn't
have to be gracious because he owes us his grace, not at all,
but this is his nature. He delights in being gracious. He delights in saving sinners
by his grace. I love the way our Lord is called
full of grace and truth. Now, let me give you these things
the scripture tell us concerning the grace of God. First, listen
carefully. God's grace is never an offer. God's grace isn't offered to
you up to your acceptance or rejection. God's grace is not
an offer. God's grace saves. Now, you don't have any control in
this thing of grace. He's free to, He's sovereign
to give it and He's sovereign to withhold it, but grace is
never offered. If you do not receive grace,
God never gave grace to you. God's grace is not an offer.
God's grace is saving grace. Somebody thinks, well, God offered
that man grace, but he rejected it. No, God never gave him grace. If God gives you grace, you'll
receive it. But God's grace is never an offer. To make God's
grace an offer up to you to accept or reject is to deny what grace
means altogether. So may you think about this and
see this. Grace is not offered to you. We read in Acts 4.33 that great
grace was upon them. Mega grace was
upon them. God's grace is great grace. It's so infinite, it always saves. There's no such thing as God
trying to save someone by his grace, but it failing. His grace
is great grace, and God's grace is purposed grace. 2 Timothy 1.9, 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 was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. If you or I have the grace
of God, it's because God purposed for us to have that grace. And that's what Paul was talking
about when he spoke of election in Romans 11, verse 5, and he
called it the election of grace. What is election? It's God choosing
his people before time began. Salvation is according to God's
choice, not man's choice. The Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. And this choice is by grace. God didn't look down through
the telescope of time and see who would believe and who wouldn't,
and therefore make his choice based upon that criteria. That
would make God a time traveler. No, God chose to be gracious
to whom he will. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. So we must understand with regard
to God's grace that it's sovereign grace, purposed grace, electing
grace. And if someone denies that, they
deny that salvation is by grace altogether. God's grace is saving
grace. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And that not of yourselves, that
faith is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. not of works,
lest any man should boast. God's grace is always saving
grace. If he saves you by his grace,
it's he that did it and you're the recipient of it. It is saving
grace. God's grace is justifying grace. Now this is what the Bible means
by grace. I know men use the term all the time and they might
mean different things by it, but what does God's word say
about God's grace? Listen to this scripture. Romans
chapter three, verse 24 says, in whom we have redemption through
his blood. Now, we're redeemed having been
justified by the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, having been
justified by the grace of God. Now, justified by grace. What does that word justified
mean? If I'm justified, that means I have never sinned. I have no guilt. I stand just before God. God's law looks me over and says,
not guilty. I am completely satisfied. That's what God's grace does.
It justifies the sinner. It makes the sinner without guilt. That's why Christ died. My sins,
Christ took into his own body on the tree and he put them away
and he gave me his righteousness so that I stand before God without
guilt, justified, having never sinned. That's what God's grace
does. It justifies. Now, God's grace is the grace
that arises from eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
somebody says, what do you mean by union with Christ? Well, the Lord gives this illustration. I am the vine. You are the branches. Now the same stem that goes through
the vine goes through the branches. And there's no connecting point.
Every believer is eternally united, one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this scripture
from Ephesians 2, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, For his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us
together with Christ. Now notice that. It doesn't simply
say he quickened us or gave us life. He quickened us together
with Christ. Being united to him, being one
with him, when he was raised from the dead, I was raised from
the dead. I, and then here's how he summarizes
all this. He puts this in parentheses.
Here's what I mean by this. By grace are you saved. You see, that's the grace of
God. It comes from being eternally united with Jesus Christ. This
union never had a beginning point. It's eternal. Somebody says,
explain that to me. I can't explain that. I just
believe it because it's what the Word of God teaches. The
two shall be one flesh. Paul said, I speak concerning
Christ and the church. God's church, every believer,
has always been united with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is
what grace is, being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the grace that makes
us accepted in the beloved. Ephesians 1.6, now think of this
scripture. He hath made us. accepted in the Beloved. He hath made us accepted. Now that word accepted is the
same word used with reference to what the angel said to Mary,
hail thou art highly favored. Thou art much graced. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved so that God is completely satisfied with me. God accepts
me. You know, I heard a preacher
say just recently, he said, I'm satisfied with God. I sure hope
God's satisfied with me. Oh my, you've missed it. You've
missed it. He is infinitely satisfied with
every believer because of the work of Christ in their behalf. I am accepted in the beloved
without reference to my works, good or bad. I am accepted in
the beloved. And let me show you just how
accepted this is. In 1 John 4, verse 17, it says,
as he is, So are we in the world right
now. Now how is he? Accepted, completely
lovely to his Father, holy, perfect, without sin, That describes every
believer in the Beloved. Oh, what grace that makes us
accepted in the Beloved. The grace that saves is the grace
that calls. Paul said this, when it please
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace. Now, this is what is known as
the call of the gospel. Now, this call that comes from
God, He called me by His grace. It's invincible. God does not
call someone and they say, well, I'm not going to respond. It
is irresistible. I think the obvious illustration
of this would be Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. Lazarus, come
forth. Could he have said, I don't know
whether I'm going to do it or not. Why no? When he called him,
he that was dead came forth. That's the call of grace. And
that call is always by the gospel. There is no just all of a sudden
being called without the gospel. He called us by the gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm called
in hearing the gospel declared. And I believe that's the work
of God's grace in a man. It's the call of God. And thank God, his grace is forgiving
grace. Ephesians 1 says, seven says,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Now, I want you to think about
this. I said, grace is not an offer.
Forgiveness is not an offer. God does not offer you forgiveness,
and it's up to you to accept it or reject it. Justification
is not an offer. You know, the judge never says
to the guilty one, I'm going to give you the opportunity to
accept justification or reject it. Why? That's never happened.
If you're justified, you're declared to be justified in this thing,
forgiveness. God doesn't offer anybody forgiveness. Now, religion,
and I'm talking about false religion, Religion that doesn't come from
God. It makes forgiveness the end of a process. If you are
real sorry, and if you confess your sins, and if you promise
to never commit those sins again, and if you start doing better,
you'll have the forgiveness of sins. That's false religion. That's
salvation by works. That's putting your forgiveness
dependent upon what you do. Grace begins with the full, free,
complete forgiveness of all your sins. Not only the ones you've
committed, but the ones you haven't committed yet. When Christ died,
you hadn't committed any of your sins, had you? But if Christ
died for you, He died for all of those sins. And they are all
forgiven sins because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness is not an offer. It's up to you to accept it or
reject it. No, God's salvation, God's grace
begins with the forgiveness of sins. Paul put it this way in
1 Corinthians 15, 10, by the grace of God. Here's what the
grace of God is. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. I'm a sinner. And it's only by
the grace of God that I know that. There was a time when I
didn't understand that. I do now. It's by grace. I'm
an elect sinner. That's by grace. I'm a justified
sinner. That's by grace. I'm a forgiven
sinner. That's by grace. I'm a regenerated
sinner. I've been born from above. That's
by grace. I'm a preserved sinner, and that's
by grace. Every aspect that a believer
is, I am what I am by the grace of God. And Paul said this with
regard to his thorn in the flesh. And every believer has a thorn
in the flesh. Paul talked about his thorn in the flesh that beat
him blue. And he said, three times, I asked
the Lord to remove it. And he said, my grace, here's
the Lord's answer. My grace is sufficient for thee. What is meant by grace? Sufficient
grace. I am saved sheerly, freely, completely
by His grace and His grace is sufficient for me. No matter what He puts me through,
no matter what is around the corner for me, God's in control
of it, and he has promised, my grace is sufficient for thee. And you know, I am completely,
by his grace, willing to be saved by pure, free grace. And I know
this, in heaven, I'll be a trophy of his grace. I'll be an example
of just how much of salvation is by grace, 100%. I love the
way it's called abounding grace. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. God's grace is always abounding
grace. What's that mean? That as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness. Now here is the truth. You can't stop death. Just as
much as you can't stop death, if you're an object of God's
grace, you can't stop his grace. You can't do anything to mess
it up. It's abounding grace, grace that abounds over all my
sin. And I love the way he said it's
through righteousness. There's nothing unclean. There's
nothing sinful about grace. Grace is through righteousness.
The very righteousness of God is honored in his grace and how
enriching this grace is. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be rich. This is even something we grow
in. Grow in grace, Peter said, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We
grow in seeing our need of grace, We grow in seeing our love for
grace, and by His grace, we grow in graciousness, grow in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Is
it any wonder Paul called the gospel the gospel of the grace
of God? And how I love Peter's summary. We believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved just like these
Gentiles were. Now, let me wrap this up by saying
this. According to the scriptures,
God's grace is saving grace. God's grace saves to this point. It makes the objects of its salvation
perfectly conformed to Jesus Christ. Now we have this message
on CD and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neiber at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. Mm-hmm