Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. 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 Nivert. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from Mark chapter 10, verses 13 through 16, and I've
entitled this morning's message, Prerequisites, True and False. Now the passage of scripture
I'm going to read is the passage that many use to teach that the
scriptures teaches infant baptism. And I would like to read this
passage of scripture to you, and I want you to notice the
absence of any reference at all to infant baptism. That's not
my subject, I just want to point this out. In Mark chapter 10,
beginning in verse 13, And they brought young children to him. Now that young children can refer
either to infants or young children, toddlers or five or six year
old kids. And they brought young children
to him that he should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those
that brought them. This is not right. But when Jesus saw it, he was
much displeased. He was displeased over his disciples
rebuking these mothers and fathers for bringing their children to
the Lord Jesus. He was much displeased and said
unto them, suffer the little children to come unto me and
forbid them not For of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I
say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Now let me give
the title of this message once again, Prerequisites. true and false. Now, when these parents brought
their children to the Lord Jesus Christ for him to touch them,
who can blame them? This is what I would want to
do with my child. I would want to bring my child
to Christ. And I would be so thankful if
he would touch her. I would want to do this. And
these parents brought their children to Christ and his disciples rebuked
them for it. They said, this is wrong. You
should not be doing this. They again demonstrated how stupid
they could be. And it demonstrates how stupid
you and I can be as well. The disciples were performing
a severe blunder at this time and what they were doing. And
then we read in verse 14, but when Jesus saw it, he was much
displeased. He was angry at his disciples
for this. You see, they were recirculating
the old, old sin of trying to make a prerequisite before a
sinner can come to Christ. They are children. They don't
know enough. They haven't heard enough. They
haven't understood enough. They haven't experienced enough.
They need something else before they will be able to come to
Christ. And the Lord was much displeased
with this. He said, suffer the little children
to come to me and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom
of God." Listen very carefully. Any prerequisite you think that
you need to meet or you enforce on somebody else before they
can come to Christ is wrong. Somebody says, well, you can't
come to Christ until you first turn from your sin. You've got
to turn from your sin first, then you can come to Christ.
or you need to have a proper sense of sin before you come
to Christ, or you have to have proper conviction of sin before
you can come to Christ, or you have to have a deeper experience
before you can come to Christ. Fill in the blank, you need to
fill in the blank before you can come to Christ is dead wrong. That's putting some kind of prerequisite
before someone can come to Christ. And all that is doing is teaching
salvation by works. I have to check this box, fill
in this blank before I can come to Christ. Now such thinking
is all wrong. The disciples were rebuking the
parents because they didn't think their children have what's required
to come to Christ. And you can't come to Christ
until you feel your need. You can't come to Christ until
you have a greater sense of sin. You can't come to Christ unless
you show more sorrow. You can't come to Christ unless
you're more sincere. You need to show you mean business
by turning away from your sins if you're really gonna come to
Christ. To come to Christ, you need to blank first. That's pure garbage. That's all
it is. It's salvation by works. It's
putting a roadblock. And if you think, I can't come
to Christ unless I'm more sorry, I can't come to Christ until
I pray first, or if I quit feeling so sinful, put anything between
you and the Savior that you need to do before you can get to Him
You are making salvation by works. It's plain and simple. Now the Lord says, suffer the
little children to come to me. Let me repeat that. Suffer the
little children to come to me." Well, isn't there an age where
they need to come? He said, suffer the little children
to come to me. Forbid them not, don't make a
bunch of prerequisites, boxes they need to check before they
can come. Suffer the little children to come to me. For of such is
the kingdom of heaven. Now, Coming to Christ. Suffer the little children to
come to me. Coming to Christ is the act of
spiritual life. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you will not come to me. that you might have life. He
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Coming to
Christ is the act of spiritual life. Now, somebody's thinking,
well, what does it mean to come to Christ? And that's a good
question, and I hope you are wondering what that means, because
I believe, by the grace of God through the scriptures, I can
tell you exactly what it means. The Lord said in John 6, verse
35, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst." Coming to Christ and believing
on Christ are the precise same thing. When you believe on Christ,
remember what the Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer
when he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They answered,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now I'm believing on Christ when
I'm relying 100% upon him to bring me to the father. I'm not looking to my works,
I'm not looking to my efforts, I'm not looking to my experience.
I know the only way I can come into the Father's presence is
if he brings me into the Father's presence. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. When I believe on Christ, that
means I'm trusting who he is, and what he did as all that's
needed to make me accepted before God. That's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe on Christ, you're
coming to Christ. Let me give you five reasons
why I, this man talking to you, this sinner talking to you, let
me give you five reasons why I come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the first reason.
The Lord said in John 6, 44, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. And he said in verse
37 of the same chapter, all that the father giveth me shall come
to me. Now I come to Christ because
I was given to him by the father. And I come to Christ because
I'm drawn to Him, drawn invincibly and irresistibly. You know what
happens when you're drawn to Christ? You find Him irresistible. You must have Him. You must be
found in Him. You must know Him. You must be
saved by Him. Now, when I'm talking about why
I come to Christ, I've got to begin with God, not with myself,
but God by His Spirit drawing me to Him. the Son, because I
was given to him in the covenant of election before the foundation
of the world. That's why I come to Christ.
But I come to Christ because I'm commanded to. When he said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. That's not advice. That's a command,
and my right to come to him is because he commands me to. Come
unto me. Thirdly, I come to Him because
I have a great need of Him. I need the precious Jesus for
I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need
the cleansing fountain where I can always flee. The blood
of Christ, most precious, the sinner's perfect plea. He healed them that had need
of healing. That's me. I need Him. And I come to Christ because
I'm afraid not to. I'm flat afraid not to, and that's
why I say, draw me, bring me to yourself. Cause me to come
to you. I'm like Peter, bid me come to
thee on the water. Command me to come. I want to
come. I know I can't in and of myself.
Command me to come. And I come to him because I really
have no other options. There's no place else to go.
You know, the Lord looked at his disciples after he watched
the multitude leave him, and he said, will you also go away?
The doors open. Peter replied, Lord, to whom
shall we go? It's not like there are options.
Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure
that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. And you suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not For of such is the kingdom
of God." Now, let's consider these little children for a moment. It could mean one of two things. It could mean infants, newborn
babes, maybe three weeks old, a month old. Or it could mean
little children who could walk to the Lord, who could even converse
with the Lord and respond to what he had to say. It could
mean either one of those words, but both are very instructive.
Let's say he's talking about infants. Infants. People who are at this point
incapable of believing, incapable of coming to Christ, incapable
of having any experience. Infants. Now there are scriptures,
listen to me carefully, there are scriptures that imply, and
note the word imply, then imply that infants, or at least some
infants, maybe all infants, but at least some infants are saved.
Now, the example we have is King David when he lost his son. He said, he can't come back to
me, but I'll go to him. And the implication is that when
David died and went to heaven, he would be reunited with his
son who had died. Now, the Bible does seem to imply
that infants are saved. Now, let me say this, there's
no definitive statement on it. There's no statement that says
all infants dying in infancy go straight to heaven. They may,
but the Lord does not make a definitive statement about this, and it
always troubles me when I hear people say, I know that all infants
are saved. Well, you can't get that from
the Bible. I hope they are, and there's implications, but you
can't say, I know infants are saved, because when you make
dogmatic statements like that, it's like you're saying God would
be wrong to not save them. Well, you and I don't have any
business judging what God does. Whatever God does is right, whether
you and I see it or not. And if it's wrong for all infants
to not be saved, it's wrong for infants to die in the first place.
Why do infants die? There's one reason, sin. sin. Even those that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, they still died.
Why? Because of sin. The reason an
infant dies is because he's a sinner. And if an infant does go to heaven,
if an infant does enter heaven, it's not going to be because
he's innocent. He's going to be saved the same way any other
sinner is saved. He'll enter heaven because God
elected him before time began. He'll enter heaven because Christ
died for his sin and put it away. He'll enter heaven because he
was given a new heart. He was regenerated and made fit
for heaven. He'll enter heaven believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how is that? I don't
know. But without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Scripture says that. And somehow,
I can't tell you how, but somehow that infant will be saved the
same way you and I are saved. Of such is the kingdom of God.
The only reason anybody enters the kingdom, if they're saved,
they're saved like an infant would be saved, because he's
elect, because Christ died for him, because God the Holy Spirit
gave him life, and he was enabled by divine grace to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's of such infants is the
kingdom of heaven. But let's talk about little children.
Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Little children. What is it to
receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child? is to believe
what you hear. It's that capacity a child has
to believe. You tell a child something and
before it's had, or before he or she has had the experience
to become cynical and to doubt and so on, you tell a child something,
they believe it. I love the way the Lord said
to Abraham, here's childlike faith. Abraham, see the stars,
can you count them? So shall your seed be. And Abraham
believed God. He didn't have any evidence.
He didn't have any children yet. His wife was a very old woman,
but because God said it, he believed it. That is childlike faith. We believe what God says. Now, to put false inference requirements,
false prerequisites, you need to do this in order to come to
Christ, oh, that's so terrible. You come to Christ as you are.
Don't try to do something first. You come to Christ in your heart
as you are and believe on him who came to save sinners. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul said,
I am the chief. Are you a sinner? Somebody says,
yes, I am. Then Christ came to save you.
And beloved, he did save you on Calvary Street. You believe
on him. Receive him just as a little
child. Now there are true prerequisites
though to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now these are God given,
but no man is going to enter the kingdom of heaven without
these. As a matter of fact, the Lord
said in Matthew chapter 18 verses three and four, except you be
converted and become as little children. You shall in no case
enter the kingdom of heaven. He said in Matthew 5, verse 20,
except your righteousness, your personal righteousness exceed,
far surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.
You shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, they thought it was very good.
It wasn't. It was filthy rags, but I think the rich young ruler,
he said, with regard to the commandments, all of these have I kept from
my youth up. Now, he demonstrated how ignorant he was, but still
he sincerely thought, I've never lied, I've never taken something
that's not mine, I've never committed sexual sin, I've never coveted
anything. He actually thought he had done
that. Very few people reach that. The Apostle Paul thought that
about himself. He said, touching the righteousness which is in
the law is blameless. Well, you're going to have to
have a righteousness that's better than that. Your personal righteousness
is going to have to be better than that. And that doesn't mean
you're going to grit your teeth and close your eyes and try harder
and try to become better. No, the only righteousness there
is that God will accept is his own righteousness. And his own
righteousness must be yours. Paul said in Romans 321, now
the righteousness of God without the law, without my personal
law keeping, is manifested by the law and the prophets. It's
what the Old Testament scriptures have always taught. Even the
righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe. Now if I enter heaven,
it's gonna be because his righteousness is my personal righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, for you or I
to enter into heaven, we're going to have to enter in through the
straight gate and along the narrow road. Now the Lord said wide
is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.
Many go in that route, but straight, narrow is the gate, narrow is
the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. Let me tell you how straight,
how narrow, how constricted this gate is. If you have anything
other than Christ, you can't get in. You can't get through
this gate if you have anything that you're looking to other
than Christ only. And it's the same as you walk
along the road. If you have anything other than
Christ only, you'll fall off the precipice. You won't persevere. It's only those who have Christ
only that get through the gate. If you've got any works or experience
or good deeds or efforts that you think help you into the gate,
you can't get in. The only person who can get through
that gate and walk along that way is the one who all they have
is Christ Jesus. Now you're familiar with this
scripture, perhaps Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 through 23. The Lord says, not everyone that
saith to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven.
Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in your name? And in your name, have we not
cast out demons? And in your name, have we not
done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Now, these people thought they
had all kinds of good works by their own profession. They thought
that they preached in Christ's name. They thought they had great
spiritual power. They cast out demons in Christ's
name. But Christ said, I never knew you. You see, he knew they
had never done the will of God. This is the work of God. that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. These people had never
believed on Christ only. Oh, they had plenty of religion,
but they had never believed on Christ only. That's God's will,
is for you to look to Christ only as everything in your salvation. And then in Matthew 25, verse
10, we have the parable of the Wise virgins and the foolish
virgins, all of them had lamps. They looked alike. All of them
slumbered and slept. But when the bridegroom came
and called them in, only the ones who had oil in their lamps
and had light were admitted in. They that were ready went in
with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. The foolish
virgins, who didn't look any different than the wise virgins,
they both had lamps, They both slumbered and slept while they
were waiting for the bridegroom. That was not a good thing. They
were both like that. But the difference between the
wise and the foolish was the oil, something that you couldn't
see. And the difference between a
believer and an unbeliever is the oil of God's grace, the oil
of God's spirit, God giving them a new nature, which leads us
to what the Lord said in John 3, verse 5, "...except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven." For me to enter the kingdom of heaven, I'm going
to have to be born of water. That's not talking about water
baptism. We read of the washing of the water by the word in Ephesians
chapter 5. That's talking about the gospel
message. Water and of the Spirit, God the Holy Spirit taking the
word and creating eternal life in a man, a new nature, being
born again, being born from above. And the Lord said in John chapter
10, verse 9, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. The only way I can enter in is
by him. There is no other way. And then
we read in Revelation 21 verse 27, and there shall in no wise
enter in anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh an
abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. For me to enter into heaven,
I'm gonna have to have my name already written there. in the
Lamb's Book of Life, and that's a reference to election. The
names of God's elect being in the Lamb's Book of Life from
the foundation of the world, and when you enter into heaven,
you're gonna find that you had a place reserved with your name
already written. Now, this is true of all God's
people. Only the elect will enter in.
Only those who elect will be saved. Somebody says, well, how
can I know I'm elect? If you come to Christ, you are.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And then we
read in Revelation 22 verse 14, blessed are they that do his
commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and
may enter in through the gates into the city. Now doing his
commandments is believing on his son. And believing on his
son, you are justified and you have a right to enter in. Now let me back that up with
the scripture. First John chapter three, verse 23 says, this is
his commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ. Now, believing on his name means
believing on his attributes. You believe on his power to save
you, his sovereign will to save you, his justice to save you,
his mercy to save you, his grace to save you, his wisdom to save
you. That's what it is to believe on his name. You believe on who
he is to save you. Jesus Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's king, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. Blessed are they that do his
commandments that they may have right. The reason they have rights
is because they're righteous before God. Christ justified
them to the tree of life that they may enter in through the
gates into the city. Now, they're false prerequisites,
but they're true, and they are all the gift of God's grace to
all who come to Christ. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg 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 your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. or you may write or call the
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