Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We're located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside 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 toddroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm preaching from Ephesians
chapter 3. We're going to consider this
subject, knowing the love of Christ. Knowing the love of Christ. Beginning in verse 15 of Ephesians
chapter 3, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man. that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and heighth, and to know the love of Christ,
which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Now, I know this. If I know anything,
if you know anything about the love of Christ, we know this,
it passes knowledge. It's infinitely more than our
puny minds can grasp, and eternity itself won't be sufficient for
us to ever fully enter into what the love of Christ actually is. knowing the love of Christ. Now, the love of Christ, the
love of God, they cannot be separated, cannot be understood, and is
in reality a meaningless concept unless we understand something
about the hatred of God. Now the Bible says God is love. I'm thankful for that. And the
Bible never says God is hate or hatred. I'm thankful for that. But the Bible does say that God
hates. Now this is something you rarely
hear mentioned by a preacher, but it's what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that God does, in fact, hate. His hatred is
a holy hatred. It's not like human hatred. It
is the hatred of God. God said two times, one time
in Malachi and one time in Romans chapter 9, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau Have I hated? He's speaking of an individual. I've heard people say, well,
that means he loved Esau less. God doesn't love less. He's infinite. And he said, Esau, have I hated? And that's an individual that
he hated. Psalm chapter five, verse five
says, thou hatest. all workers of iniquity." Now,
that is a large demographic. Thou hatest all, A-double-L all,
workers of iniquity. If God sees someone as a worker
of iniquity, He hates that person because His hatred is a holy
hatred. His wrath is a holy wrath. Psalm 11, verse 5, says, and
him that loveth violence his soul hateth." Now, I realize
that most of what goes on under the name of Christianity presents
God as a God who loves all men without exception. And Christ
died for all men without exception because God loves all men without
exception, and he made salvation available for all men without
exception if you just accept him as your personal Savior. If you don't, you won't be saved.
Salvation is ultimately in your acceptance, and damnation is
in your rejection of the Savior. Salvation is in your hands. It's up to a choice you make. Now, my dear friends, there's
no truth in that. That is not the gospel. That
is not the God of the Bible. Most people think, well, God
loves everybody, but He's not going to violate man's will.
That is not what the Bible teaches. Now, let me give you three things
that are wrong about this notion that God loves everybody and
wants to save everybody, and salvation is in your hands, whether
you'll accept Jesus as your personal Savior or not. Number one, it's
not what the Bible teaches. Somebody that preaches that message
does not preach the message of the Bible. Number two, that view
of the love of Christ, that view of the love of God, makes God's
love meaningless. Somebody says, what do you mean
by that? If God's love was for somebody
that is now burning in hell, what did his love do for that
person? His love is meaningless under
that scenario. Although he loved that man, it
didn't help that man at all. And thirdly, that view makes
God evil. Now listen to me. That view of
the love of God makes that God evil. Now, if my child is in
great danger, and I have the power to rescue that child, and
I say to my child, You're going to be killed if you continue
in that. And I love you and I don't want
that to happen to you, but I'm not going to violate your will. It's up to you as to whether
or not you're going to do that. What would I get for that kind
of love? prison time. That's exactly what I get. Now
that view of the love of God makes God's love an evil thing
if he has the power to save somebody and lets them make their decision
as to whether or not they'll be saved or whether or not they
will not. Now, everybody God wills to save,
he saves. And there will be nobody in hell
that God loved. Now, I'm going to get to the
love of God in a minute, but I want you to see love is a meaningless
concept without some understanding of the hatred of God, the holy,
righteous hatred of God. Now, you can disagree with me
if you want to, but what you're doing is saying, I disagree with
the concept of God you're bringing. I don't like that God. I don't
feel comfortable with that God. I know that, but this is the
God of the Bible, the holy God. He has a holy hatred and a just
hatred because He's holy and He's just. He's perfect. He's
perfect. Now, if somebody says, I just
don't see this and I don't agree with it, You have never seen the true
character of God. And if you disagree with this,
you've never seen your own character. Because if you have some understanding
of God's holiness and your own personal sinfulness, you can
understand why God would hate you and cast you off forever
if you have a true conviction and understanding of what you
are by nature, by choice, and by practice. Now, the love of
God holy. The love of God is pure. The
love of God is clean. Nothing about God's love makes
sin okay. Now, somebody may ask the question,
and preachers say this quite often, isn't God's love unconditional? And I've heard so many preachers
talk about the love of God being unconditional. Isn't the love
of God unconditional? There is no such thing as unconditional
love. You and I can't love someone
unconditionally, and God doesn't love anyone unconditionally. Those that God loves, He loves
because they're lovely, and it's because they're united to His
Son. He says to the church, thou art all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee. You see, Christ has made his
church lovable. They weren't in and of themselves
by nature, but Christ loved the church and gave himself for it
that he might cleanse it and wash it and sanctify it and make
it holy. And so when God sees any member
of the church, He sees the altogether lovely Lord Jesus Christ. First
John 417 says, As he is, so are we in this world. Now how lovely
is he? How beautiful, how perfect is
he? Altogether lovely. And that is
what every one of his people are in him. You see, God's love
is in Christ Jesus. Nothing shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, the love of God is holy. Well, doesn't God love sinners?
Yes, He does. God commended His love toward
us. Who's the us? Everybody Christ died for. And
you don't need to think, well, what if Christ didn't die for
me? Well, what if He did? I tell you this, He's never turned
away anybody who's come to Him for mercy. He said, Him that
cometh to me, I'll know why He's cast out. So don't be discouraged
over this. Actually, you have to understand
that if Christ died for you, you must be saved. It's because
God loved you. It's because He gave you to His
Son. His Son represented you. His Son put away your sins. His
Son gave you His perfect righteousness, and you stand lovely before God.
Yes, His love is for sinners. God commended His love for us.
And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The us is
everybody He died for. The next verse says, for when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Now, everybody that He loves
has been reconciled to God by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They have no sin. They're perfect. Now, these are
the people that God loves. Now, in and of themselves, they're
nothing but sin. And they know that, but the glory
of the gospel is that God makes a sinner lovely. It's called
justification. When God saves someone, He justifies
them. He makes them to where they're
not guilty. He makes it to where they have
no sin. And He doesn't love them unconditionally. He loves them as they are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, As the Father hath
loved me, so have I loved you. The love of Christ. Now, Jeremiah 31.3 says, Behold,
I have loved you, speaking to every believer, with an everlasting
love. A love that had no beginning,
a love that will have no end. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Everybody he loves He draws to
Himself, and everybody He loves loves Him in return by His grace. We love Him because He first
loved us. Everybody He loves loves Him
in return. The love of God in Christ Jesus
is infinite. It cannot be measured. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
I not with him also freely give us all things? He's already given
everything when he gave his son. God's love, the love of Christ,
is infinite. He can't love more. He can't
love less. God's love is immutable. It never
changes. It never grows stronger. It never
cools. He said, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. God's love is sovereign. He loves
whom He will. The Scripture says, Whom the
Lord loveth, He chasteneth. He only chastens His children. whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourges every son that he receives. Jacob have I loved."
Now, Jacob was a sinful man. He was a deceitful man. He was
a swindling man. There's so much that is a blot
against his character when you read about him in the book of
Genesis, but God said, Jacob have I loved. Now listen to this
scripture from Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse seven, the Lord
did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were
more in number than any people for you were the fewest of all
people, but because the Lord loved you. That's His reason
for His love. Somebody says, why me? Because
He chose to love you. What a humbling thing, because
the Lord loved you. God loves whom He will, and the
reason for His love is only found in Himself. He didn't love me
because of how naturally good I am or because of how I draw
out His love naturally. His love for me, the reason is
found in Himself, and God's love The love of Christ is always
saving. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4
and 5, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved." God's
love is always saving love. I've already said this. There
won't be anybody in hell that God loves. God's love is saving
love. It's electing love, choosing
you before the foundation of the world. It's redeeming love
that made payment for all your sins. It's justifying love that
causes you to be just through the work of Christ on the cross.
It's life-giving love. He gives you the new birth. It
is preserving love. He causes you to persevere. It's
glorifying love. He's going to make you just like
His Son. It is saving love. Everybody that God loves, God
saves. Now, somebody says, Are you implying
God doesn't love everybody? Well, if you've listened to the
message, you know I'm not implying it. I'm saying it. But remember,
God is perfect. God's love is always saving love. Here's what Paul prays for these
people. He says, I want you to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth, and to
know the love of Christ. Now, I want you to be able to
comprehend this, Paul says. That word comprehend doesn't
mean intellectually grasp. It means apprehend. That's the
way it's translated in Philippians 3, apprehend, to lay hold of. Now, every believer, oh, I want
us to lay hold of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Lay hold
of this love is my love. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. I want every believer to have
that same assurance as John when he referred to himself as that
disciple that Jesus loved. I want to know myself as one
that is loved by God. Now, he says, I want all the
saints to comprehend this. I want that may be able to comprehend
with all the saints. Who are the saints? every holy
one. That's what the word means, holy
one. Every believer is a saint of
God, a holy one of God, separate, separated by God, separated in
eternal election, chosen to be holy. made holy by what Christ
did for them, sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
to where I have no sin, made holy in the new birth when I'm
given a holy nature, a heart that was not there before. That's
what a saint is, a sanctified one, a holy one. Every believer is a saint. Now, he says this is what he
wants the saints to comprehend or apprehend, what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passes knowledge. Now, let's consider these things
one at a time. To know the breadth of God's
love. There is a wideness in God's
love. How can I illustrate this? I
think I can illustrate by Peter. Peter had a hard time loving
the Gentiles. It happened as a trap to him
and Acts chapter 10, the Lord saved some Gentiles through his
preaching. When he got back to Jerusalem, some men that were
Jewish believers said, what were you doing in the home of a Gentile?
And then he recounted what the Lord had done, and he said, who
was I that I could withstand God? It's almost like he's saying,
I wouldn't have done this, but he did. Why? Because there is
a wideness in the love of God, unlike our narrowness. Now, we're born into this world proud people. Pride is a great
sin. Pride of race, pride of face,
pride of place, and amazingly, pride of grace. And God hates
that pride that makes a man think that he's different than other
people, better than other people, separate from other people because
of his race, because of his face, because of his place, because
of his religion. He thinks he is better. God hates
that attitude. There's a wideness to God's mercy,
and the wideness is seen in the word, whosoever. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Now, there's not going to be
anybody who can say, I came to God for mercy, and He turned
me away. No one can say that. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you're
not saved, you've refused to call on His name. If you're not
saved, you've refused to believe the gospel. You've rejected the
gospel of Christ. There is a wideness to His mercy. The Lord said, Him that cometh
to me. I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever cast out. I don't care what your state
is. I don't care how sinful you are. I don't care what the color
of your skin is. I don't care what your socioeconomic
background is. You come to Christ as a sinner
needing mercy, and he will save you. There is a wideness, a breadth
to his love. And then we read of the length
of his love. The length of His love is an
infinite line in either direction with no breaks or pauses. It's a graph that never, it's
not a graph that goes up and down, it's a line that is eternal. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. Now, this love never gets more,
it never becomes less. An example I thought of was David.
When David sinned in the manner of Bathsheba, the thing David
did displeased the Lord. There wasn't anything that can
justify sin, and there never is. But did David, was David
loved by the Lord any less when he committed that sin? The answer
is no. was David loved anymore by the
Lord when he was composing the Psalms? The answer is no. God's love, as far as the length
of it, it's an eternal line going back through eternity, and it
will never end. And then he speaks of the depth
of God's love, or the love of Christ. Now, I realize that I'm
going to be saying things that I don't fully understand, but
you think of how far Christ came down. He left heaven's glory
and became a man and took upon Him all the limitations of a
man. But the debt goes farther than
that. He submitted Himself to the death
of the cross. He submitted Himself to being
made sin. He drank that cup of sin, the
sins of His people. He was made sin, and He was forsaken
by His Father. Oh, the depths the Lord went
to out of His love, His love to His Father and His love to
His people. And look at the depths of the people he loves, such
sinful individuals, such people who are transgressors and wicked. Christ came into the world to
save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am the chief. Oh, the depth
of his love. And then there's the height of
his love. It's seen in how high he brings
his people. How high is Christ? Well, He's
so high, He's in the very throne of God. And you know who's there
with Him? Every single one of His people. When He was ascended to glory,
every one of His people ascended with Him because they were in
Him. That is how high I am. Somebody says, you don't look
that high to me. Well, I know by faith I am, though, because
it says we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Every believer is in heaven right now as they are united to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's part of the mystery of
the gospel, but it's true. Oh, the breadth, the length,
the depth, and the height of his love that you might know
the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Now, I believe that
He loves me. How do you know? Because I'm
relying only on Him. I'm not looking to my works.
I'm believing the gospel that He accomplished my salvation. Therefore, I know that He loves
me. and that I am His, and that I've
been loved with an everlasting love, a love that I cannot lose. Now, mysterious, yes, it passes
knowledge, but what a joy. And my dear friend, if you look
to Christ only as everything in your salvation, you don't
look to yourself for anything, but you look to Him for everything. He loves you, and you will love
Him in return. Now, we have this message on
CD and DVD. If you email, call, write, get
on the website, we'll send you this message. This is Todd Nyberg. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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