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 read Ephesians chapter
2 verse 18. For through Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, we both, Jew and Gentile, through Him we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Sinner's Religion. The Sinner's Religion. And I don't say that flippantly. I realize that sin is an infinite
evil, but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is essentially and
fundamentally the sinner's religion. The only people who are interested
in and are saved by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are
sinners. And they stay sinners. I'm not talking about they stay
committing this sin and that sin. That's not what I'm talking
about. But someone that God has saved
always sees themselves as sinners. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am, not I was, right
now, present tense, of whom I am the chief. That's how Paul saw
himself, this man that God had revealed himself to. the sinner's
religion. Now, in the passage of Scripture,
I just read, for through him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now, the we is every sinner,
whether Jew or Gentile. I know it refers to all of God's
elect, all for whom Christ died, all that God the Holy Spirit
has given life to, but this is how they hear the gospel, how
they understand the gospel, how they believe the gospel as sinners. We have access, freedom of entrance
into the very presence of the Father. Now, there are those
who do not have access to the Father. The Lord told us about
them. He said, many shall say into
me in that day, that day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not preached
in your name? In your name, have we not cast
out demons? And in your name, have we not
done many wonderful works? Then will I confess to them,
depart from me. ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. These were denied access into
the presence of the Father. The Lord said, no man can come
to me except it were given to him of my Father. Now, this is
not something to take for granted. There are those who try to come
some way other than Christ, like Cain did, bringing the fruit
of his own works, and they will be rejected, but there are some. And I want to be one of those
people. I can give an encouragement to any sinner. This means you.
If you're not a sinner, I don't have a message for you. But if
you're a sinner, this message is for you. Now, in this verse
of Scripture, the first thing that I'd like to point out is
we have the Trinity. We read of the Father, we read
of through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we read of the One
Spirit, God the Holy Spirit. we have the Trinity. Now, can I understand the Trinity? No. I don't understand how God
is one God in three distinct persons-Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And if you came up to someone
and said-that had no understanding of God, no had never heard any
of the message of the Bible. He said, God is one God in three
persons. They'd say, what in the world
does that mean? Well, the only reason we can
say this is because it's a part of divine revelation. The Bible
is the inspired word of God. God breathed all scripture is
given by inspiration of God. There is no error in the Bible. Now somebody may think, and I
understand them thinking this, how do you expect me to believe
that? How do you expect me to believe? With men copying over
and over, over the centuries, how do we know that men's thoughts
and men's ideas have not entered in? And it's really maybe at
one time it was inspired, but who's to say what is man's writing
and what is God's writing? I can understand somebody thinking
that way, but think with me. You believe that God created
the universe. And if you don't believe that,
there was a time when you did. Because every natural man is
born with this understanding, somebody very powerful made this
world, and nobody made him. He's eternal. You believe that. God created the universe. Now, if God can create the universe,
God can also inspire a book and preserve it through the centuries
as his word. Now, if the Bible is not the
inspired word of God, you got my opinion, you got your opinion. Our thoughts and our thoughts
are just wrong. Thank the Lord for the Bible. We're not dependent upon some
man to tell us what the truth is. We've got the Word of God.
And the Word of God reveals that God is one God in three distinct
persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 1 John 5, 7, there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost. When the Lord gave instructions
concerning baptism, he said, baptize them in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now we also know from
the scriptures that a covenant was made between the three persons
of the Godhead before the foundation of the world. Now there was a
time, and I know I'm speaking in a way that's really impossible
to grasp because we're creatures of time and space, But there
was a time when time had not yet begun. There was no space. All there was was God. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father chose
a people in Christ before the creation, before the foundation
of the world. God the Son agreed to be their
Redeemer. And God the Holy Spirit agreed
to give them life. Now this is all outlined in the
first chapter of Ephesians. We read in verse four, here's
the work of the Father, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before it. In verse seven, we have the work
of the Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. Did you know that
Jesus Christ is called in Revelation 13, 8, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world? Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. And God the Holy Spirit comes
in time. to give those whom God elected
and Christ died for spiritual life, being born of the Spirit. That's what being born again
is. It's being born of the Spirit
where He gives you life. He gives you a heart that believes
that you did not previously have. Now, the Bible teaches that God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit all purposed and
purchased salvation before time began. The Bible teaches a Trinitarian
salvation, and we really don't believe the gospel if we don't
believe this. Election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, and regeneration or the giving of life by God
the Holy Spirit. Somebody that doesn't preach
the work of all three persons of the Godhead in salvation is
not preaching the gospel. It is all a part of what is called
the gospel. Election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Now, through
Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ, we Those the Father elected,
those the Son redeemed, those the Holy Spirit has given life
to, whether Jew or Gentile, these people have access, freedom of
entrance. into the very presence of the
Father. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom
we have access. And Romans 5.2 says, by whom
we have access. Now, this is sad, but men take
this as a given. They think, well, of course we
have access into God's presence. And not realizing God's holiness,
they think, well, I can come right into God's presence anytime
I want. That's what He's there for. He's God. I've got a free
will, and whenever I decide I want to come to God's presence, I
can be accepted. And they have never understood the holiness
the righteousness of God. Your sins have separated you,
the scripture says. And by nature, I can't come into
God's presence. I have no access because of my
sin. God is unapproachable in holiness
and in splendor and in majesty. And no man can just come waltzing
into his presence and be accepted. He's a holy God. But the scripture
says in this verse I just read, through him, in him, and by him. the Father elected, the Son redeemed,
and the Holy Spirit calls, are granted free and complete access
into His presence, into the very Holy of Holies, and have the
full favor and acceptance of God. Now, how is this? How is this? Well, number one,
Because that which prevented their access has been removed. I love to think about this. When
the Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished. All my sin was put
away. Every bit of it, gone. You see, the Lord paid the debt.
My sin became His sin. He took full responsibility for
the guilt of it and the punishment of it. That's why He was on the
cross. He took my sins and my sorrows and made them His very
own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone, and He put away my sin. I don't
have anything to prevent me from having complete free access into
the Father's presence because I have no sin. In Christ, I have
no sin. Now, I realize that this very
day, I've committed sin. This very minute, I've committed
sin. If I breathe, I commit sin. But Christ put it all away, and
in God's sight, everybody that Christ died for is holy, unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight because of the blood of the cross. Now I have access into this holy
God's favor and presence because I have no sin, because Christ
put it away. That which is prevented Me from
having access has been done away with. He by Himself purged our
sins. And I now have the complete love
of God. God the Father loves me just
the way He loves His Son. Now, I wouldn't say that if the
Bible didn't say it, but the Lord said, Thou hast loved them
as Thou hast loved Me. John 17, verse 23. I wouldn't
dare say that. Had not the Lord said it, but so perfect is every
believer that they have the full and complete love of God. Now,
again, men consider this a given. Well, of course I've got the
love of God. God loves everybody. That's what He's there for, to
help men. And that's a misunderstanding of the love of God because God's
love is not just some kind of generic love where He can love
you and you'll wind up in hell anyway. No, His love is such
that if He loves you, you're saved. He loved me and gave himself
for me. That's the assurance of the believer.
Now, there's a whole lot of people that God loves, all those in
Christ, all those who believe, all those that were in Christ
before time began. It's a vast number. You don't
need to say, well, what if I'm not one of them? What if you
are? What if you are? And the only way you can know
if you are is if you believe the gospel. But I have in Christ
all of God's saving love. 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 by Christ." Now, I'm welcome. I'm welcome. Every believer is. I have complete
access into the presence of the Father. And we know this access
is by His Spirit. It's by His Spirit. This is a
supernatural thing. It's by His Spirit that we come
into His presence and have access with the Father. And you think
of this Trinitarian salvation. God loved me so much that He
didn't spare His own Son. Christ loved me so much that
He willingly took my place. God the Holy Spirit loved me
so much that He causes me to approach unto the Father and
have this access. Now, through, in, and by Christ,
every believer always has this access to the Father. There's
no time when I'm not welcome. I know that I will commit a sin
and I'll feel bad and I'll feel guilty and I'll feel ashamed
to come into God's presence thinking that I somehow have to feel better
and do better. That's all false thinking. Every
believer has immediate access all the time into the very presence
of God. in Christ Jesus, and this access
is holy by him. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. That's the one who
has access with the Father, the one that he chooses and causes
to approach. Our Lord said this, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Now I want you to listen to this
statement very carefully. Satan's great goal is to put
something between the sinner and Christ, to block up this
access. That is his great goal. Now there is a being, a created
being named Satan. He's very powerful. Me and you
aren't any match for him. He's very powerful, but he is
God's devil on God's chain. He cannot act apart from the
sovereign will of God. That's so comforting. What if
the devil had equal power? People present the devil and
Christ kind of in competition with each other. No, the devil
is God's devil on God's chain. Never forget that. Yes, he's
more powerful than you and I, but he is infinitely beneath
the omnipotent God. But he's a being who hates God,
He hates Jesus Christ, he hates God the Holy Spirit, he hates
everything associated with God, and he is going to do everything
that he can to keep the sinner from coming to Christ. Now, what
do I mean by that? Have you ever heard a preacher
say, turn from your sins and trust Christ? Repent of your sins and trust
Christ. Sure you've heard a preacher
say that. Most have. Turn from your sins and trust
Christ. You can't really come to Christ,
you can't really have access to the Father until you first
do something about your sins. You turn from them and don't
return to them, you quit committing them, and then you can trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my dear friend, that is
the message of salvation by works. That is you having to do something
in order to make you have the right to come to Christ and gain
access to the Father. That is salvation by works. If there's something you need
to do, before you can trust Christ or come to Christ, which is our
access with the Father through Him, by Him, and in Him. If there's something you need
to do in your life, get something straightened up. Stop committing
some particular sin, and then you can come to Christ. That
is no different than saying you're saved by keeping the Ten Commandments.
No difference, because it's putting salvation in some way to be dependent
upon you. This is the voice of Satan to
try to get the sinner to do something to make himself savable. If there's anything you need
to do, before you get to Christ, so He can bring you to the Father,
you'll not get there. Now listen to this scripture,
Luke chapter 15. I love this passage of scripture. This is where some people were
actually complaining about the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in
Luke chapter 15, verse one, then drew near unto Him. all, not most, all the publicans
and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes,
the religious people, the moral majority, the Pharisees and the
scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners. And he eats with them. He receives
them just as they are, and He even eats with them. Something's wrong with that. This man receives sinners and
eats with them. Now, in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15,
I've already quoted this once, let me quote it again. 1 Timothy
1, verse 15, Paul makes this statement. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. of whom I am the chief." Now,
this is a faithful saying. That means you can rely on this. It's in Holy Scripture, and it
will stand before God in judgment. This is a statement that you
can rely on. This is a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all
acceptation. You, my friend, and I, ought
to receive this as the best news we've ever heard. It's worthy
of all acceptation. Here it is, that Christ Jesus
came into the world. Now, He was, before He came into
the world, He's the eternal Son of God, but He came into the
world, Christ. God's anointed, God's prophet,
God's priest, God's king, the one who brings the Word of God
to us, the one who brings us to God, the one who rules and
reigns over everything, Christ, Jesus, thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins, came
into the world for this purpose, to save sinners. Now, do you
hear that? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. What's a sinner? Well, a sinner
is someone that's sinful. They're sinners. They're the
ones that do the committing of the sins. It's their nature.
They're sinners. They're born sinners. If you're
a sinner, you were born that way. If you're a sinner, you
cannot not sin. You can't be holy. All you do
is sin. If you do it, it's sin, if you're
a sinner. And all your sin is your fault. You can't blame God
for it. You can't blame anybody but yourself. It's all your fault. You can't blame your circumstances.
You can't blame your environment. It's all your fault. If you're
a sinner, you believe that you can't sit in judgment on anybody
for anything. That's the place you're looking
from. You can't judge anybody for anything. And if you're a
sinner, you know you don't have any claims on God. If He passes
you by, just and holy is His name. Whatever He does is right.
Now that's what a sinner is. Are you a sinner? Somebody says,
well, I don't see that. Well, then I can't tell you Christ
came to save you. The only people He came to save
are sinners. And if you don't see yourself
in that light, it's because you're lost. You're under the complete
dominion and blinding power of sin, and you can't see what's
really wrong with you. If God gives you eyes to see,
if He gives me eyes to see, we're going to see we're sinners. We're
going to take that place. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And notice it says He came to
save them. He didn't come to make them savable. He didn't
come to make their salvation possible if they do their part.
He came to save them, and that's exactly what He did. We read
in Matthew 121, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save. He shall save His people from their sins. And beloved,
that's exactly what He did by His one offering. He perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I'm a sinner. I'm not saying
that, but remember what I entitled this message, The Sinner's Religion?
This is the only hope any sinner has. Now, if you have any goodness
of your own, this message will be meaningless to you. You'll
just think the guy saying it has some kind of personal problems
he's trying to air out. That's what you'll think if you're
not hearing as a sinner. But if you hear as a sinner,
You'll see that this is the only way I can be saved, for Christ
to come and save me. I love the word of Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor. and are heavy laden under a burden
and in deep sense of sin. You're guilt before God and you
can't do anything to get rid of it. You can't make yourself
better. Come unto me. all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The rest of believing
the gospel, the rest of not working, but trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
is everything in salvation, the one who came to save sinners. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. It says, Todd Nybert, that God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.