Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. 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 Nybert. The text for this morning is
found in 1 John 4, verse 19. John says, we love him because
he first loved us. Now I'm going to come back to
that verse at the end of the message, but that is our text.
But now, I would like to read a very familiar passage of Scripture. Most people have heard of this,
but I'd like you to try to pretend like you've never heard this.
Maybe you haven't, but if you have, pretend like you never
have, and let's hear what the Lord says. Luke 8, verse 4, And
when much people were gathered together, and were come to him
out of every city, he spake by a parable, a sower went out to
sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by
the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it
lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, And
the thorn sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell
on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit, and hundredfold. And when he'd said these things,
he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. In order for a man to hear, he
must have ears, to hear. Not everybody does. It could
be that you'll hear this message and it means nothing to you.
It could be that you find out through this message that God
has saved you. What a blessing that would be.
Verse 9, And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this
parable be? And he said unto you, It is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others
in parables. that seeing they might not see,
and hearing they might not understand. The Lord knew that many people
would not understand this because they would not be given understanding.
Now, verse 11, now the parable is this, the seed is the word
of God, the gospel, the same seed. It was not different seeds,
they were different soils. but not different seeds. There's
only one gospel, the gospel of His grace. Those by the wayside
are they that hear, then come with the devil, and taketh away
the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved. This is the wayside here, the hard-beaten path. They hear the gospel, and they're
distracted. All the devil's got to do is
throw in something else because they really aren't interested.
It doesn't mean anything to them. And they go away so quick. It's
just meaningless. They hear, it means nothing to
them. Verse 13, and they on the rock are they which when they
hear receive the word with joy. And these have no root. They
were on a rock. The root couldn't come in. which
for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. How
often have I seen this over the years? People become excited
over the message. This is the best thing I've ever
heard. This makes sense. I love this. But when trials
and persecutions arise because of the word, They think, I didn't
sign up for this. I didn't know this trouble would
come out of this message, and they leave. They depart. They
do not endure. They initially receive the word,
but it doesn't last. Verse 14, and that which fell
among the thorns are they which when they have heard, they've
heard, they've received the word, they go forth and are choked.
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth
no fruit to perfection. These are people that hear the
word, they receive it, and they become enamored and entangled
with other things. The cares of this life, the deceitfulness
of riches, the lusts of other things. They have competition,
and these weeds choke the seed so that it does not bring forth
fruit. There they sit. Perhaps they haven't left like
the other people, but they bring forth no fruit. There's no real
grace in their hearts. Verse 15, but that on the good
ground. Now, what is it about this good
ground? Well, something was done to this ground previously. This is so important. It was broken up and plowed. The rocks were removed. It was
ready to receive seed. It was watered. It was previously
prepared. It's what's called provenient
grace. Something was done in this ground before the seed was
sown that was not done in the other soils. But they that are
on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart.
Now, no man by nature has an honest and good heart. But God,
in his mercy and grace, placed a new heart, honest before God,
good, able to receive the word, unlike the heart of the natural
man. They that on the good ground
are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the
word, they keep it, and they bring forth fruit with patience. Now, something was done previously. It's what's called prevenient
grace, grace before grace, grace preceding human knowledge, grace
preceding human action, grace preceding human response. Something done, if God is going
to save you, There's something done for you way before your
experience of grace. You know, to hear the gospel,
you have to first be given hearing ears. There's no hearing without
first being given hearing ears. To see and to understand, you
have to be given a receptive heart. or it will never happen. Why, it even takes preceding
grace to receive grace. You have to be given grace to
receive grace, or you'll never receive grace. Everybody that
receives Him was given grace to receive Him. In Genesis 6,
verse 5, we have this description of all men. And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And let me tell you a man that
was included in that description, his name was Noah. Noah was just
as bad as everybody else, but Genesis 6, 8 says, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord did something for Noah
before Noah knew anything about it. He gave him grace. Let me give you some other examples.
Solomon was called beloved of the Lord before he was even born. He told, the Lord told David
about this man and this is before David had even met Bathsheba,
Solomon's mother, but he was called Beloved of the Lord. It was said to Zacharias, you're
going to have a son whose name is John and he'll be great in
the eyes of the Lord and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost
from his mother's womb. Somebody says, well what if John
doesn't believe? He will. He will. He belongs to God. And something was done previously
for him that will cause him to be great in the eyes of the Lord. Before Jeremiah 1.5, before,
and this is of every believer, before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. Now, many are going to say, Lord,
Lord, have we not preached in your name? And in your name,
have we not cast out devils? And in your name, not done many
wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Never then, don't now, never
will. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. But he says to his people in
Jeremiah 31, 3, Behold, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. If you're a believer, THERE'S
NEVER BEEN A TIME WHEN HE HADN'T LOVED YOU, AND THERE'LL NEVER
BE A TIME WHEN HE STOPS. IT'S AN ETERNAL LOVE. II TIMOTHY
2, 19, THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDETH SURE, HAVING THIS SEAL,
THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS. ROMANS 9, VERSE 11, SPEAKING
OF ELECTION, LISTEN TO THESE WORDS FOR THE CHILDREN. TALK
ABOUT JACOB AND ESAU, BEING NOT YET BORN, NEITHER HAVING DONE
ANY GOOD, or evil. They didn't have any good to
recommend them. They didn't have any evil to
disqualify them. Something was done beforehand
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. Salvation has nothing
to do with my or your works, but of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Listen to this
scripture. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. He saved us. Who's the us? Everybody he saved.
He doesn't save everybody, but the ones he saved, that's the
us. He saved us, and he called us with a holy calling. And notice the order. It doesn't
say he called us and saved us. It says he saved us, then 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. Now, salvation is an eternal
thing. Yes, we experience it in time
if God saves us. There's nobody that was saved
in eternity that's not saved in time as well. There's nobody
ordained to eternal life that doesn't believe in time, hear
and believe, but salvation is eternal. We read of an eternal
covenant. David said, Although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things. And sure, we have an everlasting
Savior, an everlasting sacrifice. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. We have an everlasting priest.
He's made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Everything
about salvation is eternal. I love it that way. That means
it's sure. This is who God is. God is eternal. He's not bound by space or time.
He doesn't see things in a sequence of events the way we do. He is
eternal. I know it's hard to grasp that.
It's impossible, but we believe it. Time didn't begin until creation. Before time, all there was was
God and the trinity of His sacred persons, and that's when He designed
to save sinners for Christ's sake, for the glory of His holy
name. When we talk about justification,
that's what Christ accomplished for His people, justification.
He made it to where this sinner is just before God, righteous. Justification took place in eternity.
The Scripture I just read says all we have was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. But I was justified when Christ
died on the cross. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. And I was justified when I believed.
I didn't have any right to think God would have favor toward me
until I believed the gospel. And oh, in eternity, I'll be
justified without sin, perfect before God. Now, all these that
are eternally saved are saved in time. They're going to hear
the gospel preached. They're going to believe it.
They're going to receive it. Second, Thessalonians 2.13 says,
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. He says, before they call, I
will answer. And while they're yet speaking,
I will hear. This is prevenient grace. Every step of a believer, before
he takes it, has already been ordered by the Lord. The steps
of a good man. are ordered by the Lord. Everything
that takes place in my life, God's gone before. That's why
we read in Romans 8, verse 28, and we know that all things work
together, not separately, but together for good to them that
love God, to them who are thee called according to His purpose. All things. Now, with regard
to a believer, Christ is always before. Everything that takes
place, Christ is always before in his grace. That's why we read
of free grace and much abounded grace and exceeding grace and
sufficient grace, the God of all grace. God's grace comes
before. I'm so thankful for that. Every
believer has a story to tell of provenient grace. There was
an Ethiopian eunuch out in the desert-you can read about it
in Acts 8-returning from Jerusalem. He'd gone to Jerusalem to worship.
And he was coming back feeling just as empty as he had been
when he first went there. He knew the living God was in
Jerusalem, and he knew he didn't know him. But he's doing something
that everybody ought to do. He was reading the Bible. Can't
go wrong reading the Bible. And he was reading Isaiah 53,
and he didn't know what it meant. He was returning to his country,
reading the Bible, having no idea what it meant. But before,
before any of this took place, God spoke to his servant, Philip,
and said, you leave Samaria, the place where this revival
had been taking place, and you go out to the desert. You go
out to the desert. This is provenient, preceding
grace. You see, one of God's elect was
there, and he was going to send that man a preacher, and he was
going to hear the gospel. And he was up there in his chariot,
and the Spirit told Philip to go run up to the chariot, and
Philip said, do you understand what you're reading? And he said,
how can I except some man should guide me? And he invited Philip
up into the chariot, and Philip preached the gospel to him. From
that passage he was reading in Isaiah 53, it says he began at
that same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Now, if God saves
you or me, There's going to be grace before grace. Now, I want to go back to that
scripture I initially read because I think that this scripture says
this in the most profound, simple, glorious way. First John chapter
4, verse 19, we love him because He first loved us. We know the reason for our love
to Him. It's because He first loved us. We love Him. Who's the we? The ones He first loved. Now,
please listen carefully. You may not have heard something
like this before, but that doesn't mean it's true, or that doesn't
mean it's not true. I'm telling you the truth. God's
love is for Christ and those in Christ, and He does not love
all men. Most preachers say God loves
everybody. The Bible never says that. says,
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Now, that is a big demographic.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Romans 9, 13, he tells us, Esau
hath hated. Jacob hath loved, but Esau hath
hated. God does not love all men. And if somebody says, Well, that's
not right. You're wrong. God's holy. And whatever he does is right.
And the focus, you look at the preaching of the apostles. Not
one time did they look at a group of people and say, God loves
you. You don't have the right to suspect that God loves you
unless you believe the gospel. Because men are God's enemies.
You and I have been guilty of hating God as He is, hating the
God of the Bible. And so this we is not all men
because God doesn't love all men, but this we is those who
He first loved. He didn't love everybody first,
but His elect, Jacob, all of His people, He first loved them.
We love Him. because He first loved us. Now,
we love Him. We love everything about Him.
We love Him in all of His attributes. Now, when we think of our love,
we are aware of the fact that we don't love Him as we should.
I'd love Him a whole lot more than I do. We don't love Him
as we would. I would love Him perfectly. That's
what I want. We don't love him like we will
in heaven and glory when we'll be done with these sinful natures
and we'll see him as he is and love him as he is. There won't
be any sin and unbelief blocking the view and making our love
cold. That'll all be over. But we do
love him. I love his holiness, his otherness. You can't compare him with anybody
or anything, his separateness. I love his sovereignty, the fact
that he controls everybody and everything. I love his independence,
that he has no needs. You know, a God that needs me
is not much of a God. I couldn't worship a God that
needs me, but he has no needs. I certainly need him, and how
thankful I am to see my need of him. But we love his independence. We love his immutability. He never changes. Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever. We love his eternality,
the fact that he never began to be. He never had a beginning. He's the eternal Son of God. We love his omnipotence. He's
all-powerful. He has the power to put away
my sins. He has the power to make sure his will is always
done. We love his omniscience, his
wisdom, how he's so wise he's found a way to glorify himself,
glorifies justice, and yet found a way to justify somebody as
sinful as me or you. We love his omnipresence, that
he's everywhere and all of him is everywhere at all times. How
we love his love. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. When with the ransomed in glory
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love for me." We love him as the sinner's
friend. We love him in his salvation.
Oh, he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I'm meek. and lowly in heart. We love His
humility. We love His standing as a surety
before time began for His people. We love Him for coming to this
earth and being made flesh. We love Him for keeping the law
for us. We love Him for dying for our
sins. We love Him for being raised
from the dead for us. We love His intercession, representing
us even now at the right hand of the Father. We love His return. We love the thought of heaven
being with Him eternally. We love Him. We really do. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. He ought to be damned
upon the Lord's return, anybody that doesn't love Jesus Christ,
because He's altogether lovely. We love Him because He first
loved us. that we wouldn't love him. We're
so sinful, we're so evil in and of ourselves, we know that we
wouldn't love him unless he first loved us. And my dear friend,
his love never goes unreciprocated. Everybody he loves, loves him
in return. Now this love that Christ has,
It's the love of an eternal union with His bride. Now, God's elect,
I don't understand this, but they've always been loved by
Jesus Christ eternally. There was never a time when He
began to love them. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it with all my heart? Paul said concerning Marriage. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And when Christ loved his wife,
it's because he's loving himself, because his people are eternally
united in union, one with him. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. Now the love he has for us, he
said, as the Father loved me, so have I loved you. However God the Father loves
his Son, that's how the Son loves his people. What a glorious,
strong, perfect love. Thou hast loved them, he said
in John chapter 17, talking about his people. Thou hast loved them
as Thou hast loved me." Now, there's nothing more enjoyable
than to be enabled to love Christ. There's only one thing more enjoyable.
It's to be loved by Him, to have Him love you, to have Him stand
as your salvation, to have Him like John says, having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them to the end. We love him. Now, every believer
can say that. We love him, not as we should,
not as we would, not as we will, but we do love him, and we know
it's because he first loved us. And let me say this, his love
is saving love. There will not be anybody in
hell that he did not love. His love is saving love. Listen to this scripture. 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." Now,
everybody he loves, he saves. Everybody he loves, loves him
in return. And his love did everything before
our experience of grace to make sure we would experience grace. There's no mistakes, there's
no wrong things done, there's no happenstance with Him. We
love Him because He first loved us. And if you do really love
Him, you will say it's because He first loved me, a love that
began in eternity. A love really that never began,
period. It's eternal. Behold, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. 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 Knifer praying 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.