At Todd's Road Grace Church,
we'd 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 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 Neibert. In 1 John chapter 3, verse 13,
John makes this statement, and I want you to listen real carefully
to what he's saying. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. Do not be surprised, my brethren,
if the world hate you. And when John says, Marvel not
my brethren, who are these people that he entitles brethren? Now all men are brethren in the
sense that we all came out of Adam. There's really no difference. All these issues of racism are
so ridiculous because we're all the same. We all came from one
blood. And all men are brethren in that
sense, but all men are not brethren in the sense that John is speaking
of. He's speaking of the children of God. He says in verse 1 of
this same chapter, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Now, there are children of God,
there are children of the devil. They're the righteous, they're
the wicked. When John is speaking of the brethren, he's talking
about those who are truly sons of God. And notice how he says
after that, Therefore the world knoweth us not, because they
knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. This is who these brethren are.
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, But we know that
when he shall appear, we'll be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. And this
is who these brethren are. The brethren are those who have
the hope of being perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, because
God has made them sons by grace. He says in verse four, whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. Who are the brethren? Those for
whom Christ has taken away their sins. That's what he did on Calvary's
tree. And in him is no sin. If I'm
in him, I have no sin. That's who these brethren are.
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not
seen him, neither known him." Now, if I abide in Christ, the
Scripture says, I sin not. If I don't abide in Him, all
I do is sin. Verse 7, let little children,
let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. Now these are who these brethren
are, these people who have a righteousness that is equal to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're righteous just as He
is righteous because they've been given His righteousness.
This is what the Bible calls justification. All of God's children
are perfectly righteous in God's sight because their sin has been
put away and they are righteous even as He is righteous. Verse
8, He that commit sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from
the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. That's exactly
what he did. Whosoever is born of God, this
is who these brethren are. They have the same father. They
were birthed by the same father. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Every believer is a child because
they're born of God. They're a part of the brethren
because they were adopted to be children. God chose them. They're brethren because they're
united to Christ, both he that sanctifieth and he who is sanctified
are all of one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call
them brethren. And they're brethren because they've been birthed
by God. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he's born
of God. Now what that's talking about
is the new nature of the believer. Every believer, and an unbeliever
only has one nature, his fallen nature. But every believer's
been born again, and he's been given a new nature, a holy nature
in the new birth that enables him to believe on Christ. In
this, verse 10, the children of God are manifest, and the
children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not
of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. So this is the
message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love
one another. This is who the brethren are, those who love
one another, not as Cain. who was of that wicked one, and
he flew his brother. Why? Because he hated the sacrifice
his brother brought. He said, this is not fair. He
hated that because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not my brethren if the
world hate. Don't be surprised. My brethren,
John says that he's speaking to every Christian, every believer,
the true brotherhood. Don't be amazed, don't be surprised
by the world hating you. As a matter of fact, you ought
to expect it. Now the next thing I want us to think about for
a few moments is what is meant by the world when John says marvel
not my brethren if the world hate you. Now this word is used
a whole lot in the Bible and it means different things at
different times but what John means when he says marvel not
if the world hate you he's talking about that world for which Christ
refused to pray. You remember in John chapter
17 verse 9 in his great high priestly prayer when he says,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me. For they are thine. The world
John is speaking of is the world that we're commanded to not love. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. This is the world that James
said, whosoever shall be the friend of the world is the enemy
of God. The world is that which Satan
is over. Let me read a verse of scripture
from Luke chapter 4. This is during the Lord's temptation
in the by the devil in the desert, and we read in verse 5 of Luke
chapter 4, and the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed
unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. All the kingdoms, past, present,
future, in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,
all this power will I give thee and the glory of them over all
of these kingdoms for that is delivered into me." Who delivered
it to him? God did. Now the devil has great
power but he is still God's devil on God's chain doing God's will. He may not realize that and he
has power over all the kingdoms of the world. You think of all
the unrest that's going on in North Korea. The devil The United
States, the devil's in charge there, too. This is not a Christian
nation, and it never has been a Christian nation. There's no
such thing as a Christian nation. Satan is over all the kingdoms
of this world, and he has the power of them. Now, I'm not afraid
when I say that, because I know that God has complete power over
him. There's a big difference between very powerful and omnipotent. And God is omnipotent. And everything
the devil does in working his schemes is only doing God's will
for God's glory and accomplishing God's purposes. And the biggest
proof of that is the cross. The devil thought he had defeated
God. He thought he had defeated Christ on the cross. And he didn't
know that that's what crushed his own head. What he thought
was his victory was his greatest defeat. And it's always that
way for him. Yes, I'm afraid of the devil
in the sense that I don't have anything to do with him. I'm
like the angel that said, the Lord rebuke thee. I don't have
anything to do with him, but I sure am happy that God is omnipotent
in absolute control, and he controls the devil. And although the devil
has this power over the world, God has power over him. And he
is always going to have his will to be done. Now, when I say things
like that, don't misunderstand me. I love my country. When I
say the United States is not a Christian nation, I love my
country. And by the grace of God, I'm
willing to die for it if that's what it needs. I'm thankful for
the privileges we have in our country. But this is not. There
is no such thing as a Christian nation. So when we're speaking
of the world, we're speaking of that which The Lord wouldn't pray for her.
Do you remember when the Lord said, my kingdom is not of this
world? It's just not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
that I should not be delivered hence. But my kingdom is not
from hence. Now this is that world of which
Paul said, the world by wisdom knew not God. This is the world
of which it is said, all that's of the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, of the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but of the world. And the world passes away, and
the lust thereof. He was in the world, the world
was made by him, and the world knew him not. This is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness more than
light because their deeds were evil. In Colossians chapter 2,
I think that this will give us some understanding of what is
meant by the world. When John says, marvel not, my
brethren, speaking of every believer, if the world hates you, that
world that is controlled by Satan. In Colossians chapter 2, verse
8, Paul says to the Church of Colossa, beware, lest any man
spoil you through philosophy. and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world. Now that word rudiments means
the ABCs, the foundations, the fundamental thinking of the world. And not after Christ, and here's
what the world will be battling. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. All that God is is found in the
body of Jesus Christ. He is God manifest in the flesh,
and you are complete. Every believer, you are complete. You need nothing else. You are
plumb full. You are perfectly accepted. You
are altogether saved in him, and the world will always try
to be against that message. Now John says, do not be surprised
if the world hates you. Now the world has no love for
the gospel. The world has no love for Jesus
Christ. The world has no love for the
true and the living God. Maybe religious But the world
hates the truth. The world always has been and
always will be offended by the gospel. What about when Paul
said in Galatians 5, 11, he said, and I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, if I yet preach works, why am I still being persecuted? If I did preach works, the offense
of the gospel is ceased. Now, if you preach salvation
by works, the world will love you. But if you preach salvation
by the grace of God, the world will be offended, and the world
will disagree. Now, the gospel of Christ offends
men's sense of personal righteousness, because it says, we don't have
any righteousness. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. The Bible addresses us as sinners,
nothing more. The Gospel offends men's pride
by declaring salvation is altogether by grace. It has nothing to do
with your works. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4,
7, Who maketh thee to differ? Well, if you do differ, it's
because God made you to differ. God made you to differ in eternal
election when He chose you to be saved. Christ made you to
differ when He died for your sins and put them away. God the
Holy Spirit makes you different when he gives you the new birth
and gives you a heart that was not there before. What do you
have that you didn't receive? Nothing. Now that offends men's
pride because it says there's nothing we have to be proud about.
The gospel offends men's wisdom by declaring salvation all together
by revelation, not by education, not by you being smart enough
to figure this out. were totally dependent upon God
to reveal himself to us. And the gospel offends men's
sense of personal rights by saying, we don't have any personal rights
before God. He's God. Whatever he does is
right. We're fallen creatures, and we
don't have any rights. If he passes us by to send us
to hell, just and holy is his name. He's God. He's to be worshiped. We don't have, we can't argue
about our rights before him. And the gospel offends men's
love of self because it calls upon us to deny ourselves, to
take up our cross, and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the
reason the world will hate you, John says, marvel not my brethren.
He's talking to believers. And believers are going to have
the hatred of the world. The reason The world is going
to hate you. It's not because of you. It's
because of their hatred of the Lord. It's because of their hatred
of the one whom you believe. It's because of their hatred
of the one whom you worship. Now, I know a lot of religious
people can garner the hatred of the world because of what
jerks they are, how they act, how self-righteous and arrogant
they are, how judgmental they are. how they look down their
nose at people and so on, and that's going to generate hatred,
but that's not the hatred the Lord's talking about. That's
just what the world hates you because you're acting like a
religious jerk. I don't want to be that person, but there's
plenty of those people, and they garner the world's hatred because
of the way they act, but that's not what the Lord's talking about.
If you're a brother and you stand for the gospel, The world will
hate you because of their hatred of your Lord and His way of saving. The world hates, always has,
and always will hate the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, the world
cannot hate you, but me it hateth. The world hates the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if you ask the average person,
do you hate Jesus Christ? Oh, no, I love Jesus Christ.
tell Him who He is. I'm talking about the Christ
who, you're in His hands, and your eternal destiny is up to
Him. He can save you, or He can pass
you by. The one who Salvation is Him. He's in absolute control of everything
and everybody. His death was such that everybody
He died for must be saved. He's got grace that is invincible,
that always saves, that won't take no for an answer. Is this
the one you love, the one who's in absolute control, the one
who's Lord, who's sovereign even over your will? You do what you
do freely, no doubt, but He's in control of it all. Your eternal
destiny is up to Him. You have no control. He has all
control. Do you love that Lord? Somebody
says, no, I don't love that Lord. Well, I didn't expect that you
did, but every believer will. All of the brethren will. Now,
idolatry is the worship of a false god. It's where people make up
a god that they feel comfortable with because they don't like
God as He is, as He's revealed. Now, here's the commandment regarding
making a false god, an idol. Verse 4 of Exodus 20, this is
in the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in earth beneath, all kind of religious relics,
whatever they are. They're images. It's idolatry. It's bringing God down. Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I,
the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children, and to the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me." You see, there are those who hate God. They don't like God as He's revealed
in His Word. Therefore, they make a God they
feel comfortable with. They make an idol. They make
a new God because they hate the living God. Now, that's God's
Word, not mine. Let me read you some scriptures
from Old and New Testament. Rise up, O LORD, let thine enemies
be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. The LORD God is a jealous God,
visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children and
of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. He repayeth them that hate him
to their face. I'll render vengeance to my enemies
and reward them that hate me. David, the man after God's own
heart, said in Psalm 139, do not I hate them that hate thee. Paul said, if any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, let him be accursed
upon the return of the Lord. He said, if any man preach any
other gospel than that which I preached unto you, let him
be accursed, let him be damned. Now, was that lack of love on
Paul's part? know, but he knew that the Lord
was such that to not love him was the greatest of all crimes."
When Paul was giving that long catalog of sins that every one
of us are guilty of, in Romans chapter 1 at the end of the First
chapter, and remember at the beginning of the second, he says,
thou for thou are inexcusable, man, whosoever thou art that
judges for you, the judge do the same things. What he's saying
is we're all guilty of those very sins. And among those sins,
he calls haters of God. That's what all been my nature
are, haters of God. Now, men don't hate. the God they can control, the
God that they feel like they can manipulate. But men hate
the God of the Bible, the God they cannot control. But you
know what? You'll only worship a God that
you can't control. If you can control Him, if you
can manipulate Him, if you can get Him to respond, you'll never
worship Him. You're over Him. He's not over
you. But the God that is absolutely sovereign, The natural man has
no love for. As a matter of fact, he hates
him. It is only the brethren who love him. Now, anyone who
objects to what I'm saying and says, I just don't believe this.
Well, all I got to do is point to the cross. The one time men
were allowed to do what they wanted to do with God. and the
restraints were taken away, and they were allowed to act as they
wanted to act, they nailed him to a tree. They had no love for
him, but nothing but hatred. Now marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hate you, and here's the reason they'll hate you.
Nobody will hate you if you don't say anything. But if you have
his words, they hate his words. They hate what he said. And if
you say it, they'll hate you for saying it. The Lord said,
you shall be hated of all men for my sake to his disciples.
But in the context of that, he said, it'll be given to you the
same hour what you shall say. And when people hear what you
say regarding the gospel, that is when they're going to hate
you. Men will hate anyone who speaks
the actual words of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words,
it's the preaching of the gospel this is a reference to. In John
chapter 17, verse 14, the Lord says, the world hath hated them,
talking about all of his people, the world hath hated them because
they're not of the world, even as I am not of the world. They're
not of the world, even as I am not. Now, Christ is not of the
world, he's the eternal son of God. And every believer has been
united to him eternally. They're not of the world, they're
of him. And the world will always hate that which is of him. I
want to read a verse of scripture in John chapter 7. John chapter
7, where the Lord is speaking to some people who did not believe
him. And he says in John chapter 7, verse 7, the world cannot
hate you. And these are people who didn't
believe him. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth. because I testify of it, that
the works thereof are evil." All the works, the good works,
the religious works, they're all evil because they're done
by evil men. And men will always hate to hear
that particular message. Look in John chapter three, I
want to read some scriptures from beginning in verse 19 in
John chapter three. And this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world And men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. They don't want to
come to the light because the light exposes them to what they
are. In John chapter 15, beginning
in verse 17, the Lord is speaking in this last discourse to his
disciples, and he says in verse 18, if the world hates you, You
know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hates you. Now here the Lord gives as the
reason of hatred, His electing mercy. Let me read this again. Because you're not of the world,
but I have chosen you. Literally, I have elected you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Now the world always hates election. They hate God's choice. They hate Christ's choice of
his people. The response is always, that's
not fair. How could it be fair for God
to choose one and pass by another? That's not fair. We do not like
this. And the Lord tells us plainly,
because I've chosen you out of the world, the world's going
to hate you. because they hate me who did
the choosing. Now, if I respond to what is
election? Election is God's choice of his
people before the foundation of the world. They were chosen
in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. The only people who are saved
are the elect, those God chose to be saved. Now, that's what
the scripture teaches. And when somebody hears that, a natural
man, he says, that's not fair. How could it be fair for God
to choose one and pass by another? And whenever I say something
like that, I believe I'm entitled to salvation. I believe that
God owes me salvation or that he owes all men salvation. You
don't come into God's presence like that. You don't come arguing
about whether or not he's fair. You know, when you do that, all
of a sudden you become God's judge. And beloved, me and you
are not fit to be God's judge. Whatever he does is right, whether
we understand it or not. But men always have and always
will hate election. And the Lord tells them, the
world will hate you because I chose you out of the world. Now I want
to read one last scripture in Luke chapter six regarding this
thing of the world's hatred. We read in Luke chapter six,
beginning in verse 22, blessed are you when men shall hate you.
This is an indication of God's blessing. It means you're being
faithful to telling the truth. Blessed are you when men shall
hate you, when they shall separate you from their company, and shall
reproach you, and cast out your name as evil. For the son of
man's sake, rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy. For behold,
your reward is great in heaven. For in like manner did their
fathers unto the prophets." Now, I don't want to be hated because
of my ill conduct toward people. but I do want to be hated by
the world because of what I say concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I know if people are not offended by my preaching. Now, once again, I don't want
to offend people by my personality, by my difficult demeanor, but
I want people to be offended by the gospel I preach, because
I know if they're not, I'm not preaching the gospel. So in that
sense, we want the world to hate us. Marvel not, brethren, if
the world hates you. To request a copy of the sermon
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