Tis not that I did choose thee Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niber. 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 Nibert. In Romans chapter 16, verse 19,
Paul said to the church at Rome, for your obedience has come abroad
to all men. Now there can be no greater commendation
of a church than this. Your obedience has come abroad
to all men. I want to speak on the subject
of gospel obedience. Now, if I asked you, have you
been obedient to the commandments of God? Have you been obedient
to the Ten Commandments? Here is what this would mean.
If you've been obedient to the commandments, you have never
broken any of them. If you have broken them, you
are disobedient to the commandments. If I said, have you been obedient
to the commandments of God, it would look like this. You've
never put anything before God ever, not one time. If you've been obedient, you've
never made an idol of anything. You've had no false ideas and
false thoughts of God. They've all been perfect. If
you've been obedient, you've never taken his name in vain.
You've always given him the reverence due his holy name. You've never
used his name lightly. I hear people saying all the
time, oh my Lord or oh my God, that's taking his name in vain.
If you're obedient, you don't take his name in vain. If you're
obedient, you keep the Sabbath. And according to the Old Testament,
the Sabbath is on Saturday. You don't do anything on the
Sabbath. You rest completely. And the
reason that commandment is given is to teach us something about
what it means to rest in Christ. I realize people have made such
a work of it, but also know this. In the book of Numbers, when
a man was found gathering up sticks to make a fire on the
Sabbath day, they came to Moses and said, what should we do with
him? And he was commanded to be stoned. The only obedience
that the Bible recognizes is perfect obedience. If you've
obeyed the commandments of God, you've honored your mother and
father perfectly. If you've obeyed the commandments
of God, you've never killed anyone. And that doesn't mean only physically
killing, but you've never killed anyone's character by gossip
or innuendo. If you've kept the commandments
of God, you've never committed any kind of sexual sin ever,
not even in your mind. That's what it means by obeying
the commandments. If you obey the commandments,
you've always told the truth and never told a lie, you've
never stole anything, you've never taken what doesn't belong
to you, and you've never coveted anything. You've been perfectly
obedient. Now, that's what it means to
obey the commandments of God. It's not to try. Somebody says,
well, I try to keep the commandments of God. You do not. You make
that claim, I don't believe it for a second. You say that, but
the actions prove otherwise. Somebody says, well, I love the
commandments of God. Well, do you keep them? Do you
keep them? That's all that counts. Do you keep them? Now the gospel,
I said that to say this, the gospel is something that must
be obeyed. It's not enough to try to obey
the gospel. It's not enough to intend to
obey the gospel. The gospel is to be obeyed. It's not enough to know you ought
to obey it. The gospel is to be obeyed. Now listen to these scriptures.
John 14, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. He doesn't say try to keep them.
He says, keep them. John 14, 21, he that hath my
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a
man love me, he will keep my words. You are my friends, if
you do whatsoever I command you. 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. Hereby do we know
that we know him if we keep His commandments. This is His commandment
that we should believe on the name of the Son of God and love
one another as He gave us commandment. For this is the love of God that
we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous
Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your
own self. Now we see from those scriptures
that the gospel is something to be obeyed. Like the Ten Commandments,
the only recognition of them is obedience. The only recognition
truly of the gospel is obedience to the gospel. Now let me read
you a passage of scripture from Romans chapter 6. Verse 16 says,
Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to
obey? His servants you are to whom
you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that you were
the servants, the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Now, God be
thanked that you were the servants of sin, but now you've obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Notice,
first of all, he says, God be thanked. If I obey, nobody thank
me. It's his grace that caused me
to do it. God be thanked. If you obey, I don't say, well,
aren't you special? What you did was different from
somebody else. The reason you're in heaven is
because you obeyed and that other person didn't. The difference
between heaven and hell is what you do. You ought to be thanked
for that. No, God be thanked. God be thanked. Next, he says,
God be thanked that you were the slaves of sin. Now, how in
the world can you thank God for that, that you were the slaves
of sin? Well, if I would have never been a sinner, if I wasn't
a slave of sin, there wouldn't be any gospel. I'm thankful for
that. I'd know nothing of the forgiveness
of sins. If I was never a slave of sin, you know what that would
mean? That would mean I'm standing in my own righteousness right
now. And you know what else that would mean? That means I might
fall right now. That means I might lose everything
right now. I would never enjoy the security of being saved by
Christ. I would never know anything about
the joy of the forgiveness of sins and the joy of repentance
toward God. I would never know anything about
grace or mercy or the love of God. You know, sin, understand
this. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't say if you eat
of that tree. He said in the day you do, you're
surely going to die. Now understand this, sin would
have never been here. It's all a part of God's purpose. It was a part of God's purpose
that Adam sinned. Somebody says, are you saying
God's the author of evil? You can say anything you want,
but what I'm saying is so. There would be no sin if God
didn't permit it. It was all a part of His purpose
for Adam to fall. And before the fall ever took
place, we had the blood. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And understand this, the blood
is not God's response to Adam's fall. The fall was for the cross
so God could manifest Himself. And thank God you were the slaves
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you. Now what's that mean? Well, a
scripture that shines a lot of light on that is Romans 10, verse
9, when it says, With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
With the heart. You have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, that delivered
you, and you were delivered by that. The gospel, the form of
doctrine is the gospel. All the teachings of the gospel,
the many truths of the gospel that make the one truth of the
gospel, which if you leave any of them out, you no longer have
the gospel. It's the form of sound words is what Paul calls
it. It's the gospel. You have obeyed
from the heart. Now the heart doesn't mean you
used to believe something intellectually and now it's dropped 18 inches
in your heart. Now you really believe it with your heart, not
just your head. Here's what it means. The heart is the whole
man. It's the understanding. It's
the affections. It's the will. With the heart,
man believeth unto righteousness. Now here's exactly what that
means. In my understanding, I understand that the only righteousness I
have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I understand that. I have no personal righteousness.
My personal righteousness is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is my righteousness before
God. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. 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. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith intellectually. Completely
do I comprehend it, no, but I know this, the only righteousness
I have, I know this, the only righteousness that this sinner
has is the righteousness and merit of Jesus Christ. On Christ
the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Now, I understand that.
And not only do I understand that, I love it. I love having
Christ's righteousness as my righteousness before God. I love
this. Not only do I love this, this
is what I want. If you gave me the choice between
being saved by my righteousness, my personal righteousness, or
the righteousness of Christ, it's a no-brainer. I want to
be saved by the righteousness of Christ. With the heart man
believeth unto righteousness." Now Paul says to the Romans,
you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which delivered
you. Now for that heart obedience,
and that's what it is, heart obedience, it's with the understanding,
with the affections, and with the will, the grace of God must
precede it and cause it. We read it in Romans chapter
one, verse five of grace for obedience. We read in Romans
15, 18 of Christ's working through Paul to make the Gentiles obedient
through word and through deed. It's Christ making the Gentiles
obedient. I'd like to read you a verse
of scripture from first Peter chapter one. We read these words. Verse 22, seeing you have purified
your soul in obeying the truth. The truth is something to be
obeyed. The gospel is something to be
obeyed. Seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. It's only as the
Spirit of God enables you that you will obey the truth. unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another
fervently." Now the only obedience to truth is that which is wrought
by the Spirit of God. Now I want to give you two Old
Testament examples, and remember The Old Testament is not just
stories. You know, some people neglect the Old Testament. You
can't understand the New Testament without the Old Testament. And
these stories in the Old Testament are not just interesting stories
or strange stories. Every single one of them are
given to illustrate gospel truth. That's the purpose of the Old
Testament. Galatians chapter 4 is an example where Paul used
the story of Sarah and Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael, Genesis chapter
16, what took place, and he says these are the two covenants.
Now I would have never guessed that the story about Sarah saying
to Abraham, go into Hagar and have a son, and he went into
Hagar and they had Ishmael, and then Sarah kicked Ishmael out
and God supernaturally visited Sarah and she had a boy, Isaac.
I would have never understood that those are the two covenants
representing grace and works, but Paul tells us they are in
Galatians chapter 4. So let's remember as we look
at these stories that these are given to illustrate the gospel. Now, the first one is found in
1 Samuel 15, verse 22. This is gospel obedience. And
this is Samuel speaking to Saul. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord
as great a delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as an iniquity
and idolatry. Because you've rejected the word
of the Lord, because you've failed to obey the word of the Lord,
he also hath rejected thee from being king." To obey is better
than any sacrifice you come up with, any offering to God. Now,
what was it he disobeyed? The first of the chapter says,
Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to
be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore hearken
thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he
laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt, and
he's talking about a certain event. In Exodus 17, Israel had
never fought a battle up to this point. God did all the fighting
for them. He separated the Red Sea. They
came on dry ground. He brought manna from heaven. He supplied them with water from
a rock. He was the one who defeated Egypt
for them. But now Amalek. This is their first battle out
of Egypt. It was after God had delivered
them, and Amalek represents the flesh. God said He's declared
to have war on Amalek from generation to generation. The first battle
you'll have is when you're delivered from Egypt, and you're given
a new nature, and then you're going to see your old nature
for what it is. And God said this is what, He
remembered the way Amalek attacked Egypt, and He said, I've declared
war on them from generation to generation. Now what did God
tell Saul to do? Now go and smite Amalek and utterly
destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both
man and woman, infant And suckling ox and sheep, camel and ass,
God said, kill everything that breathes that has anything to
do with Amalek. Now, what did Saul do? He gathered
the people together, and we read in verse 7, And Saul smote the
Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that's over
against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of
the Amalekites, alive. And God said, kill everybody
that breathes. But he took Agag alive. You know
what Agag's name means? I will overcome. That's the meaning
of the name. I will overcome. He spared this
man. and utterly destroyed all the
people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared
Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them, but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed
utterly." Now was that obedience to what God commanded? No, it
was not. Now, let's begin reading in verse
12 of this same chapter. When Samuel rose early to meet
Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to
Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place and has gone about
and passed on to go down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I perform the
commandment of the Lord. He's lying. He did not. He looked at partial obedience
as obedience. Why did some of the stuff he
told me to do? Well, he spared the flesh. You see, the flesh
can be given no credit in salvation. I think it's interesting. He
spared the king, who means, I will. And that's what the natural man
does. He'll say, true man's sinful, but he still has a free will.
He still has some ability to save himself or to contribute
in his salvation. This is the sparing of the flesh.
God said, kill everything that breathes. Nothing is to live.
And Samuel said, What meaneth then the bleeding of this sheep
in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And
Samuel said, They have brought them from the Amalekites for
the people. He blames the people. For the people spared the best
of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord their
God, and the rest they have utterly destroyed. He failed to take
personal responsibility for his sin. Now, if my sin is not all
my fault, I'm blaming God for it. If I don't take personal
responsibility for my sin, I'm not really going to take my place
as a sinner. I'm not really going to cry for
mercy because it's not my fault. That's what Saul is saying. He
said, this is not my fault. The people did this. Now let me go on reading in verse
18. Let me skip a couple of verses. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea,
I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way the
Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalekite,
and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took
of the spoiled sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which
should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord God
in Gilgal. He even puts a religious spin
on it. We did this to sacrifice for you. And that's when Samuel
says, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams." Now, let me show you another Old Testament type of gospel
obedience. What was Saul to do? Exactly
what God said. Now, listen to this scripture.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Now what
do you call on to do? To work not. Quit trying to be
saved by anything you do. Work not, but believe. Rely upon him that justifies
the ungodly. Really believe that what Christ
did is all that's needed to make you perfectly righteous and justified
before God. That is a command to be obeyed. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's another Old Testament
example. It's found in 2 Kings 5. Now Naaman, captain of the
host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master,
honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto
Syria. And he was also a mighty man
in valor, but he was a leper. Now Naaman thought he was a great
man. who happened to be a leper, and
he didn't realize he was nothing but a leper who just happened
to be a great man. And leprosy is always a type
of sin in the Scripture. Verse 2, And the Syrians had
gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the
land of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife.
And she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were with the
prophet that's at Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy.
God and His prophets had this little maid sent into Syria,
and she told Naaman's wife about the prophet who could, by God's
grace and through God, cleanse leprosy. Verse 4, And one went
in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the maid
that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go,
and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed,
and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces
of gold, and ten changes of raiment. Oh, he had a whole lot of money
he was going to pay for this great blessing. And he brought
the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now, when the letter
is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant
to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came
to pass when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he
rent his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive,
that this man does sin unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?
Wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel
against me. He's trying to just, when I can't do this, he's going
to come and battle and destroy us. And it was so. When Elisha, the man of God,
had heard the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he
sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let
him come now to me, and he shall know that there's a prophet in
Israel. Elisha sends word, By God, I can recover this man from
his leprosy. Send him to me, that you know
that there's a prophet, someone really speaking for God in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
Now here he is at his house, just standing at the door, waiting
for Elisha to come out. He knew Elisha could hear what
was going on. There were horses and chariots and army, many goods,
and he waited for Elisha to come out to him. Verse 10, and Elisha
sent a messenger unto him. Elisha didn't even go out. Now
why? Because he knew Naaman was such
a proud, arrogant man. Naaman needed to be humbled. And so all he did was send a
lowly messenger. He didn't come out to see him.
And you know, this represents the preaching of the gospel.
God comes to men and speaks through a lowly servant who in and of
himself is nothing, but is still pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You know, preaching
has been thrown on the scrap heap in our day. They have plays
and skits and bands and all kinds of entertainment. God's not in
any of it. He's in the preaching of the
Word. Timothy preached the Word. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was
wroth. This angered him. He didn't agree
with this. And he went away and said, Behold,
I thought. Now this is where he got in trouble,
and this is where you and I will get in trouble. You can write
this down. Whatever you think of God is
wrong. Whatever you think of yourself,
any high thoughts you have of yourself, it's wrong. This is
where we get in trouble when we think. No, listen to what
God says. But Naaman says, Behold, I thought
he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name
of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place and recover
the leper. He thought something miraculous and impressing would
be done. And then he says, Or not Abana
and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and
went away in a rage. To tell me I need to get in that
river, that dirty river, and dip down seven times. And his
servants came near and spake unto him, and said, My father,
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou
not have done it? How much rather then, when he
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? If he were to give you a great
work to do, you would have done it. But all he said to do was,
Wash, and be clean. And you just leave in anger.
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God." There's gospel obedience. God said, dip in the Jordan seven
times and you'll be clean. And he went and dipped one, two,
three, four, five, six, still nothing happened. But on the
seventh, his leprosy was gone. Now that is faith. Hearing what
God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Gospel obedience is trusting
Christ Jesus the Lord only. Nothing else is gospel obedience. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. 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.