Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. 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 Nibbert. I'm reading this morning from
Romans 11, verses 5 and 6. Paul says, Even so then, at this
present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. God's people in the world are
always described as a remnant, a small number, a minority as
far as people are concerned. But this remnant is according
to the election of grace. Now Paul is referring to Election. God choosing who would be saved
before time began. This was a sovereign, free choice
of God. He determined who he would save. Ephesians 1.4 says, According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. Now, this election
is of grace. It's not of works, it's of grace. Did you know that you can't believe
in grace and not believe in election? It's impossible. If you do not
believe in election, you do not believe in grace. You think man
has something to do with saving himself, but the Bible won't
allow that. Now let's go on reading. Verse
six, and if by grace, if election is by grace, If every aspect
of salvation is by grace, and if by grace, then is it no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Now, if salvation by grace is
by grace, that means works has nothing to do with it. But if
it be of works, if salvation is in some way dependent upon
something you or I do before God can save us, then it's no
more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Grace and works
cannot coexist. They can't do it. That's what
I've entitled this message. They're incompatible. You can't
believe them both. They're incongruent. There's
no hybrid gospel where both are included. You're either saved
100% by grace or you're saved 100% by works. Now, if you are a grace believer,
you believe grace. If you're a works believer, you
believe works. Now, I dare say that if you asked
any professing Christian whether or not they believed in salvation
by grace or by works, they would all say, without exception, oh,
I believe salvation's by grace. Any denomination, Baptist, Catholic,
Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Christ, Christian church,
they'd all say, I believe in grace. Now, here is the problem. The grace believer and the works
believer have the precise same vocabulary, but they give completely
different meanings to the words. For instance, All, every religious
person uses the word grace, and Christ, and blood, and faith,
and regeneration, and election, and redemption. All these biblical
terms, the grace believer uses and the works believer uses.
For instance, grace, that's God's offer to save you if you'll just
do this or that. When the grace believer uses
the word grace, he knows it's God's irresistible power to save,
that if he saves you by his grace, you must be saved. You can't
be anything but saved. Completely different meaning.
Redemption. The works believer believes that
Christ died for everybody and made salvation possible for everybody
if you just do your part. Grace believer doesn't believe
anything like that. He believes Christ died for the elect and
actually accomplished their salvation and finished their salvation.
Oh, they use the same words, but a completely different meaning. Now, if there is a man who could
tell us the difference between grace and works and show how
they can't coexist, it would be the Apostle Paul. Now, he
makes this statement. He was persecuted everywhere,
beat everywhere he went, because he preached this message of salvation
by grace, and people didn't like it. Men naturally believe in
salvation by works. They think salvation is dependent
in some way upon them. Now, listen real carefully. If
you believe that your salvation begins with an act of your will,
where you decide to accept Jesus, or if you think your salvation
is carried on by your efforts and that you can actually become
holier and better through your personal diligence and Bible
reading and prayer and saying no to sin and no to the flesh,
that you actually become more holy. If you think that in heaven
you will be rewarded a higher position according to your personal
obedience here on earth, if any part of your salvation is dependent
upon something you do, You believe works. You can call it whatever
you want, but that's what it is. Works. Now, Paul was a preacher
of grace. Speaking of election, he said,
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. That's God's purpose, not of
works. Now, Paul was a man who believed grace. At one time,
he believed works. And now he believes grace after
God saved him. And he is speaking before Ananias
at this time, and he says in verse 14, but this I confess
unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, these
people who were accusing Paul, after the way which they call
heresy, I've heard people accuse me of that. Well, that's heretical.
to not believe that Christ died for everybody? To believe that
God elected a people? To believe that God is absolutely
sovereign and controlled? To believe men are dead in sins?
Well, that's not what we believe. That's heretical. Paul said,
after the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God
of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the
Law and in the Prophets." Now, notice what Paul says after the
way they call heresy. They're calling the way I preach,
the way to the Father, the way of grace, the way of righteousness,
they're calling it heresy. after the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers." Now, here's why
grace and works cannot coexist. They have different gods, a completely
different God. Now, if you believe in salvation
by works in any way, you don't have a holy God. He's not holy. If He can accept anything you
do, He's not a holy God. He's not a just God. If the gospel
you believe is that Christ died for everybody and made salvation
possible for everybody if men will just let Him have the way,
well, if you believe somebody that Christ died for might end
up in hell anyway, your God's not just. If you believe that
His will, He can desire for somebody to be saved and they end up not
being saved, He's not a sovereign God. That means His will can
be thwarted. You see, this God is no God at all. The God of works is a weak, pygmy
God created by man and is non-existent. Now, the God of grace is the
God who is God. He's absolutely in control. He's
all-powerful. He's immutable. He's utterly
sovereign. He's in control of everything,
and He saves in such a way that all of His attributes are magnified
and glorified. His justice is glorified. He
punishes sin and won't accept sin. His grace is glorified.
He can save the sinner. His sovereignty is glorified.
He saves whom He will. His mercy is glorified. Every
attribute of God is on display in the cross of Christ. Now,
He's two different gods. The God of works bears no resemblance
to the God of grace. One is the living God and the
true God. The other is no God at all. So we see that grace
and works cannot coexist because they're two different gods. Here's another reason why the
God of grace and the God of works can't exist, can't coexist, because
the Bible reveals one and it denies the other. Now, what is
your view of Holy Scripture? You say, well, I believe it's
the Word of God. I do, too. It is the Word of God. All of it
is God-breathed. Somebody says, now, how do you
expect me to believe that there's an inspired book called the Bible
that is verbally inspired by God? How do you expect me to
believe that? Well, do you believe that God created the universe?
I know deep down you do. You know God created the universe. Atheism is intellectually indefensible. The only explanation for the
universe is God. Deep down, everybody's born with
that knowledge. Now, if God can create the universe,
can't God write a book and preserve it using men and make it without
error? Sure he can. The Bible claims
to be divinely inspired, all scriptures given by inspiration
of God. Now, it won't do you any good
to hear something from the Bible and disagree with it and say,
well, that's your interpretation. The Bible interprets itself.
It makes known what it means. And notice Paul said, I believe
all things that are written in the law and in the prophets.
The works believer can't believe all things that are written in
the law and the prophets. They must deny much of what the
scripture says. And when it's presented to them,
they say, well, that's your interpretation. but the grace believer believes
all things that are written in the law of the prophets, and
the grace believer bows to all things that are written. Grace and works cannot coexist
because one has the worship of God and the other there is no
true worship of God. Notice what Paul said after the
way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things that are written. Now listen real carefully.
You will only worship a sovereign God. If you can get God to respond
to you, if there's something that you can do that would obligate
him to save you, If you can make Him respond to you, if you can
manipulate Him, really is what it comes down to, you'll never
worship Him. A God you can control, a God
you can manipulate, a God you can get to do what you want Him
to do, you won't worship that God. The only God you'll worship
is an absolute sovereign. You're in His hands. He's not
in yours. That leper came to Christ and
worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me
clean. It's all up to You. You'll only
worship the absolute sovereign God of the Bible, the sovereign
of the universe. You know, people talk about worship,
and they talk about contemporary worship and casual worship. Listen,
my dear friend, there's nothing contemporary about the worship
of God. There's nothing casual about the worship of God. If
I was you, I'd set up straight. I wouldn't even use language
like that with regard to the worship of the living God. This
is the God who will not speak to nor be spoken to apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the God we worship. Notice what Paul says, but this
I confess unto thee, after the way which they call heresy, so
worship I, the God of my father. The reason grace and works are
completely incompatible and can't coexist is because there's a
completely different way. Now, the way is the way from
point A to point B. Christ Jesus the Lord said in
John chapter 14 verse 6, I am the way. Not a way, the way. The only way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. Notice He didn't say, beside
me, or in front of me, or behind me, or pleading my name. The only way you'll get to the
Father is if you're in me, so that when I come to the Father,
you come too. That's what the Lord meant. You
see, all of His people are in Him. They were chosen in Him. They
were redeemed in Him. They were called in Him. You
see, when God looks at the believer, He sees someone who is in Christ. Of Him, are you in Christ, Jesus? God places you there. If you're
in Christ, God puts you in there. Somebody says, how do I get in
Christ? Well, the only way you can get in Christ is if God puts
you there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. You see, when He died, I died. I was in Him. When He was raised
from the dead, I was raised from the dead because I was in Him. When He ascended to the Father,
all of the elect ascended to the Father with Him because they
were in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the way to the Father,
not the way of works. but the way of Christ. I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me." You can't come any other way. There's only one way, and
the way of works. It's not the way to the Father.
You can't get there by the way of works. You will be destroyed
if you come trying to pleading your works or anything you do
or your experience or your decision. No, Christ is the only way to
the Father. Now the grace believer and the
works believer also can't get together. They can't coexist. They can't be in agreement with
one another because there's a completely different view as to what took
place in eternity past. Now, there was a time when there
was no sun, no stars, no universe. God dwelt alone, utterly independent. He didn't need anything. He didn't
need anything to make Him happy. Totally self-sufficient. But for His glory, He purposed
to give His Son a bride. That's the church. That's His
people. That is all of the elect. Now,
the works person thinks that God in eternity made a plan.
He made a plan for everybody's salvation. You know the word
plan is not in the Bible. look, it's not there. God never
made a plan. He didn't make a plan that people
would be saved if, say, He'd send His Son to die for them
and make salvation available for them and have a wonderful
plan for their life. He just hopes they'll end up letting
Him save them. No, that didn't take place in eternity at all.
In eternity, You know, Christ is called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Do you know before there was
ever a sinner, there was a Savior? And all of God's elect were given
to Christ before time began, and He agreed to be their Savior,
and everything that God requires of them, He looks to Him for. Listen to the Scripture. Romans
8, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for
good, to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Whom He did foreknow, not what
He foreknew, whom He foreknew. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. Whom He called, them He also
justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. All salvation was completed in
eternity. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9 says,
He saved us and He called us. Which came first, the saving
or the calling? The saving. He saved us and He called us,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. The works were finished, the
writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 3, from
the foundation of the world. All salvation was accomplished
in eternity. You see, God's not bound by space
or time the way you and I are. Everything is right before him.
And all of salvation was accomplished in eternity. Somebody says, do
you mean that Christ didn't have to come? No, I don't mean that
at all. Of course he had to come to pay for our sins. But the
works were still finished from the foundation of the world.
Now, here's another huge difference between the grace believer and
the works believer. They have a completely different
view as to what took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam
fell. The works believer believes when
Adam fell, he hurt himself. He became sinful, and now he
needs God's help. He needs God's grace to enable
him to become a better person. He needs God's grace to help
him. Now, a grace believer doesn't believe anything like that. In
the garden, when Adam fell, he did what God said he would do.
He died. He died. Spiritually died. Help won't do a dead man any
good. There has to be a miracle of grace, a miracle of life.
God has to do something. Now, when the Lord said to Lazarus,
Lazarus, come forth, he that was dead came forth. Lazarus
didn't make a decision. He didn't say, well, am I going
to come forth or not? No. He that was dead came forth because
of the almighty, irresistible, invincible voice of Christ. In
the Garden of Edom, Adam died and he is completely dependent
upon the grace of God to be saved. It's not about Adam being able
to accept something or do something to make what Christ did work
for him. No, he's dead and God's got to perform a miracle. Now
here is why Grace and works cannot coexist. They can't be friends.
They can't get along together because they have a completely
different belief with regard to the cross, what Christ accomplished
on the cross. You see, the works believer thinks
Christ made salvation available. He died for everybody, put away
everybody's sins, but now it's up to you to accept what He did.
If you reject what He did, you'll go to hell, even though He died
for you. He's up for your acceptance or rejection. And if you accept
Him, you'll be saved. If you reject Him, you won't.
What salvation is dependent upon is not Him dying for you, but
your acceptance or your rejection of what He did for you. Now,
a grace believer doesn't believe anything like that. That salvation
by works is all it is. It still makes salvation dependent
upon you, but a grace believer believes that when Christ said,
it is finished. The salvation of everybody he
died for was accomplished. Listen to this scripture. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. If Christ died for you, you must be saved. There's an insurmountable difference
between what the works believer believes takes place in a sinner's
heart and what a grace believer believes. Here's what the works
believer believes. Well, when you accept God's grace,
you're changed. You're changed. You're different.
You're not like you once were. You're not You don't have the
same problems with the flesh. You gradually become better and
better by the grace of God. You change. Now, the grace believer,
by the grace of God, is honest, and he knows that his flesh is
as bad as it ever was. It knows no improvement. It's
wicked to the core. He's not changed at all in that
sense. He's not less sinful. He's not
changed, but he has something placed within him that was not
there before. A new nature, a new heart, the
heart that God gives in regeneration. birthed by the Spirit of God. Oh, the flesh is just as bad
as it ever was, and we can't wait to get rid of it. We hate
our sin. We'd say with Paul, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
But we have a new man that loves Christ, that rests completely
in Him. What a difference. What a difference. And I think this is very interesting.
The grace believer and works believer cannot coexist because
of what they believe about forgiveness. The works believer thinks forgiveness
is the end of salvation. If you fill in the blank, If
you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, if you believe, if you
repent of all your sins, all the different things they'll
say, if you fill in the blank, then you'll have the forgiveness
of sins. That makes forgiveness dependent upon something you
do. Grace believers believe that
salvation begins with the full, free, complete forgiveness of
sins. My salvation begins with God
forgiving me of all of my sins and dealing with me as a justified
sinner who doesn't have any sin. And my salvation didn't begin
with some kind of decision I made. My salvation began with God forgiving
me of my sins. Now here's the last difference
I want to give. I'm sure I could give more, but here's the last
difference I want to give. This is why grace and works can't
coexist. Because works doesn't give God
all the glory. Let me repeat that. Works does
not give God all the glory. If you believe in free will,
you've got to give some of the glory to yourself. If you believe
you can become better and better through your efforts, you've
got to give some of the glory to yourself. If you believe that
you can earn a higher reward in heaven by your works here
on earth, you've got to give some of the glory to yourself.
I did something that so-and-so didn't do, and there's a difference
between me and him. Now the grace believer gives
all the glory to God and absolutely none to man. Now I can say with
such depth of conviction that I know that when I stand before
God and am saved by His grace and I'm not condemned and I stand
before God as a saint, I know who's going to get all the glory
for my salvation. I am going to be a trophy of
His grace, God saving the very chief of sinners. And you know
every believer feels that way about themselves. Every believer
feels like they're going to be the greatest example of just
how much of salvation is by grace. It's all of grace. Now in this
thing of grace and works, they cannot coexist. You're either
a grace believer or a works believer. You can't be both. Todd and I
are praying that God will be pleased to make Himself known
to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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