Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. 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 going to be speaking from
Romans chapter 15, verse 29. But before I get into the message,
I'd like to invite you to the special meetings we're having
at the Dodge Road Grace Church this week. Beginning on Friday
night, we're going to have services Friday night at 7, Saturday morning
at 10, Saturday evening at 6, and Sunday morning at 10. We're
going to be hosting a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. Now,
by sovereign grace, I mean saving grace, the grace that the Bible
teaches. The belief that God is absolutely sovereign. He's
absolutely sovereign. Men are dead in sins, unable
to save themselves. Christ came as a representative
of those that the Father elected, the Father elected a people.
Christ came and kept the law for them and died for them and
put away their sins. God, the Holy Spirit, irresistibly,
invincibly gives them life through the word preached, the new birth.
And God will cause all of these people to persevere all the way
to the end, walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have
nine men coming, all who believe sovereign grace. And we'd like
to have you come out and hear the gospel and visit with us.
And there's going to be meals provided and a nursery for every
service. In Romans chapter 15, verse 29,
Paul makes this amazing statement. He says, and I am sure that when
I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ." Now think of that statement. I am
sure that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness
of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now I read commentators
on this, I've heard men preach on it, and they say this verse
means that not every believer is walking in the privileges
in which he should walk, that very few reach the state of the
fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, and this is
something that we should all strive for. Now while I would
agree that Every believer lives far below than they should in
faith, in repentance, in love to Christ. Every believer lives
lower than they should. But this passage of Scripture
is not talking about something every believer should strive
to have. It's something every believer
possesses the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Now, the first word I want to
consider is Christ. the fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ. Now, Christ represents the offices
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's anointed. The Christ means He's
God's prophet, He's God's priest, and He's God's king. A prophet
is one who brings the Word of God, not the Word of men, but
the Word of God. A priest is one who represents
men to God. And a king is one who rules and
reigns. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
God's prophet, God's priest, and God's king. He brings us
the very Word of God. If He represents us before the
Father, we must be saved. He's the king who rules and reigns
over everything, and the gospel is about Him. It's for His glory. It's for His honor. It's about
who He is and what He did and where He is now and that He is
coming again. This book, the Bible, is all
about the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord asked his disciples,
whom say men that I the Son of Man am? And they replied, well,
some say you're Jeremiah, or John the Baptist, or one of the
prophets. They put you in some high cotton. And the Lord said,
whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord replied to
him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to thee. but my Father which is in heaven."
In John chapter 6, after 5,000 people were leaving him because
of the message he brought, and he watched them leave and he
didn't ask them to come back, but he said to the 12, will you
also go away? Peter answered, to whom shall
we go? We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. You have the words of eternal
life. This book is about the Christ,
His glory. 1 John 5, 1 says, Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You see, the gospel is
the gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Paul said, I'm sure when I come,
I'll come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ. And the second word I would like
to consider in that wondrous statement is the gospel or the
good news. Paul said, I know that when I
come, I'll come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel. the good news of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the gospel is good news. It's the best news there is. But did you know that the gospel
is not good news to everybody? A lot of folks get mad when they
hear the gospel. They don't find it to be good
news. It takes away what they're hoping
in. But some people do find it to be good news. As a matter
of fact, a whole lot of people find it to be good news. As a
matter of fact, there's one specific demographic that finds the gospel
to be good news. Listen to this scripture. 1 Timothy
1.15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
Everybody ought to rejoice in this, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. This is good news. The gospel
is good news to every sinner. You know, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a sinner's religion. Every other religion is a self-help
religion. Here's what you got to do to
make yourself better, but the gospel is a sinner's religion. It's the only place a sinner
can find salvation, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
Christian believes themselves to be essentially and fundamentally
bad, and the only hope they have is the Christ. And so this message
of the gospel is good news to every sinner because it tells
how a sinner can be saved. How God saves sinners. Now, if you're not a sinner,
you'll find the gospel offensive. It'll say things of you that
you don't appreciate. You'll say, I'm not that bad,
I'm better than that, or I'm not being treated rightly. I'm
not being treated fairly by God if that's the way He is. If you're
not a sinner and you have some kind of sense of entitlement
before God, you won't find the gospel good news. But if you
really believe yourself to be sinner, I think of that, then
drew near all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him. If you're
a sinner, you're going to find the Gospel to be good news indeed. Now, the third word I want to
focus on is blessing. Paul said, I'm sure that when
I come unto you, I'll come in the fullness of the blessing
of the Gospel of Christ. Now, what is a blessing? Blessing
is what only God can do for you. You know, I've had people say,
and I know they meant well, they say, bless you, bless you. And
I'm not going to say you shouldn't say that to me, but on this program
I'm going to say you shouldn't say that to me because only God
can bless. When somebody says bless you, I think, can you do
that? No, you can't, but God can. He is full of blessing. And I want to read a verse of
scripture to you from Ephesians 1, verse 3. And there are two
words that I want you to pay attention to. The word hath and
the word all. Ephesians 1, beginning in verse
3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath. blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He hath blessed
us. Now this blessing, the us, is
not everybody. There are some people who God
has not blessed. They will end up being in hell. And they certainly
do not have the blessing of God. Anybody who dies outside of Christ,
anybody who dies not believing the gospel, you can't say that
God has blessed that person. He's left that person to himself
or herself, and they're getting exactly what they've earned.
The wages of sin is death. But Paul begins his epistle by
saying, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to
the saints. which are at Ephesus, to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. So he's speaking to the saints.
He's speaking to believers. And he says, God has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
If you're a believer, there's not one of these blessings that
you don't possess. And he goes on to enumerate these
blessings. He begins in verse four by saying, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world."
Now, the first blessing he mentions is election, being chosen by
God to be saved before time began. Now, if God elected you, you
must be saved. Now, I realize that a lot of
times people get upset with the thought of God choosing who would
be saved. But I want to remind you of this.
If God didn't choose a great number of people to be saved,
nobody would be saved. Election is not the cause of
men not being saved. It's the cause of men being saved. If God left us to ourself, none
of us would be saved. We would all rebel against God. But God, because He's gracious
and merciful, elected a people before time began. And what a
blessing that is. I love election because it gives
this sinner hope. It glorifies God. It says He's
the Savior. And it says salvation really
is by grace. So the first blessing He mentions
is election. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, here's the next
blessing, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
I've been chosen to be holy and God's made me holy by what Christ
did for me. Christ is my holiness. I've been
chosen to be without blame before Him. That means justified. If
I'm justified, I have nothing to feel guilty about because
I have no sin. That's what Christ did. He put
away my sin to where I don't have any. And then he says in
verse 4 and 5, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, the blessing of predestination, being predestinated
to be just like Christ, to be an adopted child, being predestinated
to be conformed to his image. And this is all according to
his will. It's because he willed this,
and that's what makes it sure. He says in verse 6, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Salvation gives His grace all
the glory. And everybody saved by grace
knows that. They wouldn't dare give their
flesh any credit or glory. They wouldn't dare say that their
free will made the difference. They believe that God gets all
the glory. He hath, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. What a blessing that is to be
accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins. What a blessing that is, the
complete forgiveness of sins. Oh, the fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ. If God before us, who can be
against us? Now the word that I want to spend
the rest of my time focusing on is the word, the fullness. The fullness of the blessing,
of the gospel, the good news of Christ. These blessings are
not small and narrow and stingy. They're not partial, barren and
incomplete. No, we read of the fullness of
the blessing of the gospel of Christ. When something is full,
That means nothing can be added to it. Nothing can make it any
greater or any better. Fill to where not another drop
can be held. Fullness, lacking nothing, complete. Colossians 2.10 says, you, speaking
of every believer, you are complete. Hear that again. You are complete
in Him. If you're a believer, you lack
nothing. However complete Christ is, you
are. Does He lack anything? No. He's
everything to the Father. The Father sees Him as altogether
lovely. There's nothing He can do that
would make Himself more pleasing or more perfect or more complete
before the Father. He's the beloved. Now listen
to this scripture. 1 John chapter 4 verse 17 says,
1 John chapter 4 verse 17 says, herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness on the day of judgment because as
He is, so are we in the world. That means right now. However
perfect Christ is, however complete Christ is, however holy Christ
is, however righteous Christ is, however beautiful Christ
is, that's what every believer is to the Father because they
are in Him, accepted in the Beloved. Now, the fullness of the blessing
of the Gospel of Christ is not some higher state that believers
are to strive to try to get, but it's what every believer
possesses. Now, let me give you one scripture
that demonstrates that. John chapter 1, verse 16 says,
of His fullness have all we received. Every believer of His fullness
have all, every one of us have all we received." Now, every
believer receives Christ, the gospel, and if they don't receive
it, it's because he never gave it. Everybody he gives his grace
to, he gives his grace to. And everybody that he gives his
grace to, they all receive it. And if somebody says, well, I've
not received it, well, he never gave it to you then. Because if he
gives it to you, you'll receive it. And every believer has received
the very fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there is a
fullness of deity. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And there's a fullness of perfect
manhood in Him. There is one God and one Mediator
between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus. And as the God-Man,
He has the fullness of ability to save. He lacks nothing to
save. All you need is in Him. Oh, His fullness. There is a
fullness of atoning efficacy in His blood, so that if He died
for you, you are without sin. All of your sin was washed away. It was put away. He bore it in
his own body on the tree according to the scriptures. Sin can't
be two places at once. If he bore my sins, I don't have
any sins. And what did he do when he said,
it is finished? They were all taken away. They were all put away because
there is a fullness of atoning efficacy in his blood. You see,
his blood was not some kind of general offer where he just made
salvation possible for people if they do their part to make
what he did work. No, not at all. When he said
it is finished, the salvation of everybody he died for, and
how can I know if he died for me? Would you believe the gospel?
If you do, he died for you. He died for those who believe.
And if he died for you, you have no sin. You stand perfectly pure
before God. He has a fullness of justifying
righteousness. Now, not only is your sin put
away if he saved you, but you're justified before God. Having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
Now listen to me. Justification is not God treating you as if
you're not guilty even though you are. Justification says not guilty,
perfectly righteous, having nothing to be condemned for. There is
a fullness of justifying righteousness in the gospel of Christ. If you
believe the gospel, you know what you are? You're the righteousness
of God. You don't have a righteousness
that's like God's. You have the very righteousness
of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, 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. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that it's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. There's a fullness in
his intercession. You know, if he prays for you,
you must be saved. He doesn't pray for something
and the Father says no. If He represents you before the
Father, you must be saved. Wherefore, He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Now, the intercession of
Christ is not Him seeing you sin and saying, Lord, I know
you committed that sin, but would you forgive it? And maybe you
committed a hundred times and a hundred times he said, will
you please forgive him that sin? No, that's not the way the intercession
of Christ works. He stands before the father.
And that's all that's needed. That person belongs to me. Nothing
else needs to be said. What an intercessor he is. Everyone
he represents must be saved. There's a fullness of victory
in his death. It's Christ that died. I need
no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. Oh, what victory there
is in his death. When I hear people talk about
defeated Christians, I think there's no such thing. We're
more than conquerors through him that loved us. Oh, the fullness
of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. There's a fullness
of saving efficacy in his resurrection from the dead. When he was raised
from the dead, every one of his people were raised with him.
When he went to heaven, the Lord of hosts is coming in, which
means he's bringing hosts with him. You say, well, didn't he
raise up By Himself? No, when He was raised, I was
raised in Him because I was in Him. And there's a fullness of
salvation in His resurrection. The empty tomb says He accomplished
what He came to do, and everybody He did it for is saved. There
is a fullness of grace in Him. Grace for everything. Grace to
pardon. Grace to give you a new heart. Grace to give you the
grace to believe. Grace to cause you to repent.
Grace to cause you to persevere. Grace to cause you to love Him
more and to love His people. Fullness of grace. Of His fullness
have we all received. And grace for grace. You know,
it takes grace to believe grace. And He gives grace to cause us
to believe grace. Of His fullness have we all received. Now, if I'm a believer, and I am,
The only reason I'll be in heaven is because of Christ, His fullness. He is all I have. I can't add anything to Him,
nor do I want to add anything to Him, because having only Him,
I have all. Christ is all. He's all in my salvation. Everything
God requires of me, he looks to his son for. And having Christ,
I have all. Paul said, I'm sure that when
I come, I'm going to come in the fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ. Now, a word to the sinner and
a word to the saint, a word to the sinner, that one who deep
down knows they don't know the living God and they're not saved.
They know that if they would die today, they'd go to hell.
I've got a word for you. There's fullness of grace in
Him for you. If you call upon His name, He'll
save you because there's a fullness of saving grace in Him. And if
He gives you grace, it's not going to empty His coffers any.
He's full of grace and He delights to save sinners. If you're a
sinner, He came for you. What a blessed encouragement
and a word to the saint. You're complete. You know, I'm
so satisfied with this. I'm not looking for anything
else. You can't improve on this gospel.
You can't improve on being complete. You can't improve on having received
His fullness. I can't get any more saved than
I am. I can't get any more loved than I am. I can't get any more
accepted by God than I already am. What a blessed truth. And
I am completely satisfied with this. I've heard people say before
in response to the gospel, okay, what else? There's got to be
something more than that. You didn't hear that. I am satisfied. I'm not looking for anything
else. I'm satisfied to be saved wholly
by him in a way where he gets all the glory and absolutely
no glory comes to me. Satisfied. Now, once again, I'd
like to invite you to the special services we're having this week,
beginning Friday night at 7 o'clock, Saturday morning at 10, Saturday
evening at 6, and Sunday morning at 10. We're having our Sovereign
Grace Bible Conference. We'll have nine speakers. all
of whom believe the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
God absolutely sovereign, men dead in sins, God unconditionally
electing a people to be saved, Christ dying for those people,
God the Holy Spirit giving life to those people, and the triune
God enabling them to persevere all the way to the end. And we'd
love to have you come and hear the gospel preached at these
special meetings. This is Todd Kniper, praying
that God would 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.