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 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've entitled the message for
this morning, How Grace and Works Differ. Make no mistake about
it, they do differ. I'm reading from Romans chapter
11, verse 6. And if by grace, Now he spoke in the previous
verse, even so then at this present time there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And if by grace, election and
every other aspect of salvation, if by grace then it's no more
of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Don't call it that. Otherwise,
work is no more work. How grace and works differ. Now, let me say this at the beginning.
They exclude one another. You can't believe them both at
the same time. They're incongruent. There is
no hybrid gospel where both are included. You are either saved
100% by grace or you are saved 100% by works. There's no 99% grace and 1% work. There's no, it's all of grace
except for the act of your free will. No, it's either all grace
or all works. Grace and works exclude one another. Now here's the problem. I dare
say that if you ask the average professor and Christian, do you
believe in salvation by grace or works? Every one of them would
say, oh, I believe in salvation by grace. No matter what else
they believe, they would say, I believe in salvation by grace.
Now there's a reason for that. The problem is works believers
and grace believers use largely the same vocabulary. They both
use words like grace and faith and redemption and sanctification
and justification and repentance. They use the same words, but
completely different meanings. They use the same words, but
the words used by the grace believer and the same words used by the
works believer have completely different meanings. And I think
you'll see this as we consider this passage of scripture. Now,
if you believe any part of your salvation is dependent upon works,
If you believe, for instance, in the beginning of your salvation,
you're saved because you walked down the aisle. You're saved
because you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior. You're
saved because you, of your free will, decided to let Him save
you. Now that is salvation by works.
That's all it is. You don't believe in grace at
all if you believe that way. If you believe in the middle
of your salvation, that you, through cooperation with the
Holy Spirit, through diligence and self-denial, through your
efforts, your Bible reading, your prayers, that you become
more holy, more like Christ, and less sinful. If you believe
you're progressively sanctified and become more and more holy
through your own efforts and diligence and acts of obedience,
you believe in salvation by works. You don't believe in grace at
all. If you believe at the end of your salvation, that your
place in heaven will be according to how good you are here on earth.
Yeah, we're saved by Christ, but our position in glory is
going to be determined by our works, how good and obedient
we've been. And we're going to have a lower
position in glory if we've been bad Christians, if we've been
carnal Christians, if we haven't been as obedient as we ought
to be, then we'll have a lower position. Now, if you believe
in anything like that, you believe in salvation by works, plain
and simple. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for
by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
That faith, it's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast." Now, I believe the man who could
tell us most clearly the difference between grace and works, how
the grace differs from works would be the Apostle Paul. You
see, the Apostle Paul had been on both sides of the fence. He
understood what it meant to believe in salvation by works. He said
before he was saved, his view of himself was touching the righteousness
which is in the law. I was blameless. He thought he
was the most obedient man to ever live. He believed in salvation
by works wholeheartedly. And then when God saved him,
he became the greatest expositor of the grace of God to ever live. He taught us. He's the one God
used to expound salvation by grace more than any other man.
Now, he wasn't a fence straddler. He never straddled the fence.
He was either all works, and when God saved him, he was all
grace. Now let's see what he tells us
about the difference between grace and works. And where I
want to go is Acts chapter 24, where he is before Felix. And
he's given a defense of himself. He'd been arrested. There had
been murder attempts on him. When he preached in Acts chapter
22, they tried to pull him apart and kill him. Acts chapter 23,
when he was thrown into jail, 40 men said we're neither going
to eat or drink until we've killed Paul. We want to put him out
of business. Now they clearly believed works. They hated Paul's
preaching of grace and then they hired an orator to represent
them before Felix to get Paul in more trouble. They said he's
a pestilent man. He's a mover of sedition. He
doesn't bring people together. He drives people apart. He's
a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Now here's Paul answering
for himself after these accusations have been made. He said in verse
12, they neither found me in the temple disputing with any
man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues nor
in the city. All these accusations are false. Neither can they prove
the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee. I plead guilty here. They make
this accusation, I plead guilty. This I confess unto thee, that
after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the
law and in the prophets. Now, in this confession, I see
how grace and works differ. Now, here's the first difference,
a different God. After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers." The God of grace
and the God of works are different gods. You see, the God of works
is not holy. If he can accept anything that
comes from me or you, he's not holy. He's not just. He's not the God of the Bible. That God is a non-existent God. He is not holy. He's not sovereign. His will
can be thwarted. He can want something to happen
and it might not take place because you won't let Him. That's not
the God of the Bible. That's a weak God. That's an
insignificant God. It's not the God of the Bible.
The God of grace is the living and true God. who's absolutely,
immutably sovereign, whose will must be and always is done. And he saves in a way that magnifies
all of his attributes, his justice, his righteousness, his sovereignty,
his wisdom, his grace. He saves in a way that magnifies
every single one of his attributes for his own glory. Now, creation. was easy for God. All he had to do is will it and
the universe was brought into existence. Salvation cost him
his son. But how he's glorified in the
salvation of the sinner. Now, two completely different
gods and that's the main difference. Secondly, Here's how grace differs
from works. There's a different view of Holy
Scripture. Notice what Paul said, this I
confess unto thee, that after the way that they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things. Believing
all things. that are written in the law and
in the prophets. The works believer does not believe
all things that are written. Now the works believer may say,
I believe the Bible is the word of God. But when they're confronted
with some aspect of the gospel, they'll ward it off by saying,
well, that's your interpretation. That's your interpretation, something
that's clearly taught in the Word of God, like election or
predestination or Christ's effectual atonement for his elect. When
they hear that, they say, well, that's your interpretation. Now,
the scriptures know of no private interpretation. It's not up for
interpretation in that sense. It is what it is. And a believer
bows to all things that God says. You see, the gospel is about
this book. This book is about the gospel.
It's God's revelation of Himself. And what you and I really think
about God Himself is seen in how we respond to His Word. A believer bows to all things. that are written, all things
concerning what the Bible says about God and His character,
all things concerning what the Bible says about man and his
sinfulness and inability and helplessness to save himself.
He believes all things the Bible says about Christ being everything
and salvation and him getting all the glory. The believer believes
all things that are written. Now, the third difference we
see in our text, let me read it again. But this I confess
unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I. the God of my fathers. Now, the
difference between grace and works is seen in this thing of
worship. You see, you will not worship
a God that you can get to respond to you. The works believer has
no true worship of God. You see, you only worship God
when you worship an absolute sovereign, one whom you're in
His hands. He's not in yours. The issue
is not, will I accept Him? Will He accept me? He's the absolute
sovereign of the universe, and He can do with me whatever He's
pleased to do. If He saves me, it'll glorify
His grace. If He damns me, it'll glorify
His justice. But I'm in His hands. It's up
to Him as to what's going to take place with me. Now, that's
the only God you'll worship. You will not worship any other
God but an absolute sovereign. Now, the issue here is a thing
of worship. Notice Paul didn't say, after the way which they
call heresy, so I believe about God. He said, no, this is worship. So worship the God of my fathers. You know, so much is said about
worship in our day. We hear about Well, do you all
have traditional worship? Do you have contemporary worship?
Do you have casual worship? You know, somebody making those
distinctions about worship doesn't even know what worship is. They're
just going through the game and motions of playing religion.
No, worship is bowing before the absolute God of glory. I'm in His hands. Whatever He
does is right. Now, let me show you King David's
attitude about this. This is David in 2 Samuel chapter
15 when he is being hounded by Absalom and
he's fleeing Jerusalem at this time and he's so sad because
he knows it's really all his fault if he hadn't committed
that sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah and none of this
would have been taking place. And he was so upset at this time. But hear his words. Now this
is worship. And the king said unto Zadok, carry back the ark
of God into the city. If I shall find favor in the
eyes of the Lord, And that word favor is grace, same word that
was translated, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he'll bring
me again, and show me both it and his habitation. But if he
thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do me as seemeth good
unto him. Whatever he does is right. Whether
he saves me or casts me away, whatever he does is right. That,
my dear friends, is worship, the worship of the living God. Now God will not speak to nor
be spoken to apart from His Son the Mediator. And if you and
I ever learn that we will worship. And that leads me to the fourth
point. Different God, different views
of the scripture, different worship, and a different way. After the
way that they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers. A different way. Now, the way
is the distance between point A and point B. It's the way from
point A to point B. Christ said in John chapter 14
verse 6, I am the way. He didn't say I'll show you the
way. He didn't say I'll guide you along the way. He said, I
am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I love that statement. It's so
glorious. I'm the way. I am the truth.
I'll tell you the truth. I am the truth. I am the life. Not even I'll give you life.
I am the life. If you have life before God,
it'll be my life. comes to the Father, but by me. Now this is the way everyone
who gets to the Father goes. They come by Christ, not behind
Christ, not beside Christ, not in front of Christ, but by Christ. Now the only way this can be
understood is in light of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. If
I'm united to Him, that means I'm in Him. And wherever He goes,
I go. When He died, I died. When He
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. When He
ascended back to the Father, I ascended back to the Father,
and I come by Him. Not even pleading his name, although
I do, but I come by him. Both he that sanctifieth and
they are sanctified are all of one, one with Christ. That's
what every believer is. And the way we get to the Father
is by being in him. And when he comes to the Father,
we do too. This is the way that completely
excludes all other ways. the way of Christ, the way of
coming into the Father's presence by Christ, is it any wonder,
Paul said, oh, that I might 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. Now, the grace believer and the
works believer radically differ as to what took place in eternity.
Now the works believer believes that God made a plan. God planned
to provide salvation for anybody who does what they're supposed
to do in order to receive his work. He made a plan. He planned
salvation. He made provision for salvation
if the sinner will do whatever it takes to accept his salvation. Now, I think it's interesting,
do you know the word plan is not found in the Bible? But the
grace believer, he has a completely different view as to what took
place in eternity. The grace believer believes that
all of salvation was accomplished in eternity. Christ is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 2 Timothy 1.9 says,
he saved us and 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. Hebrews
4.3 says, All the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. Now here is how secure my salvation
is. It was accomplished before time
began. Now, Christ had to come in time
and accomplish my salvation for me, but he accomplished that
which was accomplished in eternity past. The grace believer and
the works believer have completely different views as to what took
place in eternity. The grace believer and the works
believer have completely different views as to what they think took
place in the garden of Eden. Now the works believer believes
that when Adam fell, he hurt himself, he became sinful, but
he retained some ability. Maybe just the power of free
will, where he can choose to accept what Christ has done and
thus save himself. Or that he, through the work
of the Holy Spirit, can be enabled to believe and to repent through
God working together with him. He can't do this on his own,
but he can cooperate with God, and that will enable him to do
what he needs to do. Now, the grace believer believes
no such thing. We believe that in the Garden
of Eden, Adam and Eve did exactly what God said they would do.
They would die. They would die spiritually and
lose all ability to save themselves. Somebody once said, if you're
wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all, and that's so. You
can't really believe the gospel if you don't believe that men
are dead in trespasses and sins, completely unable to save themselves
or to do anything toward their own salvation. Now, Scripture
says there's none righteous, no, not one. It says this in
Psalm 14. It says this in Psalm 53. And
Paul quotes it in Romans chapter 3. There's none righteous. No,
not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. Do you know no one has ever
sought God unless God first seeks him? There's none that seeketh
after God. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now the only way someone like
this can be saved is if salvation really is all of grace. Because
he has no righteousness. He has no goodness. He won't
even seek God and he doesn't have any understanding of God.
That person is completely dependent upon the grace of God. Now, the
grace believer and the works believer differ greatly in what
they think took place in the garden. Next, the grace believer
and the works believer have a completely different view as to what took
place on the cross. The works believer believes that
on the cross, Christ made provision. He made a way for a sinner to
be saved if the sinner would just accept what he did. He made
provision for all. He made salvation possible for
all if you just do your part. The works believer believes that
Christ, the innocent one, was punished that the believer, the
guilty one, would not be punished. But you know, that's not what
took place on the cross at all. Grace believers don't believe
anything like that. II Corinthians 5.21 says, For he, God the Father,
hath made him, God the Son, for he hath made him to be sin. I don't even know what to say
about that other than believe what it says. The sins of God's
elect became the sins of Christ to where he became guilty of
them. On the cross, it was not the
innocent being punished. It was the guilty being punished,
because he took my sin and my sorrows and made them his very
own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone, for he hath made him to be sin
for us, all for whom he died, all who believe, all of God's
elect, He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He never committed sin. He did
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now here's what the grace believer
believes took place on the cross. Christ put away my sin, and he
made me the very righteousness of God. It wasn't some kind of
provision, if I do my part. He saved me. When he said, it
is finished, my salvation was accomplished. That's what the
grace believer believes. And the grace believer and the
works believer have completely different views as to what happens
in a sinner's heart when God saves him. The works believer
believes, well, God comes in by grace and He changes me. He
makes me better. He makes me more holy. He makes
me more obedient. He does these things for me.
He comes into me and changes me. That's what works, believer
believes. I'm changed. I'm changed. A grace
believer knows that he's not changed. Paul said, in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. I'm just as sinful and evil. The old man is still there. I'm
not changed, but something is placed in me that was not there
before. A new heart, a new nature. It's called regeneration. giving
me a clean heart, a new heart, a pure heart that was not there
before. Now the old man's still there,
and he's just as bad as ever, but now I have a new man, a new
creature. Now when some religious person
comes and tells you, I'm changed, I used to be real evil, and now
I'm good, and I'm righteous, and I used to have these sinful
desires, and I don't have them anymore, he's lying. That's all
you can call it, he's lying. A grace believer knows that in
his flesh is no good thing, but, oh, something new, a new creation
in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. And the final difference between
grace and works, the grace believer gives God all the glory and salvation. He gives Christ all the glory
and salvation. He gives God the Holy Spirit
all the glory and salvation. The works believer gives man
some of the glory. I'm saved because I fill in the
blank, whatever it is. I'm saved because I did this,
or I stopped doing that, or I accepted, or I let Jesus have his way.
That gives man the glory. Now, I love what David said in
Psalm 115, 1, Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy
name give glory. A believer in grace gives God
all the glory and salvation. And that's the issue. Who gets
the glory? When you're listening to a man
preach, ask this question. Who is he giving the glory and
salvation? If it all goes to God, he's of
God. If any of it goes to man, it's wrong. May God bless this
message to your heart. 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.