is 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
Neiberg. 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 Nybert. I've entitled this morning's
message, What Must I Do to Be Saved? Now, make no mistake about
it. If you and I are saved by the
grace of God, there is something we will do because He saved us. What must I do to be saved? I'm reading from Acts chapter
16. And this is where Paul and Silas were thrown in prison in
Philippi for preaching the gospel. And we read, beginning in verse
23, And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast
them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who,
having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison,
and made their feet fast in stocks. Now I don't know what kind of
man this was but he seemed to be a cruel man the way he treated
Paul and Silas. Verse 25, And at midnight Paul
and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God. Isn't that beautiful? Here they are in such pain after
being beat with the cat of nine tails, thrown into a filthy prison,
their feet fastened in stalks, and they sang. They sang praises
to God and they prayed. And the scripture says the prisoners
heard them. Now, I don't know if the jailer
heard them, but the prisoners did. And suddenly there was a
great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's
bands were loosed. Everyone could escape now. And
the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the
prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed
himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried
with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we're all
here. Then he called for a light. The
prison keeper called for a light. He knew he needed light, and
he sprang in and came trembling. and fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?" A more important question could
never be considered. What must I do to be saved? Now, this man was in desperate
condition. He was at the verge of committing suicide. Scripture
says he would have killed himself. And I don't know if he was just
overcome with the kindness of Paul and Silas. It wasn't what
he was expecting. He thought everyone would flee
or try to kill him. But here he sees them all intact. It wasn't what he was expecting,
and he was scared. He came in trembling. He knew
he needed light. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now, one thing he was dead sure
of, he was not saved. Now, that's a blessed revelation.
When you find out you're not saved, most people simply take
salvation for granted. Well, this man found out he was
not saved. He didn't ask, can you prove
that there is a God? And if there is, how can I know
him? He knew God was, and he knew he was guilty before God.
He knew that. He didn't ask, what's my purpose
in life? He asked, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved? Would to God that you and I would
seriously, sincerely ask that question, wanting to have it
answered from the Bible. What must I do to be saved? Now, in order to answer that
question, and I want to answer it from the Scriptures. This
is a very important message. First, I want to ask the question,
what is meant by the term saved? What must I do to be saved? Now, most people, when they think
of being saved, they think of not having to go to hell and
getting to go to heaven when they die. That's salvation. Indeed, that is part of salvation.
but that's not giving an answer as to what it means to be saved. There are other people who want
to be saved from the wretched condition that their sin has
brought into their life, and they put themselves in sorrow,
and they need to be saved by that. And indeed, there is salvation,
but that's still not what saved means. What does it mean, this
term being saved? I love this scripture, Matthew
1, verse 21, thou shalt call his name Jesus,
and Jesus being Savior, for he shall save his people from their
sins. Salvation is salvation from sins. Now let's think about what this
verse says, he shall save. He doesn't try to save. He doesn't
make an attempt at saving. He doesn't offer salvation. He
shall save. And who is it he shall save?
The scripture says his people. He shall save his people from
their sins. Well, who are his people? I read
recently a man who was from, I guess, what you call the reformed
tradition, and I Reform from what is what I want
to ask the truth never needed to be reformed you talk about
reform doctrine Well that God's doctrines always been what it
is. It's always been true. It's always had people that believe
it It doesn't need reform. That's why I don't even like
the term reform. Somebody asked me are you reformed?
No, I'm a Christian the very idea of reformed is is is not
scriptural and But people in the, quote, reformed tradition
usually believe what are known as the five points of Calvinism.
And a man was trying to talk about the death of Christ, and
he said, well, Christ died for those who believe. And that's
true, but why couldn't he say Christ died for the elect? To
say that Christ died for those who believe is true, but it's
not the truth. It's not the whole truth. It's
not nothing but the truth. As a matter of fact, there are
many errors you could extract from that. You could say, if
you say Christ died for those that believe, you could say,
well, He foresaw who would believe and He died for them, which would
be horrible error, or it could be making your salvation dependent
upon your faith rather than His blood, and it's what you do that
makes what He does work for you, and that's salvation by works.
He shall save, I love the way the Scripture puts it, His people.
His people, the elect, those the Father gave Him. He shall
save, He shall save His people from their sins. Now here's my enemy. Here is
what I need saved from, my sins, my sin against God. There's nothing
I can do to atone for my sin. There's nothing I can do to make
God accept me. What I need saved from is my
sins. I need to be saved from the penalty
of my sins. I don't want to go to hell. I
don't want to be condemned. I don't want to have to pay for
my sins. I need to be saved from the penalty of my sins. I need
to be saved from the power of my sins so they don't have complete
control and dominion over me. And I want to be saved from the
commission of sin to where I really never sin again. Now, this is
what Christ came to do. He came to save His people from
their sins. This is what salvation is. First,
salvation from the penalty of sin. That's what the Bible calls
justification. If I'm justified, that means
I stand before God without guilt, having never sinned. Someone says, how can you be
that way? Because Christ put away my sins and I don't have
them anymore. He bare our sins in His own body on the tree,
the scripture says, and if Christ bore my sins, they're gone. When
He said it is finished, they were finished. He completely
saved me. Now I'm saved from the power
of my sin in regeneration, in the new birth. Now in the new
birth, I'm given a nature. Holy nature, a nature that comes
from God, being born of God. And I'm enabled to do what I
could not do before I was given this new birth. You see, I was
born into this world, and you were born into this world, dead
in sins, without the ability to believe, without the ability
to repent. The Lord put it this way, no
man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him." He didn't say, no man may come. He said,
no man can come. He lacks the ability to come.
I can't even come to Christ unless God draws me to himself. Now,
I'm saved from the power of sin, from the dominion of sin, when
I'm given this new nature, this holy nature that can do what
my old nature could not do. It believes. It repents. It loves. It walks with God. I've been saved from the dominion
of sin. Now, I tell you when sin has
complete dominion over you is when you don't realize it does.
When you think, well, I've got some freedom from this, and you
just show you're under the complete dominion of sin, you've been
fooled. But He came to save us from the dominion of sin, and
one of these days, I'm going to be saved from the very commission
of sin. I'm going to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
Now, that's salvation. salvation from sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, the man asked, what must
I do to be saved? Well, first, what is meant by
saved? You're saved from your sins. But there's something else
I want to ask before I get to the original question. What does
it take for a sinner to be saved from their sins? Now, God is
just. God is holy. God is righteous.
He will not let sin go unpunished. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. I have sinned. How can I be saved? How can I be saved from my sins? Now, when this man asked, what
must I do to be saved? He did not ask, what must I do
to save myself? Because he knew he couldn't save
himself. But what must I do to be saved? Well, how can a man
who is guilty and sinful be saved? What's it take for a sinner to
be saved? And let me give you these six
things briefly that are absolutely necessary for a sinner to be
saved. First of all, for a sinner to
be saved, he's got to be elected by God. God chose who would be
saved before the foundation of the world. For a sinner to be
saved, it takes the will of God Almighty for me to be saved.
God must will my salvation. I can't will my salvation. God
must will my salvation. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, But we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. The Lord said you have not chosen
me but I have chosen you. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Now election is not hard to understand. It means that God chose who would
be saved before the foundation of the world. That's not hard
to understand at all. It may be hard to receive You
may not like it, but it's not hard to understand. The Bible
teaches this. For a sinner to be saved, first,
he's going to have to be elected, chosen by God before time began. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? Not only does it take God electing them, it takes
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before
time began, This is where salvation begins. Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before time began,
Christ stood as a surety for his people. This is so beautiful. The Lord Jesus Christ, as my
surety, agreed to take full responsibility for my salvation. And when he did that, All that
God requires of me, he looks to Christ for. In time, he became
flesh and he kept God's holy law for me and worked out a perfect
righteousness for me. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Everything
he did, he did as an us. He fulfilled all righteousness
for me. And then when he was nailed to
the cross, he died for me. You know what that means? That
means my sins became his sins, and he suffered the wrath of
God on account of my sin that became his sin. 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. And he was raised for me. And
when he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. God
was satisfied with what he did, and God's satisfied with me.
He intercedes for me. He prays for me. He's my representative
even now, and he's coming for me to bring me to himself. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? The person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, what does it take for
a sinner to be saved from his sins? It takes the life-giving,
irresistible, invincible grace of God the Holy Spirit in the
new birth. Now, I have to be elected. I have to have Christ
live for me and die for me, but I also have to have the work
of the Holy Spirit giving me a new nature and a new heart
being born from above. John 1, 12, and 13 says, As many
as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons
of God. even to them which believe on
his name, which were born. Not of blood. I'm not saved because
my mommy and daddy are saved. I'm not saved in some kind of
covenant family. Not of the will of man. Not because
a bunch of men got together and said, we're going to pray until
this man is saved. Not of the will of the flesh. Free will,
there's no such thing. I don't decide to let him save
me. My will is controlled by an evil nature. which were born,
not of blood, not of the will of man, not of the will of the
flesh, but of God. He birthed me. He gave me a new
heart. He gave me a new nature. He gave
me a holy nature. It's that new nature that sees
the sinfulness of the old nature. It's the new nature that believes
the gospel. It's the new nature that repents. It's the new nature
that loves. It's the new nature that continues
in the faith. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved from his sins? It takes the irresistible, invincible
work of God the Holy Spirit. What does it take for a sinner
to be sinned? Fourthly, everything that was, is and shall be. All
of God's providence. And we know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Everything he
does is for the salvation of his people. So what's it take?
Everything that was, is, and shall be, all of God's providence. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? Fifthly, the preaching of the gospel. First Corinthians
121 says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to
save them that believe. God uses the preaching of the
gospel to save them that believe. Somebody says, but couldn't God
save without a preacher? Of course he could. He's God.
It's not that he needs a preacher. The question is not, could he
save without a preacher? The question is, does he save
without a preacher? Because the scripture says it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Paul said, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent?" God always uses the preaching of the Gospel. That's just the way He does it.
And somebody says, I just can't get a hold of that. Well, I can't
either, but the Bible still says it. You mean God uses a fool
like you to preach the Gospel and that's the way He speaks?
Yes, that's what the Bible says. I love it when Philip came up
to the Ethiopian eunuch while he was sitting in his chariot
reading Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah 53. And he said, do you understand
what you're reading? Now, if you would ask the average
person, do you understand what you're reading, they'd say, well,
here's what I think, or here's what it means to me. But the humility
this man demonstrated when he said, how can I? Except some
man should guide me. And at that time, Philip went
in there and preached Christ to him. He preached the gospel
to him, and that man was saved from that. What does it take
for a sinner to be saved? The preaching of the gospel.
It takes the will of God. It takes the person and work
of Christ. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit. It takes
everything that was, is, and shall be. It takes the preaching
of the gospel. And finally, we read, it is only
he that endures to the end that shall be saved. It is only he
that perseveres all the way to the end who doesn't quit but
continues in the faith, grounded and settled, and is not moved
from the hope of the gospel. That is the person who God saves,
the person who is preserved. Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling. and to present you faultless
before His presence with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our
Savior be honor and glory, dominion and power everlasting." That's
what it takes for a man to be saved from his sins. Now for
the original question, what must I do to be saved? We've seen that being saved is
being saved from sin. We see what it takes for a sinner
to be saved. Now, what must I do to be saved? See, the fact of
the matter is, if God saves me, there are things that I will
do. And I love the clarity of Paul's
answer to him. When he said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved." And
there's the answer. What must I do? Believe. That means trust. That means
to rely upon. That means to rest in. That means
to cease from your own works and trust His works. Believe
on the Lord. Now, that's not an empty title.
He is the Lord. He's the one who has absolute
control. Jesus, Savior, Christ, God's
prophet, God's priest, God's king. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now I'm going to come back to
that in a couple of minutes, but let me read you these scriptures.
Romans 10.13 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Now that doesn't simply mean
audibly calling his name. His name is His attributes, His
characteristics, His sovereignty, His justice, His holiness, His
wisdom, His power. When I call upon His name, I
say, Lord, save me by Your will, by Your sovereign will, will
my salvation. Lord, save me by Your justice
in a way that honors Your justice and does something about my sin.
Save me by Your grace. Save me by your mercy. Save me
by your wisdom. All your wonderful attributes.
Lord, I'm calling upon them all to save me. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, I love that word,
whosoever. I'm in that group. Beloved, if you call on the name
of the Lord, it's important that you call on the name of the Lord,
not a false god or an idol, but it's got to be the real Lord
as He's revealed in His Word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And then we read in Romans chapter
10 verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth Confession is made
unto salvation. Now, if you confess with your
mouth what you believe in your heart, Jesus to be Lord, that's
not an empty title. That means he's Lord. You don't
make him Lord, he is Lord. I've heard people say, won't
you make Jesus the Lord of your life? You can't do that. God's
already made him Lord and he is both Lord and Christ. He's
the Lord Jesus and we believe in our heart. that God raised
him from the dead. Not just the fact, but the reason.
The reason God raised him from the dead is God was completely
satisfied with what he did. The justice of God was satisfied. God said, I can ask for no more.
He raised him from the dead. All sin was put away. If you
shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, we have this promise,
thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved. And then
we read in John chapter 10, verse 9, the Lord said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Now I come by him. He's my door. I don't come any
other way. I don't come because of anything
I've done or intend to do or quit doing. I come by the door. He said, I am the way, the truth,
the life. No man cometh through the Father,
but by me. I come by the door. The Lord says, if any man comes
by me, he shall be saved. And then we read in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 10, of those who received not the love of the truth. And because they received not
the love of the truth, the scripture says, God shall send them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. Did you hear that? God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. To be saved, I'm to receive the
love of the truth, the love of the truth of who God is, the
love of the truth of how He saves sinners. If I don't receive the
love of the truth, not just giving a scent of some facts, but receiving
the love of the truth, I will not be saved. In 1 Corinthians
15, 2, we read, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which you also receive wherein you
stand, by which you are saved if you keep in memory what I've
preached to you, unless you've believed in vain. You're to hold
on to the gospel. I mean, it's all your hope. You
never graduate from the gospel. You hold on to your only hope
of who Christ is and what he did, that salvation's all a work
of grace. You're only saved if you hold
the beginning of your confidence steadfast to the end. The Lord
said, he that endureth to the end. The same shall be saved.
It's only as God preserves me and keeps me all the way looking
only to Christ that I shall be saved. Now back to Acts chapter
16. Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. And
the scripture says that they went on to say some more things
to him. They preached the gospel to him. They just didn't say
believe and leave it at that. They gave him the word of the
Lord. And he heard what they said. And he believed. Scripture
says believing in God with all of his house. You know, when
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're believing on God because Jesus
is God. He's the only Savior of sinners.
He's God. I love saying that. Believe.
Rest. Trust. Rely upon The Lord, so
powerful He can't fail. Jesus, the glorious Savior of
sinners. Christ, God's prophet, the Word
of God, God's priest, the one who can make you acceptable before
God, God's King. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You'll be saved from your sins,
you'll be saved from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin,
and bless God one of these days from the commission of sin. Now
we have this message on DVD and CD. If you write the church,
email or call, we'll send you a copy of this. This is Todd
Nibbert, praying that God will 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.