I did choose thee. 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 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 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'd like to read Romans chapter
five, verses 20 and 21. Paul says in Romans five, beginning
in verse 20, moreover, the law entered that the offense might
abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." I've
entitled this message, The Reign of Grace. Grace is portrayed
in this passage of scripture that I just read as a living,
mighty, reigning king. Grace reigns. I love that. Most people look
at grace as God's reward for faith and repentance. If you
believe and if you repent of your sins, then God will give
you grace. Now, my dear friends, that's
not what grace is at all. Grace is God acting according
to his nature. God reigns. God is in absolute
control. God is sovereign. His will must
come to pass. If He determines to have grace
toward somebody, that person's going to have grace. God reigns
and God is gracious. He delights in extending His
favor toward those who absolutely do not deserve it and have nothing
to recommend themselves to Him and can meet no requirement. That is who His grace is extended
to. This is where we get the term
sovereign grace, grace that reigns. You see, grace is not just a
doctrine. It's a part of the nature of
God Himself. He reigns and He is gracious,
and He gives grace to those who could not possibly do anything
to merit it. or to earn it. Now in verse 20
of the passage I just read, Paul said, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. Now by the law, he's speaking
of the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments,
the moral law, the ceremonial law, the feast days and so on,
and the civil law. And that law cannot be separated.
You can't keep one part and leave out the other. It's the law.
And this passage of scripture says something that just doesn't
make sense to us naturally. We would think the law entered
that the offense might be restrained. But Paul says, the law entered
that the offense might abound. The law was given to let us see
our transgressions abounding. That's the purpose of God's law.
It's not to restrain sin. But wherever the law is understood
in its spirituality, it causes sin to abound, to overflow. It says we're just nothing but
lawbreakers. We haven't kept one commandment
one time. Now, if the law is understood,
that's understood. You haven't, I haven't kept one
commandment one time. Now, sin, I'm gonna speak personally. Sin abounds in me. It bubbles up from me and covers
everything I do. I am a sinner in the biblical
sense of the word. Somebody says, well, what are
you doing preaching if you're a sinner? Oh, would to God that you and
I would understand what is meant by being a sinner. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. I'm a sinner in the biblical
sense of the word. That means all I do is sin. If I did it, that made it sinful
because of who I am. It means I cannot not sin. Now, Can you go 10 seconds with nothing
but pure and holy thoughts? If you're honest, you know you
can't. As soon as you try, some sinful thought will come up in
your mind. I cannot not sin, and because of that, I can't
look down my nose in moral superiority at anybody. I can't say, look
what you've done. I wouldn't have done that. No,
I know apart from the grace of God, I would do it. And the only
thing that prevents me from it is the grace of God. And if I
really believe this about myself, that all I do is sin and I cannot
not sin, and I can't really look down my nose at anybody, I also
understand that I have no claims on God. I can't say, God save
me because I did this. My only hope is the free mercy
of God in Christ Jesus. I'm a place where sin abounds,
but listen to this promise. He said, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, Grace
did much more abound." Now, this is where grace operates, and
this is the only place grace operates. In that place where
sin abounds, grace does much more abound. It's like taking
a bucket of water and pouring it on a lit match. It puts it
out. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Now, he goes on to explain what
he means by that in verse 21. Four, that as sin hath reigned
unto death, now that's how sin abounded, it reigned unto death. How much power do you have to
prevent death? If you ate perfectly, if you
exercised perfectly, if you had all the rest in the world, if
you lived your life absolutely perfectly, it would not prevent
death. You cannot stop death. You don't
have any choice in it. You can't possibly prevent it.
Unless the Lord comes back, you're going to die. I'm going to die.
We can't possibly prevent death. And in the same manner, we can't
possibly prevent sin. Sin reigns. We can't say, no,
I'm not going to sin anymore. I'm going to put a stop to this.
You can't do that. Sin reigns. But listen to this,
that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so, in the same manner,
might grace reign. Just as you can't prevent death,
you can't prevent God's grace. If God decides to be gracious
toward you, You can't prevent it. Grace will not take no for
an answer. It can't be resisted. It can't
be denied. God's grace reigns. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, as a mighty reigning king
whose will must be done such as God's grace. God's grace
is absolute. God's grace controls. It begins,
it continues, and it completes, and it's absolutely free of all
influence by us. If it can be influenced, it's
not grace at all. If it responds, it's not grace
at all. God's grace, my dear friends,
is absolutely free. It's not influenced by us. Now, grace reigns. That's what
the scripture says. Grace reigns, first of all, in
divine election. Now, according to the scriptures,
everybody that is saved God chose them to be saved before the foundation
of the world. He determined their salvation. Romans 9, verse 11 says for the
children, speaking of Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither
having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth."
The election of grace, God choosing who he would save and determining
to be gracious toward them before they were even born and save
they must be because God determined their salvation. According as
he hath chosen us in him," said Paul in Ephesians 1, 4, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. Now, all election says is salvation
is by grace. That's all it says. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's all of his grace. Now, if
a man doesn't preach this, He doesn't preach grace, if a man
doesn't believe this. He does not believe grace. And
please don't say, well, I don't understand election. It's easy
to understand. You might not believe it. You
might not receive it, but you understand it. It says God chose
sovereignly as an act of his own will, without any reference
to any good works in somebody, he chose who would be saved.
That's what the Bible teaches. And someone that rejects that
does not believe grace at all. So don't say I don't understand
it. You do. God chose who would be saved. And don't say, well,
does it matter? It's a doctrine of secondary
importance. No, it's not. If it's in the Bible, there's
nothing of secondary importance. And God associates it with his
glory. When Moses said, show me your glory, he said, I'll
make all my goodness pass before you. I'll proclaim my name before
you, and I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And
I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Grace reigns in election. Let me tell you this about election.
It produces humility. Why me? It produces love. He loved me like that, it produces
gratefulness. Aren't you thankful that election
is by grace? That he didn't have to look for
something good in you to choose you, that he did it simply because
he would. How thankful we are for that. Grace reigns in election and
grace reigns in the justification of the sinner. Now, there is
such a thing as justification. Now if I'm justified, that means
I'm not guilty. That means I have no sin to be
condemned for. It means I stand before God's
holy law without guilt, righteous and perfect. Justification. The Bible speaks of justification. Now there are only two possible
ways a man can be justified. The first way is he could be
justified by personally never sinning, keeping God's holy law
perfectly, even in his thoughts and in his motives and in his
mind. You can be justified by your
works if you can never sin at all. Can anybody do that? No. The only other way you can be
justified is by grace. Being justified freely by his
grace, said Paul in Romans 3.24. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now
the beautiful illustration we have of this is that publican
in the temple. He's beating on his breast. standing
afar off, crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. This man believed himself to
be the worst man to ever live. I am the sinner. Oh God, be merciful
to me. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
regarding that man, I say to you, that that man went down
to his house justified. not merely forgiven, but justified,
rather than the other. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Now you see the imputation of righteousness
and the non-imputation of sin is justification. It's all of
grace. Grace reigns in justification. Thirdly, grace reigns in forgiveness. Let me give you three things
concerning God, by His grace, forgiving sins. First, fool. It's free and it's everlasting. First, God's forgiveness is free. It's absolutely free. There's
nothing you do in order to achieve it. It is free. It's for the individual who has
nothing to pay and can meet no requirement. That's who God's
forgiveness is for. There are no conditions to fulfill
in order to have it. There are no good works to be
performed in order to attain unto forgiveness of sin. Now,
is that good news? Is that good news? Well, it is
to me, because if God said, I'll forgive you if you fill in the
blank, Oh, I would be overcome with terror because I know what
I am. And I know how much I need the
free forgiveness of sins. But listen to this. The scripture
says in Romans 5.10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his son. Did you hear that? When did this
reconciliation take place? When we were enemies. We were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. It's absolutely free. Salvation begins. It doesn't
end with the forgiveness of sins. There's not some kind of formula
you need to complete in order to achieve the forgiveness of
sins. It begins with the full, free forgiveness of sins. And
it's full. It's full. Now, because God never
forgives because of worthiness, and never withholds forgiveness
because of unworthiness, it's a full forgiveness. It's not
like that narrow, difficult, half-hearted, with strings attached
forgiveness found among men. It's full. It's free. It's bottomless. It's boundless. It's absolute. God said, their
sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. That's the way His forgiveness
works. And this forgiveness is everlasting. It's irreversible. It cannot be lost. because it's
founded on the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
I love our Lord's title in Revelation 13, 8 as the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. Before sins were committed, there
was the Lamb slain. And my sins were forgiven in
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That is irreversible. It can't be taken away. And grace
reigns in our calling. Paul said, He called me by His
grace. Whom He did predestinate, them
He also called. Grace reigns in our calling.
Now, most people look at God's calling as God calling men to
believe and repent, God calling men to come to Christ. But even
though He calls, if we don't do something in order to respond
to that call, if we don't come up with some kind of work, then
The call is in vain. Most people believe that God
loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, and wants to save
for everybody, and He may die for that individual, but they
won't be saved. He may call that individual,
but they won't be saved unless they respond to His call. Now,
my dear friend, that makes calling the Savior, not the Savior, not
the salvation, but the respond to the call. In other words,
God can call one man, he rejects. He calls another man equally,
he accepts. The difference is not what God did, but it's what
one man did that the other man didn't do. That is salvation
by works. But grace reigns in calling. And I think the most beautiful
illustration of that is Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. If you would
have said, Lazarus, if you respond to his call, he'll give you life,
people would laugh at you. That's foolishness. Lazarus was
dead. And he said, with almighty, invincible,
life-giving grace, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came
forth. Now that's the way God's call
works. Now in our calling, We hear of and depend upon grace
that requires no worthiness and a Savior who supplies all righteousness. You see, when He calls, He gives
grace to respond to the call. He gives life to respond to the
call. It's called regeneration. You
see, it's that new heart that believes, that He gives. It's
that new heart that repents, that He gives. It's that new
heart that loves, that's the heart that He gives. He said,
a new heart will I give you. That's why David cried out, created
me a clean heart, O God. This is what responds to God's
call. It's the effectual call. Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must abide in thy house. You know what the scripture says?
He made haste and came down and received him joyfully. That is
the reign of grace in the call. And grace reigns in our adoption.
Ephesians 1, 5, and 6 says, In love, having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children. by Jesus Christ unto himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved." You see, it's grace that makes me a child. Nothing
I did. It's the pure, free, sheer grace
of God. were children, were his brethren,
were his bride, heirs of God and joined heirs of Christ with
full liberty to draw near without embarrassment or fear. because
of the reign of grace in our adoption. And if you're saved,
you know this, as Paul said in Ephesians 2.8, by grace are you
saved. And that through faith. And that,
that faith, it's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Grace reigns in our perseverance. Now, I must endure to the end.
I can't quit. I must endure following Christ.
I must persevere in laying hold upon Him. I've got to continue
all the way to the end. And grace reigns in the perseverance
of all of God's children. The scripture says we're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation. He that hath
begun a good work in you will perform it into the day of Jesus
Christ. Philippians 1.6, the Lord said,
I give unto my sheep eternal life. Not temporary life, but
eternal life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father's hands. Grace
reigns in perseverance. Oh, I love the grace of God.
Grace reigns in growth. Now every believer wants to grow.
I want to grow in faith. I want to grow in love. I want
to grow in repentance. I want to grow in commitment.
I want to grow in all the grace of God the Holy Spirit. I want
to grow in love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness
and goodness and faith and meekness and temperance. I want to grow
in all these things. Every believer desires growth.
Peter said, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace reigns in growth. And I'll tell you when we're
really going to understand to the fullest of how much grace
reigns is when we're brought into heaven and made to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. And we'll know at that time so
clearly it was grace that caused this to be. The songwriter said,
when I stand before thy throne dressed in beauty, not my own,
when I see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart,
then, Lord, shall I fully know. not till then how much I owe."
And notice Paul says that grace reigns through righteousness. This is righteous grace. It in no way excuse a sin, it
in no way just wipes sin under the cover. No, it's righteous
grace. All my sin was righteously punished
in my Redeemer, and I'm given His righteousness, and I'm given
a righteous and holy nature. Now, I still have the unholy
nature. Every believer has two natures, that which they were
born with and that which they were given when they were born
again. But it's righteous grace. It comes to us through the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness given
to us. It's righteous grace. There's
nothing about it that okay sin in any way. God is righteous.
And it's unto eternal life. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life. Now this is talking about heaven.
at a holy place where there's no sin, there's no sorrow, there's
no tears, there's no sea, there's no night, nothing but praising
the Lamb that was slain. Now, eternal life is the life
of God in the soul, no doubt, but the life we're living right
now, this isn't life. We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death. But oh, that time is coming for
every believer when they're going to be in the very presence of
Christ, His grace reigning. And notice he says that this
is all by Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the author of this grace. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And what a, he's so utterly
unique, this grace. He's the God-man. He's like no
human prophet because not only is he a prophet bringing the
Word of God, he himself is the Word of God. What a priest he
is, not like some human priest pretending to represent men before
God, but he's a great high priest who, as man, is touched by the
feeling of our infirmities, yet as God, has a sacrifice God can
accept. He's God the King. Oh, the King
that can cause me. He reigns and He can cause me
to do His will. What a Savior. All this is by
Jesus Christ. Now let me give you these closing
statements. I want you to listen to these carefully. Grace will not
act where there's human ability. Grace does not need help. It's
all or nothing. Flesh has no place in the purpose
of grace. All it takes to fall from grace
is to add something to it. If you add something to it, some
work you need to perform, it is no longer grace. Grace is the only reason for
God's blessing. It's the only reason for God's
salvation. Salvation is by grace. And grace always produces true
humility. If you really believe salvation
is by grace, you're not a proud individual. You're someone who
is lowly, and you're so grateful that salvation is by grace. You're
poor in spirit, and you know the only thing that you have
is what he gives you. Salvation is by grace. I'm so
thankful that grace reigns. That is the only way a sinner
like me can be saved. 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.