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 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 Nivert. I've entitled this morning's
message, What is a Christian? What is a Christian? Now what comes to your mind when
you think of what a Christian is? Do you think of a good moral
person? You know, by definition, a Christian
is someone who is so bad that he can't be saved unless Christ
died for him. And he can't be saved apart from
the grace of God. So when you hear of these good
Christians, that's actually an oxymoron. It's a contradiction
in terms. Now I'm all for a moral life
and a life that honors the Lord. But when you talk about a Christian
and get in your mind this good person, oh, you don't really
understand what a Christian really is. Or if you think of Hollywood's
depictment of Christians, how they're these self-righteous
know-it-alls that no one likes, that's not what a real Christian
is. A real Christian probably doesn't like that person either.
What is a real Christian? Now, I want to know what the
Bible says. And there are two things I'd
like to accomplish in bringing this message. If you're not a
Christian, I want you to know you're not a Christian, because
only when you know you're not a Christian will you call upon
the Lord to save you. And if you are a Christian, I
want you to have the full assurance of joy that you really are a
Christian, according to what the Bible says. Now, as much
as anything else, a Christian can be seen in his prayer. Now I'm going to read to you
the disciples' prayer that the Lord gave when he taught us to
pray. And you know, I can remember
when I was in junior high school, I was on the football team. And
before every football game, everybody would pray this prayer. We'd
all get down on our knees and pray this prayer before the football
game. And I remember I was always embarrassed because I never knew
the words. I'd kind of mumble through it while everybody else
was quoting it. And I knew that I didn't know the words, and
I knew these fellows who were quoting it didn't know what it
meant. This is such an often used prayer and so little understood,
but I hope you and I will have some understanding of it by the
end of this message. Now, let me read it to you. This
is when the Lord taught His disciples to pray. And He said unto them,
When you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily
bread, and forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone that's
indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Now every Christian, this is
the cry of their heart. Now in the Lord Jesus teaching
us to pray, He tells us what a Christian is. Now everyone
has prayed at some time or the other. And I'm talking about
everybody that's ever been born. When they get in trouble, they
pray to some higher being. Get me out of this mess. If you're
really out there, prove it and help me. Or maybe someone has
a sick child and they pray for that sick child or they're in
trouble and they call out, help me. Everybody's done that. But
the Lord Jesus gives us some insight into this when he tells
us about the prayer of the public and in the temple in Luke 18.
or I mean the Pharisee in the temple in Luke 18. He said, the
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee
that I'm not as other men are. The Lord did not deny that he
prayed, but he wasn't praying to God. He didn't realize this,
he thought he was, but he was only praying to himself. So not everything that goes under
the name of prayer is prayer. Now when the Lord Jesus knocked
Paul off his high horse on the road to Damascus, And he came,
the Lord came to Ananias, and he told him to go to Paul, and
he said, for behold, he prayeth. Now this is something that every
Christian does. They pray. He never had prayed
before. Now he'd gone through the four
many times, but he never had prayed before, but now he is
actually praying. You see, prayer is the breath
of faith. If you have faith, This prayer
is your prayer. It comes from your heart. It's
not just something you recite by memory, not really understanding
what is being said. But this prayer is your very
existence. Now let's consider these words
of this prayer that the Lord taught his disciples to pray. Now you'll notice the first thing
we're taught to pray is our Father. Our Father, not just my Father,
but our Father. You see, the Christian is in
this great group described as our. And they also are in the
we and the us. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive our sins as we forgive
our debtors. Now this is the same us that
Paul spoke of in Romans 8, verse 31, when he said, if God be for
us, who shall be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things? This is talking about all those
who believe, all the elect, all those united to Christ, all for
whom Christ died, all adored of this great big us. When the
Lord Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, John was astounded,
he said, Comest thou to me? I have need to be baptized of
thee. And the Lord replied, Suffer
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, everything the Lord
did, he did as an us. He did as a representative man. And we understand when we pray
that all of our hope of being heard by the Father is that we're
in this group, our. those for whom Christ died, those
whose only hope is the free grace of God. And we think of our brethren,
we don't look down on them, they're one of us. Both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. We're in something
far bigger than ourselves. We're in this great group described
as our, and we, and us. Our father, which art in heaven. A Christian is a child of God. God is his father. Now, God's not father to everybody.
You'll remember how the Lord Jesus said, you're of your father. The devil And the lusts of your
father you'll do." Now he said that to these people. He will
speak to that crowd, that big crowd on Judgment Day. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. They claim
to have known him. They said, we preached in your
name. In your name we've cast out demons. In your name we've
done many wonderful works. And he'll say, I never knew you.
God is not father to everybody. God is only father to his children. to those united to Christ, those
of whom Christ would say, he's my brother. He's not ashamed
to own him as brother. Now, he is their father, our
father. We cry, Abba, father. A Christian
is a child of God who comes to his father. Now, there are two
ways a Christian is made a child. First, by adoption. Paul said,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself. Now, this thing of adoption,
that means God chose us to be His child. Now, if you're a believer,
you know you're a believer because God chose you to be a believer.
Our Lord said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And
every believer knows that intuitively. You know you would have never
chosen Him unless He, by His grace, had chosen you. I'm an
adopted child, but I'm also a child by birth. To 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, which
were birthed. I don't know if I can use the
word a biological birth, but we can certainly use the word
a spiriological birth. We're born of the Spirit, which
were born, not of blood. not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but of God, born of God, birthed into
the kingdom of heaven. I'm a child of God by birth. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
God's Christ, God's prophet, the very word of God, God's priest,
that if he represents you, you must be saved, God's king, the
one who rules over all? then you're born of God. A believer
is a child of God. Now let's go on reading. The
Lord says in verse 2, when you pray, say, Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. A believer is a worshiper. He says from the depths of his
heart, hallowed, holy, and reverend be thy name. Now the name of the Lord is who
He is. It's the person behind the name. When, if you know me and you
hear the name of Todd Nybert, you think of several characteristics
of this man you know who is Todd Nybert. You don't just think
of the name. You don't just see the letters. You think of the person
behind the name, who he is, what he's like. God's attributes are
His name, His holiness, His sovereignty, His justice, His wisdom. All of His glorious attributes
is His name, and every believer worships Him for who He is. There's no attribute of God of
which we buck against. No, we love Him for who He is. If we're not, we're not real
Christians. A Christian says, Hallowed be thy name. The believer is a worshiper. Now, we read in the Bible of
vain worship and ignorant worship, and there is such a thing, though,
as true worship. The Lord said, The hour cometh
and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And the
believer worships in the spirit by God the Holy Spirit. There
is no other way to worship and according to the truth of the
gospel. So a Christian is a worshiper. hallowed be thy name." And next
he says, thy kingdom come. The Christian is a subject of
this glorious kingdom for which he longs for, the kingdom of
which our Lord said, my kingdom is not of this world. You see,
the Christian is a subject of another kingdom, the kingdom
of heaven. The kingdom of which Paul says
the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, it's not rules
and regulations, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. It's that kingdom that the thief
was looking for when he said, Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. I know you're not going to stay
dead. You're not going to stay on this cross. You're going to
be raised from the dead and return as a mighty reigning king. Oh,
remember me. when you return in that kingdom.
You know, this world is not the home of the Christian. Every
Christian knows that. We're just passing through, we're
in this heavenly kingdom, and we can't wait to the full manifestation
of that kingdom where everyone loves the king of the kingdom.
A Christian is a subject of the kingdom of heaven. And next he
says in this prayer, thy will be done." Not only is a Christian
a subject of this heavenly kingdom, a Christian is a willing servant
who desires above all things God's will to be done. That's
the prayer of their heart. Take my will and maketh thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take
my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. I want the Lord's will to be
done. I know it will be done because He's the Lord. But the
very desire of my heart is for His will to be done. And if my
will crosses His will, then cross my will and take my will and
maketh thy will. Thy will be done. That's really
the desire of their heart. All we want is for the Lord's
will to be done. One time a preacher was talking
to a woman who was dying and he said, Do you want to live
or die? And she said, Whatever the Lord's
will is. He said, Oh, I know that. But if you had your will,
what would you want? She'd say, well, I'd ask the
Lord what His will was, and that's what I'd want. That's the attitude
of every true believer. I want His will to be done. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. How's His will done in heaven?
Cheerfully, joyfully, immediately, willingly. And that's how I want
it to be done here on earth. A Christian is someone who prays
from his heart, not my will, but thy will be done. Oh Lord, thy will be done. And next he says in verse three
of our text, this is the next thing a Christian prays for,
give us day by day our daily bread. A Christian is one who
is completely dependent upon what God gives him. He's poor
and he's completely dependent upon God's provision for everything. Give us this day our daily bread. We're dependent upon Him for
all things, material, physical, emotional, most especially spiritual. Christ is the bread of life. He is our daily bread, and we're
continually dependent upon the charity of God. You know, children
ask things of their father, don't they? Give us, give us, give
us. And we're continually praying,
give us what we need. I don't know what I need, but
you do. Give me what you need. A Christian is one who is completely
dependent upon what God gives them. I'm completely dependent
upon Him to give me faith, to give me repentance, to give me
love. Oh, I'm completely dependent upon Him. And that's what a Christian
is. Give us this day our daily bread. And then next, when the Lord
teaches the Christian to pray, we're taught to pray this, forgive
Our sins. And what that tells me is the
Christian is a sinner who needs the forgiveness of sins. I can't come into God's presence
without truly feeling this and desiring this and needing this.
It's always a present need. Forgive us our sins. A Christian, my dear friend,
is a sinner. And I don't mean what the world
means by sinner. Are you a sinner? Well, sure I am. Isn't everybody?
I make mistakes and so on. I'm not perfect. Yeah, I'm a
sinner. I don't mean that. Don't mean that at all. What's
the Bible mean by sinner? Well, sin is the transgression
of the law. A sinner is somebody who puts
other gods before God. A sinner is someone who creates
false ideas of God in order to justify themselves and make themselves
feel comfortable in their position. A sinner is someone who fails
to reverence God. A sinner is someone who never
rests. A sinner is someone who doesn't respect authority as
he should. He doesn't honor his mother and
father. A sinner is a murderer. A sinner is an adulterer. A sinner is a thief. A sinner
is a liar. A sinner is a covetous man. And
every Christian knows he's guilty of all those things all the time. Forgive it. We haven't kept one
commandment one time. We can't not sin. All we do is
sin. We can't look down our nose at
anybody. We certainly don't have any claims on God. That's why
we have to ask Him to forgive us our sins. A Christian is a
sinner who needs the full, free forgiveness of sins. Oh, how
I need the forgiveness of sins. what he prays, how he teaches
us to pray regarding this thing of forgiveness of sins. Now,
a Christian is a sinner, and he's a forgiven sinner, but he's
also a forgiving sinner. Look at this with me. Don't miss
this. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone
that is indebted to us. Now, we're taught to pray, Lord,
forgive us, because we forgive everybody. That's what the Lord
says. Forgive us as we forgive those
who are indebted to us. Now, let me give you six reasons
why a Christian must forgive. Now, this is part of who a Christian
is. A Christian is a sinner. A Christian is a forgiven sinner. A Christian is a forgiving sinner. The Lord said, If you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive
you your trespasses. Now there's one reason why we
must forgive. If we do not forgive, we will
not be forgiven. And we are taught to pray to
be forgiven by the Lord in the same manner in which we forgive.
And we will be forgiven in the same manner we forgive. Forgive
us as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Forgive us
in the same manner. And you know, the Lord's going
to meet you on the ground you come. Here's a third reason why
a Christian forgives for his own happiness. If we forgive, we're going to
be happier people. If we harbor resentment at the way people
have mistreated us and done us wrong, we're going to be miserable.
We're the ones who hurt. We're the ones who hurt. But
oh, how happier we are if we simply forgive. And if we fail
to forgive, Satan has the advantage over us, according to Paul in
2 Corinthians 2, verses 10 and 11. But you know what? You know,
it lies in the very nature of God to forgive. It lies in His very nature to
forgive. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, abundant in goodness and mercy and truth, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin. It's His very nature to
forgive. And you know the believer is
a partaker of the divine nature, and it's their nature to forgive.
And the most God-like thing you or I can ever do is to forgive
somebody. That's who God is. He forgives. Oh, thank God for the forgiveness
of sins. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Here's the only reason we need
to forgive, the same reason God forgives. Paul said in Ephesians
4.32, Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. The only reason
God had to forgive me is for Christ's sake. And the only reason
I have to have to forgive anybody is for Christ's sake. So the
believer is a sinner, he's a forgiven sinner, and he's a forgiving
sinner. Now look what the Lord teaches
us to pray next. He says, and lead us not into
temptation. A Christian is someone who is
so weak that they can't even be tempted. And they say, Lord,
let me not even be tempted. I know what'll happen when I'm
tempted. Please don't let me be tempted. Put a wall, a hedge
about me. Put me in a position where I
can't even be tempted because I know how weak I am. I know
how sinful I am. I know how easily I'll go astray.
So don't let me be tempted. Now, every Christian's like that. They have some understanding
of their own weakness. I love that passage where the
Lord said to Paul, when Paul asked him to remove that thorn
in the flesh, he said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul said, when I'm
weak, then am I strong. Oh, Lord, I'm so weak. Don't
let me be tempted. Don't let me be tried. That's
the self view that every Christian has. He's so weak, so sinful. He's afraid that if he's tempted,
he will fall. So he prays from the depths of
his heart. Oh, lead me not into temptation. And here's the last
thing the Christian prays for, and we find out what a Christian
is through this. We're taught to pray, but deliver
us from evil. I need rescued from evil. That's
what the word deliver me, rescue me from evil. I need rescued
from the evil one. There is a being named Satan,
and I'm no match for him. I've seen preachers say, we rebuke
you, devil, and dance on the devil, and all that kind of stuff.
Those fellows don't, they're under the dominion of the devil
when they do something like that. No, we're no match for Satan.
And we say, Lord, deliver me from the evil one. And I need
delivered from this evil world, of which John wrote, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
that which is of the world, all that's of this world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of the life.
The lust of the flesh, the pleasure of sin, and there is pleasure
in sin. Lord, deliver me from that. The lust of the eyes, being
concerned about what men think, being more concerned about what
men see than God sees. Lord, deliver me from the lust
of the eyes. The pride of life, the lust for
power and popularity and praise and so on. Oh Lord, deliver me
from this evil world. But most especially, deliver
me from this evil one. You know, in this same chapter,
when the Lord is speaking to his disciples, he says, if you
then, being evil. What if the Lord said that to
you? If you're a Christian, you'd know it so. My greatest enemy
is myself. And I pray, Lord, deliver me
from this evil one. Now, a Christian is a part of
this great group, our, us, we, those united to Christ. A Christian
is a child of God. A Christian is a worshiper. Hallowed be thy name. A Christian
worships God for who he is without reference to what he does for
us or doesn't do for us. Hallowed be thy name. A Christian is the subject of
the great kingdom of God. Thy kingdom come. A Christian
is one who truly wants God's will to be done. Thy will be
done. A Christian. is totally dependent upon God's
provision. Give us this day our daily bread. A Christian is a
sinner. Forgive us of our sins. He's
a forgiven sinner, and he's a forgiving sinner, as we forgive those who
are indebted to us. A Christian is so weak that he
prays to be delivered from temptation, and a Christian needs rescued
from evil. Now would that describe you?
My dear friend, you are. Christian. To request a copy of the sermon
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