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
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 Nibert. In Luke chapter 14, beginning
in verse 22, we read these words. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou has commanded. And yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant,
go out into the highways and hedges and compel them come in,
that my house might be full." I've entitled this message, Compel
Them to Come In. Now, this coming in is a reference
to coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you do when you come
in. You come to Christ. That's what salvation is. It's
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said in John 6, verse
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." Salvation is coming to Christ. It's not
coming to church. It's not coming down front and
making a profession. It's not coming to religion.
It's not coming to a new way of life. It's coming to a person,
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to Him if God
has done something for us. Now, in this parable the Lord
gives, We read in Luke 14, verse 15, and one of them that sat
at meat with him heard these things. He heard what the Lord
had been saying, and he said, Blessed is he that shall eat
bread in the kingdom of God. Now, who would disagree with
that statement? I certainly wouldn't, but what does it mean? Blessed
is he that shall eat meat in the kingdom of God. In reality,
this is what I would call religious rhetoric. True, anyone who does
eat in the kingdom of God, anyone who eats bread in the kingdom
of God is blessed, no doubt about that. But what's it mean? What
instruction does it give me? Actually, none. It's religious
rhetoric. Verse 16, then said he unto him,
this man that had made this statement, and I have no doubt this was
a man who was hiding in religion. Do you know people do that? They
hide from God in their religion. They'll make religious statements
that you wouldn't disagree with, but they don't mean anything.
And this man was hiding in his religion, and this is the man
that Christ speaks to. Then said he unto him, A certain
man made a great supper, and bade many. Now this certain man
is God the Father. This feast, this great supper
is the gospel. And many are called to this gospel
feast. A certain man made a great supper,
and bade many, verse 17, and sent his servant at suppertime
to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now
ready." Now, this is gospel preaching. Listen real carefully to this
statement. There are two things that are essential to gospel
preaching, and if these two things are not there, whatever else
it is, it's not gospel preaching. First, there's a declaration
of what's already done. Not what to do, but what has
already been done. Come, for now all things are
ready." There's nothing you need to do. There's nothing you need
to bring. There's nothing you need to do
to make yourself fit. Come on just as you are, for
all things are now ready. It's the announcement of something
that has already been done. Now, would you listen to me very
carefully? Christ is Christ came. He left heaven and
came in the flesh and he kept the law perfectly. Christ died. He made a complete
sin payment by his death. All the sins that he bore, he
put away. They've been paid for. Christ
is raised from the dead. This is something that's already
been done. There's nothing for you to do. Christ is salvation. What were his last words from
the cross? It is finished. There is nothing for you to do.
It's already been done. There's nothing you need to bring. There's nothing you need to do
to make yourself fit to come. The message of the gospel is,
it's done. There's nothing for you to do.
It's already been done. All the pressure's off. All the
pressure's off. He did it all. Let me show you
just how done it is. Romans Chapter 8, verse 28 says,
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.
For whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate, to
be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. He didn't say He will glorify
them. He said they're glorified. Now, if I'm in Christ, I'm already
called, I'm already justified, I'm already glorified. My salvation
is complete. There's nothing I can do to add
to it. Colossians 2.10 says you are
complete in Him. You have need of nothing, nothing
to make it better. All things are now done. Come on. Come on in. Come and welcome, not go and
do. Come. Don't wait to get better. Don't
wait to you learn more. Don't wait to you understand
more. Don't wait to you're less sinful. Don't wait until you
quit this sin and start doing this good thing. Come right now
as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this thing of
coming to Christ is what the living do. It's the evidence
of divine election. I've already quoted this verse
of scripture once. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now what does it mean to come
to Christ? I mean, after all, he's seated at the right hand
of the Father. It's not a physical move. It's
something that must be done in your heart, that's true. But
what's it mean? I think this verse of scripture
will be helpful. In John 6, verse 35, the Lord
said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Coming
to Christ and believing on Christ are the exact same thing. When I believe on Christ, that
means I really believe that He is my righteousness before God.
When He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, I believe
that. When He said, no man comes to
the Father but by Me, I believe that. I believe the only way
I come into the Father's presence is by Him. I believe. The Gospel, well, we understand
what we can. It's mysterious. It's more of
a message we believe. Read in the Bible that God is
one God and three distinct persons. The Trinity is taught in the
Scripture. I've heard people say, well, the word Trinity is
never in the Scripture. Well, I know it's not, but God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are. God is one
God and three distinct persons. I don't so much understand that
as believe it. It's mysterious, but I believe
it. I believe the gospel. I believe Jesus Christ is God. I believe He's man. I believe
that what He did is enough to save me. Death put away the sins
of all he died for. I believe when he was raised
from the dead, all his people were justified. I believe right
now he's seated at the right hand of God as my intercessor,
representing me. The reason God accepts me, the
reason God hears my prayer is because of him, I believe. That's
what it is to come to Christ. It's to rely on Him. Now why do I come to Christ?
I need to. That's why. I need Him. Why do
I come to Christ? I don't have anywhere else to
go. Where would I go if I don't go to Him? I've got no hope anywhere
else. I come to Christ because I really
don't have any choice. It's the only place to go. I come to Christ
because I see Him as altogether lovely. I'm invincibly drawn
to Him. I'm irresistibly drawn to Him. I find Him irresistible. That's
why I come to Christ. I come to Christ because I have
to. I've really got no choice. I must come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's gospel preaching.
All things are now ready. There's nothing you need to do
or bring to make you fit. Come on in. Come and welcome
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's look what happened.
In verse 18 it says, and they all, no exceptions, and they
all with one consent, began to make excuse. Now if this doesn't
demonstrate the depravity of all men by nature, I don't know
what does. Everybody that heard this glorious
message, come, all things are now ready. Every single one of
them didn't have any interest in coming. They all, with one
consent, began to make excuses. Listen to this. The first said
unto him, I bought a piece of ground, and I must need to go
see it. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I
bought five yoke of oxen, and I have to prove them. I pray
thee, have me excused. And another said, I've married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. They all came up with these
excuses. Now here we have this glorious
message of free grace to the very chief of sinners, and one
would think men would immediately come to Christ for mercy, but
they don't. They make excuses. I don't want to come. I've got
other things to do. I've got better things to do.
I don't want to come. Why is this? How could someone
hear this gospel message? Come on. All things are now ready. There's nothing you need to bring. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. Now what is it that would prevent
men from coming and make excuses to not come? Well, the answer
to that is pretty simple. Because men are evil. Because
men see no need of Christ. Because men don't really believe
they're sinners. They don't really believe they
need him. It's just religious talk pie in the sky to them.
It means nothing. And so they all with this one
consent began to make excuse. So let's go on reading. Verse
21. So the servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the
master of the house being angry, and do not think the Lord will
watch with indifference as people treat his gospel with contempt.
And the Lord being angry said to his servants, go out quickly
into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither,
not invite now, not invite, but bring these people in, bring
in hither. poor, and the maimed, and the
halt, and the blind. Now this one group of people,
they began making excuses. They didn't really have any interest.
Now the master is going to have his house filled. And so he says,
you go out into the streets and the lanes of the city, and every
poor person you find, bring in. Every maimed person you find,
bring in. Every lame person you find, bring
in. Every blind person you find,
bring in. Now this represents who God saves,
who Christ died for, who believes the gospel. First, the poor.
They don't have anything that can recommend them to God. They
have nothing. They have nothing to present
to God to say, Lord save me because I have this. They have nothing. They have no good works. They
have no merit. They have no righteousness. They're
poor. Not only are they poor, they're
maimed. And that word means disabled. They're unable to get there.
They're unable to do anything. They see in themselves they can't
believe, they can't repent, they can't love, there's nothing to
them. They're unable. Our Lord said in John 6, 44,
no man can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. These people
know that. They're unable. And they are
halt. They're lame. They have a limp
in their walk. And they halt between two opinions. They're so undecided and hesitant
and weak. They're lame. And they're blind. They cannot, truly, they cannot
see why God would ever look in favor toward them. They're blind.
You know what the Master said? Bring them in. And that's exactly
what Christ Jesus the Lord did on Calvary's tree. He brought
all of those people in. He saved them. That is who He
saves and they were all brought in. Thank God for what He did. You know, I love to think of
When Christ said, it is finished, the poor, the maimed, the lame,
and the blind were all brought in. What a glorious gospel. Okay, verse 22, and the servant
said, Lord, it's done as thou has commanded. And yet there
is room. Now, please listen very carefully.
It's true. God, the father elected a people
and they're all described poor, maimed, lame, and blind. Christ died for those people
and actually accomplished their salvation and brought them in. These are the people God the
Holy Spirit gives life to. And yet there is room. This doesn't keep someone from
being saved. Somebody says, what if I'm not
one of them? Listen to this passage of scripture.
Yet there is room. There is room for you. Yet there is room. What a blessed thought. Yet there
is room. Stop lingering. There's room
for you. That's good news. So what does
the Master say when the man brings this news, yet there is room? He says in verse 23, And the
Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the
hedges, and compel them to come in. that my house might be filled. For I say unto you that none
of those men which were bidden, who initially made excuses, shall
taste of my supper." Now he says, you go out into the highways,
the places that are farthest away, go out into the hedges
where people are hedged in and imprisoned and can't get out,
and compel them to come in. Compel them to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Compel them to come in. And that
word, compel, means put constraint on them by persuasion, by threat,
by entreaty, by force. Compel them to come in. Now,
would to God that the Lord would enable me to do that even now
to you, to persuade you. I don't care who you are. Christ
is what you need. perfectly suited to save someone as sinful as
you. His grace is free. What if you had to pay something?
You'd be out, but it's His grace is free. He's exactly what you
need. Not only do I want to persuade
you, I want to threaten you. If you don't come to Christ,
you'll go to hell. It's as simple as that. When you die, you'll
go to hell if you don't come to Christ. And then I want to
use entreaty, like, Paul, we pray you in Christ's stead be
ye reconciled to God. And then I want to use force.
Now, I can't force anyone to be saved. I can't force anyone
to do anything, but he can. John chapter six, verse 44, no
man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw
him, irresistibly bring him to himself. And the Lord can make
you willing in the day of his power. His power causes you to
be so. That's what the scripture says
in Psalm 1103, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. I pray that God forces you, causes
you to come to Christ. And really the only way me and
you will come is if he causes us to come. Did you know that?
You won't come unless he causes you to come. Now, beloved, come
to Christ. The Lord's house is going to
be filled. Come to Christ. Now, the very nature of this
parable is that of excuses, though. We make excuses not to come. Now, what I'd like to do in the
closing minutes is deal with every excuse you may make that
will keep you from coming to Christ right now. Now here's
the first excuse. Somebody says, well, what if
I'm not one of the elect? How can I come? What if I'm not one
of the elect? What if I was not predestinated
to come? Hold on for just a second. When you make a statement like
that, let me turn things around a little bit. What if you were
very sick and dying, and I said, this medicine is guaranteed to
heal you. If you take this medicine, you'll
be healed. What would you do? Would you
say, well, what if I'm not predestinated to take it? What if I'm not elected
to take it? You'd never do anything like
that. If you were sick and felt you wanted to be well, you'd
come and take the medicine, wouldn't you? Now, that is the exact same
thing as saying, well, what if I'm not one of the elect? You
know, it's amazing, very intelligent people. We'll do such unintelligent
things when it comes to religion. It seems like people check their
brains out at the door. Don't say, what if I'm not elect?
What if you are? Come to Christ. The command to
you is to come. Not to question God's decrees. You don't have anything to do
with that. Come to Christ in your need and you will be received. He said, he that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. Somebody says, but I can't come.
I can't come. I don't have the ability to come.
You said no man can come to me except the Father which sent
me draw him. I can't come. I can't believe. I lack the ability
to believe. Now, you don't believe something
because you have the ability to believe it. You believe something
because it's true. That's why you believe. You believe
the truth. You ought to believe the truth. Is Christ the way,
the truth, or the life? Then you ought to believe that.
Yes, He is. You don't believe something because
you have the ability to do it. You believe it because it's true. I can't believe. Well, it may
be that you won't believe. The reason you can't is because
you won't. If you believe error, if you don't believe the truth,
it's because you choose not to. But if you believe the truth,
you believe it because it's true. When I hear the truth, I believe
it because it's true, not because I choose to believe it or I have
the ability to believe it. I believe because it's true.
So is the gospel true? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. If you
come to Christ, will you be saved? Yes, you will. Then believe the
truth. Don't say, I can't. Somebody
else says, well, how can I know that what you're preaching is
true? I mean, so many people claim to preach, and you've got
so many different churches, different denominations, different religions,
all of which claim to be speaking for God. How can I know which
one's true? How can I know you're telling
me the truth? Well, you've got something called the Bible to
find out. The only thing I ask you to do is see if what I'm
saying is according to the Word of God. If I'm preaching according
to the Word of God, yes, it's true. And I dare say this, you
know what I'm saying is true. You know it when you hear the
truth. You know it's the truth. What I'm saying is worthy of
what God would say because it is what God says. It's the truth
of God from his word. So that's just a lame excuse.
How can I know if you're telling the truth of every Tom, Dick,
and Harry's claiming to preach the truth? How can I know you're
the one telling the truth? You got the Bible to find out. Somebody else may say, well,
I'm afraid to come to Christ because I'm afraid I'm not invited.
Okay? You're commanded. God commands
all men everywhere to repent. Are you in that demographic?
Yes, you are. You're commanded to come to Christ. You're commanded to believe on
Him. Your right to do so comes with a command. It's not wrong
to do something God commands you to do. Your right comes with
a command, so that's no excuse. Don't say, I'm not invited. You're
commanded. Somebody else says, well, I'm afraid I won't hold
out. I'm afraid I won't endure. Well, you'll be damned if you
don't. If you don't come, you'll be
damned. And if you do come, God will give you grace to endure
all the way to the end. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. Somebody else thinks, well, I
can't come because I'm just too sinful. I'm too bad. It's too
late for me. There's just no point in me even
thinking that way. You can't say that because the
chief of sinners has already been saved. And you can't say
you're more sinful than Paul. And Paul said Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. You can't
be too sinful to be saved. You can't be too bad to be saved.
You can be too good to be saved. You know, it's not your sin that
keeps you from Christ. It's your righteousness. It's
your filthy, high opinion of yourself and your own goodness
and your own religion. That's what keeps you from Christ,
not your sin. If you ever really believe you're
a sinner, it'll drive you to Christ. So don't say, I'm too
sinful to come to Him. Somebody else says, well, you
know, There's just so many hypocrites in the church. There's just so
many people who don't live what they believe. How can I, I don't
want to go to a church where you've got such people as that.
My soul, you ought to feel right at home there. That's where you
belong. You see, the church is a bunch
of sinners saved by grace, without question. Well, there's people
there that live what they don't, that don't live what they believe.
Oh, and you do? And you do? Would that keep you
from uniting with the body of Christ? No. It's a hospital for
sick people, for sinners, just the place I need to be. Somebody
says, well, I really don't feel anything. I just don't feel anything. How can I come to Christ if I
don't feel anything? You need to come all the more
then. You need Him more if you don't feel anything. That's all
the more reason to come. Come to Him. without faith and
say, Lord, give me faith. If you can't come to him with
repentance, come to him for repentance. Say, Lord, give me repentance.
Give me the grace to come to you. Give me the grace to call
on your name. Bring me in. Cause me to come
to you. Somebody says, well, I will tomorrow.
I intend on getting things straightened out tomorrow. I'll come to Christ
tomorrow. Scripture says, boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou
knowest not what a day brings forth. You're not promised tomorrow. The time to come to Christ is
right now, not waiting till you get better, not waiting till
you quit this sin and start doing this good work and start, no,
no, no, no, no. Come to Christ right now and
you will be received. Trust Him, who He is and what
He did That's all you need in salvation. And beloved, you are
accepted in the Beloved. To request a copy of the sermon
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