It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. 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. In Romans chapter 7, Paul had
been comparing a man's relationship with the law to a bad marriage. You can read about it in the
first six verses of Romans chapter 7. And so he asks this question
in verse 13, of Romans chapter 7, was then that which is good
made death unto me. Is the law my problem? Is the law the cause of my death? Now, as I said, he compared being
under the law to being under a cruel husband and how we need
to be delivered from that to be married to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, he's asking the question, am I saying the law
is a bad thing? Am I blaming the law for my problems? He said, God forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin. That is a remarkable statement.
To most people, sin never really appears to be sin. As a matter
of fact, it might be something that they think is very good,
that God is pleased with. that they don't know that in
fact, before God, it is great sin. Sin does not appear sin
to them. And there was a time where sin
didn't appear to be sin to the Apostle Paul. He said, I thought
I was a law keeper. I thought I was a good person.
I thought I was a servant of God. And I didn't know that I
was an enemy of God. Sin did not appear sin to me
until the law came home with power to teach me what I am. Now he said in verse 13, was
then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, perish
the thought, but seeing that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good, the law, that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now whenever I have any
understanding of God's law, I only reach one conclusion about myself. I personally am exceeding, surpassingly
sinful. I'm not talking about the way
I look at somebody else. I'm talking about the way I look
at myself. If I ever see sin to be what it is, I will see
myself before God as exceeding sinful, sinful beyond measure. Now, what is sin? I John 3, verse
4 says sin is the transgression of the law. That's talking about
the Ten Commandments. Now, you know the Ten Commandments. If no one has ever heard the
Ten Commandments, they still have that law written in their
hearts. Everybody knows it's wrong to
commit sexual sin. Somebody says, well, aren't there
cultures where it's okay? Deep down, everybody knows it's
wrong. Everybody knows it's wrong to
lie. Everyone knows it's wrong to
steal. Everyone knows that it's wrong
to dishonor your parents. You ought to obey them. Everyone
knows these things. Everyone knows that you shouldn't
covet. Hold on. Covetousness, the last
of the Ten Commandments. While people will talk about
the wrongness of lying and killing and stealing and sexual sin,
people will make issues of that, but I don't hear many people
talking much about covetousness, the tenth commandment of the
law. Let me read Exodus chapter 20,
verse 17 to you. thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
that is thy neighbor's. That is the tenth of the Ten
Commandments. Now, to covet means to desire. That's all it means. I wish I
had my neighbor's house. It's a lot bigger than mine.
It's a lot nicer. I could be happier if I had his
house. I wish I had my neighbor's wife.
She's so pretty. She's so nice. I wish his wife
were my wife. I wish his servants were my servants. They're good servants. I could
make a whole lot better living. I could make a whole lot more
money if his servants were my servants. That is coveting, desiring
that which belongs to my neighbor. Now most men do not see this
as that big of a sin. Perhaps because it's the 10th
commandment, they think that it's the least important of the
commandments. But do you know what the first
sin was? our parents in the garden covetousness. Let me read you from Genesis
chapter 3. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
a tree to be desired to make one wise. Now that word desire
is the same word that's translated coveted. A tree to be coveted. to make one wise. Why? If I had
this fruit, I would be as wise as God. I would have His wisdom. I desire His wisdom. I desire
to be like Him. I desire to have what He has.
God hadn't placed him in that place. He just put him in the
place to where they had to obey him. He gave them everything.
He said, don't eat of this tree. And that's the one tree they
desired. Pleasant to the eyes. The tree
desired to be coveted to make one wise. So she took of the
fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with
her and he did eat. Covetousness was the first sin
and covetousness is the mother of all sin. Paul tells us in
I Timothy chapter 6 verse 10, the love of money, covetousness,
is the root of all evil. And it's the sin we're most blind
to. It's involved in all other sins. When John warned us of the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
that is coveted. You covet the pleasures of the
flesh. You covet the lust of the eyes. You're concerned about what people
see, and you want to have men's good opinion and popularity.
You covet it. You want men's good thoughts
rather than God's good thoughts. You covet the pride of life. You covet power. If I have power,
I've got some kind of advantage over you. Covetousness is involved
in every single sin. You know, when the thorn choked
here, was choked and brought forth no fruit, What was it that
choked him? Covetousness. Coveting the things
of this world. The Lord spoke of the cares of
the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts, the
covetousness of other things entering in choked the Word.
And that person never brings forth any fruit and that person
is never truly saved. They're dominated by covetousness. Paul said covetousness is idolatry. Idolatry is putting something
in the place of God, worshipping something other than God. Covetousness
is idolatry. Now, let's go back in this passage
of Scripture, Romans 7, and see what led Paul to making this
statement regarding sin being exceeding sinful. He said in
Romans 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Now all the law
does is condemn me. All the law does is expose my
faults. Is the law my problem? Is the law sin? No, he says,
God forbid that I would say something like that. No, I had not known
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, evil desire,
except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. I didn't know I was in a state
of lust. And that is not only talking
about sexual lust, that's certainly included, but that's talking
about lusting for so many different things. The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, whatever I'm lusting
for. He said, I didn't realize I was so dominated by sin until
the law said, thou shalt not covet. Verse eight. But sin,
taking occasion by the commandment. That word, taking occasion, means
using as a base of operations. It was a military term, a base
of operations, the headquarters. Sin, using as a base of operation,
the commandment The commandment, thou shalt not covet. But sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence
or covetousness or desire. As soon as I was told to not
covet, that's what I began doing. You see, the law doesn't stop
sin. The law exposes sin. And all somebody has to do is
tell me not to do something, and that's exactly what I want
to do. That's what the law does. It
stirs up what's already there. Understand this. You don't become
a sinner when you sin. You sin because you're already
a sinner. And when the law says thou shalt
not covet, Paul said it worked in me all manner of concupiscence
and evil desire. Now, when I was without the law,
I didn't feel the power of sin over me. I didn't realize I was
a covetous man. I didn't realize that I was totally
dominated by sin. I was very much like Naaman.
You remember the story of Naaman in 2 Kings chapter 5. He thought
he was a great man. He had a position of authority.
He was a mighty general. He thought he was a great man
who happened to be a leper. And he didn't realize that he
was a leper, unclean before God. who happened to be a great man. Now, until I have an understanding
of sin, I'm not going to see myself for what I am. Until I
have an understanding of the law, I'm not going to see myself
for what I am. I'll think, well, I trip. I fall
sometimes. I'm only human. I'm not going to beat myself
up about it. I make mistakes, but who doesn't? And I don't
see myself as God sees me. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now the man who has no light
from God can't see himself that way. I'm a pretty good guy. I've
got some ability. I've got some good motives. I've
got some good intentions. I've got a good heart. I had
a man tell me the other day regarding his son who had been Caught in
this horrible crime, he said, well, he's got a good heart.
Nobody has a good heart. I don't have a good heart. You
don't have a good heart by nature. Nobody has a good heart. We're
all, before God, evil. That's why we need a Savior.
Oh, what a blessing it'd be for you and I to see that. Then we'd
cry out for mercy. But let's go on reading what
Paul says in verse 9. He said, for without the law,
sin was dead. I didn't see myself as a sinner. Understand this.
Not seeing yourself as a sinner is the greatest problem you have.
Self-complacency, self-righteousness is the greatest enemy to true
holiness. The biggest problem you have
is if we don't see ourselves as a sinner. He said, for without
the law, sin was dead. I didn't see myself to be totally
under its reign. For he said in verse 9 I was
alive without the law once I thought I had some ability One of these
days when I want to I can repent one of these days when I want
to I'll believe I'll accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior
I've got some ability some life that I can use down the road.
I might have had a bad day today I might have messed up today,
but tomorrow's a new day I'll do better and if all the proper
circumstances are in the right place I can avoid seeing I've
got some life for I was alive without the law once but I When
the commandment came, thou shalt not covet. Sin became alive and
I died. I died to all hopes of being
saved. I saw that there was no hope
for me to save myself. Now when you die, You know that
there's absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself. How much hope does a dead man
have of living? Well, his only hope is for God
to give him life. He can't do something to get
it. He's in the hands of a sovereign God. He's completely dependent
upon God. Paul says, I died to all hopes
of self-salvation. If God doesn't raise me from
the dead, there's no hope for me. He says in verse 10, and
the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. You see, all that God's law does
is define sin, expose sin, and sentence to death. It can't justify
you. It can't sanctify you. It can't
give you life. It can't forgive you. It doesn't
know anything of mercy. It can't give you any power to
obey it. It is not a pattern for you to
follow. All God's law does is curse your
guilty. Cursed be everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Now that commandment which was
ordained to life, the commandments holy and just and good, all it
did was sentence me to death. Verse 11, for sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me. And by it, it slew me. It deceived me into thinking
I could keep Sin deceived me into thinking that somehow I
could save myself one of these days. You see, sin is so deceiving,
and our hearts are so deceitful. Jeremiah 17 and 9 says the heart
is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know
it? If you trust your heart, somebody
says, trust your heart, you better not. If you trust your heart,
it'll lead you in the wrong direction every time. The only thing to
trust is the Word of God, what God says in His Word. Now, we
can't see a thing for what it is. We're ignorant of the spirituality
of God's holy law. That's how we're deceived. We
say, well, I've never murdered anybody, and we don't see that
to murder someone's character is to murder them in God's sight.
Well, I've never stolen anything. Well, you've stolen glory from
God and give credit to yourself. The vastness of God's law, we
don't see, sin doesn't appear sin until God teaches us what
His holy law really means. Now, verse 12, wherefore the
law, Paul says, is holy. and the commandment holy and
just and good. God's law is holy. My problem
is not the law. My problem is me. The law exposes
me for what I really am. Somebody once said we're all
three different people. The ones we think we are, the
one others think we are, and the one God knows we are. And that's precisely what His
holy law exposes. And Paul justifies God's law. Oh, it's holy and just and good. Now, in verse 13, he says, Was
then that which is good made deaf unto me? Is the law what
caused my death? God forbid, but sin that it might
appear sin, that I might see it for what it is. Now, like
I said to most people, sin never appears to be sin. What may be
in fact great sin, they may think is just fine. But oh, when sin
appears to be sin, here is what takes place. But seeing that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding, surpassingly
sinful. When the law is understood, you
see yourself as exceedingly, surpassingly sinful. Now, have
I seen this is true with regard to myself? I want to ask myself
that question. You know, I see it's true in
others. How could they do that? How could
they get by with it? How could they in good conscience
do that? You see it's seen in others all the time. But have
you seen yourself? Oh, beloved, listen to me. Ask
yourself this question. Have you seen yourself as exceeding
sinful before God, surpassingly sinful, nothing but guilt, nothing
but sin? I've said many times to our congregation,
it's one thing to believe the doctrine of the total depravity
of man and believe the scriptures teach it, and it's another thing
to believe that you yourself are totally depraved. Now somebody's thinking, what
is the point of all this? Why are you telling us to have
such a low view of ourself? What is the point? You want me
to see that I personally am exceedingly sinful? What's the point? Well,
I'm glad you asked because there is a point. Listen carefully. It's only when I see that I myself
am exceedingly sinful that I will see that salvation by works,
by my doings, by my intentions, by anything that I do is exceedingly
impossible. And that's exactly where I need
to be brought to, where I have no hope if any part of salvation
is dependent upon me doing anything. And until I'm brought to that
place, I'll never cry for mercy. It's only that man who deserves
nothing but hell, that doesn't have one single thing he can
offer to God that he thinks God would accept. He knows he's nothing
but sin. That's the person who cries,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. You see, it's a blessed thing
to learn that you're nothing but sin, because that is when
you will cry to God for mercy. It's only when I am exceeding
sinful, that grace becomes exceedingly necessary." Now what is grace? Grace is not God's offer of forgiveness
to you. Grace is not God's offering His
mercy and His grace to you, and it's up to you to accept it or
reject it. That is not grace at all. The Bible knows nothing of that.
Grace is God's action in saving sinners. Now, according to the
Bible, men are exceeding sinful, can't save themselves. Grace
saves. Now for grace to be grace, it's
got to begin with electing grace. Election is God's choice of His
people before the foundation of the world. Now, people argue
over election. Some say the Bible teaches it. Some say the Bible
doesn't teach it. They change the meaning of it.
Well, election is God foreseeing you'd fall and then foreseeing
who would believe and choosing them because He foresaw faith.
And people argue back and forth. Some people say, well, election
is True, but it's not a doctrine to be used indiscriminately.
We ought to be very careful because it can confuse people. But I'll
tell you this, if you're ever a sinner, you need God to elect
you. You need God to choose you because you know if He doesn't
choose you, you'll go to hell. You don't argue over election.
You don't claim it's not fair. How could it be fair for Him
to save one and pass by another? Because you know it'd be fair
for Him to pass by you. You cry, oh Lord, choose me. If you don't choose me, it's
all over for me. Oh, may I be one of your chosen. The work
of Christ becomes exceedingly necessary. Now, most people,
when they think of the work of Christ and they think of the
death of Christ, they think, well, God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody, wants to save everybody, paid for everybody's sins, died
for all men. But it's up to you to accept or reject what he did
that will get you into heaven. Now, that won't do a real sinner
any good. Because a real sinner knows that
he deserves nothing but the wrath of God and there's not one thing
he can do to save himself. If you're a real sinner, you
see the necessity of Christ dying for you and actually accomplishing
your salvation. Not just making you your salvation
potential, but saving you. You see the necessity of Him
when He said, it is finished. All that God required of you
was taken care of. You see the necessity of this.
Who is He that can condemn? It's Christ that died. That's
the only answer I need. Oh, you see the necessity of
the invincible, irresistible grace of God the Holy Spirit.
You see you need Him to come and give you a new heart and
give you faith and give you repentance. It's necessary. Oh, it's not
just something you subscribe to, it's something you see the
absolute need of. It's only when I see that I'm
exceeding sinful that the gospel comes to me as exceeding good
news. Listen to this scripture. In
1 Timothy 1.15, Paul said this is a faithful saying. You can
rely on this. And it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to rejoice in
this. And here it is. Here's that faithful
saying that's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save, anybody know what the next word is? Sinners. Not good people, not
believing people, not righteous people, not moral people, not
people that have it together. He came to save, Paul said, sinners
of whom I am the chief. Now, if you're a sinner, that
comes as exceedingly good news to you. You see, when our Lord
came into this world, we heard this announcement from the angel.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And when he said it is finished,
that is what took place. He had saved his people from
their sins. Now, has sin ever appeared sin
to me? Have I ever seen sin as exceeding
sinful? Now, I can tell you how you can
know if you've ever been convinced by God the Holy Spirit of your
personal sinfulness. It's not because of feeling guilty,
having a real tender conscience and always feeling guilty about
bad things you do when you trip up. That's not a conviction of
sin. I know someone has been convinced
of sin when they look to Christ alone. They look nowhere else. They don't look to Christ and
what they're going to do or what they intend to do. They look
to Christ alone. They really believe that He is
all in salvation, and they do not look anywhere else. Now, have you ever been made
to look to Christ alone? Nothing else. Christ alone. He's the only hope. He's the
only plea you have. And you will not look anywhere
else. You won't look to your works.
You won't look to your experience. You won't look to your intentions.
You won't look to your baptism. You won't look to the time that
you thought you were saved and walk down the aisle. Only one
place you'll look. who Christ is and what He did
as the only hope you have for salvation. Now, when you do that,
there's only one reason you do it, because you've been convinced
that you're a sinner. Oh, it's a blessed thing to be
a sinner, because He is the Savior of sinners. Now, we have this
message on DVD, CD. If you call the church right
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your
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