It is not that I did you 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 Niver. In Romans chapter 5, verse 9,
Paul says much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath
through him. Now this is a statement regarding
every single believer. being now justified by His blood. Justified, without guilt. If I'm justified, that means
I've never done anything wrong, and I've always done that which
is right. Now we realize this justification
comes through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not because
of my works, but because of His works. but this is the heritage
of every believer being now justified by His blood. Since I am now justified in God's
sight I have always been justified." Now listen to me very carefully.
God said in Exodus 34, I will by no means clear the guilty. If God ever views me as guilty,
he will not justify me. That would be wrong because God
is just. If I am now justified in the
sight of God, I've always been justified. Now, how is that?
Well, before my experience of life, I've always been known
by God. This is true of every believer. He said to Jeremiah, before I
formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now think of that. Before
I had any existence, God says, He knew me. He knew me. You see, all of God's elect,
every believer, has always been in the Lord Jesus Christ, always
been united to Him. Everything we have, we've always
had. Because the Scripture says in
II Timothy 1.9, He saved us and He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Everything the believer has,
including justification, was given him in Christ Jesus before
the world began. If I'm justified before God now,
I've always been justified before God. Now, in my experience, I
certainly have not felt justified, I felt guilty. I felt condemned. I felt under the wrath of God
until He did a work of grace for me. I certainly didn't feel
justified. I didn't experience justification. I feared the wrath of God. And no one has any right to believe
that they're justified now or justified eternally unless they
right now, in the present, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
is the evidence, the right now, being now justified. The reason
I know that I've been eternally justified by God is because right
now, by His grace, I believe the gospel. Now, if I believe,
it's because he gave me that faith. But the evidence that
I'm justified before God is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
we are in this thing called time right now and it's very difficult,
actually impossible for us to grasp eternity. We say things
like eternity past and eternity future and there's no such thing.
Eternity is the present, always. You're always in the now. There's
no yesterday. There's no tomorrow. And that's
why it's so difficult for us to grasp always having personality
before God, the Lord always knowing me in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it's true. I don't understand it, but I believe it. Now men have
a tendency, we all have a tendency to try to make a false refuge
of the past and the future. Men have a tendency to try to
look to something in the past, something they've done, some
experience they've had, that makes them believe they're saved
now. Well, I must be saved now because
of so-and-so that took place then. And they'll make a security,
they'll feel secure over something that took place in the past.
Now, that's not looking to Christ. You see, faith is always in the
present. It's not in the past, it's in the present. I'm looking
to Christ right now as the only hope I have of being accepted
before God. I'm looking to Him right now
the same way I looked to Him the very first time. When I first
looked to Christ, I didn't have any experience. I didn't have
any good works. I didn't have anything. All I
had was Him, and it's no different today. I look to Him right now
the same way I looked to Him the very first time I looked
to Him. You see, Paul, the apostle, said,
this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am. Not, I used to be the chief,
but right now I am the chief. And I look to Christ right now
the same way I looked to him the very first time I looked
to him. I don't make, or God forbid that
I make a false refuge in the past. And then there are others
who make a false refuge out of the future. They say, tomorrow
I'm going to get things straightened up. Tomorrow I'm going to become
a Christian. Tomorrow I'm gonna do all these
different things. Let me tell you two things about
that. First, boast not thyself of the morrow for thou knowest
not what a day may bring forth. You don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow. And secondly, any intention you have for tomorrow
is works. That's all it is. It's something
I'm going to do. That's salvation by works. If I make a false refuge
in the past or in the future, both of those things are forms
of salvation by works. Who am I looking to right now? being now justified by his blood. Now there's an urgency in now. When's the time for me to come
to Christ? Right now. When's the time for me to believe?
Right now. When's the time for me to repent?
Right now. There's an urgency in now. Now, I've entitled this message,
The Here and the Now. Being now justified by His blood. The here and the now. Today. This present second. Now, God is in absolute control
of now, because He controls everything. And he controlled the past, he
controls the future, he controls the now, and he dwells outside
of time. Once again, do I understand that?
No. Do I believe it? Absolutely. God is eternal. And
he's in control of the now. David said, Wherefore should
the heathen say, Where is now their God? Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He had
pleased. He is in control of the now. Now, there's a similarity to
now and news. I want you to think about that.
There's a similarity to now and news. Something that is right
now is news. There's a newness to it. Newness and nowness go together. The gospel, when it's heard in
the power of the Holy Spirit, when it's heard as it should
be heard, always comes as news. Something new, something fresh,
something I need to hear right now. Oh, what a blessing it is
when God enables me to hear the gospel as good news. It's good news to me right now. Now, do you remember in Numbers
chapter 21, it's spoken of the children of Israel, that they
had a change of attitude about manna. Manna came down from heaven. It was good food. It tasted like honey and wafers. It was angel's food, the scripture
says. Oh, how grateful they were for
that manna. But after time, The children
of Israel said concerning that manna, which didn't change in
taste, it didn't change in composition, but their perception of it changed. And they said regarding that
manna, our souls loathe this light bread. It went from being
food from heaven to light bread, insubstantial bread. We're tired
of it. Perhaps they had taken it for
granted and they became tired of it. They said, our souls loathe
this light bread. It was no longer good news that
this bread fell from heaven and was providing for them every
day. It was old. It was stale. It was light bread. We're tired of it. Now, that
is why the Lord said, blessed are you that weep now. Did you hear that? Blessed are
you that weep now, you shall be comforted. Blessed are you
that hunger now, right now. for you shall be filled." It's
not that at one time we wept and at one time we hungered,
but we weep now. We hunger now. And when that's
the case, the gospel will always be news and it will always be
in the here and the now. If not, if that's not the way
I hear the gospel, I'm lukewarm, like the church at Laodicea,
don't even know it, lukewarm. The gospel doesn't come as news,
everything's okay, but oh, what a blessing it is when I hear
the gospel in its newness, in its freshness, because of my
present need. I weep now, I hunger now. Now, when the gospel's preached,
it's preached like this. Luke chapter 14, verse 17, come
for all things are now ready. Oh, may the Lord give me and
you hearing ears in thinking of that statement. The Lord says,
come for all things are now ready. There's nothing you need to do.
It's all been done. Nothing you need to bring of
your own. This is the great feast of fat
things, wine on the leaves, well refined. It's all done. There's nothing you need to do.
The command of the gospel has come to Christ right now as you
are. Don't try to bring anything.
Don't try to do anything. All things are now ready. Now somebody says, how can that
be? Well, I can tell you how that
can be. Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
said, it is finished. What's finished? Everything. It is finished. He didn't simply mean my sufferings
are now over, I don't have to deal with that anymore. Everything
that God requires of the sinner is accomplished. It is finished. When the Lord died, he didn't
suffer decay like you and I will when we die, because he completely
satisfied the demands of God's justice against sin. The sins
of God's elect became his sin. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree, and he suffered the wrath of God on Calvary's
tree. And when he said, it is finished,
God said, I can ask for nothing else. When the Lord said it is finished,
my salvation became history, before I was even born. That's how complete His salvation
is. That's why, come, all things
are now ready. There's nothing for me or you
to do, being justified by His blood, not by your works. Being
justified by His blood, by what He did on Calvary Street, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him. Being now justified by His
blood, right now, without guilt. This is true of every believer,
right now, right now. without guilt. You've never done
anything wrong, and you've only done that which is right. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that can condemn? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now, I want to give you a number
of scriptures with the word now in them. Listen to this. In Colossians chapter 1, verses
21 and 22, we read, and you that were before time alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Now hath he reckoned in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight."
What, you know, I wouldn't believe that if the book didn't say it.
Because of His blood right now, right now, He reconciled me. All barriers have been removed.
He reconciled me in the body of His flesh through death. He
reconciled me and right now before God, and this is the way every
believer is, every believer before God in God's sight and in the
way God sees is the way things really are. Understand that.
God doesn't see things virtually as if they were a certain way.
This is the way it really is. Because of the blood of Christ,
every believer is holy. Unblameable. Nothing to lay to
their charge. Unreprovable in the very sight
of God right now. In John chapter 15, verse 3,
the Lord said, now are you clean? through the Word, which I've
spoken to you. Now, somebody says, well, I don't
feel clean. Well, if Christ died for you, you are clean, whether
you feel clean or not, because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. As long as the blood cleanses,
which is eternally, you are clean. Now, are you clean through the
word that I've spoken to you? Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13
says, you who were aforetime, afar off, are now made nigh by
the blood of Christ. I'm so near to God. united to him through the blood
of Christ. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he right now. In 1 John 3, verse
2, we read, Now are we the sons of God? Now, how can that be? Well, here's the reason for this
nowness, that now we are the sons of God, not enemies. If
we're believers, we're not enemies. We're sons, children of God with
Him as our Heavenly Father. And here's why 1 Corinthians
15, 20 says, but now Christ is risen from the dead. He's called
in Hebrews chapter 10, the new and the living way. And that
word new means freshly slaughtered. Do you know the blood of Christ
is never old. It's never just something that
happened a long time ago. It's always fresh, always new,
always powerful before God. And that's why we are now the
sons of God because Christ has now risen from the dead. Paul had been speaking of the
dreadful implications of him not being risen if that took
place, but he says, now he is risen from the dead. Now, right
now. Hebrews 9.24 says, Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are figures
of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Right now, there's a man in glory
representing every believer, appearing in the very presence
of God for us. And the reason that I'm preserved,
the reason I do not fall away, the reason I'm kept, the reason
I'm going to be accepted on Judgment Day is because right now there
is one making intercession for me. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore
he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, because of this nowness
and this nearness we have, the time is coming when the Lord
said the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and truth. And here's why. The time is coming,
and now is, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and truth. There's a, right now, there's worship. I'm worshiping
the Lord. Oh, my worship isn't accepted
because of anything in me, but because there's a man in glory
right now, representing me. I love that scripture in John
chapter 5, when the Lord said, the time is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. And in hearing His voice, here's
what we hear. Listen to this. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, without me doing anything. Here's what
you hear when you hear the gospel. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Now
here's what you hear when you hear the gospel. Right now, you
have a righteousness. and it's not your personal righteousness.
It's the very righteousness of God. Without your works, it's
given to all who believe right now. The righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. Now, listen to this. This is
another thing in the now. Since I have been born of God,
and this is true of every believer, we've all been born of God. We've all been born again if
we're believers. We have a new nature given to
us in the new birth, regenerated by the Spirit of God. Now, since
I've been born of God and heard his voice and been given this
new and holy nature, when I do that which I would not, which
is sin, When I do that which I would not, I would not sin,
but I do. When I do that which I would
not, now it's no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth
in me. It's the old nature, it's that
old wicked nature. It's not me that sinned, it's
the sin that dwells in me. Now that's what Paul said. Now
somebody says, well, that's making an excuse for sin. You're thinking
it's okay to sin because it's not you that sinned, it's somebody
else. Well, Paul said that. Not me, but that never provides
an excuse for sin because Romans 6.19 says, This doesn't offer
a believer an excuse to sin. It just explains why he still
sins, because I have this old nature, but now it's not me. It's the sin that dwelleth in
me. And then in 2 Corinthians 8,
chapter 11, Paul had been speaking of a willingness to give to the
Corinthians, and he was commending them for their willingness to
give, and he says, now perform the doing of it. I love that. Now perform the doing of it. Now is the time for any act of
generosity, love, or obedience. Not tomorrow, but right now. Now perform the doing of it. Now is the accepted time. And
then another scripture is Galatians chapter 4 verse 21 where Paul
said, As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the spirit. Speaking of Ishmael, the representative
of salvation by works, persecuting Isaac, the representative of
salvation by grace. As he that was born after the
flesh, persecuted him that's born after the spirit, even so
it is now. Works always hates grace and
has plenty of mocking to do and making up things that aren't
so to say about grace. Why? If you believe grace the
way you speak to you, you say you think it's okay to sin. You
think making up all kinds of things that are not so. And I love this scripture in
first Corinthians chapter 13, verse 13, now abides. faith, hope, and charity. Now, this is what a believer
has right now. First, he has faith. Right now, I am relying on the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm looking to him for everything. My only hope is the same hope
that the thief had when he said, Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. I am relying on Christ. I'm trusting this, that everything
God requires of me, he looks to his son for. I'm relying on
him. That's faith. Now, by the faith,
hope. I have a hope. I have a hope
that on Judgment Day, when God sees me, he's going to say, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. And here is why he's
going to say that to me, because Christ did well, and he is that
good and faithful servant, and everything he did is mine. That's what I'm hoping for. I
have a hope that on judgment day I'm going to be accepted
in the beloved, that there will be no sin in me. And I also have
a hope that everything from this point until then is working together
for my good and for his glory, because the scripture says, and
we know that all things work together for good, to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Now
abideth faith, hope, and what a blessed thing it is to have
hope, a hope in God, a hope in Christ. Now abideth charity,
Every believer truly loves God as he is. They love the Lord
Jesus Christ. They love his people. Everybody
that loves Christ, all that the believer loves. And he loves
all men in that he wants all men to hear the gospel and to
be saved. Now abideth faith, hope, and
charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
charity. Because one of these days, I'm
not gonna need hope. I'll experience it. What I'm
hoping for, I'll experience. I'm not going to need faith because
my faith is going to be turned into sight. I've never seen the
Lord Jesus Christ, my hope, the object of my faith, but I'll
see Him then. Now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three,
but the greatest of these is charity. Oh, what a blessing
to believe Christ now. May God give me and you the grace
to come to Him right now. To request a copy of the sermon
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