that I did choose. 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 Nye. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22,
the writer says, And almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission
of sins. And then in Hebrews chapter 11,
verse 6, we read, Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And then in Hebrews chapter 12
verse 14 we read, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And
then in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 8 we read, if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards
and not sons. I've entitled this message, Four
Things That I Cannot Live Without. Now there's a lot of things that
I can live without and still live. It is nice to have things
that make our lives easier. It's nice to have a warm home
to go to, and it's nice to have air conditioning. It's nice to
have a vehicle to take us back and forth to different places.
It sure is nice to have friends and family. Those things are
very nice, but I can be without those things and still be alive.
But I cannot live without my blood pumping, I cannot live
without breathing. I cannot live without food and
water. And I cannot live without an
immune system. If my immune system goes down, my body will be attacked
by just about any disease, and I won't be able to live. Now,
I realize there are 10 body systems, and I've mentioned four of them,
the digestive, the circulatory, the respiratory, and the immune
system. And there are 10 systems, but
I'm using these four to illustrate four things that I cannot live
without. I cannot live without the shedding
of blood. I cannot live without faith. I cannot live without holiness. And I cannot live without the
chastisement of the Lord as my immune system. Now here's the
first thing that I cannot live without. The writer to the Hebrews
says in Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood, there
is no remission of sins. Whose blood is he talking about? You see, the shedding of my blood
or the shedding of your blood would not remit one sin, because
we're sinners. He's talking about the shedding
of the blood of that one who in Gethsemane's garden, when
he cried, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done. And the scripture says at that
time, he sweat great drops of blood. I'm talking about the
blood of that one who had the thorn crown pierced into his
head and had his beard ripped out and the blood that flowed
from his face. I'm talking about that one who
had his back flogged with the cat of nine tails and flesh ripped
out and the blood that came down from that. I'm talking about
the blood of that one who was nailed to a cross by his hands
and feet and the spear went through his side. I'm talking about the
shedding of his blood. Now without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins. Now this is what God says. I
realize people think why couldn't God forgive sins and just forgive
them the way we do and just not think about them and just forgive
them. Why does there have to be shedding
of blood? Now, when we ask a question like that, we demonstrate that
we have very little understanding of God's justice and the evil
of sin. If we can think of sin like that,
but think even in our human court systems. What if there was someone
who was a danger to society, and the judge said, well, we're
just going to forgive you and put you out. Why, that would be unjust.
That would be wrong. And it would be wrong and unjust
for God to not punish sin. God is just. God is holy. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. And that's talking about the
shedding of his blood. Because the shedding of my blood or your
blood could not remit sin because of who we are. We're sinful. It wouldn't satisfy the justice
of God. Somebody says, well, what if
I'm sorry for my sin and I ask for forgiveness? Won't that cause
my sin to be remitted? No, it won't. Or what if I never
sin again and live a perfectly holy life and I repent and I
do nothing but good works? Will that remit sin? No, it won't. Only the shedding of the blood
of the Son of God will remit sin. The only way that I can
have my sin remitted is if Jesus Christ the Lord shed His precious
blood for me. Now, while it's true without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, thank God
this is equally true, by the shedding of His blood there is
complete remission of sins. Everybody He died for their sins
were remitted. They were wiped away. They were
canceled. They were put away. When He said
it is finished, the salvation of everyone He died for was completed. Now, listen very carefully. Jesus Christ, when He shed His
blood, He was not making salvation available if we do our part. He was not making forgiveness
possible if we do our part. He was not making an offer to
us. He actually put away the sin
of everybody He died for. Somebody says, are you implying
that He didn't die for everybody? Well, He didn't die for everybody.
He didn't die for people who are in hell. Why? It would be
unjust on God's part to punish them if Christ was already punished
for their sins. He didn't die for those in hell.
He didn't die for those who continue in unbelief. No, He died for
His sheep, His elect, those the Father gave Him. He said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. This is the will
of Him that sent me, that of all which He hath given me I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
I lay down my life for the sheep. And with the shedding of His
blood there's complete remission of sins. Oh, how this rejoices
my heart! What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Oh, there is complete remission
of sins. in his precious blood. Now somebody
says, well who did he die for? How can I know if he died for
me? I can tell you how you can know positively right now if
he died for you. Romans chapter 5 verse 6 says,
for when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died
for the ungodly. Who did he die for? Those who
were without strength not just that are weak, but that are without
spiritual strength and ungodly. He died for sinful, ungodly people
who have no strength. Those are the people he died
for. Now, somebody may be thinking, well, I don't really feel that's
a description of me. Well, if that's the case, I can't
give you any assurance that he died for you. But if you're somebody
without strength and ungodly, you're a sinner before God and
you can't change your state, listen to me, with the shedding
of His blood there is complete remission of sin. Thank God for
the remission of sins. Now, what can I not do without? I can't do without the shedding
of blood and I can't do without faith. Now, when you're born
into this world, what's the first thing you need to do? Breathe. Breathe. As soon as a child comes
out of the womb, the first thing they need to be made to do is
to breathe. That's the act of physical life. And what is the first act of
spiritual life? Faith. Faith. And without faith, It is impossible
to please God. Now, in Hebrews chapter 11, without
faith, it's impossible to please Him. Let's back up and see what
made the writer say this. In verse 5, we read of a man
by the name of Enoch. By faith, Enoch, he was a man
who lived before the flood. He lived 318 years. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. He never died. He walked with
God for those 318 years. He had children. He had a family.
He had responsibilities, but he walked with God, and he walked
right into heaven. He never saw death. He was not, the scripture says,
because God took him. He walked right into heaven.
A man that, that was true of Elijah as well. He walked right
into heaven. These are the two men we know
of that never saw physical death. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found. Evidently,
people were looking for him. They didn't know where he was.
Because God had translated him, for before his translation, before
he walked into heaven, he had this testimony that he pleased
God. Enoch pleased God. God said, I'm well pleased with
this man. Now does that mean that Enoch's
life was so good and he walked so far above sin that God just
took him right into heaven because of how good he was? Doesn't mean
that at all. But without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. Enoch believed the gospel. Enoch pleased God because Christ
pleased God and Enoch was in him and everybody in him God
is well pleased with. Enoch was a righteous man because
the righteousness of Christ became his. You see with that shedding
of blood Christ shed His blood and put away sin, but that's
not all He did. He takes His righteousness and gives it to
every believer, and every believer is the very righteousness of
God. And God is pleased with Himself. God is pleased with
His own righteousness. And if I have His righteousness,
I please God. But without faith, Without faith
it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him." They must believe what? What is it they
believe? They must believe that they're
saved? They must believe that Christ died for them? They must
believe that God exists? No, it's none of that. They must
believe that He is. It doesn't merely mean believe
in his existence. We believe he is as he says he
is in his word. He is holy. Holy and reverend
is thy name. We believe that. He is all-powerful. He's omnipotent. The Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. We believe that. There's nothing
that can hinder Him from doing His will because He's all-powerful.
We believe. He is sovereign. The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
That means He controls everything. There's nothing outside of His
control. He controls everything. Men, the weather, whatever happens,
He's the first cause behind of it. He is just. He must punish sin. We believe
that. He is merciful and gracious. He delights in mercy. We believe
that. He's love. Scripture says God
is love. We believe He is as He says He
is in His Word. And He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Listen, if you seek the Lord,
you'll find Him. Don't ever be thinking, well,
what if I'm not one of the elect? What if he didn't die for me?
It won't do me any good to seek him. No, you seek the Lord. Understand
this. You seek the Lord and you will find him. And if you seek
the Lord, it's because he said, seek my face. David said, when
thou said, seek ye my face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord,
will I seek. If you seek the Lord, you'll
find him. He that seeks, our Lord promised. finds. So I cannot
live without this thing of faith and believing His isness. Faith
is a reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ for everything in salvation. Right now I'm relying on His
righteousness as the only righteousness that I have and the only righteousness
that I need. I'm relying on His intercession,
representing me before the Father. All of my hope of salvation is
in Him. It's not in me. It's not in what
I do. It's not in what I think. It is in Him and Him alone. Here's what I'm relying on. All
my eggs are in this basket. When He said, it is finished,
my salvation was accomplished. I can't live without that. You
take that away from me and I cannot spiritually live without faith.
it is impossible to please God. And then we read in Hebrews chapter
12 verse 14, follow or pursue peace with all men and holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. Holiness. Sanctification. I can't live
without sanctification. That is my food and that is my
water. I can't live without sanctification. God doing something to me and
for me and in me and me assimilating that. Sanctification. Now what
does this word holiness or sanctification mean? It means separated to God. It's God taking something common
and ordinary and setting it apart for himself for holy purposes. Now, every believer is a saint,
a sanctified one, a holy one. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, put on as the elect of God, holy
and beloved vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind. Every believer
is a saint. A saint is not an attainment.
It's not something you become so good or you have a surplus
of good works and now all of a sudden you're declared to be
a saint by somebody. No, a saint is every believer,
a saint of God, a holy one of God. We were set apart by God
the Father, separated to himself in eternal election. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. We were sanctified by the Son
on the cross. When the scripture says, by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. You see, when Jesus Christ shed
his precious blood, all my sin was done away with. And God said,
He's holy. And if God said, I'm holy, you
know what? I am holy. That's the heritage of every
child of God, sanctified by the Son in redemption and sanctified
by the Spirit of God. II Thessalonians 2.13, that's
actually made holy, made a holy one, given a holy nature. This
is the new birth. a holy nature. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. What is the evidence of the sanctifying
work of God the Holy Spirit? Believing the truth, sanctification. Now, that is my food and water. I cannot live without God sanctifying
me. This is something He has to do,
and I need Him to do it. And without holiness, without
God sanctifying me, without me being a holy man of God, without
you being a holy man of God or a holy woman of God, that's what
a saint is. Without holiness, no man shall
see the Lord. You see, God is holy, and the
only people who will be in heaven are holy people. I'm so thankful
for that scripture in 1 Corinthians 1.30 where Paul said, but of
Him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and holiness, sanctification and redemption. Listen to this scripture in Revelation
chapter 22 verse 11 we read, He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. How you die is how you will spend
eternity. But then he says, and he that
is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is Let him
be holy still. You see, if you die a righteous,
holy man, and the only way you can do that, the only way I can
do that is if God dies for me in the person of His Son, Christ
putting away my sins. But if Christ put away my sins,
if He saved me, if I've been given this saving faith, I've
got a holy nature. You know, it's that new nature,
the holiness that believes. You know, it's the new man that
owns the sins of the old man. This is what the scripture calls
in 2 Peter 1.4 being made a partaker of the divine nature. And the
Lord said, with regard to this thing of sanctification, in John
17, verse 17, He said, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word
is truth. The Lord said, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. And there is my food, Him sanctifying
me. I love Hebrews 2, 11, 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. I cannot live without food and
water. I cannot live without sanctification. Now I can't live without the
shedding of his blood. I cannot live without this thing
of faith. I cannot live without sanctification. And last, I cannot live without
chastisement. Now remember we need an immune
system. If my immune system is not working, any disease will
take over my body. Your immune system is what fights
off disease and preserves your life. And if your immune system
is compromised, that's when you become sick. And if your immune
system quits working, you're going to die. Now, chastisement
can well be said to be the believer's immune system. Verse 8 of Hebrews
chapter 12 says, but if you be without chastisement, whereof
all are partakers, all believers are partakers, then are you bastards
and not sons. Now let's back up and see what
made the writer say this. In verse three, he said, for
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. You've
not resisted unto blood striving against sin. And have you forgotten
the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children? My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
are rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receives." Now did you hear that? Who the
Lord loves, he chastens, he disciplines, he corrects. Now what do you
do with the children that belong to you? You discipline them. You correct them because you
love them. You don't want them going in
wrong directions. And when you see them going in
a wrong direction, you correct them. And there's one reason
you correct them. Because you love them. They're
your children. You don't correct other people's
children. No, they're not your children. You have no right to
do that. But you correct your own children. Whom the Lord loveth. which is every believer, all
of his elect, the church, those who come to him. Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son. He gives
every son a scourging or a whipping in love. This is not talking
about punishment for sin. You know, his chastening is just
him hiding his face. Oh, what a grievous thing that
is to a believer. Now, verse 7. If you endure chastening,
if you get through it, God deals with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? but if you be without chastisement. That means the Lord's not correcting
you. That means you've been left to yourself. That means His hand
is not upon you. You see, I need Him to chasten
me because I know I'll go in the wrong direction if He doesn't.
The worst thing that could happen to me is for the Lord to just
remove His hand from me and let me go because I know I would
fall away if that took place. Are you saying that a believer
can fall away? I'm saying this, we would if God didn't preserve
us. That's what I'm saying, we would. Thank God he does preserve
us. The Lord said, my sheep shall
never perish and not one of his elect will ever perish. But I
know this, I'm kept through the chastening hand of the Lord,
him correcting me for all of our wanderings and our straying
off. Like David said, I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant for I do not
forget thy word. Now we read in verse 9, Furthermore,
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave
them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. My father
chastened me, and I deserve what I got, but he made mistakes sometimes.
Any father does, you know that. They do it after their own as
they see fit, but he, the Lord's chastening, he for our profit
that we might be partakers of his holiness. That is his purpose
in his chastening, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening for the present
time seems to be joyous, grievous. It's not fun to be chastened,
to have the Lord rebuke you. You know, understand this. You say, what is this chasing?
Well, it's chasing through the Word. You hear the Word preached
and you're corrected, you're rebuked, you're reproved through
the Word. You're chasing when the Lord
hides His face from you so you feel like your prayers don't
get any further than the ceiling. That's the chasing of the Lord.
Whatever measure He uses, we need. That's church discipline. Church discipline is not trying
to get somebody down in front of the church and having the church
vote on whether or not to kick them out and all that kind of stuff.
Foolishness is all that is. Trying to get people to confess
their sins before other men. That's man's religion. There's nothing to it. But, oh,
I don't want to deal with any of that kind of chasing or church
discipline. But, oh, do I want the Lord to
chase in me and keep me that I might be a partaker of His
holiness. Now, here are four things that
I cannot do without. I cannot do without the shedding
of blood. I have to have Christ shed His blood for me and put
away my sins. I can't do without that. I cannot do without faith. I must have that faith that actually
trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have any life if I don't
have faith. You know, the Lord said, whosoever
liveth and believeth in me. You see, it takes spiritual life
to believe. Now, believing life comes when
you believe, but you didn't believe and then have life. Chronologically,
they come at the same time, but logically, life comes before
faith. But still, I can't live without faith. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. I cannot live without holiness,
follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord, and I cannot live without His chastisement. I must have these four things
to live. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church and write,
we'll send you a copy. Or email. We'll send you a copy
that way, too. This is Todd Kniper, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. 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.