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 Niver. In Romans chapter 1, verse 1,
we read Paul. Paul was the man that God used
more than any other man to expound his gospel. What a special man. He was a Pharisee before God
saved him, a very religious man, and God saved him and used him
to be the great expositor of the gospel. Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel
of God. Not the gospel of men, not man's
invention, but the gospel of God. Paul said in Galatians,
the gospel which was preached to me was not of man, neither
by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. God taught Paul
the gospel. He worked directly through Paul. He spoke to Paul. Paul said he
was brought up into the third heavens. The Lord taught him
the gospel directly. We've learned the gospel through
a man. Some man taught us the gospel. Paul didn't learn his
gospel from a man. God taught him the gospel directly. His writings are the words of
Scripture. His writings are infallible. Now, he was a fallible man. He
was a sinful man. By his own admission, he was
a sinful man. He said, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief, but God spoke the gospel. God defined the gospel through
this man, the apostle Paul. Paul, an apostle, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. An apostle simply means
a sent one. He was sent with the Word of
God, separated unto the gospel of God. And then Paul goes on
to say, which he had promised afore by the prophets in the
Holy Scriptures, the gospel is the gospel of the Old Testament
Scriptures. Someone that can't preach the gospel from the Old
Testament Scriptures doesn't know the gospel. You can't understand
the New Testament without the Old Testament, nor can you really
understand the Old Testament without the New Testament. He
said the gospel he was separated to was the one concerning his
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, in Romans 2, verse 16, Paul
called the gospel of God, my gospel. My gospel, and the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according
to my gospel. Now, I want to deal with this
question, actually two questions. When is the gospel my gospel? The gospel has a definite content. It's an objective message. It's
not subject to what I think or what you think. It's got a definite
message, a definite content, that if that content is not preached,
the gospel is not preached. I can give so many examples of
that, but when does the objective gospel become my personal gospel? And the second question I want
to deal with is how can I know that my gospel, the gospel that
I call my gospel, how can I know that it is the gospel, the gospel
of the Scriptures? Two very interesting questions. Now Paul called the gospel, I
love the way he called it, the gospel of God. Not man's gospel,
but the gospel of God. The gospel is also called in
1 Timothy 6.11, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Now the gospel is all about God's
glory. Who gets the glory is the issue
of the gospel. Now in the gospel, it's about
his glory. Not man's glory, but God's glory. In Revelation 14, 6, the gospel
is called the everlasting gospel. I love that title of the gospel.
It never began. It never ends. It's never modified. It's never adapted to the times. You know, preachers and churches
say we're making the Bible relevant. Now, the moment you try to make
the Bible relevant, you become completely irrelevant. The Bible
is the truth. It's God's eternal word. The
gospel is God's eternal gospel. You don't need to make it relevant.
You just preach it and declare what the Bible says, what the
gospel is, and trust God to take care of the results. We don't
try to make the scriptures relevant. We don't try to make the gospel
relevant. It troubles me so much when I see people trying to market
the gospel and churches market the gospel and try to make it
more palatable to the flesh. There's no need to do that. We
preach the truth, the naked truth of the gospel, and trust God
to take care of the results. In Acts 20, verse 24, the gospel
is called the gospel of the grace of God. Now, the gospel is of
grace. Now, what does grace mean? Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, in Genesis 6, verse
5, it says, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And included in that group is
Noah and everybody else. That's what God saw. Every imagination
of the thoughts of heart was only evil continually, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The gospel is the gospel
of God's grace, His saving grace, His free favor. And then in Romans
10, verse 15, we read of the gospel of peace. The gospel of
God is the gospel of peace. It tells how God can be at peace
with me and be satisfied with me. The opposite of peace is
turmoil and anguish. And if salvation is in any way
dependent upon me, I have turmoil and anguish. But oh, what peace
I have when I know that my sin has been dealt with and taken
care of, and the Lord put it away, and He gave me His righteousness. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's not rules and regulations.
It's righteousness. and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost, the gospel of peace. And then we read in Colossians
1.13 of the hope of the gospel. Now the gospel is a message that
gives a man hope. Now I have a hope. Listen to
me carefully. Hope is confident expectation.
I have a hope that when I stand before God in judgment, he's
going to look me over and he's going to say, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. I have a hope that I'm going
to be accepted on judgment day. Now what, where does that hope
come from? It comes from the gospel. You
see, the reason he'll say to me, well done, is because what
Christ did is mine. He kept the law perfectly. He
kept it for me. He put away my sins. He was raised
for me. My life is His life before God. So I have the hope, the confident
expectation that I'm going to be accepted on Judgment Day. The hope of the gospel. And then
Paul said in Romans 1.16, he said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel for it, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's the powerful gospel. This
gospel can save sinners like me and sinners like you because
of the power of it. It is the powerful gospel. Now, as I've said, the gospel
of God is an objective message with a definite content Paul
said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Paul
said in first Corinthians 15 one, moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. Now, when does the gospel become
my gospel? When does the gospel become my
gospel? The gospel becomes my gospel
when it's good news to me. I find the message as gospel. Gospel means good news. Now the
gospel becomes my gospel when it is good news to me. Now the Bible clearly, clearly
lays out what is called the doctrine of grace, salvation by grace. Now, in the doctrine of grace,
Man is declared as he truly is, God is declared as he truly is,
and salvation is declared as it truly is. Now, that's what
the Bible declares. Man as he is, God saving by grace,
man as he is, his need of grace, God as he is, and salvation as
it is. Now, what is man according to
the scripture? Totally evil. Now you can read
the Bible and find that out. I just quoted that scripture,
totally depraved. That's me, that's you. God saw
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. When God looks in my heart and
when God looks in your heart, he sees only evil continually. You think, well what about the
good things? We're talking about before God. You may be pretty
good compared to other men. That's fine. I'm glad you are.
But I'm talking about before a thrice holy God. Men cannot
save themselves. They're totally depraved. Now,
you can prove that from the scripture. God, by grace, elected a people. He chose who would be saved before
the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4 says, According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
The Lord said in John 15.16, You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. Now, the scripture teaches that. The scripture teaches
that when Jesus Christ died, he did not die for all men without
exception. He didn't die for the sin to
those people who are in hell. He died for his elect. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. He said to one crowd, you believe
not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my
sheep hear my voice. He didn't say you're not my sheep
because you don't believe, but you believe not because you're
not my sheep. their sheep and their goats. Now when Christ
died, He died for His people, His sheep. Matthew 121 says,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people,
His people from their sins. And He did it. Christ died for
His people and accomplished their salvation. Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that it's risen again. I can't be condemned if Christ
died for me. The scripture teaches that God's
grace actually saves. Grace is not an offer. God doesn't
offer you salvation. God doesn't offer you forgiveness.
God doesn't offer you grace. Grace saves. By grace you are
saved. It's invincible and it's irresistible. And God's people all those the
Father elected, all those the Son redeemed, all those the Holy
Spirit calls, they shall persevere all the way to the end. Now,
I see that that is taught in the Scripture, but is it good news? It is good news to me that God
elected a people, because I know I wouldn't be saved if He didn't
choose a people. And that election was free. It
didn't have anything to do with their works. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth that was said unto her, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob of our love, but Esau of
our hated. It's good news to me that when Christ died, He
completely saved everybody He died for, and the only hope I
have is that Christ died for me. If you tell me that He could
die for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, you've taken
away my only hope. It's good news to me that God's
grace cannot be resisted because I know I will resist it. I need
His irresistible, invincible grace to save me. It's good news.
It's good news to me that God's people will persevere all the
way to the end because they're preserved by the grace of God.
That's good news. Now, this is the gospel of God. When is it my gospel? When it's
good news, when it's gospel to me. Now the second question that
I want to ask, I see when the gospel is gospel, when it becomes
my gospel, when it's good news to me, how can I know if my gospel,
the gospel that really is good news to me, good news from a
far country, how can I know if my gospel is the gospel? Now let me give you these reasons. Here's how I can know. First
of all, does my gospel line up with the Old Testament scriptures? The gospel that I believe, does
it line up with the Old Testament scriptures? Paul, when he declared
the gospel, he said, moreover brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel. How that I Corinthians 15.3, how that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. Now the New Testament had not
yet been completed. He's talking about the Old Testament
Scriptures. Can I put my gospel to the light
of the Old Testament Scriptures? For instance, the Passover. What a beautiful picture of the
gospel where Blood was put over the door, the blood of the paschal
lamb, the innocent lamb, and blood was put over the door.
And if you were in a house with the blood over the door, when
God passed through, you were saved. God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Now, what if someone was extra
bad? Doesn't matter. If they were in the house where
the blood was over the door, God passed them by. And He didn't
say, when you see the blood, He said, when I see the blood.
What's the one thing God was looking for? Blood. He didn't
say, when I see your sincerity, or when I see your good works,
or when I see how you've changed. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Everybody, without exception,
who is in a house with the blood over the door, God passed by
in mercy. and anybody outside of the house,
the firstborn died. Now does my gospel line up with
that? The Old Testament Scriptures,
I think of the Day of Atonement, the great high priest going into
the Holy of Holies with the breastplate of the names of the children
of Israel on his chest and coming in with the blood of the the
Lamb and coming in for Israel and God accepting Israel. He
didn't come in for everybody. He came for Israel. Does my Gospel
line up with the Old Testament Scriptures? He died for our sins
according. It's how that He died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. If I just say Christ died for
our sins, I'm not preaching the Gospel. I'm not telling the truth.
I'm leaving out a part. It's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. Now here's the second question
I want to ask so I can see if my gospel is the gospel. Does
my gospel give God all the glory in salvation? Does my gospel
give God all the glory in salvation. How does my gospel answer this
question, who maketh thee to differ from another, and what
do you have that you didn't receive? Now if I'm a believer, I do differ.
I'm different from somebody who's not a believer. I do indeed differ,
and it was God who made me to differ. God the Father chose
me, God the Son redeemed me, and God the Holy Spirit gave
me spiritual life. God only made me to differ. Let me ask you four questions
under this head. The teaching of this day could
be pretty much summarized by God loves you, Christ died for
you, He wants to save you. He shed His blood for you to
put away all your sins, but you won't be saved unless you personally
accept what He did. And until you accept it, it's
not going to be yours. He died for everybody. This is
the teaching of our day. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God, the Holy Spirit, is calling everybody,
wants you to be saved, but you won't be saved unless you accept
what He has done for you. And if you reject what He's done
for you, you'll end up being damned. Now, let's take Peter
and Judas. We know Peter was saved. We know
Judas was lost. Now, if God loved Peter and Judas
the same, what does the love of God have to do with salvation?
Nothing. If He loved Judas and Judas winds
up in hell and Peter winds up in heaven, if He loved them the
same, love didn't have anything to do with the salvation of Peter.
It's what Peter did. If God willed the salvation of
Peter and Judas, what's the will of God have to do with salvation?
Nothing. It's what Peter did do that Judas
didn't do. If Christ died, if he shed his
blood equally for Judas and Peter, what's the blood of Christ have
to do with salvation? Absolutely nothing. If Judas
is in hell and Christ died for him and paid for his sins and
Judas is in heaven and Christ died for him and paid for his
sins, that means the blood of Christ didn't have anything to do with it.
It's what Peter did Judas did do. He gives man the glory and
salvation. You see that? Who gets the glory
is the issue, and it's an issue to God. God said, My glory I'll
not share with another. In your gospel, who gets the
glory? Does God get all of the glory? Thirdly, does my gospel, the
gospel that I call my gospel, does it give all the preeminence
to Jesus Christ? If it doesn't, it's not the gospel. Now, my gospel, every doctrine
of my gospel gives all the preeminence to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
I was chosen, I was chosen in Him. If I'm justified, I'm justified
by His righteousness. If I have faith, He is the object
of my faith. He's the giver of my faith. If
I'm sanctified, I'm sanctified in Christ Jesus. If I'm redeemed,
I'm redeemed by His blood. If I made a child, it's because
I'm united to Him, a child of God. As He is, so are we in this
world. All that Christ is, the believer
is. And Christ gets all the preeminence. He gets all the glory. I love
that scripture. Christ is all in all. He has the preeminence.
He's all to God. He's all in the scriptures. He's
all to the believer. He's all there is to be preached.
Paul said, I determine not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Does my gospel give the preeminence
to the Lord Jesus Christ in all things? Now, fourthly, does my
gospel line up with the character and attributes of God as He's
revealed in the scriptures? Now God makes Himself known in
the Scriptures. We find out who He is and what
He's like in the Scriptures. Now there are things we can guess
about Him. We can look at creation and think He's very powerful
and very wise. There's things we can guess about
God, but as far as His true nature and attributes, they're made
known in the Scriptures. For instance, God said, I will
by no means clear the guilty. God is absolutely just. Now, does the gospel I believe
line up with that? You know, there are people Most
people, as far as that goes, believe that there are people
in hell that Christ died for. Do you know if you believe something
like that, you say God's not just. You make Him to be unjust. If my sin was punished by Christ,
did Him punish me for it again? Why, that would be unjust. That
would make God wrong. Does my gospel line up with the
attributes of God? God is sovereign. Scripture teaches
that. He reigns. He's in control. If I believe that man has a will
that's free from God's sovereign will, that I can keep God from
will being done by not letting him because this is my will to
do something, I say man's will is sovereign over God. You see,
does my gospel line up with the attributes of God? God's immutability,
His changelessness, His holiness. God is God, and my gospel better
line up with His attributes, because if it doesn't, it's not
the gospel of God, and it's not a gospel that will save me. Now,
here's the next thing I'd like to say. Will my gospel meet me
where I am and save me? This is so very important. Most people have a belief that
they got to reach this point before God can do this. I either
need to stop this, start this, I need to believe, I need to
all these different things that I need to do before God can work.
Now, I love that parable of the Good Samaritan, the fellow laying
in the ditch. Scripture says the Good Samaritan
came to him where he was. And my gospel comes to me where
I am. Christ comes to me where I am,
dead, helpless, unable to save myself, and He gives me life.
He comes to me where I am, and He gives me life. Oh, thank God
He comes to me where I am. Ephesians 2, To one, you hath he quickened
who were dead in sins. Verse four says, but God, he
talks about what we were, and he says, but God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are ye saved. My gospel comes to me where I
am and saves me. Now, here's the next question
I have with regard to my gospel. Will my gospel save the chief
of sinners? Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. of whom I am
the chief. I'm the worst man to ever live. Now, will my gospel save the
chief of sinners? Now, I guess we've got to define
the term to understand what that means. What's the Bible mean
by the word sinner? Well, the sinner is the one who commits
the sin. Now, if you're a sinner, that means that all you do is
sin. It means you cannot not sin. It means you don't have the right
to look down your nose at anybody. And it means you have no claims
on God's mercy at all. He would be utterly just if he
left you to perish. Now, are you a sinner? Can your
gospel save the chief of sinners? Paul said this is a faithful
saying and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Yes, my gospel will save the
very chief of sinners. Thank God for that. Will my gospel
keep me saved? You know, there are people who
believe that you can be saved one day and lost the next. Now,
if I can be saved one day and lost the next, I guarantee you
I will be lost. I need a gospel that keeps me
saved. And the Lord said, I give unto
my sheep eternal life. and they shall never perish."
Now that's the only kind of gospel that will do me any good, a gospel
that keeps me saved. Now if you can fall away from
grace, it wasn't grace in the first place. I've heard people
say, well, he's fallen from grace. No, he hadn't. You have. Grace
is his only hope. Can your gospel keep you saved? And can I face death with my
gospel? Can I look at death and know
that all I need is found in the gospel I believe? Not have I
done enough, not have I stopped this and started that, but can
I look at death and know that all that God requires of me I
have in Christ Jesus and I can actually say for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. Now if my gospel do that for
me, my gospel is the gospel, the gospel of God, not the gospel
of men, but the gospel of God. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Paul's gospel is my gospel. 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
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