that I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiber. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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 Nyvert. I've entitled the message, Promise
Keepers or Promise Believers. Now before I read my text, you
perhaps have heard of the promise keepers. Perhaps you've even
participated in the promise keepers. Men make promises. and they say we're going to keep
them. They make promises about how they will conduct themselves
and they will make themselves accountable to one another to
make sure they're able to keep their promises. And it is indeed
important to keep promises. Somebody says, I promise that
I'll behave a certain way and treat my family in a certain
way. That all sounds good. The only
problem is keeping that promise. promise keepers or promise believers. Now, in light of promise keepers,
let me read this passage of scripture to you. In Matthew 5, verse 33,
these are our Lord's words from the Sermon on the Mount. Again,
you've heard that it's been said by them of old time, thou shalt
not forswear thyself. You won't make a false promise,
but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath. If you make
a promise to him, you keep that promise. But then the Lord says,
but I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for
it's God's throne, you have no right to be making a promise
by heaven, nor by the earth for it's his footstool, you have
no right to make a promise by anything on the earth, neither
by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt
thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair
white or black. You can't foretell what's going
to happen in the future, and you don't have any ability. Don't
make a promise. Don't do it, but let your communication
be yea, yea, and nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil. Now, What does the Lord mean
by that? Have you ever made a promise
to God? I have. Lord, if you'll just
forgive me, I'll never commit that sin again. Lord, if you'll
do this for me, I will do this and I'll straighten up and I'll
do... Have you ever made a promise to God? In Ecclesiastes chapter
five, verse two, the wise man said, when thou bowest a vow
to God, defer not to pay it. For he hath no pleasure in fools.
Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better it is that thou shouldst
not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. Now the Lord says, do not swear
at all. Do not make a promise at all. Now, is the Lord saying that
we should never make any kind of vow or promise or swear that
we're telling the truth? Does that mean if we're called
upon to be a witness in court and they say, do you promise
to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
so help you God? Do we say, well, I can't make
a promise like that. When there's a marriage, how would you feel
about somebody who, when the preacher said, do you promise
you'll be faithful and true to your spouse, and the person said,
well, I can't make a promise like that. Well, I would want
to marry him. Our Lord is not talking about not making promises
to men regarding things of that nature, but He's talking about
promises to God. Notice he says in verse 33, again
you've heard that's been said by them of old time, thou shalt
not forswear thyself or swear falsely, but thou shalt perform
unto the Lord thine oath. He's talking about what we do
before God. Now, Lord says don't swear at
all. Don't swear at all. Don't make
promises before God. Now, a religion that is dependent
upon me doing something. A religion that's dependent upon
my promise before God. My personal resolve is no good. Anything that I initiate will
be no good because it began with me. Lord, I promise, have you
ever kept that promise? And be honest. You know, the
fact that we say, I promise, means, well, I lie a lot of times,
but I'm telling the truth this time. Oh, how do we know? How
do we know? I promise. Just the fact that
we say, I promise, means that we're accustomed to lying. I'm
going to turn over a new leaf. Have you? I'm gonna change. Have
you? I'm gonna act differently and
behave myself differently. All these promises and resolves
we make. Any religion that begins with
your resolve, any religion that's dependent upon you doing something
is no good. James said in James 5.12, but
above all things, my brethren. Now this is how important this
is. Above all things, my brethren, swear not neither by heaven,
neither by earth, neither by any other oath. But let your
yea be yea, and your nay be nay, lest you fall into condemnation."
That's how serious this is. Swear not at all. I think of Peter, when the Lord
said to the disciples, one of you shall betray me. No, he said to Peter, I'm sorry,
that was with regard to Judas, but he said to Peter, you're
gonna deny me. And Peter said, though the rest
of this bunch denies you, I'll never do it. I'll never do it. Who was the one who denied the
Lord with oaths and cursings and swearing? It was Peter who
said, who resolved, I will not do it. Now, the issue here Is
grace or works? That's what the issue of a promise
is. Lord, I promise, I swear, I'm going to do this, I'm going
to do that. The issue here is grace or works. Grace is God doing something
for me by way of unmerited favor. I positively do not deserve it. It is what he has done for me
because he's gracious. Not because I did anything, but
because he is gracious. Every aspect of salvation is
by grace or by works. I've made a promise. Lord, I
did this. Now you do that. Lord, you need
to respond to what I did. My promise or His promise? My
will or His will? Grace or works? That's what the
issue is. If any aspect of salvation is
dependent upon me doing something in order for that to take place,
it's works. Now, false religion, man's religion,
false religion has God loving everybody, Jesus Christ dying
for everybody, and paying for everybody's sins, and God the
Holy Spirit calling everybody, striving with men, trying to
get them to believe. God loves, this is the message
of false religion, works religion. God loves everybody, Christ died
for everybody, wants to save everybody, but as to whether
or not you will be saved, it's up to your acceptance or rejection
of what He did for you. You have to accept His gift,
and if you don't accept His gift, you won't be saved. He loves
you. Christ died for you. He wants
to save you, but your salvation is dependent upon your will,
your decision whether or not you will let what He did work
for you. You must accept what He did on
your behalf or you will not be saved. True salvation is a free
gift, but you must receive it. It's ultimately dependent upon
you. It's true that God could love
you, and Christ could die for you, and God the Holy Spirit
can call you, and you'll end up in hell anyway if you don't
do your part to make what he did work for you. Salvation is
ultimately dependent upon you. Now, that is salvation by works. If the deciding factor of salvation
is me, I promise I'll do this, I'll accept this, I'll do that.
That is salvation by works. If it's the I will of the sinner
and not the I will of God, it will not be saving. Let me illustrate this. When
the leper came to Christ in Matthew chapter eight, we read there,
behold, a leper came and worshiped him saying, Lord, if you will,
You can make me clean. What would it sound like if the
leper came into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, Lord, I will that thou makest me clean. Why, that is
blasphemous and offensive to think of anyone coming into the
presence of Christ like that. Yet that's what most people believe. It's the will of the sinner that's
the deciding factor in salvation. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna
do that. Now, that which begins in the flesh will end in the
flesh. I've been talking about false
religion or man's religion based upon men's personal resolve.
I promise I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll turn over a new
leaf and so on. What does the gospel do? What's the Word of
God have to say about this issue? You see, The religion of the
gospel makes salvation entirely dependent upon His promise to
us and not our promise to Him. Give me an example. In 2 Samuel
23, verse 5, we read of the dying words of King David. David was a man after God's own
heart. Oh, we love David, the sweet
psalmist of Israel. How mightily he was used of God. At one time he was the most powerful
man in the world. Scripture says in 2 Chronicles
that the fear of David came upon all nations. Oh, David David
was a man greatly used of God. He wrote the Psalms, the sweet
psalmist of Israel. He was the mighty king. David,
he could have thought of the way the Lord used him when he's
dying, but he doesn't mention it when he's dying. He doesn't
even mention it. He could have thought of the terrible sins
he committed, and David committed terrible sins. David committed
cold-blooded, premeditated murder. He committed adultery. He had
religious sins where he numbered the people and caused 70,000
people to die. David had all kinds of sins he
could have been thinking about when he was dying. He could have
thought about the good stuff. He could have thought about the
bad stuff, but he didn't think about either one. Here's what he thought
about when he was dying. He said, although, 2 Samuel 23
verse 5, although my house be not so with God. Now David's
house was a mess. It was a mess. He had a very
dysfunctional family. God said because of that sin
with Uriah and Bathsheba, the sword's never going to depart
out of thy house and he had constant trouble in his home. He could
have also been talking about the house of his body. Though
my house be not so with God, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death, the sinful body? Though my house be not
so with God, yet hath he made with me." Now David doesn't talk
about some promise he made to God. He talks about the promise
God made to him. Yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant. This covenant was made before
time began, and it'll be in effect when time is no more. It's an
everlasting covenant. He's talking about the covenant
of grace. You see, in the covenant of works, salvation is dependent
upon what you do. If you obey, you'll be saved.
If you keep the law, you'll be saved. Now, that covenant won't
do anybody any good because nobody can keep it. But the covenant
of grace is where God gave Christ to people and he said, you be
responsible for them. You keep the law for them, you
die for them, you save them. And the Lord said, I'll do it. And all that God requires of
me, he looks to Christ for. Now that's the covenant David's
talking about. The covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant
where Christ agreed to bear full responsibility for my sins, and
to keep the law for me, and to die for me, and to be raised
from the dead for me, and to intercede for me. He does it
all. David, in his dying words, says,
although my house be not so with God, yet have he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. None of it is
subject to getting messed up by me messing something up. It's
ordered in all things, and it's absolutely sure. It's sure. If Christ died for me, my salvation
is sure. I have no sin. He said it's ordered
in all things and it is sure. And David went on to say, this
is all my salvation. It's all my salvation. 99% of
it, all my salvation is in His covenant, His promise to me.
Not my promise to Him. Not me doing something that He
has to respond to. But His promise to me that's
ordered in all things and it's sure. David said this is all
my salvation and it's all my desire. It's the only thing I
want. I do not want anything else but
simply to be saved by Christ Now here's a New Testament example
of what I'm talking about. In Romans chapter 8, I want you
to listen to this passage of scripture that I'm going to quote
to you and see how much of it is dependent upon me or you,
our works, for it to come to pass. In Romans chapter 8, verse
28, Paul said, and we know that all things work together for
good, to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. And whom he called, then he also
justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. He did all these things. How
much of that is dependent upon us doing something in order to
get it to work? None of it. Paul said, what shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not? What could
possibly prevent Him from freely giving us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died. That's
the only answer I need. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now that is all His work. It's all dependent upon Him. We rely on the promise of God. Now, the Lord said, swear not
at all. Let your yea be yea, and let
your nay be nay. Be truthful. It's not saying
don't tell the truth. Be truthful. Be honest. Don't
pretend to be what you're not. Be real. Don't try to project
some kind of air of piety or image of piety. Be truthful with
one another. Be truthful before God. Don't
pretend to be what you're not. He can see all the way through
you and I. We can't fool Him. He sees us
as we are. Be truthful. Be honest before
God. Be without guile. Now, when I thought of this thing
of our Lord saying, let your yea be nay and your nay be nay,
I thought of what Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 1, beginning
in verse 18. He said, but as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay. Remember the Lord said,
let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. But Paul said, our
word, our preaching toward you was not yea and nay, for the
Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us,
even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, But in him
was yea, for all the promises of God in him are yea. And in him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Now in man's religion, false
religion, whatever you want to call it, most religion, that's
what it is, false. In man's religion, if you would describe the preaching
of it, you call it yay and nay. That's how you would describe
the great majority of what goes under the name of preaching.
Not yay yay or nay nay, but yay and nay, yes and no, do the same
thing. Now let me illustrate what I'm
talking about. Somebody asked the question,
is salvation really all of grace? The Bible says, by grace are
you saved. Is salvation really all of grace? And remember what
grace is. It's the unmerited favor of God. There's nothing
you can do to earn it. There's nothing you can do to
deserve it. There's nothing you can do to procure it. God's got
to give it to you. And if He gives it to you, you
have it. He never gives a gift that someone rejects. His grace
is always given. Unto me is this grace given.
If it's not given, it never was. If it's not received, it never
was given. Grace, saving grace. Is salvation really all of grace?
Well, somebody says, yes, salvation really is all of grace. But if
you don't accept the grace offered to you, then you will not be
saved. Yes, salvation is by grace, but
that doesn't mean you'll be saved. You have to, of your own free
will, decide to accept that grace. And if you don't accept that
grace, you will not be saved. Yes, salvation is by grace, but
no, it's not all of grace because there's something you need to
do to make it work for you. Somebody asked the question,
well, is the blood of Christ enough to wash away all sin?
Oh, yes. Yes, the blood of Christ washes
away all sin. But if you don't accept him as
your personal savior, that blood that he shed for you will be
in vain. It didn't wash away sin. It didn't do enough. You
have to do your part to make what he did work for you. Somebody
asked the question, Is the Bible our only foundation for what
we really believe? We look to the scriptures only.
Oh, yes, somebody says, yes, the Bible is our only foundation
and we have creeds and confessionals and church constitutions to prove
it. We look to something other than the Bible to prove what
it is we believe. Somebody asked the question,
is faith alone true? Is it true that all you have
to do is look to Christ and you'll be saved? Oh, yes, yes, faith
alone is true, but If you don't have works of holiness that prove
you're a believer, it's no good. I mean, yes, salvation is by
faith only, but you better have a holy enough life to where you
can see that you're holy enough that you're really saved. And
if you don't see yourself that way, then that faith wasn't any
good. Yea, nay to the same thing. That
describes most preaching. Yes and no to the same thing.
Is salvation really all of grace? Yes. God chose a people before
time began by His grace to be saved, and saved they are. In grace He sent His Son to pay
for their sins. In grace, their sins were paid
for and put away. In grace, the righteousness of
Christ was imputed to them and became theirs. In grace, He gave
them new life. In grace, He preserves them.
In grace, He'll cause them to persevere all the way to the
end. Yes, salvation is all of grace. From election to glorification
and everything in between, salvation is by grace. Somebody says, does
the blood of Christ really wash away all sin? Yes. If Christ died for you, you have
no sin. It's all been washed away. 1 John 3, 5 says He was manifest
to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Is the Bible our only source
of information and foundation? Yes. We don't look anywhere else.
Only the Word of God. Is there anything we can do to
save ourselves? No. Most powerful word in the
English language? No, there's not. Is salvation
dependent on my works in any way? No. Not yea and nay, no. Salvation
is by grace. Now I would like to close this
message by looking at a passage of scripture in the book of Numbers.
Numbers chapter 21. And we know from our Lord in
John chapter 3 that this was given to illustrate the gospel.
Because the Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. But
we read in verse 4, and they journeyed from Mount Hor by the
way of the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom. And the soul
of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people
spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no
bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loathes this light
bread. Now, there was bread. Manna fell
from heaven that very day. There was water. Water still
came from the rock. But they perceived it differently.
Now all of a sudden it's light bread. And the Lord sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And much
people of Israel died. Now, they were in a mess. There
were snakes all over the camp, poisonous snakes, biting people
and killing people. Therefore, the people came to
Moses and said, we've sinned, for we've spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole. This is a picture of Christ crucified.
And it shall come to pass that everyone that's bitten When he
shall look upon it, shall live. All you had to do was look. Really? Really, yes. All you
had to do was look and you'd live. And Moses made a serpent
of brass and put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass,
he lived. He might have been dying, he
might have been bitten by 50 snakes, but when he looked at
that serpent of brass, He lived looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful picture. All you do is look. You look
to him and you live. But you know, there were a lot
of people who did not look because much people died and they did
not look. Now, why is it they didn't look? There's only one reason why someone
wasn't looking to that pole. It's because they were trying
to get rid of the snakes. They were trying to get the snakes
out of their house. They were trying to heal themselves. They were
dealing with the snakes, trying to struggle against the snakes,
and they didn't look to the only remedy. So many people are trying
to get the snakes, the sin, out of their lives, struggling against
sin, and they don't look to the only remedy, looking to Christ
only. May God give us grace to quit
looking at the snakes, quit looking at the bites, and look to Him
who put away sin and see that He only is the remedy for sin. If Christ is all I have, is that
enough? Yes, it is if He's all that you've
got. To request a copy of the sermon
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