It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for, Lord, thou couldst not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. 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 Nyberg. In John chapter 9, verse 31,
we read these words, Now we know that God heareth not sinners,
but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him
he heareth. Now this was said by a man that
the Lord had just given sight to. He had been born blind, and
the Lord Jesus Christ gave him sight. But he did not yet know
Christ in a saving way. In verses 10 and 11 of John chapter
9, we read, Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes
opened? And he answered and said, A man. that is called Jesus,
made clay and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool
of Siloam, and wash. And I went, and I washed, and
I received my sight." He knew the Lord had given him this sight,
but he did not yet know him as the Lord, as the Savior, as the
Son of God. Now, in verse 17, we even read
where he said he believed the Lord was a prophet. They say
unto the blind man again, Why sayest thou of him that he hath
opened thine eyes? And he said, He's a prophet.
He believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be a prophet, but he did not
yet know him savingly. Because we read where the Lord
said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He asked this man
this question, the Lord Jesus did, does thou believe on the
Son of God? And he answered him, who is he,
Lord, that I might believe? He did not yet know who the Lord
Jesus Christ was. Yet he says, now we know. This
man who at this time is an unbeliever, but he says, now we know that
God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of
God and doeth his will, him he heareth. Now, what he says in
this Scripture is what we all know intuitively. We just know
that that is so. There are some things we know
intuitively. We don't have to be taught. These things are just
in our conscience. We know it's wrong to murder.
We know it's wrong to lie. We know it's wrong to steal.
We know sexual sin is wrong. We know that there is a God and
we have some understanding that He is just. And there is a good
and there is a such thing as evil. God is good and He will
not hear sinners. But the ones who worship Him
and do His will, those are the people that He hears. Those are
the people that have the ear of God. Now, everybody knows
that's so whether you admit it or not. It's something we just
know intuitively. Your conscience says that's the
truth. Now, we learn from this passage
of Scripture that worshipping God, I've entitled this message,
Worship and Doing His Will. Worshipping God has something
to do with the actual doing of His will. Now, what does the
Bible mean by worshipping God? A lot of confusion about it.
A lot of people talk about worship. They say, oh, we went to a worship
service, or we really worshiped. We had a really blessed worship
service. Well, I don't know whether you
did or not. What does the Bible have to say
about worship? Now, just a few pages back in
John chapter 4, we read where our Lord was talking to this
woman at the well. And He said in verse 16, Jesus
saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered,
and said, I have no husband. Jesus answered her, thou hast
well said, I have no husband, because thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and that saidst
thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive thou art a prophet. How could he know all this stuff
about me? I perceive you are a prophet, and then she goes
into her religious mumbo-jumbo. Our fathers worshipped In this
mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship, Jesus saith unto her woman, believe me, the
hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at
Jerusalem worship the father you worship. You know not what
we know, what we worship for salvation is of the Jews, but
the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers. Did you
hear that? They're false worshipers and
they're true worshipers. The hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must. It's absolutely necessary that
they worship Him in spirit and in truth. The first thing that's
necessary for true worship is the Spirit, the Spirit of God. I cannot worship God in my flesh. God is Spirit. They that worship
Him must worship Him with this spiritual nature, this new nature
that He gives, God the Holy Spirit. In other words, you have to be
born again to worship. You have to be born from above
to worship. A natural man can't worship God.
Not true. He may be religious. He may think
he worships God, but a natural man cannot worship God. He must
be born of the Spirit in order to worship God. In Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3, Paul said, we are the circumcision, we're
the true believers, which worship God in the Spirit. And then he gives two evidences
of worshiping God in the Spirit. This is how I can tell whether
or not I worship God in the Spirit. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Now, here are the two marks.
If I worship in the Spirit of God, this is what's going to
be going on in my mind and heart. I rejoice only in Christ Jesus. I have confidence only in Him,
what He did, where He is, what He accomplished. I'm rejoicing,
I'm having confidence that when He said, it is finished, all
that God required of me was supplied. Nothing for me to do. I rejoice
in Christ Jesus knowing that if I'm in Him, I have all that
God requires. I need nothing else. Oh, I do
rejoice in Christ Jesus. He is my salvation. I really
believe that. I rejoice. I have such confidence
in Him. And the second thing he says
is we have no confidence in the flesh. None whatsoever. I don't
have any confidence in the works of the flesh, in the worth of
the flesh, in the will of the flesh. Flesh is flesh. And there's
no worship of God without the Spirit of God. Now, the second
thing the Lord mentions is the truth. They that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in Truth. There is no worship
of God without the truth. The truth concerning the character
of God. The truth that God has revealed
in His Word, the Holy Bible. The truth regarding the true
character of man in his sinful and fallen condition. The truth
regarding salvation by what Christ did. There is no worship of God
apart from the truth. The truth of how God saves sinners
by Christ, by grace, the truth. There's no such thing as false
worship in the sense of you don't really worship God if you don't
have the truth of the gospel. Here's the two things that are
necessary for worship. God, the Holy Spirit and the truth. Now, where there is true worship,
There will be a worshiping of God for who he is without respect
to personal benefit received by him. You worship him for who
he is, not for what he can do for you. That's very important. You worship him for who he is
as he's revealed in the scriptures. and not for what you think you
can get out of him, or how you think you will be benefited by
it. We have so many examples of this
in the scriptures, but the first thing that comes to my mind is
that leper who comes to Christ. Scripture says, Behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Now, he wanted to be clean, but
the Lord had not yet made him clean. And he didn't know if
the Lord would make him clean. He knew the Lord could make him
clean, because if you will, you can. But he didn't know if he
would. But he worshipped him anyway. He worshipped him for
who he is. Now, Jesus Christ is worthy of
worship, if he doesn't do anything for me. He's worthy of worship
because of who He is. He's the Lord, and He's to be
worshipped, and He's to be bowed down to. And we won't have mercy
until this issue is settled. He's to be worshipped without
regard to what He does or does not do for us. Another example
would be the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew chapter 15. Listen
to this. Beginning in verse 21, then Jesus went thence and departed
unto the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her, Not a word. And his disciples came and said,
Send her away. She cries after us. But he answered
and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. I didn't come to save everybody. Then came she and
worshipped him. Now, do you see that? He first
didn't respond to her. She kept crying. He said, I've
only come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't
come to save everybody. I only came to save my elect.
And the scripture says, then came she and worshipped him. She was worshipping him for who
he was. Now she wanted him to do something for her, but still
she worshipped him for who he was. And you will only worship
a sovereign, one in whom you're in his hands and he can do with
you whatever he's pleased to do. You'll worship a sovereign
if you find out who he is. Now, worship. What is worship
according to the Scriptures? Worship has something to do with
what you're willing to confess. Paul said in Acts 24, 14, when
he was being put on trial for what he believed, he said, they
can't prove the accusations that they bring against me, but this
I confess to thee. I confess to guilt here. Guilty
as charged. This I confess to thee, that
after the way which they call heresy, the way of salvation
by Christ, the way of salvation by grace, the way of salvation
by what He does. They call that heresy. After
the way that they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the Law and in the
Prophets. Now, you worship when you confess
what you believe. If you're not willing to confess
it, if you're not willing to confess guilty as charged to
believing this and identifying with this message, there's no
worship there. But when you're willing to confess, There's no
salvation apart from confession. Now, your confession doesn't
save you, but the Scripture still says, with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. And something I'm not willing
to confess before men, there's no worship involved. True confession
is true worship. And giving, listen to this, giving
is true worship. In Acts chapter 26, verse 10,
And now behold, I mean, Deuteronomy chapter 26, verse 10, we read,
And now behold, I've brought the firstfruits of the land which
thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt set it before
the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God, giving
the firstfruits. Now, this thing of giving, I
don't wait until all my bills are paid, my entertainment is
taken care of, and then I figure out what I've got left over and
then give. Giving comes first. It comes before anything else. Giving comes first. And that's
an act of worship. You see, it's a love issue. If
you love the Lord, you give. That's what love does. It gives.
You know He gave it all to you anyway. And you're only giving
back a portion of that which He has so freely bestowed upon
you. You know that. And you love Him and you want
to give. And giving is a trust issue. When we give the first
fruits, we say, I entrusted him to take care of everything. So
when we worship, there's this element of giving that's also
involved. And then in our text. In John,
chapter 9, verse 31. He that worshipeth God, and doeth
his will. Worship has something to do with
doing the will of God. Now in Genesis chapter 22, here's
the first time we read the word worship. I think this is very
interesting. Verse 5, And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide
ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship,
and come again to you. He said, we're going to worship.
Now, what was involved here? Well, in verse 1 of Genesis chapter
22, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Now, here's what
God says to him. You take your boy, that boy you
love, and you kill him and offer him as a sacrifice to me. Now, put yourself in Abraham's
place. What if God said that to you?
Now, what did Abraham do? Verse 3, And Abraham rose up
early in the morning. I believe he got up before Sarah
could know anything about what he's doing. He got up early in
the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men
with him and Isaac, his son, and claimed the wood for the
burnt offering and rose up and went up into the place of which
God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and he saw the place afar off. The place
where he was called upon to sacrifice his own son. And Abraham said
unto the young men, abide ye here with the ass and I and the
lad will go yonder and worship. Obedience is worship. Now this is given to teach us
the gospel. You remember that God supplied
a lamb to be slain in the stead of Isaac to teach us something
about the gospel of substitution. But by the grace of God, Abraham
believed God. He believed when God said the
Messiah would come through his seed, he believed that God would
raise that boy up from the dead. He really believed that because
he knew God could not lie, but he obeyed God. True worship has something to
do with doing the will of God. I think of what our Lord said.
He said, Call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I
say. I'd like to read a passage of
scripture from Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 21. The
Lord says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of
my Father, which is in heaven. Now, who are the only ones who
will enter the kingdom of heaven? Only those who do the will of
the Father, which is in heaven. He goes on to say in the next
verse, many will say to me in that day, talking about the day
of judgment, when all things are brought to light. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name while we were preachers? And in thy name have cast out
devils? We had great power given to us.
And in thy name have done many wonderful works. Notice their
estimation of the words, many and wonderful. And look what
the Lord says in verse 23. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Now everyone who has ever sincerely
read that scripture has been frightened by it. Boy, I don't
want to be one of those people to hear the Lord talk to me that
way. But what was the difference? What was it these people lacked
who had seemingly these great things? Lord, Lord, we've preached
in Your name. In Your name, we've cast out demons. In Your name,
we've done many wonderful works. And the Lord says, depart. What
was it they lacked? They didn't do the will of God. Everyone that sayeth unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. So worship
has something to do with the doing of His will. Now, before you can do His will,
you've got to know His will. There's no doing of His will
apart from knowing His will. Now, there is such a thing as
the will of God. And God's will is supreme. And all will do His
will, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, because God's
will is supreme. You see, He's God. He has the
power to make sure His will comes to pass. And He does make sure
His will comes to pass. In Daniel chapter 4, verse 35,
we read, He doeth. according to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Now,
when we speak of God's will, we speak of his will of decree
and his will of command. His will of decree is what he
has determined to do. I have spoken as He said, I also
will do it. I have purposed it, I will cause
it to come to pass. My counsel shall stand, I will
do all of my pleasure. That's God's will and decree.
Everything that happens in time, everything He determined in eternity. That's why the believer can rejoice
in what takes place knowing that all things Work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. There's his will of decree. God's
got a will. His will's always done. And there's
his will of command. The commandments. It's God's
will for me to not lie. It's God's will for me to not
kill. It's God's will for me to not
steal. That's the will of God's command. Now, in order to do His will,
I have to have some understanding of and knowledge of His will. In Acts chapter 22, verse 14,
when Ananias came to Paul, after Paul had been struck down on
the road to Damascus, God sends him a preacher by the name of
Ananias. And Ananias says to Paul at this time, the God of
our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his
will and see that just one and hear the voice of his mouth for
thou shalt be his witness to all men of what you've seen and
heard and God has chosen you that you might know his will
now if I'm a believer I know the will of God Now, when I say
that, I'm not saying I know it's His will for me to drive a certain
kind of car or live in a certain kind of place or do something,
take some kind of employment or know what, that's not what
I'm talking about. In that sense, we don't know.
I mean, I've never totally known anything as far as anything I've
ever done. I ask the Lord to direct me. I ask the Lord to
have mercy on me. I ask the Lord to order my steps
in His Word. But as far as knowing what the next step is, I never
know. I just ask the Lord to to teach me, and then we can
look back and say, yeah, that was the Lord's will. I'm not talking
about knowing His will in that sense. But I do know His will. Listen to the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The reason I know His will is
because He has made His will known in His Word. The Lord said
in John chapter 6, verse 38, For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
That's why I came. He came to do His Father's will. And here it is. 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.
Here's God's will for all the elect to be saved. Our Lord said
that. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He had given me, I should lose nothing.
But raise it again, up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, should not perish, but be raised up
at that last day." Now, that's God's will. It's God's will for
all the elect to be saved. It's God's will for anybody who
sees Christ as everything in salvation to be saved. That is
God's will. That's the knowledge of God's
will. But there's got to be more than the knowledge of God's will.
There's got to be the actual doing of His will. Now back in
John chapter 9, once again, verse 31, Now we know that God heareth
not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth
his will, not just knows it or admires it, but doeth his will,
him he heareth. Since the world began, was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. Now
this blind man does not yet know the Lord Jesus as the Son of
God, but he's impressed with him, the things he says about
him. Now, here was the response of the Pharisees to this man.
They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in
sins, and didst thou teach us? And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. Jesus heard that they cast him
out. And when he found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. He worshipped him for who he
was. And he said, Lord, I believe. Now, the question. Do you believe
He is the Son of God? Now, I'm not asking you if you
believe that you're saved or if you know you're going to go
to heaven when you die. I'm not asking you if you know you're
a Christian or you have full assurance of faith. I'm asking
you this. Do you believe He is God the
Son? Do you believe that He is the
Creator of the universe? Do you believe that because of
who He is, if He died for you, you must be saved? Because you believe He's God,
He's incapable of failure. Do you believe that He is God
the Son, the Sovereign of the universe, the One who controls
all things? Do you believe He is the Son
of God? Now, if you do, you're doing
God's will. You're someone who worships Him. Notice it says, Lord, I believe
and He worshipped Him. Believing who Christ Jesus is. And if you believe who He is,
you believe He must be successful. You can't believe the foolishness
that's brought in under the name of religion that He's made salvation
possible, but now it's up to you to do your part. You don't
believe anything like that. You believe that He is God the Son. And if you believe He is God
the Son, you're one who worships Him, and you're also one who
has the ear of God. He hears when you cry. Now, we
have this message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, or
write, or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniford,
praying that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you.
That's our prayer. Amen. 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.