It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for, Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neibert. 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 Neibert. In the book of Hebrews, the 12th
chapter and the 25th verse, we read these words, See that you
refuse not him that speaketh. Now, him that speaketh is God. God does speak. Aren't you thankful? and how
utterly foolish that one is who does not have a great interest
in what he has to say. God does speak. He speaks by his creation. Psalm 19 says the heavens declare
the glory of God and the earth showeth forth and the firmament
showeth forth his handiwork. In Romans 1, verse 20, we read,
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
speaking of the creation, even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. The creation speaks loudly, God
is so powerful, He created something from nothing. God speaks by providence. Everything that happens in time
is a reminder to us of His goodness or a warning concerning His judgment. The cry of a newborn, the laughter
of a child, that breath you are even now taking in. The disaster
that took place. The disaster that almost took
place and didn't. The good that you and I have
received and experienced. Speak loudly that God is. God speaks by creation. God speaks
by providence. Everything that happens in time
has something to say regarding God. Thirdly, God speaks by His
Word. Now, the Bible claims to be the
Word of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, I can't prove that to you.
I don't feel a need to. I know the Bible is the Word
of God. I can tell by reading it. No
man could write a book like this. I realize a lot of people have
uh... some misgivings about this happened
to be The Word of God, the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of
God, when men wrote it, when men could have so many different
agendas and they're subject to so many errors. Well, you're
right about that. Men are subject to all kinds
of errors and infirmities and sinful practices. Even a man
would be sinful enough to change the Word of God if it was in
their power to give a different message. There's no doubt that
things like that could happen, but he who has the power to create
the universe. has the power to preserve His
Word, and the Scripture does claim to be the inspired Word
of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. God speaks, and God makes Himself
known in His Word. Now, in the context of this passage
of Scripture, where it says, We refuse not him that speaketh,
He says in the previous verse, We've come to Jesus, the Mediator
of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. The blood of sprinkling speaks. God speaks through the blood
of sprinkling. Now, he says this blood of sprinkling
speaks better things than that of Abel. Do you remember the
Old Testament story where Cain killed his brother Abel? And
God came to Cain and said, where's your brother? And he said, I
don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? And then God replied
to him, your brother's blood cries to me from the ground. Here is irrefutable evidence
as to what you've done. You've murdered your brother
and that blood cries for vengeance. But the writer of the Hebrews
tells us the blood of sprinkling speaks better things than what
Abel's blood has to say, because the blood of sprinkling, the
blood of Christ, this is what this is a reference to, the death
of Christ, his blood cries for forgiveness. Abel's blood says
vengeance. Christ's blood says forgiveness. That's better, isn't it? The
blood of sprinkling, that's speaking of the death of Jesus Christ. The violent, bloody death, the
sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why did He
die? There's only one reason for death,
and that reason is sin. If there were no sin, there would
be no death. Jesus Christ died because of
sin. Now, how can you say that if
He lived a sinless life? He did live a sinless life. He
said, which of you can convince me of sin? But the sins of His
people became His sins. He's the sin-bearing substitute
who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree.
He put away sin by His death. God bruised him. God punished
him. God killed him. The justice of
God demanded his death because of sin. He died. And the blood
of sprinkling is the application of that blood. Now, listen real
carefully. Most people believe that Jesus
Christ died savingly for everybody and paid for everybody's sins.
But it's up to you to apply that blood to make it work for you.
In other words, salvation is not dependent upon his blood,
but salvation is ultimately dependent upon what you do with his blood. Now, God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. So that view is heretical, that
Christ died for all men and made salvation available for everybody,
but it's up to you to apply it. It's God who applies the blood. He applies the blood to the conscience.
He applies the blood to the soul so that I see that I'm without
guilt before God through the blood of Christ. His blood accomplished
my justification. His blood is my sanctification
before God. I have free access into God's
presence through His blood. Oh, the blood of sprinkling speaks
better things than that of April. Now, the writer says, You see
that you don't refuse him that speaketh and speaks of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the word refuse means literally
to beg off, to ask for an excuse, to be excused or even to reject. In our text, when we do that,
we're said to turn away. From him that speaks, notice
the language, see that you refuse not him that speaketh, for if
they escape not who refuse him that spake on earth, much more
shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from
heaven. Now, how is it that we refuse
him that speaks? Well, we can refuse by indifference. We can refuse by neglect. Hebrews 2, 3 says, how shall
we escape if we neglect? So great is salvation. What do
you do when you neglect something? Well, you don't do anything.
All you have to do is nothing and you'll be refusing him who
speaks. We can refuse by procrastination. We can be like Felix, who after
hearing Paul preach, he trembled and said, go thy way. At this
time, when I have a more convenient season, I'll call for thee. I'll
hear you again. He put it off. That's refusing
him that speaketh. Don't wait till tomorrow. You
can refuse by misapprehension of what's being said and then
building you up a straw man against it and beating it down. You can
refuse by avoiding the truth. You can refuse by rejecting the
truth, rejecting what's being said and preferring your own
way to God's way. Now, the scripture that I thought
about when I thought about this thing of refusing him who speaks,
I thought of the parable our Lord gives in Luke chapter 14.
I want to read verses 22 and 23 of Luke chapter 14. And the
servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded. And yet
there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant,
go out into the highways and to the hedges and compel them
to come in. Persuade them. Force them. Entreat them. Do whatever it
takes. Compel them to come in that my
house may be filled. And that's exactly what I want
to do with the Lord's help this morning. By the Spirit of God,
I want to compel you to come in. Come in to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, that is gospel preaching. Come to Christ. Come in. Now,
let's think about this concept of in Christ. All of God's blessing,
all of God's salvation, all of God's love, all of God's favor,
all of God's acceptance is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Him, there's no favor.
Outside of him there's no acceptance, but in him there's complete favor. Where was there safety during
the time of the flood when Noah built that ark? There was one
place of safety in the ark. Outside of the ark there was
nothing but judgment. What about when the Lord passed
through the land of Egypt to destroy the firstborn? Where
was there safety? Only in the house with the blood
on the door. Outside of that house, there
was no safety. There is safety, there is security,
there is salvation, there is mercy, there is all of God's
blessings. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. All spiritual blessings
are in Christ. Come in. Come in. Come into the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's see what led to this
parable. In verse 15, after someone heard
the Lord preach, we read, And when one of them that said it
meet with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is
he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Well, that is
a good thing to eat bread in the kingdom of God. But what
does it mean? That word actually is meaningless. This is kind of a generic religion,
as it were. This man was just making this
generic statement. And the Lord responded to this
generic statement with a specific statement. Then said he unto
him, this man who made this generic statement that was actually meaningless,
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and
bade many. Now this certain man is the Father. Matthew's account tells us that
this was a wedding feast, and the great supper is the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the gospel call. God commands all men everywhere
To repent. Come on in. Come on in. This is the spirit of gospel
preaching. The message is come. This is
not an exclusive message that excludes people. We're already
excluded. It's an inclusive message. It
says, come on in. Verse 17, And he sent his servant
at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't have to bring anything. All things are now ready. What
do you want me to bring? Nothing. Why, even the wedding
garment is provided. You don't even have to bring
your own clothes. You'll be dressed to make you presentable for this
great This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you come
to Christ just as you are, and He will receive you, and He'll
save you by His grace. You come as an empty-handed sinner
needing mercy, and you come and ask Him to save you and have
mercy on you, and He'll do it. That's the message of the gospel.
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. The Lord promised him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. The door is wide open, the
door of mercy. Come on in. That's the call. Everything's ready. Don't have
to bring anything. Verse 18, And they all, the people
who heard this message, they all, with one consent, began
to make excuse. Now, this word excuse is the
same word that's translated refuse. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh. They all began to beg off. They all began to make excuse. And if you have an excuse, you
present that as a justifiable reason for not coming. Matthew's
account of this passage of scripture tells us that they made light
of it. It really was not important to them. And one said in verse
18, I have bought a piece of ground and I must need to go
see it. I pray thee, have me excused. Now, since when do you buy a
piece of ground without seeing it first? And as far as that
goes, you can go look at it tomorrow if you've already bought it.
The time to come to Christ is right now. Another said, I bought
five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have
me excused. Can't you wait till tomorrow?
And another said, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot
come. Well, bring her with you. The call is to come to the feast. Right now, now listen, God commands
you to come to His Son, to believe on His Son, to trust His Son. God commands you. And all made
excuse. Verse 21, so that servant came
and showed his Lord these things. Everybody you called, not one
of them wanted to come. They all began to make excuse. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring in, don't just invite them, bring
them in, bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt
and the blind. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. When he went to the cross, he
brought in The poor, those who have not a penny's worth of merit
and could never be saved by their works. The maimed, the disabled,
those who were unable to come to Christ. The lame, those who
were unable to walk in God's law. The blind, those who could
see no reason as to why God would ever look their way. Christ brought
them in by His work on the cross. He didn't merely invite these
people, He saved these people. Salvation by what He did. So verse 22, And the servant
said, Lord, it is done as Thou hast commanded. And look at this
next word, And yet there is room. What a glorious thought. What
an encouraging thought. Yet there is room. My dear friend, there's room
for you if you come. Yet there is room. Now let me give you four reasons
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now before I give you these,
somebody might be asking, what do you mean by coming to Christ?
Well, coming to Christ is believing on Him. It's believing the gospel. It's resting in who He is and
what He did as all that's needed to bring you into the presence
of God. It's believing that who He is
and what He did is all that's needed to make you perfect before
God. Who He is and what He did is
enough to get rid of all your sins and give you a perfect righteousness
before God. And you are relying on Him. You're
not relying on yourself or your works or anything you do. You're
relying on Him. Now that's what it is to come
to Christ. It's to rely on Him. Now let me give you four reasons
to come to Christ. First reason is you will go to
hell if you don't. Now, there is a place called
hell, and it's fueled by the justice of God. And everybody
deep down knows this. I know a lot of people say, well,
there's no such thing as hell. Yeah, you know better than that. God
is, God is just. He's going to reward the righteous
and he's going to punish the wicked. There is a place called
hell. It's God's payback. It's fueled
by the justice of God. It's the payment for sin. And
everybody outside of Christ is going to spend an eternity in
this place called hell. Somebody says, you're trying
to scare people. Well, I don't want to go to hell. And I don't
want you to go to hell. Hell is a real place. And if you don't come to Christ,
That's where you will spend eternity. It's not annihilation. It's never-ending
torment against sin. And the one who committed that
sin against God sins in infinite evil, and that's why hell lasts
forever. And you'll go to hell if you
don't come to Christ. Now remember, Christ bore the
full equivalent of hell on the cross. And that's why someone
can be delivered. My sin was paid for. I come to
Christ, and I'm going to be delivered from my sin, and I'm not going
to be condemned. Now, that's a good reason to
come, isn't it? If you don't come to Christ, you will go to
hell. Second, you're crazy not to. He says all things are now
ready. There's no works you need to
do. There's nothing you need to bring.
It's free. Come without money. Come without price. If any man
thirsts, our Lord said, let him come to me and drink. Him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Free grace. Come on in. Third reason is you'll be received
if you do. The Lord said, him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. I'm not going to do it.
And the fourth reason is what joy you'll have in coming. We read of the joy and peace
of believing. Now, the spirit of this text
is to compel men to come in who are making excuses to not come. Somebody says, well, I'm afraid
to come because I'm afraid I'm not one of the elect. How can
I come if I'm not one of the elect? I can't determine that.
So how can I come to Christ? The great holy doctrine of election
is true. God did choose who would be saved
before time began. Those are the people Christ came
for. Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Not all the world with that exception,
but his people. But the doctrine of election
doesn't keep anybody from Christ. Your job is not to find out if
you're elect, you are to come to Christ as a sinner, needing
his mercy, and he will receive you. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, speaking of election, and him that cometh
to me. I will in no wise cast doubt. You come to Christ and you will
be received. Election doesn't keep anybody
out of heaven. It brings people into heaven. If there were no
election of grace, no one would be saved. But thank God He chose
a people. But don't use that as an excuse
to not come to Christ. You personally are commanded
by God to come to Christ. Don't worry about election. You
come to Christ. Somebody else says, well, I try
to believe, but I can't. I mean, I really have tried to
believe, but I just can't. Well, that's the problem. You
don't try to believe. You believe something because
it's true. If I tell you 2 plus 2 equals 4, you don't try to
believe that's true. You know it's so because it's
true. You believe the gospel because you believe the testimony. You believe it's true. And faith
comes from that. Believe that which is true. Somebody
else says, well, I don't come because there's such inconsistency
in the church. There's so many hypocrites in
the church. That's why I don't come. Well,
that ought to make you feel real at home. There's room for you.
If hypocrites can be saved, then you can be saved. That's good
news. Yes, the church has many sinful people in it. The church
is a hospital. But that ought to make you feel
right at home. You can't use the excuse, well,
there's too many hypocrites. Somebody says, well, I'm afraid
I'm too sinful to be saved. I'm afraid it's too late for
me. I'm too bad. I'm too evil. I've done too much.
It's too late." Well, you can't use that excuse because Paul
the Apostle said that he was the chief of sinners. 1 Timothy
1.15, God saved the worst man to ever live, so you can't say,
I'm too sinful to be saved. You can be too good to be saved.
You can be too righteous to be saved, but you cannot be too
bad to be saved. Somebody says, well, I'm afraid
I won't persevere. I'm afraid I won't continue.
Well, you'll perish forever if you don't come. And if you do
come, He'll give you the grace to persevere and continue. He'll
keep you. The Scripture says we're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at that last time. Somebody else says, well, how
can I be sure the Gospel is true and not just a fairy tale? Well,
the truth recommends itself. I can't prove to you it's true
and it's not a fairy tale. But if you hear the truth, you
know it's the truth. You really do. You may even get
mad, but you know deep down this is the truth. This is how God
is and this is how God says and this is how I really am. And
you can know it's the truth. Believe the truth. Somebody says,
I'm afraid I'm not invited. Well, you're right. You're not
invited. You are commanded to come. You see, there's nothing wrong
with turning down an invitation. That's not sin in and of itself.
But if it's a command for you to come to Christ and you turn
it down, then it is sin. Somebody says, well, I'm waiting
to get better. I'm waiting. I don't feel anything.
I feel like I ought to feel something different before I come to Christ.
Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving, Martin
Luther said. My warrant is the Word of God.
Not else is worth believing. Now listen to this Scripture.
Romans chapter 5, verse 6, Paul said, When we were yet without
strength, without any spiritual strength, couldn't believe, couldn't
repent, couldn't love, without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. Would that describe you? Somebody
who is without strength? and ungodly? Somebody says, no,
I won't say that. Well, I can't tell you Christ
died for you then. But if this describes you without strength
and ungodly, I can tell you upon the authority of God's Word,
Christ died for you. Your sins have been put away.
You've been saved by the grace of God. Come to the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be received and quit making excuses. Every one of them are invalid. Don't refuse Him who speaks. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy and like to invite you to services at
Todd's Road Grace Church. Our Bible study begins this morning
at 945, morning worship at 1030, and Sunday evening, this evening
at 6, come and hear the truth. This is Todd Knight, 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.