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 Nyvert. In 2 Corinthians 1, beginning
in verse 18, Paul the Apostle says, But as God is true, our
word toward you was not yea and nay. We were not speaking out
of both sides of our mouth. We were not using ambiguous language. We were not saying yes and no
to the same thing. Our word for 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 this passage of scripture,
Paul was defending himself against his critics. In verse 15 and
16 of this chapter, he said, and in this confidence I was
minded to come unto you before that you might have a second
benefit. That was my purpose to come to
you again and to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again
out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be brought on my way
toward Judea. That was my purpose. But I didn't
get to do what I planned to do. Now, when that took place in
verse 17, when I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Was I fickle? Was I unstable? Was I saying one thing and doing
another? Was I speaking out of both sides
of my mouth? That's what his critics were
accusing him of. They were trying to call into
question his character, because if they could call into question
his character, they could call into question his message. So
they were accusing him of lightness and fickleness and being unstable. And he's defending himself. He
said, when I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness?
Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the
flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? If I could characterize the preaching
of this day that goes on under the name of Christianity, I would
characterize it as yea, nay preaching, saying yes and no to the same
thing. Now, Paul said, but as God is
true, or faithful, there is no yea, yea, and nay, nay with Him. His Word is absolute. Now Paul says, Our Word and our
preaching to you, our doctrine was not yea and nay, answering
yes and no to the same question. Now remember, yes and no Yay
and nay are answers to a question. When you're asked a question,
you can answer it with a yes or with a no. But if you answer
it with a yes and a no, you're speaking in ambiguous language. You're speaking out of both sides
of your mouth. And as I said, that is how I
would characterize most of the preaching that I hear in our
day. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Here's a question. Is the Bible
the inspired Word of God and the only rule of our faith and
practice? Is the Bible our only rule of
faith and practice? Now, most people would say, yes
it is. We get our doctrine from the
Bible And we have confessions and church constitutions and
creeds to prove that. Yes, we believe the Bible is
our only rule of faith and practice, and I can show you where we believe
that in our creeds and in our confessions and in our church
bylaws. Now, that's foolishness. If you have to go to the confessions
and creeds, it's because you're not really believing the Bible
is your only rule of faith and practice. Here's a question. Is salvation really all of grace? Now, most people would say, yes,
of course, salvation is all of grace. It's not of works, lest
any man should boast. Yes, salvation is all of grace,
but no, it's not all of grace. You have to, of your own free
will, choose to allow God to save you before you can be saved. Yes, salvation's by grace, but
no, it's not all of grace. Is God sovereign? Now, by sovereign, that means
He is the cause of causes. God has a will. God has the power
to make His will come to pass, and God does, in fact, make His
will come to pass. Is God sovereign? Oh, yes. We believe in the sovereignty
of God. But we also believe in God's
sovereignty that He's decided to not be sovereign over the
human will, and He leaves it free. He can't influence the
human will in His sovereignty. He's decided not to do that.
Yes, we believe God is sovereign, but no, we believe He's not sovereign
over the will. Now, that is speaking out of
both sides of your mouth. That is a denial of God's sovereignty
in the first place. Here's another question. Does
God love everybody, all men without exception? Yes, of course so.
He loves all men without exception. But no, He stops loving them
when they won't receive His love, and He sends them to hell. Yes
and no to the same question. Here's another question. Did
the death of Christ actually pay for sin? Oh, yes. His death paid for the sins of
all men. Yes, His death actually paid
for sin. He died and was punished for
the sins of all men, but even though He paid for those sins,
you may have to pay for them anyway if you don't accept Him. Those sins that He died for,
you'll still have to be punished for. Yes, He died and made payment
for all sin, but no, you'll have to pay for that sin if you don't
do your part to make His atonement work for you. You have to activate
His atonement by your faith or it won't work. That's yé yé mé. That is compromise. That's seeking
to not tell the truth. Here's another example. Did Christ
die for all men, all men savingly. Was that his intention to save
all men? Yes, his intention was to save
all men, but no, those who he intended to save who don't do
their part, he can't save. Is salvation by faith alone? Oh, yes. Yes, salvation comes
by faith alone, but no, if all you have is faith in Christ,
that's not enough evidence to think you're saved. You need
something along beside that. Are believers under the law? No, not for salvation, but yes,
as a means of sanctification and a means of growth. Yes, of
course, they're under the law. Is grace enough to motivate a
man? Well, sure, grace is enough to
motivate a man if he's motivated by it, but no, if that doesn't
work, we need to use threats and hold out rewards and threats
of punishment Things of that nature. You see, it's saying
yes and no to the same thing. This is so prevalent in preaching. Does grace really save a man
and make Christ the Lord of their life? Yes, grace really saves
a man. Christ is the Lord of their life.
But if they don't appear to have Christ as the Lord of their life,
because we believe in eternal security, we still think they're
saved, even though Christ is not the Lord of their life. Now,
that is speaking out of both sides of your mouth. Now, I don't
want to do that. I want to preach the gospel in
such a way as to not say yea and nay to the same thing. Oh, may the Lord deliver us from
that. Is salvation all of grace? Yes. Period. From election, when God chose
who would be saved before time began, all the way to final glorification,
and everything in between, salvation is all of grace, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Is God sovereign? Yes, He's sovereign
over everything. He's the first cause behind everything,
and He's sovereign over man's will. That means you and I are
in His hand, and He can do with us whatsoever He is pleased to
do. Whether or not you're saved is
up to Him. He is sovereign. You don't have,
and I don't have any control in this. It's up to Him. He is
sovereign. And my dear friend, you'll only
worship a sovereign. If I'm not in His sovereign hands,
I don't know anything about worship. Does God love all men without
exception? No, He doesn't. He doesn't love
those who are in hell. He doesn't love those who reject
His Son and continue in it. God's love is in Christ and His
love is eternal for all His people. No, God does not love all men.
I know He didn't love Esau. He said, Esau, have I hated.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity, Psalm 5, 5 says. Don't try to
speak out of both sides of our mouth on this issue or any other
issue from the Scripture. Did Christ die savingly for all
men? No, He didn't. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. He didn't die for the goats.
He didn't die for those who die in unbelief. He died for His
people. Are believers under the law? No. You're not under law, but
under grace. Is grace enough to motivate? Yes. It's all that is needed. Can you preach the gospel and
not preach this? No, you can't. You can't preach
the gospel and not preach the free and sovereign grace of God. Now, look what Paul goes on to
say in verse 19. He says, But as God is true,
our word 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."
Now, I love Paul's language here. He says, for the Son of God who
was preached among us to you. You see, we preach a person. We don't preach doctrine, though
we do preach doctrine, but we preach a person, and the doctrine
comes from that person we preach. For instance, I don't preach
the doctrine of election. I preach Him who elects, Him
who is in sovereign control, Him who chooses whom He will
and passes by whom He will. I don't preach the doctrine of
the atonement. I preach Him who atones, Him
who actually paid the debt and accomplished salvation for all
the Father elected. I don't preach the doctrine of
regeneration. I preach Him who regenerates,
Him who births, Him who gives life and brings one into the
kingdom of God. We preach a person and what we
believe is determined by who we believe. If I believe the
God of the Bible, it's impossible for me to believe this foolishness
that goes on under the name of Christianity. That God wants
to save you, but He can't unless you let Him. That God's got a
wonderful plan for your life, but that plan is going to not
come to pass if you don't do something to make it work. If
you believe the God of the Bible, you can't believe something like
that. If you believe the Christ of the Bible, you can't believe
that He can die and fail in His intentions and pay for your sins,
and you end up having to pay for them anyway. You will not
believe that kind of stuff. Not if you see who He is. This is not an intellectual thing.
This is who God is. We preach a Person. We preach
the Son of God. God the Son, the One who is in
complete control. The Son of God was preached. We preach the glory of His Person. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the Creator of
the universe. And He is man. He is the man,
Christ Jesus. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. We preach the excellency of His
character when we preach the Son of God. This is our message,
the Son of God. You know, in John chapter 14,
He said, You believe in God? Believe also in Me. Do you believe
God is holy? Believe that I am holy. Do you
believe that God is all-powerful? Believe that I am all-powerful. Do you believe that God is just?
Believe that I am all just. Do you believe that God is all-wise?
Believe that I am all-wise. Everything you believe regarding
the God of glory, that's me. He said, He that has seen me
has seen the Father. Oh, the excellency of His character,
His grace, His mercy, His glory. We preach the love of His heart. The love of His heart to His
Father. Oh, He said, my meat and drink is to do the will of
Him that sent me. And we preach the love of His
heart to His people. Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them to the end. And nothing can separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And in preaching the Son of God,
we preach the efficacy of His blood. Listen to me. If He died
for you, your sins are gone. There's no way you can be condemned. Your sins are blotted out. They're
gone. They are no more. You see, everybody He died for
must be saved. They've been perfected forever.
We preach the efficacy of His blood, and we preach the power
of His plea. If He prays for you, What else
needs to be said? If He represents you, what else
needs to be said? He said, Peter, I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. And you know what? Peter's faith
didn't fail. Now, he fell, but his faith never
failed. He was never stopped looking
to Christ during that time. Oh, he was a miserable person.
He fell, but his faith didn't fall. You know, when the Lord
from the cross said, Father, forgive them, they know not what
they do. Every single person He prayed
for, the Father forgave. Oh, there's such power in His
plea, in His intercession. Wherefore, He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. We preach the glory of
His return. Behold, He cometh with the clouds. Oh, I'm so much looking forward
to the glory of His return. When every eye is going to see
Him, everyone will know exactly who He is. He said, Behold, I
come quickly, even so come Lord Jesus. Now, Paul said we didn't
preach Him in a yea and nay fashion. We didn't say yes and no to the
same thing. For all the promises of God in
Him are yea, certain. In Him, Amen. So be it. Now, let's think about that statement. What a precious statement from
the Word of God. All the promises of God in Him
are yea and Amen. Now, what is this about the promises
of God? Well, let me read a verse of
Scripture to you from Galatians chapter 3, verse 18. For if the inheritance And he's
talking about eternal glory. Now, eternal glory is an inheritance. You don't earn an inheritance. You don't work for an inheritance. You don't purchase an inheritance. An inheritance is something given
to you because of your connection to somebody else. Heaven, eternal
glory, is an inheritance. Now, he says, for if the inheritance
be of the law, If you're given the inheritance because of your
personal obedience to the law, it's no more promise. It doesn't
come by the promise of God, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. And every aspect of salvation
is because of the promise of God. It's what He has promised. Now, it's what Peter called exceeding
great and precious promises. Now, let me let me read some
promises from the scripture. And they're all yay. They're
not maybe. When he said it is finished,
you know, that's a promise. It doesn't mean I've done my
part, my part's finished, now you do your part. No, the salvation
of God's people was finished. That's a promise from God. By grace, Are you saved? That's a promise. Not by grace
you'll be saved if, but by grace you are saved. That's a promise
of God. Isn't that a precious promise?
The Lord made this promise. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out for no reason whatsoever. That is a promise
of God. The Lord said, ask, and you shall
receive. That's a promise. Somebody says,
well, I've asked and I haven't received. No, you didn't ask.
You tried to bargain with God, because if you ask, you will
receive. Paul said, my God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory. Now, that's
a promise. Now, unto Him that's able to
keep you from falling. and to present you faultless
before the throne of His glory with exceeding joy." That's a
promise. He has promised to keep us from
falling. The reason I am eternally secure
is because He keeps me from falling. He preserves me, and He presents
me faultless. Colossians chapter 2, verses
9 and 10 says, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a
body, and you are complete, lacking nothing in Him." Now, if you're
a believer, that's a promise to you. You are complete. You
have all things. You lack nothing. You can't get
any more saved than you are. You can't get any more loved
than you are. You can't get any more accepted than you are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a promise. You are complete.
Near, so near to God, nearer I cannot be. In the person of
his dear son, I'm as near to God as he dear. So dear to God,
dearer I cannot be. In the person of his son, I'm
as dear to God as he. Here's another promise. My grace is sufficient for thee. Paul was talking about that thorn
in the flesh that just beat him down and beat him down. And he
asked the Lord three times that it might depart. The Lord's answer
was no. Now what was that thorn in the
flesh? Who knows? And it's vain to speculate, but I know it was
very painful to Paul. But Christ made this promise
to him. He said, My grace is sufficient
for thee. I am totally satisfied to be
saved by his grace. Now that is a promise from him.
He promised, I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee." The
Lord's not going to leave me. I'm so happy the Lord hates divorce.
He will not divorce His people for any reason. He said, I'll
never leave thee nor forsake thee. That is His promise to
His people. All the promises of God in Him
are yea and amen. Listen to this. Romans 8, 28,
this is a promise. And we know that all things Work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Now that's not true sometimes
and other times it's not. There's no yay, nay with that.
Everything works together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Doesn't matter
what it is. All things. work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Here's another promise. We know
that when He shall appear, we'll be like Him. For we shall see
Him as He is." When He returns in glory, every believer will
be made perfectly conformed to His image, and that is a promise. He said, I go and prepare a place
for you. That's a promise. When He went
to the cross, He prepared a place in eternal glory for me. Romans
6.11 says, Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's because
that's a promise you are. If I'm a believer, I'm dead to
sin. Sin has nothing to say to me. It's all been put out. I
stand before God. It's been put away. I stand before
God without guilt. Here's another promise. As He
is, so are we in this world. As He is holy, as He is perfectly
pleasing to God, as He is beautiful to God, so are we, every believer
in this world. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. That's a promise. You see, all
the promises of God in Him, and I've named just a few. There
are thousands. All the promises of God in Him
are yea and amen to the glory of God by us. Now, here is why
they're all yea. It's not like, well, it'll happen
if this takes place, but if that doesn't take place, it will not
happen. Here's why they're all yea. They're all in Him. They're
all in Him. All of God's love, all of God's
salvation, all of God's acceptance, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason they're all sure
and the reason they're all certain is because they're all in Him. If you were in that house with
the blood over the door, you were safe. Not you were safe
if you also did this or did that. If you were in the house with
the blood over the door, you were safe. All God's promises
are yea. And all God's promises in him
are amen to the glory of God. Now, this is what glorifies God.
Now, I want to know what glorifies God. Well, this does, that all
the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen. Oh, may the Lord deliver us from
this yes and no effeminate religion is what that is. It's wrong religion.
anti-gospel, anti-truth, not yea and nay. All the promises
of God in him are yea and in him amen unto the glory of God
by us. May God give us grace to rest
in this glorious statement. Now, we have this message on
CD. DVD and cassette. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nybert praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer. 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
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