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
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 Nyvert. In John chapter 10, our Lord
says, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known
of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father And I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, I want to ask you a question.
Is everybody a sheep? Listen to what our Lord says
in this same chapter. In verse 25, Jesus answered them,
I told you and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name They bear witness of me, but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear
my voice. Not everyone is a sheep. Do you remember that passage
of Scripture in Matthew, chapter 25, where the Lord speaks of
Judgment Day when he separates all the world? He puts the sheep
on his right hand. and the goats on his left. Not everyone is a sheep. A goat never becomes a sheep,
and a sheep never becomes a goat. And our Lord said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. Now, there are two different
ways of viewing what our Lord's intentions were when he laid
down his life on Calvary Street. Some believe that he died. As a matter of fact, most believe
that he died for all men universally without exception. It's called
universal redemption. And there are others who believe
that his intentions were limited to the elect, those the father
gave him, the sheep. Now, I have entitled this message,
Why I Hate Universal Redemption. Now, somebody may say that sounds
like an inflammatory title. Why would you entitle something
like that, Why I Hate Universal Redemption? Well, the gospel
is divisive. Our Lord said, I came not to
send peace, but a sword. I've come to set a man at variance
against his father. The gospel divides. It is a divisive
message. The sheep love the gospel. The
goats despise the gospel. But I want to preach a message
regarding why I hate universal redemption. Now, let me back
up why I'm using language like that. Ecclesiastes chapter 3
verse 8 says there's a time to love. And there is a time to
hate. Now, I believe. That the message
of universal redemption is a false message. A wrong message. A deceitful message, which is
damning to the souls of men. Now, if I really believe that,
what type of person would I be if I didn't hate this message? Psalm 9110, David said, ye that
love the Lord hate evil. David said in Psalm 119, verse
163, I hate and abhor lying. He said twice in Psalm 119, 104
and 128, I hate every false way. Proverbs 8.13 says the fear of
the Lord is to hate evil. Amos 5.15 says love the good
and hate the evil. Love is a meaningless concept
without hate. We would not know what love is
if there was no such thing as hate. Now, if I love you, if
I truly love you, And someone hates you, that person who hates
you is my enemy. David said, do not I hate them
that hate thee. I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. As one preacher from the last
century said, he that does not hate the false does not love
the true. So the term hate and why I hate
universal redemption is not too strong a term if in fact it is
a false way, which I believe, which I know it is. Now let me
speak for a few moments in more detail about what I mean by universal
redemption. Why I hate universal redemption. Universal redemption is that
belief, it's that teaching, it's that doctrine that says that
God loves all men universally the same without any exceptions. God wills the salvation of all
men the same universally without any exceptions. Christ died. for all men the same, universally,
without any exceptions. And the Holy Spirit calls all
men the same, universally, without any exceptions. Now, this view
says God loves all men the same. God wills the salvation of all
men the same. Christ died for all men, without
exception. Judas, as well as Peter. Esau, as well as Jacob. those
in hell as well as those in heaven. And the Holy Spirit is calling
all men equally. But no one will be saved unless
they use their will to allow God to save them. Now, according
to this view, God wants to save everybody, but he doesn't save
anybody without them first willing their own salvation. According
to that view, and listen to me carefully, according to that
view, God can love you, God can want to save you, Christ can
actually pay your sin debt, and God the Holy Spirit can call
you, but you might still wind up suffering eternal damnation
if you do not do your part. Beloved, I hate that. If that's the message, you die
believing. You die not believing the gospel. There's no salvation in that
message. And that is why, in my heart,
I hate that message. I cannot love the Lord Jesus
Christ and not hate that message. Now, I'm going to give you some
reasons why I hate The message of universal redemption, that
message that says that God loves all, Christ died for all, wants
to save all, but He can't unless you, as an act of your will,
make it to where He can save you. Now, here's why I hate that
message. First of all, because it's not true. It's not what
the Bible teaches. I know God didn't love Esau.
He said Esau hath I hated. I know He didn't will the salvation
of Judas, because Judas was called the son of perdition from the
beginning. I know that Christ didn't die
from goats. I know that God the Holy Spirit
doesn't call everybody, because several times we read this, them
that are called, not everybody is. Only God's elect are called. It is a false way. It's not what
the Scripture teaches, and that's why I hate it. David said, I
hate every false way. I hate it first because it's
not true. Secondly, I hate this teaching of universal redemption
because it places the burden of salvation upon the sinner. And that's a burden I cannot
bear. To think that salvation is some
way ultimately dependent upon me, that's a burden I cannot
bear. In reality, it's a message of
salvation by works. It says God can love you, Christ
can die for you, God the Holy Spirit can call you. All that
can be done for you, but you might not be saved anyway. It's
up to you to do something to make what he did work for you. That makes salvation dependent
ultimately upon the sinner, upon man. And that is a message of
salvation by works. I hate universal redemption because
it is a denial of the justice of God. Listen to me, my friend. If Christ can pay for my sins,
and I have to pay for them over again, if Christ can die for
me, And yet God put me in hell and make me to be punished for
those same sins that Christ died for. God is not just. As a matter of fact, he is a
monster. If he could punish Christ for
my sins and then turn around and punish me. Once again, I
say I hate universal redemption because it's a denial of the
very justice of God. Now, not only does universal
redemption deny the justice of God, it also denies the immutability
of God. And there's another reason why
I hate it. It denies really the character of God. Now, God cannot
change. That's what immutable means.
It's a fancy word for God cannot change. If He would change, He
would either improve or go downhill, and that's a Denial is perfection. Now, universal redemption says
that he can intend to save somebody and then turn around and damn
them. His intentions were to save them and then he changes
and he damns them, which is a denial of God's immutability. It says he can love them and
then stop loving them and send them to hell. Universal redemption
is another reason why I hate this doctrine. Universal redemption
makes the love of God meaningless. Let me repeat that. Universal
redemption makes the love of God meaningless. In Galatians
chapter 2, verse 20, Paul gives his ground of assurance. He says
concerning Christ that He loved me and He gave Himself for me. Now, if He can love me and give
Himself for me, and I wind up in hell, what good has His love
done me? Absolutely nothing. Romans 8.39
says that nothing shall separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But universal redemption says
God can love you and you can still be separated by His love
if you don't do whatever it takes to make you saved. Universal
redemption under the guise of widening God's love makes it
useless. Let me try to illustrate this.
What if I saw my child, whom I love, playing out in the street,
and a car was coming at my child, and I said, I want you to get
out of the street. You need to get out of the street,
but I'm not going to violate your free will. Now, get out
of the street. What if I had an obstinate child and said,
I'm not going to get out of the street? And I said, but I love
you, but you can't get out. I can't make you. You have to,
of your own free will, decide to get out of the street. All
of a sudden, the car ran over that person. Now, what kind of love would
that be on my part? I would be put in prison for a kind of love
like that. That's not real love if it's
in my power to do something and I don't do it. You see, this
notion of universal redemption, God loving all men the same,
but they might end up being damned if they don't do their part,
is a denial. It makes meaningless the love
of God. Universal redemption, here's
another reason I hate it. Universal redemption is a complete
denial that salvation is all of grace. Universal redemption
says God can give you grace. Christ can die for you. God can
love you. God can make your salvation possible. But you may wind up
in hell anyway if you don't do your part. In other words, salvation
is not all of grace. It's part grace and part works,
which makes it all of works. Universal redemption is a denial
of salvation by grace. Listen to this. Universal redemption
makes Jesus Christ the Lord a pathetic failure. If He intended to save
people, and those people that He intended to save were not
saved, it makes Him a failure at what He wanted to do. His
intentions have been frustrated. Now, my dear friends, the Lord
Jesus Christ never fails. Whatever He intends to do is
exactly what He does. Universal redemption limits the
power of his blood. Now, can you see why I hate this
doctrine? It limits the power of his blood. There are two views of the atonement,
general and limited. Limited says his intentions were
limited to the elect. General says his intentions were
to save everyone. Now those who believe, and it's
what the scripture teaches, that his intentions were limited to
the elect, say that the power of his blood must save them.
Everybody he intends to save, he saved. They cannot not be
saved because he died for them and accomplished their salvation.
Here's the ground of our assurance, his death. But general atonement
to that despicable doctrine limits the power of His blood by saying
it's not sufficient to save. There's something you need to
do to make it work. It completely negates that wonderful scripture,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. How my soul loves
that scripture. God says, when I see the blood,
when I see the blood of my Son, I will pass over you. Now, universal
redemption says, no, it's not enough for me to see the blood.
I need to see something you do. That takes away all my peace.
Universal redemption limits the power of the blood, and universal
redemption makes man's will sovereign over God's will. He may will
your salvation, but if you don't will it, his will is thwarted. Now, according to this, God's
will is not sovereign, but man's will is. Man is the one who makes
the ultimate decision and not God, and it makes man's will
sovereign over God's will. Universal redemption is a denial
that there's any real satisfaction in the blood of Christ. It says
that Christ can die for you and you might end up in hell anyway.
God's not really satisfied with his blood. There's something
you need to do in order to make that satisfaction take place. It's not enough to satisfy God. The scriptures were wrong when
it says he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied
if universal redemption is true and he's wanting to save everybody.
It denies the satisfaction of his blood. Universal redemption
robs Christ of giving all the glory in salvation. Now, if Jesus
Christ the Lord died equally for the sins of Judas and the
sins of Peter, if he shed his blood and paid for the sins of
them both, what is the difference between Judas and Peter? It's
not the blood of Christ. It's not the grace of God. It's
something Peter did that Judas didn't do. In other words, Peter
gets at least some of the glory in his salvation. And actually,
he gets all the glory of salvation because according to universal
redemption, Christ did the same thing for the one that he did
for the other. And man gets the glory. Universal redemption means
we have no gospel to preach to this world. Now, why do I say
that? If universal redemption is true,
nobody will be saved, because no man by nature will come to
Christ. Men are chained to a sinful,
evil nature, and they will not come to Christ. They just simply
say, Christ died for you, but it's up to you. If that's the
case, no one will be saved, because the Scripture teaches that men
are dead in trespasses and sins, graveyard dead, unable to do
anything to contribute to their salvation. You see, in this message
of universal redemption, no one is saved by that message. If
a man preaches that message, he is a false prophet. If a man believes that message,
he does not believe the message of the scripture. He does not
believe the gospel. I've even heard of people, and
know people, who say they believe in election, that God chose who
would be saved before time began, but they also believe that Christ
died for everybody without exception. Now, that's foolishness is all
that is, and the only possible motive someone can have in holding
such a position is compromise, trying to make the gospel more
palatable to the flesh. Now, here's the main reason why
I hate universal redemption, and in my heart I hate it. Because
it takes away the only hope that I have. Because the only hope
that I have, that I'll stand before God and be justified and
be saved and be accepted and be brought into heaven, the only
hope that I have is that Christ died for me. That He lived for
me. that He kept the law for me,
and that He died for me and actually paid for my sins so they're gone,
an atonement that actually atones, a redemption that actually redeems,
and that He was raised again for me. And if you tell me that
He can do all that for me and I'll wind up in hell anyway if
I don't do my part, you've taken away the only hope that I have. Because the only hope that I
have is that Christ died for me if he can do that and I wind
up in hell I have no hope here's the truth our Lord said I lay
down my life for the sheep and beloved if Christ died for you
you must be saved You can't run the risk of the possibility of
being anything but saved. If Christ died for you, you must
be saved. You have no sin. Your sins have
been washed away. You have a perfect righteousness
before God. Now, without any doubt, without
any doubt, the Bible teaches that God elected a people, that
Christ died for the elect, and that God the Holy Spirit comes
in time and gives them the new birth through the preaching of
the gospel. They hear the gospel and they believe the gospel.
Now, here's the question that I have in my mind, because what
I'm saying, I know it's so. I know it's so. Now, here's the
question. How can I know if he died for me? He didn't die for
everybody. He only died for the elect. I
can't go up into heaven and read the Lamb's Book of Life. I have
no access to that. How can I know if He died for
me? I'm not going to charge him with
injustice in the fact that he didn't die for everybody, because
whatever he does is right. Somebody says, how could it be
fair for God to save some and not save others? How could it
be fair for God to elect some and pass by others? How could
it be fair for Christ to die for some and not die for everybody?
Beloved, whatever God does is fair. Whatever he does is right. And all we are to do is to bow
to whatever he says. And as far as fair goes, fair
is hell. If God gave me what I got coming, He'd send me to
hell right now. All He's got to do is lead me
to myself, and I'll just leave Him. Fair is hell. So I'm not going to charge God
with injustice for not saving everybody. Whatever He does is
right. And since when do I have the moral authorities to stand
in judgment on what God does? I think of what Paul said. He
said, Nay, but who are you, O man, to reply against God? Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
me thus? Since when does any man have the right to stand in
judgment on God and say, Well, I think this is right or I think
this is wrong? Shall not the judge of the earth do right?"
Whatever he does is right. Now, again, I ask the question,
how can I know if he died for me? Upon what grounds can I believe? Upon what grounds can I come
to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that I'll be received? First ground. And I love this. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, Verse
15, Paul said, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am the chief. Now, what does the Bible mean
by the word sinner? I can't understand what 1 Timothy
1.15 means if I don't understand what the Bible means by the word
sinner. According to the scripture, the
sinner is the one who does the sinning. Now, a sinner is somebody
who all they do is sin. They don't believe they do some
good things and do some bad things. They believe all they do is sin.
And they cannot not sin. They can't be holy. They can't
be righteous in and of themselves. They're unable to do that. They
can't look down their nose upon anybody of moral superiority.
They know that they're the chief of sinners and they have no claims
on God. They can't say, Lord, you've
got to save me because I did this. That's a sinner. Somebody
who all they do is sin. That's their name. That's their
nature. Sin. Sinful. Like Peter said, depart
from me, O Lord. I'm a sinful man. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Now, I'm not
going to say I'm that bad. Then I can't tell you that Christ
died for you. But if you are a sinner, a real bona fide sinner,
Christ died for you. I'll guarantee it. He came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief, Paul said. Upon what ground can I believe
that Christ did something for me? Well, the Scripture says,
the whole, this is what the Lord Himself said, the whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick. Do you need the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you need His righteousness? Because you don't have a righteousness.
Do you need the saving power of His blood? to do everything,
because you know you can do nothing. Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ? The scripture says in Luke 9,
11, He healed them that had need of healing. Well, I'm one of
them, Lord. I need healing. Heal me. I need the Lord Jesus
Christ. I need His grace. I need God
the Father to elect me, because I know if He doesn't choose me,
I won't choose Him. I need God the Holy Spirit to
call me invincibly and irresistibly. I need the Lord to die for me,
to put away from my sins. I need Him. And thirdly, are
you a whosoever? The Scripture says, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, that
is better than if it said Todd Nybert, because there are other
Todd Nyberts. It may say, if Todd Norbert calls upon the name
of the Lord, he'll be saved, but it may be a different Todd
Norbert. Whosoever, though, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, do you call on his name?
If you're somebody who calls on His name, now that doesn't
just mean audibly calling out. You know the person behind the
name. You call on His holiness. You call on His grace. You call
on His power. You call on every attribute of
God to save me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a promise from the Scripture.
Now, this thing of Christ dying only for the elect, it doesn't
keep anybody out of heaven. It brings people into heaven
who would most certainly have been damned. I hate the doctrine
of universal redemption. I hate the teaching of it. But
let me turn this around. I love the truth of His successful
redemption, that everybody He died for must be saved, because
I find all my hope and all my peace right there. that what
Christ did is enough and I need nothing.