Bootstrap
Gabe Stalnaker

TV: Why Did Christ Come?

Isaiah 7:14
Gabe Stalnaker December, 21 2025 Video & Audio
0 Comments

In the sermon titled "TV: Why Did Christ Come?", Gabe Stalnaker addresses the essential Reformed doctrine of the Incarnation and the purpose of Christ's coming. He argues that Christ's coming was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, specifically citing Isaiah 7:14, which proclaims the virgin birth and the name "Emmanuel," meaning God with us. Stalnaker emphasizes that Christ came not merely as an example for humanity but to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and fulfill the law of God (Matthew 5:17). He critiques common misconceptions about the purpose of Christ’s coming and insists that understanding the “why” behind His incarnation is critical for salvation, as it reflects God’s sovereignty in choosing to reveal this truth to His elect. This message reinforces the Reformed understanding of Christ as the sole savior who actively and effectively accomplishes redemption for His people.

Key Quotes

“The prophecy was given that Christ would come and that Christ was God Almighty Himself, the mighty God.”

“He came to save His people from their sins. That's why he came.”

“If we do not know why He came, it means He has not revealed Himself to us yet.”

“Christ did not come to try to save His people. He did not come to start the work of saving His people. He saved His people.”

What does the Bible say about why Christ came into the world?

The Bible teaches that Christ came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

Scripture distinctly declares that the purpose of Christ's coming was to save His people from their sins, as noted in Matthew 1:21. This represents an essential aspect of the gospel; God sent His Son to redeem sinners, not to merely make salvation possible for all. Jesus emphasized His mission by stating that He came to call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17), affirming that He came specifically for those who are lost and in need of redemption. Thus, the significance of Christ's coming is not only about His existence but profoundly rooted in the purpose of saving His chosen ones.

Matthew 1:21, Mark 2:17, 1 Timothy 1:15

How do we know Jesus is God with us?

Isaiah 7:14 prophesies that a virgin will conceive and bear a son named Emmanuel, meaning 'God with us.'

The prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14 is a clear declaration that God would manifest Himself in the flesh through the incarnation of Christ. The passage states, 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel,' which translates to 'God with us.' This prophecy emphasizes not only the miraculous nature of Christ's birth but also His divine identity as God incarnate. In the New Testament, this claim is validated through interpreted fulfillment; Matthew references this prophecy to demonstrate that Jesus is indeed Emmanuel, fulfilling the Old Testament's promise of God residing with humanity.

Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23

Why is understanding why Christ came important for Christians?

Understanding why Christ came is crucial for salvation and comprehension of God's redemptive plan.

The understanding of why Christ came is essential for Christians, as it forms the foundation of genuine faith and salvation. As stated in the sermon, knowing merely that Christ came is insufficient; what truly matters is grasping the reason behind His coming. This knowledge leads to a saving understanding of what God has accomplished through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Without this revelation, one may fall victim to deceit regarding the nature of Christ’s work and end up without true faith. Thus, believers are encouraged to seek knowledge about Christ’s purpose and to cling to the hope that arises from His coming, which is vital for spiritual life and growth.

Matthew 1:21, Mark 2:17, 1 Timothy 1:15

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, located at 2709 Rock Springs Road in Kingsport, Tennessee, would like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace of their pastor, Gabe Stonica. For information and service times, visit www.ksgc.church. And now, Gabe Stoniker.

If you would like to follow along with me today, I will be in Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7. All through the Old Testament scripture, it prophesied that the Lord Jesus Christ would come into this world from the very beginning of the Old Testament. The moment that sin entered this world, in Genesis chapter 3, it was prophesied that Christ would come to make reconciliation for that sin. immediately. It was prophesied.

The adversary was told that the woman's seed would come, not the man's seed. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the only man born of woman without a man, without the dealings of a man. And this child, it was prophesied that this child would come from the woman's seed, not from man's sinful seed, but from God's holy seed, incorruptible seed, the incorruptible seed of God's spirit. And the adversary was told, you are going to bruise his heel. And that's talking about the cross. But he's gonna crush your head in that process. That's what's gonna happen.

All of the Old Testament scripture declared a Redeemer is coming. A Redeemer is coming. Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Job is considered to be the first book written in the Old Testament. the first book ever penned. And Job said, I know that my redeemer liveth and in the latter day at his appointed time, I know he's gonna stand on this earth. I know he's gonna come into the world and stand on this earth.

And as it was prophesied in Genesis three, it was prophesied right here in Isaiah seven, Verse 14, it says, therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. What does the name Emmanuel mean? Well, if you look at Isaiah chapter 8, the last four words of verse 10 say, God is with us. That's what was prophesied. The woman's seed, a virgin, shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel. And that means God is with us. God is with us.

The prophecy has always been that a child would be born into this world and that child would be God himself with us. There is only one God. There's only one. There's just one God. And the one and only God that there is was born into this world. And I know you say, well, how can that be? I don't understand that. And all I can say is, neither do I, by my simple flesh. But by faith, the Lord gives us the understanding and the heart to believe that God Almighty, Father, Son, and Spirit, all dwelling in the body, OF JESUS CHRIST, GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. THE ETERNAL, EVERLASTING GOD IS THE ONE WHO CAME.

IF YOU LOOK AT ISAIAH CHAPTER 9, VERSE 6 SAYS, FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, SPEAKING OF CHRIST, BORN INTO THE WORLD. unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called," this is his name, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Well, which one is he? Is he a child or is he the counselor? Is he a son or is he the mighty God? Is he the father or is he the prince of peace? The answer is, he's all of them. He's all of that. Every thing that can be witnessed and understood, every possible character and person of the Godhead is seen in Jesus Christ. It is all witnessed and known. in Jesus Christ. And I'd love to take the time to dwell on the fact that Christ is all and in all. Just dwell on how everything is in Him. But the point I want us to focus on is the prophecy was given that Christ would come and that Christ was God Almighty Himself, the mighty God.

IF YOU LOOK AT ISAIAH, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 1 SAYS, AND THERE SHALL COME FORTH A ROD OUT OF THE STEM OF JESSE, AND A BRANCH SHALL GROW OUT OF HIS ROOTS. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding.

IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD, AND HE SHALL NOT JUDGE AFTER THE SIGHT OF HIS EYES, NEITHER REPROVE AFTER THE HEARING OF HIS EARS, BUT WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL HE JUDGE THE POOR." He's the judge. "...AND REPROVE WITH EQUITY FOR THE MEEK OF THE EARTH, AND HE SHALL SMITE THE EARTH. WITH THE ROD OF HIS MOUTH AND WITH THE BREATH OF HIS LIPS SHALL HE SLAY THE WICKED."

The judge, the smiter, the slayer? Who is that talking about? Well in my Bible there's a heading at the top of the page and it says the peaceable kingdom of Christ. That's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a prophecy of his coming.

Now we could just go on and on through the Old Testament seeing the prophecy of his coming. Micah chapter 5 verse 2 says he would be born in Bethlehem. The Old Testament announced that. He would be born in Bethlehem. Psalm 72 verses 10 and 11 proclaim that kings of the earth would bring presents to him and fall down before him and worship him. Kings would come bringing gifts, worshiping him.

Matthew chapter one and Matthew chapter two tell us all of that came to pass. If you wanna follow me to Matthew chapter one, it says in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

She brought him forth. He was born into the world. born into this world.

Matthew chapter 2 verse 1 says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. Verse 11 says, and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. As it was prophesied, exactly as it was prophesied, he came into the world. John chapter 1 says, The Word of God, who was with God and was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us. I Timothy 3.16 says, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. In 2 Peter 1 verse 16, Peter said, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. In 1 John 1 verse 1, the apostle said, that which was from the beginning, the one who was prophesied of, the one who was prophesied to come, John said, we heard him with our ears. We saw him with our eyes. Our hands handled him.

What John was saying was, he came. He came, no doubt about it, he came. God Almighty came into this world. And again, I would love to take the rest of our time proving that it was indeed God Almighty that came into this world. But I'm just gonna declare that and leave it up to God's spirit to convince his people of it. Because I have a very important question for us to consider for this message. The title of this message is, why did Christ come into this world? Why did Christ come into this world? Now, he did, he did come, that is established. The Messiah came into this world, but the question is, why? That's the question I want to ask today, why?

I'll tell you that this is a question that many people do not know the answer to. Even though it's plainly declared in his word this is a question that many many people do not know the answer to. Masses of people in this world know that he did come. They do. They know that he did come. But just knowing that he came is not enough. It's not enough. That is not saving knowledge. More importantly than knowing that he came is the knowledge of why he came. Why he came. If we do not know why he came, it means he has not revealed himself to us yet. If we don't know why he came, That means he has not revealed himself to us yet. And if he has not revealed himself to us, then we cannot cling to the hope of why he came. So this is critical. And I pray God will reveal this to us. I pray he will reveal this to me and to you and not just let us fall into the error of the lies of this world. concerning why he came, the deception of this world.

The men and women are deceived. And if God leaves them there, it's going to head them straight to condemnation. So this is very important. Not knowing why Christ came is the evidence that a soul is headed into condemnation. May God spare us from that. I want to be very, very serious right now. I pray God will spare us from not getting just caught up in pageants and plays and holidays. May God truly spare our souls by teaching us, giving us faith to know and believe and understand why Christ came into this world. I pray God will teach us something right now.

Now, I Googled the question, why did Christ come into this world? I got on my computer and I just did a search. And my search was, why did Christ come into this world? You can't believe the answers that were posted on the internet. I wrote down three of them. I'm gonna tell you three of them so you can have a general idea of what the world believes on this subject. The first response is just a general Google response. I don't know the source of this. It said, Christ came into the world to serve as the example to all of man's divine potential. Christ came into the world to serve as the example to all of man's divine potential." What that means is if he can do it, we can do it. That's what that means. And it continued to say, the standard against who all must measure their lives. What it's saying is he came to be the bar, the standard by which everybody needs to measure the lives they live in this world. Let me just tell you, that's not right. That's not right. That is not why Christ came. You can't believe everything you read on the internet. And that's not correct. And you say, well, how do you know that, Gabe? Well, it's because that's not what Christ said in his word. That's how you and I can know that.

All right, now here's the second response. It was from a seminary college. All right, that's a college that teaches men how to be preachers. Obviously by this response, it's a college that teaches men how to be false preachers. Because this is what this particular college said. It said, by sending his son, Jesus, to die for our sins, God is working to restore the radiance of his own glory shining in and through us. No, no. Not only is that utter blasphemy to say that God is working to restore the radiance of his glory, Not only is that utter blasphemy, that doesn't even make sense. I'm telling you, that does not even make sense.

The third response is by the most famous evangelist of the 20th century, the most famous preacher probably of the 20th century. He said, Jesus Christ came into the world for one reason, to make it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and to go to heaven when we die." Wrong. Wrong. Those are the words of a condemned man. Clearly, this man does not know why Christ came into the world. He does not know why Christ came into the world.

Now, if God ever gives us a true knowledge of this, it will be a saving knowledge. It'll be the evidence of the fact that God has revealed the truth concerning Christ to us and has saved our souls. All of God's elect are taught the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, why He came, and what He accomplished in His coming. All of God's elect are taught the truth concerning Christ, and they're taught it through His Word. They are all taught it through his word. And in searching through this word, I found many wonderful scriptures that tell us why Christ came into the world. If we wanna know the answer, it's right here. I wrote down 13 of them. I consolidated the list to five. Now I'm gonna quote all of them. We're gonna turn to five of them. After reading these five scriptures, we're gonna see exactly why Christ came into this world. And I pray in seeing this, God will give us faith to believe it.

The first one is right here in Matthew 1, verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Why did Christ come into the world? He came to save his people from their sins. That's why he came. Who were his people? Well, by that verse, we can tell they were sinners. He came to save his people from their sins. Sinners were his people. One of the 13 verses that I wrote down was Mark 2, verse 17 where the Lord said, I came not to call the righteous, but centers to repentance centers to a changed mind about who God is. That's what repentance is. It's a completely changed mind about who God is and why he came and what he accomplished. He said, I came to give sinners this repentance. God commended his love toward us while we were yet sinners, the scripture says. Christ came for sinners, not righteous people, not good people, because there aren't any. Scripture says there is none that do with good. No, not one. The world needs to know this. You and I need to know this. This is why Christ came into the world.

Another scripture that I wrote down was 1 Timothy 1 15. It says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief, the apostle Paul said. Christ did not come to make salvation possible. He didn't come to make salvation possible for anybody. Christ Jesus came into the world to save His people from their sins. And that's what He did. He did not try to save His people. Christ did not come to try to save His people. He did not come to start the work of saving His people. He saved His people.

And this is how he did it, all right? If you look at Matthew 5, if you're following along with me, Matthew 5, verse 17 says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. He said, I came to fulfill God's holy law. What made his people to be sinners was they broke God's holy law. That's why men and women are sinners. They couldn't obey God's law. You and I can't. We read every commandment in here. We can't obey this law. Man could not do it in the days of Adam. Man couldn't do it in the days of Moses. Man couldn't do it in the days of Christ. Man can't do it right now. Men and women can't do it right now. There's only one man who could fulfill the law of God Almighty, and that was the God-man, Jesus Christ. So that's why he came into this world. He came to live a perfect record of obedience before the holy law of God. and then to give that record, that life, to his people in exchange for their record of sin.

John wrote, one of the scriptures I wrote down, John 6, 38, our Lord said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. He said, the Father's will was for me to do everything that needed to be done to make his people acceptable to God. That's why I came. That's why I came. So he came to be the fulfiller of God's law.

Now in Matthew 10, verse 34, it says, Matthew 10, Verse 34, it says, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I'm running out of time. I have two minutes left and I have a lot more to say, but just understand this. People talk about peace on earth, peace on earth. That's because Christ came. He is the peace of God, the prince of peace who came. But he said, think not that I'm come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. Is that shocking to you? That's a shocking statement. Verse 35, I came to set a man at variance against his father. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. Verse 36, the prince of peace came to bring peace to his people, but he did not come to bring peace to this earth. He came to bring a sword.

In John 9, he said, for judgment, I'm coming to this world. Judgment. I came into the world for judgment. because the very salvation of God himself entered into this world and men despised him and rejected him. Judgment, John 12, 46, he said, I'm come a light into the world. I came to expose the darkness. I came to expose the truth concerning God. I came to expose the truth concerning man. I came to expose the truth concerning salvation. And that's what he did on the cross of Calvary.

In Mark 10 verse 44, he said, He said, I came to give my life as a ransom payment to God, a lamb slain. Our Lord was born into this world to die. He was born to die. He came into this world to display his glory. Moses said, show me your glory. He said, I'll be merciful and gracious to whom I've chosen to be merciful and gracious. And that's what he did on the cross of Calvary. It's exactly what he did.

Christ came to save his people from their sins. He came to fulfill the law of God for them. He came to bring judgment to them on the cross of Calvary. He came to die for them. He came that he might have life. In the middle of John 10, that's what he said, I came that they might have life. This is why Christ came. This is what he was sent to do. And this is what he did. He accomplished all in his coming. To him be the glory. Amen.

You have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, you can call or write to the number and address on your screen, or visit www.ksgc.church. Tune in at this same time next week for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.
Gabe Stalnaker
About Gabe Stalnaker
Gabe Stalnaker is the pastor of the Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church located at 2709 Rock Springs Rd, Kingsport, Tennessee 37664. You may contact him by phone at (423) 723-8103 or e-mail at gabestalnaker@hotmail.com

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.