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
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. For information and service times,
visit www.ksgc.church. And now, Gabe Stoniker. Our subject matter today is going
to come from the book of Jude, just before Revelation. The book right before Revelation.
One chapter in the book of Jude. And we're going to look at one
verse of Scripture. And the title of our message
is, God and What Belongs to Him. That's what we are going to look
at today. God and what belongs to him. And again, it's one verse,
it's verse 25, Jude chapter one, verse 25. It says, to the only
wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. From this one verse of scripture,
we are going to see God and what belongs to him. That verse is
our outline. That's what we will follow for
an outline for this message. And I love it when messages have
an outline like that, that you can just follow right through
it. Men and women naturally, as we are all born into this
world, we are not born with a true understanding of who God is. That has to be revealed by the
Spirit of God. Men have naturally an idea of
who God is, but men and women do not naturally know the God
of the Bible, the true and living God of Scripture. It's just not in man's flesh
to know the true and living God. There was a time when none of
us knew the true and living God. But our Lord said in John 17,
this is life eternal. This is eternal life. that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The apostle
Paul said in Philippians 3, oh, that I might know him. Paul
said, that's my desire. I want to know him. We need to know him. We need
to know him. And he said that he reveals himself
to his people through the preaching of his word. That's what he said.
The declaration of what he has written concerning himself in
his word. So for that reason this morning,
from his word, I'd like for us to look at God, who God is, what
God has done, where God is right now, God, and what belongs to
Him. Now, let's see what this verse
has to say about that, okay? Verse 25, it says, to the only
wise God. That's how it starts, to the
only wise God. What do we see in that? Well,
first we see that there is only one God. There is only one. To the only wise God. People say, well, you have your
God and I have my God. Well, there's only one. There
is only one God. This word says that man has made
up in his mind and fashioned with his hands all kinds of little
g-gods. The word physically says that. All of these idols, man has fashioned
all of these idols. They're little gods to him. Gods of men's hands. The gods of men's imaginations. And because there are so many
of them out there, That's what has created religious differences
between people. That is the reason for religious
differences, different denominations, different doctrines. All that
is is different gods. That's what it is, different
gods, different little g gods. But all of those little g gods
are no gods at all. Again, that's what the scripture
tells us time and time again. There are no gods at all. Men
and women are right now all over the world, all over this town, all over
this city, all over the world. Men and women are right now worshiping
gods who are no gods at all. Somebody will say, well, why
do you have to be so narrow-minded? Why do you get on here on TV
and you're so narrow-minded about these things? Why can't you just
let people worship the God of their choosing? Here's the reason
why. There's only one. According to
the word, there's only one. And any man who stands up and
tells people the truth concerning this, all that means is he cares
about them. He cares whether or not they
know the only God that there is, the only true and living
God that there is. I worry about myself, I worry
about people. My heart breaks for people. who
do not know and do not worship the only true and living God
that there is because they have no idea that they're not worshiping
the true and living God. They don't have any idea. They
go to church and they listen to this man-fashioned God. They listen to a man stand in
a pulpit telling people who God is and it doesn't match the words
of Scripture. If it doesn't match the words
of God's book, it's not of God. The man is not declaring God. And people sit there and ignorantly
worship a God who is no God at all. And they're going to leave
this world and they're going to go out into eternity with
no God at all. They're religious without God. And when that happens, there's
none to help. It's too late. It's too late.
So this is why we very plainly, very simply, very confidently
and dogmatically repeat what God has written in his word.
There's only one God. This verse says, to the only
wise God, The only all-knowing, all-controlling, all-doing God. The only one. He said, I am the
Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. Isaiah 45 verse 5. I would encourage
you, read the book of Isaiah. Read Isaiah chapter 45. Just
read that chapter. Now, if that's the case, if there's
only one God, How can we know if we are worshiping the true
and living God? Or are we worshiping one of these
false man-made little g-gods? How can we know? Well, over in
Psalm 115, if you're turning with me, look at Psalm 115. Verse one says, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy
mercy. And for that truth sake, because
of what you did for centers on the cross of Calvary, shedding
your blood to save your mercy. and for your truth's sake, the
truth of your word, the truth of your justice and your holiness
and your righteousness, which is Christ. The mercy of God is
Christ. The truth of God is Christ. It's
all Christ. But verse one says, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? David said in verse 3, But our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now listen to this. Their idols,
their little g-gods, are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are like
unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. They that make them are like
unto them. What are they? What are the little idols? They're
dead. They that make them are spiritually dead, just like the
idol that they fashion. So how can I know Which God I'm
worshiping? Am I worshiping the capital G
true and living God or this little G false idol of man's imagination? Which one? How can I know? Here's
how we can know. A false little G God can't unless
you do it for him. I'm gonna repeat that because
that's critical. A little g false God, this is
how you can know, am I worshiping a true and living God or a false
God, a dead false God? A false God cannot unless you
do it for him. That's what he just said. That's
what David just said in Psalm 115. That's how we can tell the
difference in the one true God. and alive, living, wise, all-knowing,
all-controlling, all-doing God, and the many false little g-gods
who are no gods at all. Verse 3 right here, David said,
Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. And the rest of those verses
said, if you don't do it for that false God, it's not going
to be done. Our God hath done, they cannot
do. If you don't let that God, and
that's what you'll hear men stand in pulpits and say, won't you
let him? Won't you help him? If you don't do it for Him, they
say, He has no hands but your hands. That's a false God. That's a little g dead false
God. They say, if you don't do it,
it cannot be done. That's not God. That's not the
God of Scripture. That's not the eternal God, the
true and living God. That's not the God that saves.
There is only one God. only one true and living God. And who is it? Who is the only
God that there is? Well, look with me back at our
text, which is Jude chapter one, Jude verse 25. It says to the
only wise God, our savior. to the only wise God, our Savior. Who is the only God that there
is? Here's the answer. Jesus Christ,
our Savior. When men and women think of Jesus
Christ as only the middleman who can get them to God, when
their worship bypasses the Lord Jesus Christ and imagines a higher
being than Him, a mightier than Him, a more lofty,
a more holy God than Him. When men and women do that, they
have missed the only wise God that there is. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Spirit. These three are one God. And they are all known and seen
and worshipped in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Men and women worship
false gods when Christ is pushed aside for something in their
imagination. A God with no image. A God with
no image. The only true God that there
is has an image. The only wise God that there
is is God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Over in 1 Timothy
3, It says in verse 16, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. God, the only wise God, is the
one who was manifest in the flesh. God himself is the one who came
down, not God's helper, not God's second in command. The only God
that there is came down. And again, you hear this and
you think, well, but what about the Father? What about God the
Father? Jesus Christ said, if you have
seen me, you have seen the Father. Hebrews 1, Jesus Christ is the
express image of the Father's person. That's what Hebrews 1
says. He is the image of the Father's person. He said, I and
my Father are one. Isaiah 9 verse 6 says a child
is going to be born, a baby in a manger. A child is going to
come. A child is going to be born.
A son is going to be given. What's his name? What is that
baby's name? This is what Isaiah 9, verse
6 says. His name is the Everlasting Father. What do we call that little baby
in that manger? You call that baby the Everlasting Father.
The mighty God, the Prince of Peace. Again, there are three
persons in the Godhead. There are. But there's only one
God. There's only one God. All the fullness of God is seen
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true declaration
all throughout the word is, our God is our Redeemer. That's what the scripture says.
The one who redeemed us is our God. And He is the only fullness
of God that there is. Now let's go back to Jude. Go back with me again to Jude,
and we'll see what belongs to the only God that there is, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1, verse 25, it says, to
the only wise God, our Savior. our Savior. Number one, what
belongs to this God? We're looking at God and what
belongs to Him. All right, what belongs to this
God? Number one, we belong to Him. We belong to Him. All of His chosen people that
the Father gave to Him, God the Father elected a people to save
before the foundation of the world. and gave every single
one of those souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those souls, all
of them, all of God's people, all of God's elect chosen people,
predestinated people, they were all lost. They were all ruined
in sin, just like every other sinner born into the world. But our Lord came to us. He sought
us And he bought us by purchasing us with his own
blood. And the moment that purchase
was complete, he said, you're mine. I am yours and you are
mine. And all of his people cry, praise
the Lord. How thankful we are to hear that.
How thankful we are to know that. Thank God we belong to him. Psalm 100 says, know ye that
the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. So enter into His gates with
thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto
Him and bless His name. And all of His redeemed people
do. All who worship Him and see Him, their Savior, to be the
only wise God that there is. All of them praise Him and bless
His name and cry, thank God we belong to Him. Thank God. Everything
on earth is His. The world is His. All that is
therein is His. Every soul on earth is His by
ownership, by creation. God's people are His by purchase,
by loving redemption. So that's the first thing we
see right here. Number one, we belong to Him. Verse 25 says,
To the only wise God our Savior be glory. Number two, all glory
belongs to Him. All glory. Glory means judgment. Sometimes we look up these words
in a Bible dictionary, in a concordance, and you see the meanings and
the definitions of these words. And the word glory right here
means judgment. And it means exaltation. God,
our Savior, is highly lifted up, highly exalted, His name
is above every name. At the hearing of His name, every
knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord. That means all
the glory belongs to Him. That's what it means. All the
glory belongs to Him. We read a moment ago there in
Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. All the glory, we give it all
to you. So number one, we belong to him. Number two, glory belongs
to him. And verse 25 says to the only
wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, majesty, all majesty
belongs to him. Majesty means greatness. That's
what it means. Greatness. It means fullness. All fullness belongs to him. All of the fullness dwells in
him. It is all in him. Somebody will say the fullness
of what would just name something, just name something. If the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in him, father, son, and spirit, if the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in him, what other fullness is
there? Oh, the length and the breadth and the depth and the
height, the majesty. The majesty, the greatness, the
fullness of God's love. All of God's love is in Christ. It's all in Christ. The fullness
of God's judgment. Do we realize that God is a God
of judgment? Do we realize that God judges
sin and punishes sin? Well, all of God's judgment,
all of it, is in Christ. It is all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only thing that sets God's people apart in salvation is
the fact that they were judged in Christ. Every other soul on
earth is going to be judged by Christ. God's people were judged
in Christ. But all judgment is His. The fullness of God's wrath and
punishment of the sin of his people. All of that was in Christ.
So all fullness, all majesty, it belongs to him. Number four,
look right here at Jude verse 25. To the only wise God, our
savior be glory and majesty, dominion. Dominion, all dominion
belongs to him. The word dominion means sovereignty. Sovereignty, that means control. Dominion is the territory of
a sovereign. That's the definition of that
word. It is his reign. It is his rule. It's his rule. There is only
one sovereign over all things and his name is Jesus Christ.
All dominion belongs to him. And the last thing that our verse
mentions is, verse 25 says, to the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power. Power, all power belongs
to Him. That means not only does He have
the right to do what He will with whom He will, He has the
ability. Not only does He have the sovereign
right, He has the ability to do what He will with whom He
will. It means He has the force, that's
what power means. He has the strength, that's what
power means. It means when He cried, it is
finished, it was finished. What was finished? The salvation
of His people. It means He did not try to save,
He saved. Did you know that the Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't try to do anything? Whatever He purposes to do, He
does it. That's the only true and living
sovereign God that there is. He does it. He is not waiting
on anyone to accept Him. He is not begging anyone to come
to Him. He is not knocking on anybody's
heart's door, asking them to open it. When he calls, his people
come. This is the sovereign God. When
he draws, we're drawn. That's all there is to it. And
thankfully, we are happy that it's so. When He calls and draws,
we are happy that it's so. He has power over our hearts
in the matter to even make His people willing in the day of
His power. He has the power to keep, He
has the power to calm. He has the power to speak peace
and comfort to the hearts of His people. So when it comes
to the only wise God, our Savior, we belong to Him. Glory belongs
to Him, majesty belongs to Him, dominion belongs to Him, and
power belongs to Him. Now, I'll leave us with this
question. When will all of this belong to Him? And how long will
all of this belong to Him? The verse ends by saying, both
now and forever. Amen. It's all His forever. 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.