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.

I have a message for you today from 1st Chronicles chapter 16. If you would like to follow along with me, we will be in 1st Chronicles chapter 16. And I want to begin with verse 31. 1st Chronicles 16 verse 31. It says, let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. and let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Now what a declaration that is. What an announcement of glorious news. The Lord reigneth. That's wonderful. The Lord our God reigneth. He reigns. Let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice,

Verse 32 goes on to say, let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. Let the fields rejoice and all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord because he cometh to judge the earth. The Lord reigneth. The judge of the earth reigns. The judge of the earth reigns.

Now, this is one of my favorite things to declare. In all of God's word, this is one of my favorite things. Along statements and things like, when we read in the scripture where it says, this man, speaking of Christ, this man receiveth sinners. I love hearing that, I love telling that. And along with declarations like, it is finished. Salvation is finished. Along with declarations like that, I love to declare the Lord, our high and holy God reigns. He reigns. He rules. He rules over all things.

Over in Psalm 47, Psalm chapter 47, verse 1 says, Oh, clap your hands, all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible. HE IS A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH. THIS IS SPEAKING OF JESUS CHRIST. IT'S SPEAKING OF THE TERROR OF THIS GREAT HIGH AND HOLY KING. VERSE 3 SAYS, HE SHALL SUBDUE THE PEOPLE UNDER US AND THE NATIONS UNDER OUR FEET. HE SHALL CHOOSE OUR INHERITANCE FOR US. the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our king, sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. Do you enjoy hearing that as much as I do? He is greatly exalted. God reigns. God reigns. God sits upon the throne of his holiness and he reigns. The king reigns.

Over in Psalm 93, I want us to just hear this from the scripture for a minute here. The Psalm 93 verse one, it says, the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength. Are you tired of hearing men declare Jesus Christ, the Lord, the King, as being so weak and so helpless and so needy and so poor? That's not how God the Father declared Him. That's not how God the Spirit declares Him. That's not how God's word declares him. The Lord reigneth, he's clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters. Let them lift up all they want to. Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. Lord, you reign. You reign. That's what I want us to get a hold of today. The Lord God on high reigns forever. Forever. Always has, does, and always will. Forever.

Psalm 97, it says, the Lord reigneth. Do we see how all these Psalms are saying the Lord reigneth? Reigneth means currently reigns, not reigned, not will reign. Yes, he did reign, and yes, he will reign, but the Lord reigneth right now. It says the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Be glad the Lord reigns. Clouds and darkness are round about him. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him. A fire of judgment, a consuming fire. And burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world. The earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory. Scripture says every eye is going to see him. Confounded be all they that serve graven images. That's anything that's not Jesus Christ, anything that's not God. That's a false idol, graven image. Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols. Worship Him, all ye gods. Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord. For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth. Thou art exalted far above all gods.

That's good news. It's wonderful news. Psalm 99, I just read Psalm 97. This is Psalm 99, verse one, it says, The Lord reigneth, the Lord reigneth, the Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. Let the earth tremble. Let the people tremble. Let the earth tremble. Let everything tremble. Because the Lord our God reigns.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord our God, that's the same person. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. Thomas saw him and said, my Lord and my God. And the Lord, our God is sovereign. Jesus Christ is sovereign. Jesus Christ is the sovereign God. Everything that he does is sovereign. And that's because everything that he is is sovereign.

The name Lord, if you look up the name Lord in a Bible dictionary, in a concordance, the name Lord means sovereign. We call him the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the word Lord means sovereign. That's what it means, sovereign, ruler. the one who reigns, the controller. That's who he is. Therefore, that's what he is. That's who he is. Therefore, that's what he is. He is sovereign. His will is sovereign. There's only one sovereign will in existence. There's only one will that is free. People talk about having a free will. Only one man has a free will to do whatever he wants to do, and that's Jesus Christ, because he's the sovereign. No other man has a free will. Every other man is bound to sin, bound to the will of his own sin, and bound to the will of the sovereign. Whatever the sovereign deems to be done, that's what's gonna be done.

His will is sovereign. His salvation is sovereign. And here's what that means. Salvation is in His hands and not in our hands. Salvation is not in man's hands. We're not sovereign. We can't decide to be saved. Somebody falls off a ship deep out into the ocean, and that ship leaves, and that person is just treading water in the ocean, and that person would love for a boat to come by and pick them up, but that's not in the will of the person. The person can't just say, I'm just gonna will for a boat to come pick me up. That's not in our hands. That's in someone else's hands, the sovereign, Jesus Christ.

His will is sovereign. His salvation is sovereign. His grace is sovereign. He said, I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. It's sovereign grace. He is gracious to whom he's pleased to be gracious. And he said, I'll show mercy on whom I'm pleased to show mercy. So his mercy is sovereign.

And to really enter into what this means, let me just quote a few of the verses that we just read. I just read a lot of scripture here. Just listen to this, okay? We read Psalm 47 just a second ago. And it said, God is the king, the king of all the earth. And it said, God, the king reigns over the heathen. Who are the heathen? That's me and you. And it said in verse four, he shall choose our inheritance for us. That's what it said. Psalm 47 verse four, he shall choose our inheritance for us. That's a sovereign. That's a sovereign. A sovereign is not one who wants to see what his subjects are going to do, waits to watch the subjects and say, now what are they going to do? And then that will determine my reaction. Oh, no. A sovereign is one who tells his subjects what they are going to do. That's a sovereign. And that's exactly what our sovereign has done to us and for us. He has declared in his word, and I wish we had time to go through so many scriptures that declare this, but he said, I will and they shall. I want us to see as many as we can, but that's what he says throughout this word. I will and they shall.

And you know, many will hear this and say, well, Gabe, it sounds like, you know, you're making us to be puppets on a string here. Thank God that's exactly what we are. We're puppets on the sovereign's string. And I say thank God because there's nowhere else I would want to be. If I was not a puppet on his string, I know where I would be. So I'm very, very grateful. Thank God he chose my inheritance for me. That's what I have to say today. He chose my inheritance for me. It was not me that did the choosing, he did the choosing. And thank God he chooses the inheritance of all of his people for them. He chose to conquer his people. He's the one who chose to conquer his rebellious people. He chose to quicken his spiritually dead and trespasses and sins people. He's the one who chose that. He chose to subdue his people. He chose to call his people to himself. He did all that. Thank God He chose our inheritance for us, the inheritance of His people. He chose to draw them to Himself.

And again, we say, thank God, because had He not chose to do that, we would have never chosen. Had He not chosen us, we would have never chosen Him. So that's glorious news. Glorious news from the Sovereign. He chose our inheritance for us. Now, who did that for us? The King did that for us. Again, who is the King? Jesus Christ, the Sovereign. He is the King.

Listen to this verse. We read it a moment ago. Psalm 93, verse 1. It says, The Lord, this King, the one who reigns, is clothed with majesty and strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. That word girdeth means belted up for war. When you look that up in a concordance and you understand what that word was originally written to mean, that's what it means. Belted up for war. What that means is he wears a sword. The Lord is a man of war, Moses said in Exodus 15. And he wears a sword.

Now, why would he wear a sword? Why would the Lord Jesus Christ wear a sword? Why would any man wear a sword? He wore it because he intended to go to war. He intended to go to war. Who was he at war with? What was he fighting against? Thank God, here's the answer. OUR SIN. HE WENT TO WAR WITH OUR SIN. HE WENT TO WAR WITH THE SIN OF HIS PEOPLE ON GOLGOTHIS HILL. CALVARY'S TREE. HE GIRDED HIMSELF FOR THAT WAR. HE DID THAT BY HIMSELF. HE GIRDED HIMSELF. HE FOUGHT THAT WAR BY HIMSELF. AND HE WON THAT WAR BY HIMSELF AND HERE'S THE REASON WHY.

He's the sovereign. He's the sovereign over man. He's the sovereign over man's sin. He is the sovereign over death, hell, the grave. He's the sovereign. He's the sovereign over resurrected life. Not only is he the sovereign, thank God he's our sovereign. You know, he said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it again. Thank God.

We can glory in who he is and what we have in him because Psalm 99 verse one, we read it a moment ago. It says, the sovereign, this sovereign, the Lord who reigns and causes his people to tremble. He right now sits. He sitteth between the cherubims for us. Psalm 99 verse 1. What is between the cherubims? What is the place? Where is that between the cherubims? What is that place called? On the ark of God's covenant, he called that place between the cherubims, the mercy seat. It's called the mercy seat. That is where our sovereign right now sits for his people. That's where he said he would meet with his people on the mercy seat. The blood-stained, that's where the priest would come in with blood, sprinkling, making atonement for the sins of the people. That blood-stained, sin-paid, wrath-appeasing mercy seat. That's such good news for a sinner against God. There is sovereign mercy and sovereign redemption because of the sovereign, our sovereign savior. That's what you call the gospel. Good news, good news.

Over in Isaiah 52, verse seven says, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. thy God reigneth. How beautiful is that message? How beautiful is the message of the gospel that the sovereign reigns, the sovereign rules and, and does for his people.

There's a song that I love so much and it's called hail sovereign love, hail sovereign love. And it says,

Hail sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man.
Hail matchless, free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place.
Against the God who rules the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high.
despised the mention of His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place.
But thus the eternal counsel ran, Almighty love, arrest that man."

That's what happened to me. That's what happens to all of God's people. Hail sovereign love. Hail sovereign, amazing, saving, arresting love.

There's another song that I love so much and it's titled, Deeper Than the Stain. And it says,

dark the stain that soiled man's nature, long the distance that he fell.
far removed from hope in heaven into deep despair and hell.
But there was a fountain opened, and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and reaches deeper than the stain has gone."

That stain of sin. Praise the Lord for full salvation. And whoever God saves, it's a full salvation. It's not a part salvation or a half salvation or a most mostly salvation. It's a full salvation. Praise the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the blood still reaches deeper than the stain has gone. That's good news.

Oh, how beautiful and how glorious is the peaceful, precious declaration of our God and our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, our sovereign, our sovereign, His sovereign love in His sovereign salvation. This declaration will be the declaration for all eternity. It will never change. FOR ALL ETERNITY. REVELATION 19, VERSE 6 SAYS THIS, I HEARD AS IT WERE THE VOICE OF A GREAT MULTITUDE, SPEAKING OF GLORY, HEAVEN, I HEARD AS IT WERE THE VOICE OF A GREAT MULTITUDE, AND AS THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS, AND AS THE VOICE OF MIGHTY THUNDERINGS, SAYING HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH, FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH. reigneth all of eternity will be crying that hallelujah. He reigns. He reigns. He reigns in creation. He reigns in salvation. He reigns in providence the providence of our lives. He reigns in everything concerning His people. David said in our text there in 1 Chronicles 16, all glory be to Him for that. All glory be to Him for that.

Back over in 1 Chronicles 16, verse 26, I'll read a little bit more of this portion of scripture here. He said, For all the gods of the people are idols, and I want us to really get a hold of that. If we are worshiping anything other than Jesus Christ, the sovereign God, we're worshiping an idol. And let me tell you mainly what the other form of worship is, man. man's flesh, man's flesh. We look to man's flesh. We look at what, look at what I have done. Look at what I'm going to do for him. Not what he's going to do for me, but what I'm going to do for him. Look what I have done. Look what I am doing. Look what I plan on doing. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, he walked out and looked at all of Babylon and he said, look at this great city, which I've built and everything I've done. And the sovereign brought him down. Brought him down. And then he finally restored him and he said, I bow to Jesus Christ, the King, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. He reigns in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of man. None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He's the sovereign.

And today in our worship, if we're worshiping man at all, if we're worshiping self at all, if we're looking right here at all, we're worshiping an idol, only the sovereign. Our worship is only to the sovereign. Verse 26, he said, for all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor are in His presence. We don't glory in this flesh. We don't honor this flesh. We don't say, look at how much this flesh is growing and increasing and doing better and good job. Pat this flesh on the back. It's Him alone. It's Him alone.

Verse 27 says, glory and honor are in His presence. Strength and gladness are in His place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Christ is all. Christ is everything. Christ is owed it all. Christ has done it all. Give it all to the Lord, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. Unto thy name we give all the glory. Verse 28, give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering. What can we offer him? The God who owns everything, has done everything. Thanks, thanks, praise, worship. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God is holy, the judge of the earth is holy. Fear before him all the earth, the world also shall be stable that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice and let men say among the nations,

THE LORD REIGNETH.
LET THE SEA ROAR IN THE FULLNESS THEREOF,
LET THE FIELDS REJOICE IN ALL THAT IS THEREIN.
THEN SHALL THE TREES OF THE WOODS SING OUT AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD,
BECAUSE HE COMETH TO JUDGE THE EARTH.
OH, GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD.

I pray that the Spirit of God will cause us to do that. I pray he'll cause us to see the sovereign God that we have and the sovereign work that he has done for his people. And I pray he'll cause us to say, thank you. Thank you, Lord, for saving our souls. Verse 34, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. for his mercy endureth forever. And say ye, save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory in thy praise. I pray that God Almighty will enable us to do that. For Christ's sake.

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.