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. If you
would like to join me in the scripture, we will be in James
chapter one today, James chapter one. And I want to open this
message by acknowledging that all of God's people love God's
sovereignty. All of God's people love God's
sovereignty. God's people have been made to.
All who love God love him for being God. God's people love
his sovereignty. They love the fact that God has
the right to be God. God is not trying to be God. God is God. He is the sovereign
God. God's people love the fact that
God has the power to be God. They love the fact that God has
the wisdom and he has the judgment and he has the authority and
the command to be God. The God who does what he will
with whom he will. That's God. The God who does
what he wants with whoever he wants. That is God. God's people love knowing and
believing in their hearts that they have a God reigning over
them. Reigning and ruling over them. Now we could spend all of our
time here pointing out all the ways that false religion has
gone wrong in not declaring and believing on and bowing to God
for who he is. Sometimes we do that. Sometimes
we do spend our time pointing that out. Sometimes we do spend
our time pointing out how man has brought God down in his mind
and in his religion. Even though man cannot physically
bring God down, he has tried to in his own mind, in his own
heart, in his own religion. We could spend all of our time
pointing out the error of man thinking that he has a say with
God. Man thinking he has a say in
the matter. Man thinking he is in a cooperation
with the sovereign God. We could point out the error
that man has in thinking that God needs him. That God needs
man because God cannot do anything without man. We could spend all
of our time exposing the lie of man's will and man's work
and man's worthiness of anything before God, but we're not gonna
do that today. We're not gonna do that today.
For this message, we're going to take this time to just declare
our sovereign God. We're going to declare the sovereignty
of our God. We're going to declare who he
is, what he has done, how he did it, and why he did it. And then after we declare that,
we'll stop. This message is a who, what,
how, and why. who, what, how, and why. Let's
read every bit of that. In James chapter one, look with
me at verse 18. It says, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. who, what, how, and why. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures." From that one verse, we can clearly see that
our God reigns. Our God reigns. That's what Isaiah 52 said. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. That's the awakening cry of the
truth of God's word. Behold your God, your God, not
your co-pilot, your God. Thy God reigneth. Over in Revelation
19, this is Revelation chapter 19, the first six verses say,
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people
in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power
unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments, for he hath judged the great whore, and that's false
religion. He hath judged the great whore
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged
the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia, and her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the
four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped
God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia." Praise the Lord. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. reigneth. He reigns. The king reigns. Verse 16 right here says, He
hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of
kings and Lord of lords. That means he is the greatest.
He is the highest. Everything is subject to him. Everything is subject to him. A song says the Lord is king
and bow to him we must. Great is he. Great is he. Crown him with many crowns. Crown
him Lord of all. The word Lord, the name Lord
means sovereign. Sovereign of all. He does what
he wants, when he wants, with whom he wants. No one hinders
him. No one stops him. No one changes
his course. He's the sovereign. That's what
a sovereign is. It's someone who does what he
wants, when he wants, with whom he wants. That's a sovereign. In Daniel chapter four, King
Nebuchadnezzar, he found that out the hard way. He found out
the truth concerning God the hard way. He thought he was somebody. He got up and looked at all that
kingdom. He said, look at everything I've
done. And God dealt with him harshly. If you know the story
of Nebuchadnezzar, you know God dealt with him harshly. And after
it was all over, God dealt with him mercifully, very mercifully. He restored Nebuchadnezzar. And
Nebuchadnezzar said, I was wrong. I was wrong. I used to honor
myself. But he said, I don't do that
anymore. He said, I now bless and praise the most high. the Most High. He said, I now
honor him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation,
and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. That's what God revealed to this
man. Every person on this earth is
nothing, reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? Nobody. In Isaiah 43, the Lord
said, I am God, I will work, and who shall let it? Who will
stop me? Who do I have to get permission
from? Don't you hate the lie of false
preachers? Don't you just hate the lie of
false preachers that stand up and tell people that you have
to let God do something? Won't you let God? Don't you hate that? You have
to let God do something. You have to give him permission
to save you. Now, if you don't let him save
you, he can't save you. That's not true. This is God
we're talking about. This is the God who does what
he wants, when he wants, with whom he wants. That's just a
lie. That's a lie on God. Look over
at Psalm 115, if you have your Bible there. This is such a good
Psalm. Psalm 115, 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? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. He has done whatever he was pleased
to do. I'm very happy to tell you today,
this is what he was pleased to do. I have good news. The gospel means good news. This
is what he was pleased to do. He's sovereign. He can do anything
he wants to do. But this is what he was pleased
to do. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. That's what he did, that's what
he was pleased to do. Verse three right here in Psalm 115, our
God is in the heavens, he's done whatsoever he's pleased to do.
Now verse four says, their idols, that's every other God that men
and women are worshiping. You hear that and you think of
something, you know, made, fashioned in gold or silver or something
like that. An idol is anything right now
fashioned in the mind, whether we make it with our hands or
just with our mind. If it's not this God, if it's
not the true God of the Bible, if it's not the sovereign God
of the scripture, it's an idol. And men and women all over this
world, all over this country, all over this town are worshiping
idols, gods that are not this God, gods that are no gods at
all. Pitiful gods, little g, lowercase
g gods. Verse four says, their idols
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. What that means is you have to
help them. That's what it means. Their gods
need help. That's what this is saying. Not
our God. Not our sovereign God. Of his
own will, beget he us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now, let's start
with this phrase right here. Of his own will. Salvation is
of His own will. It's of His own will. Creation
was of His own will. We did not help Him. We did not
have a say in the matter. It happened before we ever even
came along. That's how it is in salvation. Creation was His
own will. Election was his own will. That was God choosing a particular
people to save. Redemption. That's the payment
of Christ's blood that put away the sin of his people. That also
was of his own will. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what Jonah came to realize. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what all of God's people come to realize. Romans 9 says, Our
Lord, the Lord God said unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. You know, people stand up and
tell the lie that man has to exercise his will. It's not of him that willeth.
Nor of him that runneth. but of God that show with mercy.
It is not of man's will. It is not of man's works. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of God, it's not
of man, it's of God. Man does not have a free will
and quite often I say things that I feel like I need to just
tell you, I understand that's a shocking statement to hear
because it's said so often, it's said from so many pulpits by
so many men, it's not true. It's not true. Man does not have
a free will. Mankind has a bound will to sin. Man's will is to sin. Man's will is to sin, starting
with a child. Children, you don't have to teach
your children to sin. They just do it anyway. You don't
have to tell, okay, now honey, this is how you lie, all right?
This is the truth, and what you do is you don't say the truth.
You say something. You don't have to teach a child
how to lie. It's in his nature to lie. It's in his nature to
sin. That's what man is drawn to.
Man is so drawn to wickedness. Man is so drawn to flesh. Man
is so drawn to lust. You have to fight those things
because that's what we're just drawn to. Our will is bound to
sin. It's bound to sin. If it were
left up to man, if salvation was left up to man, there would
not be any salvation. Here's the condemnation our Lord
said. Light came into the world and men loved darkness rather
than light. They didn't love light, they
loved darkness. Man would remain bound to sin
and he would remain bound to rebellion against God had salvation
been left up to man. Man would do nothing more than
willingly reject God if it were left up to man. That's so sad. John 6 the Lord said, No man
can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him. No
man can. But listen to this. In John chapter
5 he said, You will not come to me that you might have life.
You will not. You know, it'd be one thing if
man wanted to, but couldn't. You know, there's a lot of places
that I may want to go, but I just can't. A lot of things I may
want to do, but I just can't. I'd love to flap my arms and
fly. I think that would be pretty amazing. I just can't. It'd be
one thing if you wanted to, but couldn't. But because of man's
sin, our Lord said man doesn't even want to. He would rather come to his free
will than come to Christ. That's what man would prefer.
You say salvation's of the Lord. Man says, no, I don't want to
come to that. I want to come to my own decision. I want to
come to my own will. I want to come to my work, my
way, my salvation. Therefore, the Lord said in John
chapter one, my people were born, spiritually born again, saved,
quickened, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man." They weren't born into salvation. No one else
could will a sinner into salvation. A man cannot will himself into
salvation. A man cannot just decide to be
saved. It's of God. It's of God. And that's our second phrase
and our second point. Of his own will begat he us. The word begat means to bring
forth, to birth, to give life to. And that's what God did for
his people. He gave life to them. Man enters into this world spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins, physically alive. but spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. This is something that many people
don't realize and they don't understand because we all see
our physical life. Our minds can understand physical
life and we think that that translates to spiritual life, but it doesn't. That which is flesh is flesh.
That which is spirit is spirit. Man naturally believes that because
he can work in physical matters, Man believes he can work in spiritual
matters, but he can't. Mankind is spiritually dead.
How can a dead man work? That's the question. How can
a dead man work? There's an old saying that has
been passed down for years. Wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. wrong on the fall. If we don't
realize what happened when man sinned in the Garden of Eden,
when Adam sinned, he didn't just get in trouble, he died. And if we don't realize that,
and we're wrong about that, we will be wrong on everything that
comes after that. When man sinned against God,
he died. He spiritually died. And that's
why salvation has to be by grace. That's why life has to be by
grace, not by works. Man died. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, his people, even
when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together with Christ.
He begat us in creation. And then we sinned and we lost
our spiritual life. But in his goodness, he begat
us again. He begat us again to an eternal
inheritance. He begat us to a lively hope. And this is the third phrase.
This is the third point of his own will. Begat he us, he gave
a spiritual life, he quickened us again, with, and that means
by way of, the word of truth. Christ is the word. Jesus Christ
is the word. Christ is the truth. He said,
I am the way, the truth, the life. John 1 says, in the beginning
was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. So Christ is the word, Christ
is the truth. And where we just quoted from
a moment ago in Revelation 19, it declares Christ as sitting
on a white horse and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word
of God. The Word of God, the very one
who said, I am the truth. And if you know the truth, the
truth shall make you free. Free through that vesture dipped
in blood. He dipped himself in the sin
of his people. And then he dipped himself in
his own blood to cover that sin to pay the debt of that sin. It was his own blood that atoned
his people, covered his people, appeased God, paid the debt. Without the shedding of blood
the scripture says there's no remission of sin. No remission
of sin. Us saying I'm sorry that will
not put away sin. us saying okay I'm going to make
a decision from here on out I'm going to do better, I'm going
to do right. That will not put away sin, that will not put away
the sin that we will continue to commit, that will not put
away the sin we've already committed. There's only one thing that will
put away sin, blood and it must be spotless blood, must be holy
blood, it must be pure blood, it must be the blood of the Lamb
of God. So that's why Christ, the word,
the truth, he came and shed his own blood and he died so that
his people might live. He came and stood in the place
of his people so they could stand in the place of him. That's what
Christ did. He became guilty before God when
all of the sin of his people was taken from them and laid
on him and pressed into him. bearing the sin of his people.
They don't have it anymore. Where there's no sin, there's
innocence. If sin is not there, there's innocence. And where
sin is, there's guilt. And he made himself to be guilty.
That's amazing. He became guilty before God,
bearing the sin of his people. and died under that guilt so
that his people could become innocent and live before God. And that's our last phrase and
our last point. Of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth, Christ, that we might be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. He begat us. He redeemed us. so that we might belong to him
and live with him. That's just amazing, isn't it?
God made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin. so that we
might be made the very righteousness of God in Him." You know, in
the blood of Jesus Christ, if God the Father chose us, if Christ
redeemed us, if the Spirit has called us to a knowledge of the
sovereign God, who He is, what He did, how successful He was
in doing it, and what this declaration really says, if God has caused
us to see that, In Christ, we are as spotless and perfect and
holy as he is because he has removed all the sin of his people
from the cradle to the grave. People wonder, well, okay, he's
going to put away the sins I've already committed, but what if
I sin again? What about future sin? Every
sin was future sin for me and you. Christ died 2,000 years
ago. All of my sins were future sins.
And I will still commit sin, and I hate that. But his blood
has already covered even the sins I've yet to commit. He's
already removed them by laying them on himself. And in him,
his people are as holy and spotless and pure as he is. Now that is
amazing. That's amazing. We might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That's what God was pleased to
do. That's a happy announcement,
isn't it? And that's what he did. He's sovereign. He can and
he will do whatever he's pleased. God's sovereignty is the greatest
news a sinner will ever hear because this is what he was pleased
to do of his own will. Begat he us with the word of
truth that we might be a first fruits of his creatures for all
eternity. I pray the Lord will reveal that
to us and cause us to bow to the sovereign God. 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.