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 text today will come from
1 Corinthians 1, but I would like to read a verse of scripture
to you from Colossians 3 first, if you have a Bible and would
like to follow along. The last line in Colossians 3,
verse 11, it says, Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all. The longer that I study the word
and think on these things of the truth and the gospel and
salvation, it's becoming more and more clear to me that this
is all about him. This really is all about the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when I say this, I'm talking
about everything. Every component of religion,
worship, all of it is about him. This is all concerning him, it's
all for him. True worship, when we talk about
worship and think about worship, true worship is all about him,
not about us. We're not here to worship us,
we're here to worship him. The more that he is the object
of our worship, the more we are truly worshiping. The gospel
is all about him. People talk about the gospel.
You hear that word all the time, gospel. Well, the gospel is all
about him. If we are going to preach the
gospel, we are going to preach him, Christ. Who he is, what
he did, who he did it for, why he did it, where he is right
now because of it, Him. It's all about Him. The gospel's
all about Him. Not me, not you. Him. It would be good if we would
just remove ourselves from the equation of the gospel. The gospel's
all about Him. God's true preachers preach Him. God's true people worship Him. True fellowship is around Him. True doctrine. People talk about
doctrine. What's, you know, this doctrine,
that doctrine, my doctrine, your doctrine. True doctrine is Him. True doctrine is a person. Christ is all and in all. That's our message every time. Every single time, literally
every time, Christ is all and in all. This is our message.
This is our gospel. This is our doctrine. This is
our hope. All of our hope is in the fact
that Christ is all. Christ is everything. Christ
is all of it. Now, I want us to see how Christ
is all and how Christ is our all from 1 Corinthians 1. That
is actually gonna be our text. And if you would like to turn
there with me, 1 Corinthians 1, we will begin reading in verse
23. It says, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block. That's a stumbling block. It interferes with their law.
Unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. That's not enough. But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of
God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. Not that God is foolish or weak,
but if he were, it would still be wiser than the wisest and
strongest of men. For you see, your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring
to naught, nothing, things that are, that no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption that according as it is written
he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. What he just said
was Christ is all and in all. That's what he just said. Now
let's see that and really enter into that, focusing on one verse
right here, verse 30. Verse 30, he said, but of him
are you in Christ Jesus? Of him are you in Christ Jesus? He tells us right there exactly
who he's talking to. He's talking to all those who
are in Christ Jesus. That's who this word right here
is written to. all those who are in Christ Jesus.
There are two types of people in the world. Those who are in
Christ Jesus and those who are out of Christ Jesus. Eternal
life is being found in Christ. That's eternal life. That's salvation. That is heaven. That is glory. Eternal death is being found
in that day out of Christ, not being in Christ. Our only hope
before the judgment throne is being found in Him. Now, how
do we get in Him? That's the question. How do we
get in Him? How does a sinner get in Him? in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, verse 30 right here says,
but of God, of him, of God, are you in Christ Jesus? It's a work that God does. It's a work that God does. It
is a work that only God can do. We hear something like that and
think, well, I've got to get myself in Christ. How can I get
myself in Christ? Well, I can't and you can't. It's a work that only God can
do. And it's a work that God has
already done. of Him are you in Christ Jesus? You are. If you are, you are. It's a work that God has already
done. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, God the Father placed every soul
that would ever be in Christ. He put them in Christ before
the foundation of the world, before the world was ever made.
That's when God the Father placed every soul who would be in Christ,
that's when he put them there, before the foundation of the
world. All right, well then how can
I know if he put me in Christ before the foundation of the
world? I want to be in Christ and I know you want to be in
Christ. So how can I know if he put me in Christ before the
foundation of the world? What is the evidence of a sinner
being in Christ? What does that look like? What
is the evidence? Here it is, all right, here it
is. We just read, I just read verses 23 to 31 to you, right
here in 1 Corinthians 1, and this is what we just read. Verse
27 says, God chose, all right? The foolish, the weak, and he's
speaking in spiritual terms. He's talking about religious
terms, religiously. The foolish, the weak, the low,
the despised, the nothings, who have nothing to glory in concerning
their flesh, their deeds, the life they've lived, nothing to
glory in, nothing to boast of. If a sinner is in Christ, that
sinner will cry out to God from the depths of his or her soul
saying, Lord, please put me in Christ. I need for you to put
me in Christ because I see no worthiness in my flesh. I see
no ability to put myself in Christ right here in this flesh. I see
nothing, nothing of any value before you. Please just let me
be found in Him. That's my only hope. Please put
me in Him. If I'm not found in Him, I don't
have any hope. I'm begging, I'm begging, put
me in Christ. That's the evidence of a soul
that's in Christ, a soul that's weak, a soul that's low, a soul
that is nothing before God. This is important because a soul
that is not in Christ will not see the need of crying out in
absolute despair. Please be merciful to me. Please
put me in Christ. A soul who is not in Christ will
not see the need of crying out and begging to be in Christ.
And here's the reason why. That soul will see himself or
herself, and again, we're speaking spiritually, religiously, in
the things of religion. That soul will see himself or
herself as being wise, mighty, lofty, desired, something. something in the things of God,
in the things of spiritual matters, in the things of religion. That's
what false religion produces in men and women. False religion
is everywhere. False religion is all over East
Tennessee and Southwest Virginia and Northwest North Carolina
and Southeast Kentucky or wherever it is you're watching this program
from. False religion's everywhere.
There are false religion buildings all over the place. You know,
church buildings all over the place. And they're false religion
because they're not telling people the truth concerning God, and
the truth concerning man, and the truth concerning salvation.
And here's how you can know if it's a false religion. Here's
how you can know. The people who attend those places
will be the product of their preaching and they will see themselves
as being wise in matters of God, worthy before him. They'll be
very self-righteous. They'll see themselves as being
something when they are nothing. something when they are nothing.
This word of God says all men are nothing. It says that this
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
False religion produces the opposite in people. It produces a lie
in people. They're lying to themselves,
they're lying to others, they're lying before God. They try to
put on a show of holiness when in reality, They are desperately
wicked. That's what I am in my flesh
by my nature. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. And the only hope we have is
getting honest before God and saying, Lord, please be merciful
to me. Put me in Christ. That's my only
hope. I must be in Christ. A person
who is not in Christ does not see himself in his flesh to be
in a hopeless condition before God, but a person who is in Christ
does. That's so. Based on this word
right here, that is so. Every soul who is in Christ is
desperately crying out for mercy. Every one of them. to that soul. Verse 30 says of him are you
in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now let's see how Christ is all
and in all four of those things that we just read there. All
right. Verse 30 says of him Are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom? Of God, by God, Christ has been
made unto us, his people, his chosen people, wisdom. Wisdom, that means Christ is
our wisdom. That's what it means. Christ
is our wisdom. We do need true wisdom. We need wisdom. We don't realize
how desperately we need wisdom. You know, in our simple way of
thinking, we think, well, yeah, it would be better to be wise
than to be a fool. Sure, yeah, I'm sure it'd be
a good idea to ask for some wisdom, to have some wisdom. Oh, no. It's not just a good idea. It's
life or death. It's life or death. Moses said,
oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they
would consider their latter end. David said, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Solomon said, with all thy getting,
get wisdom. Get understanding. He said, wisdom
is the principal thing. That's what Solomon said. All
right, well, what wisdom is he talking about? Is he talking
about the general wisdom of the world? No. Look at the end of
verse 20. It says, hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world? God has made foolish the wisdom
of this world. All right, well then does he
mean the wisdom of particular men of the world, not just the
general wisdom, but some particular men in the world who other men
consider to be very wise? No, that's not what he's talking
about either. Look at verse 19. He said, it is written, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise. and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent." Well, then what wisdom is he
talking about? What must we know? Here's the answer. It's not a
what, it's a who. We must know a person. A person is our wisdom. When we read the word wisdom,
It is speaking of Christ. You go through this Bible, you
look through this book, and when you see the word wisdom, you
think in your mind, Christ. Christ is the principal thing.
With all thy getting, get Christ. Oh, that they were wise, that
they understood this. We must have Christ. Christ is
our wisdom. Our Lord said to his father,
this is life eternal, that they might know thee. Not what, not
a certain doctrine, the. The Apostle Paul said every other
knowledge, he talked about all the knowledge he gained growing
up and he gained studying under this man Gamaliel and all the
knowledge he gained in the Jews' religion and the laws and all
of these things. He said every doctrine, every
religion, every law, everything else that there is to know, He
said it's all dung. It's all dung. Compared to this
right here. I must know Him. That's what
he said in Philippians 3. Oh, that I might know Him. He
is our wisdom. He is our knowledge. He is our
doctrine. He is our theology. Christ. What do you believe? Christ. I believe Christ. To know Christ
is to know it all. Matthew 11, 27, it says, no man
knows the Son, but the Father. And no man knows the Father,
but the Son. And to all of God's people in
Christ, it is going to be revealed that Christ is all. He will reveal
Himself to them. He will reveal the Father to
them in Himself. All, everything. In John 10,
our Lord said, my sheep know me, they hear me, they follow
me. That's wisdom. You wanna be wise,
know Christ, hear Christ, follow Christ? The apostle Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I
know whom. I know he's able. That's wisdom. That is wisdom. Christ is the
answer to every question. He really is. What must I do to be saved? Christ. Christ. Christ is the answer.
What must Christ do? What has Christ done? Look to
Christ. That's the answer. Christ is
the solution to every problem. He's our wisdom. He is our wisdom. He's our answer. So verse 30
says, Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness. Righteousness. That means rightness. That's what it means. It is the
act of doing right. And in our sinful flesh, nothing
is right. Do you realize that like I realize
that? Nothing is right, it never has
been, it never will be. Paul said in Romans 7, in my
flesh dwells no good thing. If the apostle Paul said that,
shouldn't you and I say that? In my flesh dwells no good thing. All I can say is, I'm just a
poor sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my all and
in all. He is our righteousness before
God. He is our good deeds. He is our
obedience. You go through the scripture
and when you see the word righteousness, think Christ. When we speak of
righteousness, we're speaking of a person. That's so. We're speaking of His good deeds.
We're speaking of what He has done, what He must do for His
people or His people have no hope. Christ is our righteousness. I love this verse. I quote it
often, Romans 10. It says here in Romans 10, verse
one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God You can see that throughout all of false
religion. They speak of God and they talk about doing things
for God and they have a zeal of God, he said, but it's not
according to knowledge. There's no wisdom in it. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. What is God's
righteousness? It's not a what, it's a who. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ, that's the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ is. He is our fulfillment
of the law. He is our perfect record of good
deeds. He earned that. He gave that. He applied that. We don't need
to try to earn our own to satisfy God. Gabe, you don't think people
ought to try to be good people? Well, sure I do. We ought to
be good citizens and good friends and good neighbors and all those
things, but that's not going to earn us a righteousness before
God. Christ had to do that for us.
He is our righteousness. In Him earning that for us and
satisfying God for us and doing everything that had to be done,
we can rest in that. We can truly rest from all of
our labors. as God has from His. That's what
Hebrews 4 tells us. So Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is our righteousness. And back in 1 Corinthians 1 verse
30 says, Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification. That means purity. That means holiness. Righteousness
is perfection without, indeed. Sanctification is perfection
within, in being. To stand in God's presence, we
must be perfect without and within. You know, there are a lot of,
I've said this before, there are a lot of bad people who can
do good deeds. You can have the head of the
mafia give a bunch of money for orphanages for children and things
like that. But it's not just outward, it's
inward too. Perfection, utter perfection
before God. Verse two in this chapter here,
it tells us we're sanctified in Christ Jesus. We're made pure
in him. He is our sanctification. Colossians 2 says we are complete
in him. cleansed in Him. We don't look
to ourselves for that, we look to Christ for that. So it says
here, of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Redemption means salvation. It means deliverance. It means
payment in full. Payment in full. Christ is all
of it. He is all of the reason. He is
the only reason for our redemption, our redemption to God. We are
saved only because of him. Ephesians four, let me just quickly
read this to you. Ephesians four, verse 29, it
says, let not corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, which
it does. but that which is good to the use of edifying that it
may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, which we do, you know we do, whereby you are sealed,
even though, he said, you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking, which we're so constantly
guilty of, He said, Let it be put away from you with all malice,
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Has God
forgiven his people because they're kind and they're loving and there's
no bitterness in them and all those things? No. Why has God
forgiven his people? For Christ's sake. It's because
he came to this earth and hung on a cross and bore the judgment
of God and spilled his blood to satisfy the debt of all of
their sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there was no remission. So Christ came, shed his blood,
made the payment of remission, and his people are saved in him.
For Christ's sake, they are all forgiven. All of that is given
to God's people in him. Christ is all and in all. And I'm gonna say this one more
time in closing, and I hope this is more clear and more evident
now than it was 30 minutes ago. The longer I go in this thing,
and I pray the longer you go in this thing of the gospel,
hearing the gospel, seeing the word, the more we will realize
this is all about Him. It's time we turn our eyes away
from ourselves and look to Him. Focus on Him. 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.