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. We are
going to look at a very glorious portion of Scripture today. Truly,
a glorious portion of Scripture. Matthew 3, verses 16 and 17 will
be our text. And Matthew 3, verse 16 says,
And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, And he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Think about
that. Is that not glorious? Is that
not absolutely glorious? Just like when Moses was told
to take his shoes off because he was standing on holy ground. That's what we have right here,
holy ground. This is holy ground. This is
a moment between God, the fullness of God in three persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit, without man. And this is just
an awesome and holy thing to look at and consider. The glory
of the accomplishment of the Son is declared right here. The
witness of the Spirit is declared right here. And the announcement
of the Father is declared right here. Oh, the glory of hearing
the Father say, my beloved Son. You just think about that for
a minute. Just try to enter into the heart
of the Father towards His Son. My beloved Son. In those three words, we hear
the love of the Father for Him. My beloved Son. We hear the confidence of the
Father for Him. We hear the fact that the Son
is the apple of the Father's eye. All of the apple of the Father's
eye. The only apple of the Father's eye. And in the Father's announcement,
we hear the glory of the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we just read. We
just read the glory of the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to truly enter into
that today. If you have never seen the glory
of the gospel, if you wonder what is the gospel, I'm telling
you, This is it. If it has ever been declared,
this is it. This is straight from the mouth
of God the Father. This is it. In this one sentence,
God the Father declared the fullness of eternal salvation. The announcement
of the Father is the gospel. The announcement of the Father
is the message. It is the only message to preach. From the father's announcement,
we're going to find our outline this morning. This is our message
today. This is our gospel. And this is the outline we're
going to follow. Okay. In verse 17, he said, this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That word beloved means,
when you look up the word, this is what it means, esteemed, dear. It means favorite. This is my
favorite son. It means worthy of love. This, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. That's the gospel. You can just
put a period right there because that is the gospel. That is the
message of the gospel. Our outline today has three points. The first point is, this is my
beloved son. The second point is, in whom? And the third point is, I am
well pleased. I'm well-pleased. This is my
beloved son. And again, this is the father
speaking. This is my beloved son in whom I am well-placed. All right, point number one.
The father loves the son. The father loves the son. When we get to point number two,
We're gonna see that any sinner that the father says he loves
is only because of the son. That's what we're gonna see here
in just a moment. The father's love has been given to the son,
the son of God, the only begotten of the father. He said this,
he alone is my beloved. He is my beloved. The Father
has made it very clear where His love lies and His favor lies. Sometimes people say, I'm sure
you've heard this statement, and people mean well in saying
it, but they'll make the statement, what does God even see in me?
What could God possibly see in me? Well, I'll tell you this,
He doesn't see anything in me, not anything good anyway. There
is nothing good to see in any man or woman because all have
sinned, all are sin, all are ruined by sin. The eye of the
father is singled in on his son. The eye of the father is looking
on Christ alone. The message to God's people is
look to Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the reason that's the message is because that's what God the
Father is doing. He is looking to Christ. God
the Father looks to Christ. God the Father trusts Christ. He put the work in Christ's hands
because he trusted Christ. All of God's people are looking
to Christ. All of God's people are trusting
Christ. Everything looks to Christ. He's
the center of it all. So the eye of the father is singled
in on his beloved son. He said, this is my beloved son,
my well beloved, only worthy, favorite son. He's my favorite. He's the only
one worthy. Over in John chapter three, this
is what verse 35 says. It says, The father loveth the
son and hath given all things into his hand. The father loveth
the son and has given all things, everything, everything. The father said, all of it goes
to him. He's given all things into his
hands. The father said, I want him to
have it all. He gets it all. John chapter
five, verse 20, it says, for the father loveth the son, and
showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater
works than these that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. For the father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. The
Father loves the Son so much He has said, the only way you
can honor me is by honoring my son. That's what the father has
said to all men and women. He said, if you don't honor him,
you can't honor me. You cannot honor God. You cannot
honor God the father. You cannot honor the Godhead
without honoring Christ, Christ the son. There was another time
that God the Father spoke out loud. Our text in Matthew 3,
God spoke out loud from heaven. Well, there was another time
that the Father spoke out loud, and when He did, He said that
very thing. If you'll turn with me to Matthew
17, it says in Matthew 17, verse 1, After six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And
his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as
the light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah talking with them." Now, Moses and Elijah
had been gone for quite a while, many, many years. And they're
talking with the Lord Jesus Christ about the decease that he should
accomplish for his people. And when that was over, verse
four says, then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it
is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here
three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for
Elias, one for Elijah. Peter said, Lord, if you're okay
with it, we'll honor you and will honor Moses and will honor
Elijah. And God the Father cried out
loud from glory, absolutely not. Absolutely not. And that's going
to be the cry when man tries to approach God honoring Christ
and the law. And that's what men do. They
want to honor Christ and to that they want to honor the law, which
is what Moses represents. And they want to honor the prophets,
which is what Moses represents. And God the Father cried, absolutely
not. No flesh is going to glory in
the presence of my Son. no other flesh but Him alone. Verse 4, Then answered Peter,
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye Him." Hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard
it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. Oh, they were
sore afraid. God the Father cried, no, you
worship Him. You're not gonna worship Him
and Moses and Elijah. You're not gonna worship Him
and the law and the prophets. You bow down to Him alone. And
when they heard that, the fear of the Lord came to them. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They were so afraid. Verse 7 says, And Jesus came
and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. And when they
had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And that's what a sinner will
see when God the Father reveals the glory of the gospel, the
glory of the truth, the glory of the message to a sinner, they
will see Christ alone. That's the desire of the father
for all of his children that they might see and hear and bow
down to and worship Christ alone. And if that's his desire, that's
what's going to happen. He said, every knee is going
to bow. And every tongue is going to
confess that my Son is Lord. My Son is Lord. In Isaiah 42
verse 1, he said, Behold my servant, my Son, whom I uphold, whom I
have raised up, highly lifted up and exalted, mine elect, The
one that I choose, He said, I've put my spirit, I've put my blessing,
I have put my approval upon Him. He is the one that's going to
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And aren't we so thankful for
that? I'm a Gentile. Any soul who's not a Jew is a
Gentile, and that's the glory of the gospel. It's not just
to Jew only, it's to Gentile too, out of this entire world. Thank God. And with that declaration,
the father said, in this work I've given him to do, he is not
going to fail. He shall not fail. He is going
to accomplish everything I sent him to do. So the father said,
this is my beloved son. Look at him, look to him, hope
in him. This is my beloved son. because
the gospel, the good news of salvation is only found in him. Look to him. It's only in him. In the father's announcement
concerning Christ, he revealed the gospel to us. He declared
where salvation is found. He said, this is my beloved son.
And then he said, here's point number two, He said, in whom? Oh, those two words. If we could
just get ahold of those two words. I pray God will reveal this to
us today. I pray He will reveal this to
me and reveal this to you. I pray we'll get ahold of this.
In whom? Oh, the depth of those two little
words. In whom? That's where every blessing
from the Father is found. Men and women hope, come the
end of their lives, to receive a blessing from God. That's where
every blessing is found. That's where all of God's love
is found. In whom? It is all in whom. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. In whom? In Christ Jesus, who
walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. No condemnation. Why is that? How can that be? Why does being in Christ free
sinners from condemnation? It's because verse 39 says, right
here in Romans 8, verse 39 says, that's where the love of God
is. Look at verse 38, it says, I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nothing. Verse 39 says, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You
ask people, where is God's love found? The average answer is
everywhere. God's love is everywhere. It's
found in everything. That is not so. The love of God
is in one place. It's in Christ. All of God's
love is in Christ. If we want the love of God, we
must be in Christ because that's where all of it is. It's all
found in Him. All of God's love for His people
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. What was the love
of God for his people? That's where it is. It's in Christ.
What was the love of God for his people? What did what did
he do? What did that love cause him to do? Well, look right here
at Romans 8 verse 32. It says, he that spared not his
own son Can we enter into this? Have we seen that all of the
love of God is in Jesus Christ, the son? The father loves the
son and has committed all things to the son and glorified the
son. Listen to this. He that spared
not his own son. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. Who are the us all? Who did the
father deliver his own son up for? The end of verse 28 says,
them who are the called according to his purpose. Verse 29 says
it's the ones that he did foreknow before the foundation of the
world. That means elect, choose. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate. It's every soul He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Verse 30 says, Whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. It's every soul that the Father
has called by the Spirit of God. In whom He called, them He also
justified. In whom He justified, them He
also glorified. That's who the us all are. Every
soul that the Father chose to place in Christ and to give to
Christ. The love of the Father for His people is found in the
fact that He spared not His only begotten, only beloved Son for
those people. God the Father placed all of
his love and all of his mercy and all of his forgiveness in
the sacrifice of his son. And he said, that sacrifice is
not going to be shed in vain. If a man is going to have life,
he's going to have to have that life in and through the sacrifice
of my son. It's not going to be by man's
own works. Can we see how disrespectful
and how offensive it is for man to not acknowledge the salvation
that God supplies by sacrificing his own beloved son and man saying,
well, I'll just make my own. I'll just produce my own and
earn my own. Do we see what an offense that
is? The father said, it's not going to come through anything
other than the sacrifice of my own son. If a man or a woman
is going to have eternal life, it must be by the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not going to be by our works.
It is not going to be by our own worthiness or goodness. It's
going to be by the offering of the son of God alone. He that
hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God
hath not life. This is my beloved son. In whom? In him. It's all in him. Nowhere else. No thing else. No one else. In whom? Over in Ephesians 1. In Ephesians
1 verse 1, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Paul said, that's who I'm writing
to, those who are in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you. in peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's where it is. It's all
in Christ. Verse 4 says, According as he
hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted
in the beloved." Do we see that? How he keeps coming around and
he keeps qualifying this by saying it's in Christ. It is in Christ. Only in Christ. Verse 7, he said, We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. It is all in Him. Our acceptance
with the Father is all in Him, in the Son, in Christ. And God
the Father said, in Him, everything that happens in Him, I am well
pleased with it. That is good news. I'm telling
you that is good news. If it's in him, the father said,
I will accept it. I will be well pleased with it. I want to tell you a true story.
Hopefully I have time here in the rest of this program to get
through this story. Back in the days of the Civil
War, there was a Union soldier who got word that his mother
was dying. And he wanted to go see her before
she died. And he was in Washington. and
was hoping that he could receive a leave from the military to
go see his mother. So he made his way to the White
House and he walked up to the front steps and there were two
guards standing by the door of the White House and they wanted
to know what his business was. What did he want? And he said,
my mother is dying and I want to go see her before she dies
and I'm hoping that I can receive a leave from President Lincoln
to go see her. And they said, well, that's not
possible, you can't. And he said, I'm begging you, would you please
let me in? And they said, no, we're not
gonna let you in. And so to make a long story short, he finally
said to them, you don't understand. And they said to him, no, you
don't understand. We're under orders that no one
comes in this door. and you're not coming in. You're
not authorized and you're not coming in. Well, the man finally
realized that his hope was lost. So he turned around and walked
away and he sat down on the steps and he put his head in his hands
and he just started crying. And while he was sitting there,
the story is told that a little boy walked by and he saw this
man crying and he stared at him for a minute and then he sat
down next to him and he asked him, he said, what's wrong, mister?
And the man cried and said, son, you wouldn't understand. And
the little boy said, well, tell me anyway, what is it? He said,
no, son, you just wouldn't, this is too much for you. And he said,
well, tell me. So the man explained to him,
my mother's dying, and I want to go see her, and the only chance
I have is if President Lincoln would give me a leave to go see
her, and I can't get in. And the little boy said, well,
I'll take you in. He said, come on, get up, let's
go. And the man said, what? The little boy said, come on.
So they stood up and they turned around and walked right back
up the steps of the White House. And they walked right through
the front door, no questions asked. And they walked down a
hall to another door where more guards were and walked right
through that door, opened the door and walked right into the
Oval Office. And right there sitting at a
desk was President Abraham Lincoln. And President Lincoln looked
at that little boy and said, what can I do for you, son? And
that little boy said, Dad, this man needs to see you. And President
Lincoln gave that man his leave and he saw his mother. Now, do
you see how that man, outside of the son, there's no entrance
in, there's no acceptance with God. You see this story in this
picture? But in the Son. You know why
that man got in to see President Lincoln? The Son. That's the
only reason. It was all because of the Son.
And this is the gospel. If there's going to be any entrance
and any acceptance for any of us, it is only going to be in
the Son. All because of Him. Look to the
Son. Cast yourself on the mercy of
the Son, hope in the Son, because here is the declaration of the
gospel from God to His people. This is my beloved Son. I love
Him. Whatever His heart's desire is,
that's my heart's desire. This is my beloved Son, in whom,
in Him, nowhere else. in whom I am well pleased." I
am so well pleased, I accept him, I accept all who are in
him. You come to God in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will not be turned away, you will be accepted. May
God cause us to come that way in the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.