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 would like to bring a message
to you today from Colossians chapter three. If you would like
to read along with me, I will be in Colossians chapter three. And the last line of verse 11,
the very end of verse 11 says, Christ is all and in all. What a wonderful line that is.
Christ is all And in all, Christ is everything. Christ is everything. And he is the reason for everything. He is everything. And he is the
reason for everything. He is the accomplishment. And he is the reason for everything
concerning us. Everything. And that's what I
want us to enter into today. Christ is all and in all. His work is all and what He accomplished
in His work is all. In everything that He did, He
did it all. Christ is all. Christ is all. I'd like for us to consider what
He accomplished in all that he did, his work, and what he accomplished
in it. That's what I want us to look
at this morning. Now, there was a man who lived in the late 1800s
and the early 1900s named J. Wilbur Chapman. That was the
man's name. And he wrote a song that we sing
in our hymnal here in our congregation. And every time I think about
the words of this song, I think two things. Number one, I think,
I believe this man knew the gospel. I believe this man knew something
of the truth of the gospel. And number two, I think, I do
not believe that the work of Christ could be more clearly
set forth than the way he set it forth in the words of this
song. I think he so clearly declared Christ and his work and his accomplishment. And the song is called One Day. That's the name of the song,
One Day. And in the chorus of that song,
Mr. Chapman wrote, living, he loved me. Dying, he saved me. buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day." That was Christ's work and that's what He accomplished
in His work. That's what the Father sent Him
to do. And that's what he did. Now in those lines Mr. Chapman told us Christ was all
and he was in all. That's what he's saying. Christ
did it all. Christ was the reason for it
all. And from the scriptures, I want us to see that. Let's
enter into the fact that Christ was doing and accomplishing all
of the work for his people. And I want to use that simple
outline that Mr. Chapman gave to us in his song. Okay. We're going to start right
here. This is what our Lord was doing
in accomplishing the work that his father sent him to do. Living,
He loved us. The Father sent Him to earth.
He came in the form of man as man comes into this world, as
a infant born into the world. And He grew up and He lived.
He was on this earth for 33 and a half years. And in the entire
portion of His life, what He was doing, what He was accomplishing
the whole time that He walked this earth, is he was loving
his people. He was earning a righteousness
for his people. He was earning a perfection for
his people. Living, he was loving his people. Let's see that in John chapter
11. In John 11 verse five, it says,
now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. He loved them. He loved them. What a blessed people. You know
that? What a blessed people to be loved
by the Lord Jesus Christ. What a thing to be said about
a sinner. What an amazing thing that could possibly be said about
a sinner, that the Lord Jesus Christ loved that sinner. Right here in John 11 verse 32
says, Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw
her weeping and the Jews also weeping, which came with her,
he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. That means he troubled
himself. And he said, where have you laid
him? They said unto him, Lord, come
and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold, how
he loved him. Behold, how he loved him. Oh,
behold, that's so beautiful, isn't it? He loved Him. He loved them. He loves all of His people. Every soul the Father gave to
Him, He loves them. In John chapter 13, verse 1,
it says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew
that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this
world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end. He loved them unto the end. That's what he did while he was
in this world. He loved his own to the end. He loved his people to the end. Verse 23 right here says, Now
there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus
loved. We're in the gospel of John and
the apostle John, he was talking about himself. He never said
his own name. He always said the one whom the
Lord Jesus Christ loved. And we think of the humility
in that, that John would not say his own name. But think about
the boldness of that. John said, I know he loved me.
He kept saying the one whom the Lord Jesus Christ loved. I know
he loved me. He proved it to me. He told me,
he proved it, he walked with me, he talked with me, he told
me I was his own. Verse 34 right here, the Lord
said, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another
as I have loved you, that you also love one another as I have
loved you. Romans 8 verse 37 says, we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. We've been
made to be conquerors all because he loved us. His love was the
reason for it all, that's the point. His love was the accomplishment
of it all. Galatians 2.20 says, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me. and gave himself for me." Ephesians
2 verse 4 says, But God who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he loved us, he was rich in mercy toward us. That's
what we sinners need is mercy. We need mercy and forgiveness
for our sins and he was so rich in mercy toward us because he
loved us. Ephesians 5 verse 25 says, Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. Revelation 1 verse 5 says, unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
he loved us. He loved his people. He loved
every soul that the father chose and gave to him to redeem and
to save. Living, he loved us. That's what he did. It's not
that we loved him, the scripture says, but that he loved us. Greater love had no man. God
commended His love toward His people. So it was all because
of Christ. Hopefully we can see that. It
was all because of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father choosing us
was all because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Isaiah
42, the Father said, Christ is my elect. That's what the father
said. Christ is my elect. I choose him. That's what he
was saying. I choose him. And in Ephesians one, he said,
I have chosen you in him only because of him. He was the accomplisher
of love. And he was the reason for love,
living. He loved us. He loved his people. That is just such a beautiful
declaration to me. That's good news. That's what
you call good news. Now, Mr. Chapman, in his song,
he went on to say, dying, he saved me. Dying, he saved me. His people. Dying, the Lord Jesus
Christ saved His people. Another song says, Up Calvary's
mountain, one dreadful morn, Walked Christ my Savior, weary
and worn, Facing for sinners death on the cross, That He might
save them from endless loss. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. He shall. How is He going to
do that? He's going to suffer and die
the judgment and the penalty of God for the sake of His people,
in the place of His people. Everything that's owed to them,
He's going to take it upon Himself. A song says, blessed Redeemer,
precious Redeemer, seems now I see him on Calvary's tree,
wounded and bleeding for sinners pleading who were blind and unheeding. Unheeding, they didn't obey,
they didn't listen, they didn't come, they didn't desire, but
he was dying for those very people. Dying for me, the song says.
Christ was all in our salvation. Christ is all. When it comes
to salvation, Christ is all and in all of it. It's not Christ
is some of it and we're the other part of it. He is most of it
and we're the rest. Absolutely not. Christ is all.
He is all in our salvation. This is what Hebrews chapter
1 says. Hebrews 1 verse 1, it says, God
who at sundry times and in divers manners or different manners,
different ways, spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds." Now listen to verse three. It says, "...who being
the brightness of his glory," God's glory, "...and the express
image of his person," God's person. can only be seen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it says, He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. He, by himself, purged the sins
of his people. By himself. Salvation is not
a cooperation between God and us. Christ accomplished it alone. By himself, he satisfied everything
that the law had against us. The law had condemnation against
us because of all of our sin against the law. It said, you've
broken the law, you've broken the law, you've broken the law,
in every way, shape, and form. And by himself, Christ satisfied
the law for us. By his own blood, he paid the
debt of the law for us, and he obtained eternal redemption for
us, alone, alone. When he by himself alone suffered
and bled and died on the cross of Calvary, there's another song
that says, a ransom was found. You've heard of a ransom price. You have to pay the price. If
you want to get the reward, you got to pay the ransom price.
Well, a ransom was found. Yes, a ransom was found. Love
paid the price on Calvary's mound. Judgment was met, the law satisfied,
and mercy was born when a ransom was found. That's where mercy
was born, right there at the cross of Calvary. There's one
reason only for our forgiveness. One reason only for our redemption
with God. and it's the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not us changing our ways. It's not us doing anything. There's one reason only, it's
the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only reason. Ephesians
4 verse 32 says, it's for Christ's sake. That's why God forgave
us. That's why God accepted us. It's for Christ's sake. When
it comes to the accomplishment, of our forgiveness and the accomplishment
of our redemption and the accomplishment of our salvation, Christ is all
and in all, period. Living, he loved his people.
Dying, he saved his people. I love this. Buried, he carried
our sins far away. Like the ordinance of the scapegoat,
you may have heard of in the Old Testament there was a ordinance
on a scapegoat. They would take a goat and the
high priest would symbolically, not literally, but symbolically
transfer the sins of the people to the goat. He would lay his
hands on the head of the goat and symbolically it represented
Christ. And with all the sins of the
people being laid on him, they would take that goat as far as
it could possibly be taken so that there was no way the goat
could find its way home. And that represented the sins
of God's people being taken so far away, there's no possibility
of them ever returning again. In that, they were gone. Not
only did Christ save us, but he sanctified us, he cleansed
us, he removed all of that from us. Not only did he spare us
God's wrath and punishment, but he washed us. And he made us
clean. Not only did he deliver us from
judgment, he completely rid us of what brought judgment to us
in the first place. Completely rid us of it. You
may remember more than 10 years ago, 10, 12, 13, I don't know,
there was a big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm sure
if you were around then, you probably remember it. And it
required a huge cleanup effort, huge. And part of that cleanup
effort was to go gather all the animals that suffered from this
oil spill, all the birds that were just covered in oil. They
would land down in this oil and it would get on them and then
they'd try to get out and they would get stuck and weighted down and
they'd just become covered in oil. The news was showing pictures
of these boats, these people would get in boats and they'd
go around and reach down and scoop up these birds and deliver
them. They would reach way down Like
our God did for us, our God did for his people. They would reach
down and scoop them up and deliver them from death. That certain
death had they just been left there. They would die. And they would scoop them up
and they'd put them in the boat and deliver them from all that
destruction. But that's not all they did.
After that, they would take them back to their lab or whatever
they had there and they would wash all that oil off of them.
And they would scrub those birds down and I remember seeing video
of that and it was so precious to see them just get clean, spotless,
removed from all that oil, washed away. And then once it was all
gone they set them free. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for his people. Not only did he deliver them
from death But he removed all that spot from them and he removed
all that stain from them and everything that was bringing
them to death in the first place and then he set them free. That's
what he did. Living he loved us, dying he
saved us, buried he carried our sins far away, so far away they
are gone never to return again. And if you want to see one of
my favorite verses of scripture, it's Jeremiah 50 verse 20. It says in those days and in
that time, saith the Lord in that great day, the great day
of the Lord, when all of his people go to be with him and
they're standing before the throne of glory. In those days and in
that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel, that means
his chosen people, all the redeemed people, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, they shall
be sought for, it says, and they shall not be found. for I will
pardon them whom I reserved." All of my reserved people, they're
going to be washed, cleansed, pardoned. All their sins are
going to be gone. In Christ, because of Christ
alone, the sins of God's people are taken away, away. Our sins are all taken away,
never to be found again. Is that not wonderful news? Buried,
he carried our sins far away. That's what he did while he laid
in that tomb for three days. That's what he accomplished.
And then three days later, rising, he justified his people freely
forever. That's what he did when he arose
from that grave with the sin being gone. Now it's all gone.
The father said, accepted, accepted. Well done. Worthy as the lamb
and every soul in the lamb. is worthy with Him, worthy in
Him. He is justified. What He did,
God said, justified in it. He is justified and all of His
people are justified in Him. Every soul the Father placed
in Him. Ephesians 1 says, and that's to the praise of the glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In other words, Christ is all.
Christ is all in our justification before God. This is what Romans
3 says. Romans 3 verse 19, it says, Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. We know that the law says
every soul has sinned and is guilty before God. Verse 20 says,
That means we cannot obey the Bible and earned the reward of heaven.
We can't. We just can't. If we could obey
God's law, we would walk through the gates, but we can't. Only
Christ did. There's only one man who obeyed
the law. For us, verse 20 says, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. It just keeps
showing us what sinners we are. Verse 21 says, But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Christ was manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. That means everything was pointing
to him. All the scripture was pointing to him. even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation." That means
an atonement, a blood covering. through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That means in Christ,
God was just in punishing our sins. And God was the justifier
of us because Christ accomplished that punishment. Verse 27 says,
where is boasting then on our part? It's excluded. By what
law? Of works? No, by the law of faith. Just look into Christ. Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. How are we justified? Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Here's what that means. Christ
is all. That's what it means. Christ
is all and in all. It's all because of Him. He is
the reason for every bit of it. Living, He loved us. Dying, He
saved us. Buried, He carried our sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. Now one day he is coming, oh
glorious day. One day soon he is coming back
to gather all those who he was made to be all for. Does that
make sense? He is coming back to gather all
who he came to do all of that for. One day soon, all those
who look for him and wait for him and desire his coming, Christ,
all of our comfort, Christ, all of our joy, Christ, who is all
of our hope and all of our salvation, Christ, the only one we're looking
to, the only one we're waiting for, He will come back to gather
us to Himself. He will. One day soon, He is
coming back for all of His people. And it's going to be a glorious
day. It's going to be such a glorious day. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him." Every soul that has gone to be with
Him is coming back with Him on that great day. Verse 15 says,
"'For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words." Isn't that glorious?
Every soul he accomplished this for, he's coming back for every
one of them. And in John 17, he said, none
of them will be lost. That's our gospel. That's our
good news. 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.