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
Matthew chapter 14, one verse specifically, it's verse 14.
Matthew 14, verse 14. Let's though begin reading in
verse 1 and we'll read down to it. It says, "...at that time
Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his
servants, this is John the Baptist, He is risen from the dead, and
therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For
Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in
prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John
said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when
he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because
they counted him as a prophet." They counted John as a prophet.
But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias
danced before them and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised
with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being
before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's
head in a charger. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless,
for the oath's sake and them which sat with him at meet, he
commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John
in the prison. And his head was brought in a
charger and given to the damsel. and she brought it to her mother.
And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and
went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people
had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and
he healed their sick." Herod beheaded John the Baptist and
when John's disciples heard that that's what had happened to their
dear brother, they went and asked if they could have his body and
they took it and they buried it. And then they went and told
the Lord everything that had happened. And when our Lord heard
their report, he got into a ship and went to a desert place apart
and a great multitude of people followed him. And when they got
to him, he healed every one of them that was sick. Verse 13
says, When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into
a desert place apart. And when the people had heard
thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them, and he healed their sick. Now, what initially strikes
me in reading this is how calmly our Lord responded to their news. Just how calmly. John's disciples
came and told him the horror of what had just happened. And
our Lord very calmly left that place and went about his good
business. Went about doing good. He went
to another place And he healed everybody who was sick. Now,
the reason our Lord responded so calmly to their news is it
was not news to him. This was not news to him at all.
It was news to them. They heard of it and just they
were sorrowed by it and had a heartbroken reaction to it. It was news to
them. But it was not news to him. Our
Lord himself is the very one who predetermined for that to
be done to John the Baptist. Our Lord is the one who allowed
it. Our Lord is the one who ordained
it. Foreordained. Our Lord is the
one who sovereignly reigns and rules over all things, even this. Can I say that again? Because
it's so based on the word of God himself. Our Lord is the
one who sovereignly reigns and rules over all things, even this. In Deuteronomy 32, he said, you
can read it for yourself. Deuteronomy 32, he said, I kill. He said, I wound. Job 14 says, man's days are determined. The number of his months are
with the Lord. The Lord God has appointed his
bounds. And man cannot pass, cannot pass
those bounds. Romans 8 says, whom the Lord
God foreknew, he predestinated to the life of
that man or woman, predestinated what would be the life of that
man or woman. Now you think about that, predestinated. Just really honestly think about
that. Predestinated. He appointed everything about
that person's life. A time to be born. Is that not
what the scripture says? What Proverbs says? There is
a time to be born. There is a time to die. Every time in between that. All
of it is appointed by the Lord. All of it is predetermined by
the Lord. Hebrews 9 says it is appointed unto man once to die. It's not an accident. It's not
an unfortunate circumstance. It's appointed by God Almighty
for all men. But most importantly, here's
where we're Here's the point we're coming to. Most importantly,
it's appointed by God Almighty for all men. But most importantly,
it was appointed by God Almighty for the God man. Christ himself,
even his death, if we get anything out of this message today, I
hope we get this. Even his death, especially his
death. was appointed by God Almighty,
Father, Spirit, and Son Himself. When He would die, how He would
die, why He would die. In John 10, this is what the
Lord Jesus Christ said. He said, I lay down my life that
I may take it again. I lay it down. I take it again. He said, no man taketh it from
me. I lay it down of myself. You've
heard people say, talk about how horrible the death and crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ was. And it, it was horrible. It was
the culmination of man's sin against God. That's what we did
to him. But you've heard people say,
well, if I would have been alive back then, I would have stopped
it. I would have never let that happen. God Almighty would not
have allowed any of us to do that. It was appointed by God
Almighty. God Almighty did choose to use
the means of some Jews and some Romans and a Roman cross. He did choose to carry this out
through means, but everything that they did, the scripture
says, was predetermined for them to do it. The Old Testament prophesied
of it, that they would rip out his beard and spit in his face
and lash his back and press thorns into his head. The Old Testament
prophesied of it. All of it was predetermined by
God Almighty. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was no surprise to God. No surprise at all to God. Our
Lord's reaction to John's death ought to show us something very
comforting concerning our Lord Jesus Christ's death. The fact
that Christ, his disciples begged for his body. You remember that
after he died, his disciples went and begged for his body
and they buried him in a tomb. That was not news to God. None
of that was news to God. That was the decease that the
father sent him to accomplish. That was the work that was given
to him, that the father declared, he shall not fail in it. He is
going to accomplish his own decease for the salvation of his people.
That was Christ's business for being here. That was his whole
business for being here. He said, for this cause came
I into the world. And I want to take what time
we have here this morning to look at that cause. I want us
to see the cause of Christ. I want our Lord's reaction to
John's death to be a reminder of the cause of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Okay. I've titled this message,
the gospel in one verse. That's what we have here. The
gospel in one verse. And here it is. Verse 14, Matthew
14, verse 14 says, and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude
and was moved with compassion toward them. And he healed their
sick. That is salvation. That right there is salvation.
That is what Christ accomplished in his death, his appointed death. That was his cause. That was
his cause. Jesus went forth and saw a great
multitude and was moved with compassion toward them. And he
healed their sick. That's what Christ did for his
people. That is the declaration of Christ. Jesus Christ and him
crucified. That was his cause. Now, let's
just focus on each line for a minute. Verse 14 says, And Jesus went
forth. This all started with him. Salvation there. healing from
sickness. This all started with Him. Many people do not realize this.
Many people do not realize this. A lot of people believe that
this thing of salvation starts with man, but it does not. It
starts with God. God did this. Salvation is of
the Lord. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. Because in the beginning, God. That's how it started. In the
beginning, God. That's how salvation happened. God did it. God did it. In the
beginning was the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word. The Word
was with God. The Word was God. And the Word
was made flesh and came to us, came and dwelt among us. Why? Why did God become flesh and
dwell among us? Why did God Almighty become flesh
and dwell among us? Matthew chapter one told us why. If you would like to look back
at Matthew chapter one, it says in verse 18, now the birth of
Jesus Christ was on this wise. when, as his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins." That's why he came to us. He came to
save us from our sins, even though our sins were so many, just so
many. The angel said, he, by himself,
alone. I love that word shall, he didn't
say he might. He might now, he's gonna try
his best. He didn't say that, he said he
shall save, save, cleanse, heal, redeem, justify, wash his people. His people. Did He come for everybody? Christ came. He came for a purpose. He came to accomplish a work.
Did He come to accomplish that work for everybody? Did He come
to do this for everybody? I'll tell you this, if He did,
He is a failure. Everyone is not saved. We all
know that. We all know that. There are men
and women in hell right now as we speak. So if Christ came to
save everybody, then he did not accomplish what he came to do.
He did not finish the work that his father gave to him. If he
died for one soul that's in hell, then he did not accomplish the
work he came to do. And we cannot put our hope and
our trust in His Word, in the promise of His Word. What He
did may or may not be enough to save us, if that's the case.
But thank God, I am so happy to tell us, thank God, here is
the truth of the matter. Not one drop of his blood. He hung there on that cross.
He was bleeding from his head, bleeding from his hands, bleeding
from his side, bleeding from his feet, bleeding from his back.
The blood just flowed and poured out of him. Why? Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. All of his
blood flowed out of his body and not one drop of it failed. Not one drop of it was wasted.
Not one drop of His priceless, precious blood. The blood of
Jesus Christ is the most valuable substance of heaven. God poured
out the most valuable substance of heaven to pay the debt for
His people. And every single drop accomplished
the purpose it was poured out for. Every single drop. Every
particular soul that blood was meant for, sacrificed for, shed
for, poured out on, every single soul in that blood was saved. Every soul. Call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. His particular
people from their sins. That's why He came. That's what
he did. And that's what our text illustrates
to us. If you go back to Matthew chapter
14, verse 14 says, and Jesus went forth. God did this. The Lord Jesus Christ did this
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 James chapter one says. He did this. Verse 14 says,
And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude. A great multitude. He wasn't looking at every single
soul on earth. He was looking at a particular
group of people. Thank God it was a great multitude. They represent His God-given
chosen particular people. Elect, the scripture calls them.
And it is a great multitude. I'm so thankful for that. I'm
so glad to hear that. The scripture says that God's
true elect people are a number that no man can number. That's
a lot of people. A number no man can number. A
great multitude. I love hearing that because that
means that there might just be room for me. There might just
be room for me and you. So thankful. Verse 14 says, And
Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with
compassion toward them. Moved with compassion toward
them. Why did Christ die for his people? Why did he die for
his people? There's a song that says, Why
did they nail him to Calvary's tree? Why? Tell me, why was he
there? Why did Christ die for his people?
He died for his people because he was moved with compassion
toward them. That's the reason why. What does
that word compassion mean? It means love. It means love. He died for them because he loved
them and gave himself for them. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us because He commended His love toward us. Greater love had no man. Is that not what the Scripture
says? Herein was love, not that we loved God, but that He loved
us and gave His Son to be the bloody victim, sacrificed, covering
for our sins. That's the reason why He saved
us. Why did He save us? That's the
reason why. That's the reason why He died
for us. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
blueprint. Oh, the love. Verse 14 says,
And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved
with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick." That's
what Christ accomplished in his death. The great physician healed
his sick people. Sick with sin. This great disease
called sin. When God the Son cried, it is
finished. It is finished. They are perfected. They are redeemed. They are purchased
back in the blood of my payment. When he cried that, God the Father
cried, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied with that payment.
I'm satisfied with their redemption. I accept their redemption. I
accept them in that redemption. And when God the Son cried, it's
finished, and God the Father cried, I'm satisfied, God the
Spirit cried, I'll go deliver the news. And that's what happens
through the preaching of the gospel. Through this means right
here, God the Spirit says to his people, live. Dead in trespasses
and sins, sinner, live. You are healed. You are well. There is remission. There is
remission. You have been quickened. You've
been revived, made upright again by the operation of the Son of
God. All because of His work, you
can now live and move and have your being. Live. Live. That's what Christ accomplished
in His death for His people. Life. Death to life. He Himself bore our sins in His
own body on the tree. that we being dead to sins should
live under righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. That means because of what Christ
did, everything he endured, everything he accomplished, the sin is gone. That's what it means. It is gone. Absolutely gone. That's the good
news of the gospel. If you'd like to turn over to
Jeremiah chapter 50, I'm going to read a verse of scripture
to you. And this is the absolute good news of the gospel. Jeremiah
50 verse 20. This is one of my favorite verses. It says. And in those days. And in that time, saith the Lord. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for in that great day, God's going to send out the seekers.
You go search out the iniquity, the sin of my people, and see
if you can find it. And it says, in those days and
in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none gone. And the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them
whom I reserve. They're all gone. Now I have
a couple of minutes left and I'm gonna see if I can tell you
a quick story before it's time to go. A dear man who I love
very much who died a couple of years ago at the age of 92. This
is a story that happened to him when he was 21 years old in 1948.
He was driving in a car with his friend and it was pouring
down rain and he didn't see a stop sign and he ran that stop sign
and hit another car. A woman was driving that other
car and he tore up both cars and the woman had a gash over
her forehead. And this dear man felt so bad about it. And the
officer gave him a ticket to appear in court. And he was nervous
about it. He was 21 and he'd never been
to court before. So he called his father from
Birmingham, Alabama to come up to Chattanooga, Tennessee with
him to go to court. So his father came. And they
sat in that courtroom, it was full of people, and he said they
were there for two or three hours. And one by one, a case would
be called, and the offender would go up, and the judge would deal
accordingly, and then they would leave the courtroom. And so there
were less and less people as time went on, until finally,
he and his father were the only two people left in the courtroom.
And the judge looked at him and the judge was looking through
his papers, kind of fumbling through his papers. And he looked
at him again and fumbled a little bit more and searched. And he
finally said, son, what are you charged with? And this dear man
stood up and he said, uh, I was driving and it was raining and
I ran a stop sign and I hit another car and I'm so sorry and this
and that. And the judge said, yeah, I understand all that,
but what are you charged with? and he didn't know what to say.
So the judge looked at the police officer and said, what is this
young man charged with? And the officer standing there
started looking through all of his papers, and he finally said,
I have no record of any charge. And the judge said, no record
of any charge? The officer said, no, your honor,
no record. So the judge fumbled through
his papers one more time, went through it real, Real good. And
he looked at this young man and he said, son, there is no charge
against you. You are free to go home. And
that's what will be said to all of God's people who were covered
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation,
no charge. It is all removed. It's all gone. That's the gospel. May the Lord
bless that word to our hearts. 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.