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. Isaiah 52 is going to be our
text. But we are going to begin this
message in Ephesians 1. If you would like to read along
with me, we're going to start in Ephesians 1. And I would like
for us to think for just a moment about the mystery of our Lord's
will in how he is going to gather his people together in himself. to an inheritance, the scripture
says, and a reward of glory. I'd like for us to just think
about that for one moment, how he is gonna gather all of his
people to himself, in himself, the mystery of his will in this,
in bringing a reward and an inheritance to his people. If you look with
me to Ephesians 1 verse 8 says, wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. God has revealed to us in the
pages of his book exactly what he has purposed for his people
for all of eternity. In the same way that the Old
Testament revealed the mystery of Christ's coming, all of the
Old Testament described and foretold of Christ's coming. and the events of the New Testament. The Old Testament told us what
would happen, everything that would happen. It said a virgin
would conceive and would bring forth a son and he would grow
up the sinless son of righteousness and he would willingly give himself
and victoriously ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, that's what the
scripture said, that's what happened. It said he would be taken from
prison. It said he would be marred more
than any man. He would be numbered with the
transgressors and he would give his life a ransom for his people. And it said he would rise the
third day and reign as king forever. It plainly told all of those
things, but men and women couldn't see it until it was revealed
to them. It told us, it told us, it told us, it was always
there. But it was like men and women had scales on their eyes.
That's what the apostle Paul said. He said, it was like I
had scales on my eyes and couldn't see. But on the day of Pentecost,
when the Holy Ghost came, that's when Peter said, He told all
the other disciples, he said, men and brethren, the scriptures
foretold of all of this. He realized it, it was revealed
to him. He said it was always there,
but now we plainly see it in the same way that that's how
it was with the old Testament concerning Christ's coming. That's
how it is in the new Testament concerning his return. There
are things that have been revealed to us. The mystery of His will
has been revealed to us. There are some things we can
see. I believe there are many things that we can't. I believe
He declares the fullness of it and we have not yet had it revealed
to us. But what things we can see, I
pray that the Lord will reveal those things even more. So verse
eight right here says, wherein He hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath
purposed in Himself." It's all His good pleasure. Everything. It's all His purpose. That's a word that we all need
to learn and know something of. God's purpose. God's purpose
in all things. Everything that happens is according
to His purpose. His will and His purpose. And
that's what's going to be done. His purpose. And here it is. Verse 10 says, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, even in him, in whom, still speaking of Christ, also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. that we should be to the praise
of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. God the Father, to
the praise of the glory of God the Father, who was the first
one to trust in Christ. Before the foundation of this
world, all of the purpose of God was set in order. All from
the end, from the beginning, He knew everything in the end.
All of His works were known to Him. And God the Father entrusted
all of the work of God to be accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. He put it in his hands. And he
said, I trust that you're going to accomplish this. And he did.
The Father was the first one to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in that work that was given to him, it says right here that
he is going to gather us is how the scripture words it, meaning
his people, his chosen people. He is going to gather us, not
a form of us, not a vague memory of us, not a different us. New, yes. He said, I make all
things new. Better, yes. Hebrews is telling
us, oh, everything's better in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect,
yes. Right now we're full of sin and
we're full of everything that's wrong. Perfect, righteous, holy,
yes. But it's not going to be a different
us. It's going to be us. And I sincerely pray that He's
talking about me and I pray He's talking about you. I pray He's
talking about us. I pray we are one of His people.
I pray the Father chose us. And the Son came to redeem us.
And the Spirit has, through His Word, called us and given us
a faith to look to Him and to believe on Him. I pray this is
us. He is going to gather the us
together in one. That's what's going to happen
when this is all over. Christ is going to come back. everything
is going to be gathered into one, into Him. One body, there's
going to be one body, one assembly, one place, there's only going
to be one moment in time. Back in Exodus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ said Moses wrote of me When Moses
was talking about Jehovah and God and all, he said, Moses wrote
of me. He said, everything in the law and the prophets was
concerning me. And he told Moses in Exodus,
Moses said, what's your name? Who should I tell the people
that sent me? He said, you tell them I am sent you. I am. And that's what he said when
he was on this earth and Judas brought that mob to him to take
him. He said, whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. He told some Pharisees
before Abraham was, I am. And that's how it's going to
be in glory. I am. One moment in time, time will
be no more. I am. He is. We are. both the people that are already
in heaven and the people who are still on this earth. When
he comes back, he's going to gather all of us together in
himself, in himself. Verse 11 says, in whom or because
of whom also we have obtained an inheritance obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Now, that's
what I want us to think on for just a minute here. I titled
this message, We Have an Inheritance. We have an inheritance. Christ
is that inheritance. All things that are in him is
that inheritance. All the blessing of the father.
which is in him. That's the inheritance. Verse
12 says that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ in whom you also trusted after that you heard
the word of truth. And this is the means that the
Lord has chosen to use to reveal these things to his people. This
is why the Lord raised up this method of preaching. It pleased
the Lord by the foolishness of preaching. And he said, when
you heard the preaching of the truth of the word of God, verse
13, in whom you also trusted, you believed it, you trusted.
After that, you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Sinner, salvation for sinners. In whom also after that you believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory. God's spirit, after
we hear the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, he gives
faith and he causes us to believe. And that faith that he gives
to us, that's of him, not of us, that's his earnest to us. You know, whenever you buy a
house, You put earnest money down saying, I'm making a promise
here, I will buy this. Well, that's his promise to us.
We are sealed with the spirit of promise through the faith
that's given to us to believe on Christ and to believe these
words and to bow to our God. Verse 14 says, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of his glory. He gives us that faith until
he comes back to gather us. Verse 15, where for I also, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all
saints, Paul said, I cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayers. And all of God's people do that
for each other. We thank God for each other,
that he would call us as brethren in the family of God. I sincerely
pray, I'm talking to a camera right now, but I believe in my
heart someone's on the other side of this lens, listening
and believing the truth of God's word. And I pray for you, pray
for you in Christ. Verse 17 says that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray
God would increase our wisdom and our knowledge of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray He would reveal Christ
to us. Verse 18 says, the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us word who believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ. It's where God did
everything for his people in Christ. When he raised him from
the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
his own right hand is not a location. That's an office. When it says
that Christ sits at the right hand, that means the seat of
honor. That's what the little phrase
translates to, the seat of honor. He is seated on the throne. That's
what it means. The father raised him from the
dead and seated him on the throne. And that's where he sits right
now. They said, David, where's your God? He said, my God's in
the heavens doing whatever he wants to do. seated on his throne. Verse 21 says far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come far
above. And he hath put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. This place of gathering and this
place of inheritance is the very place where Christ is seated
on his throne. God the Father is going to gather
all of his people to his throne. It's a place that's far above
everything else. It's a place that's worthy of
his glory. It's a place that is most definitely
to the praise of his glory. In verse 21 says, it's far above
all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named not only in this world but also in that which
is to come. That is kingship, that's what
that is. That is lordship, that's a kingdom. Now, after seeing that, turn
with me if you would over to Isaiah 52. If you would like
to read this with me, I'm gonna go over to Isaiah 52. While you're turning there, I'll
tell you that earthly kings throughout time, there have been kings after
kings after kings, and they are recorded in the word of God.
We have so many kings. For each one, it will tell us
how long he was a king. It'll say, and he reigned however
many years, and then it says he died. And then a new king
comes along and it says in the word of God, and he reigned however
many years and then his time was over. And then another king
comes along and it says, and he reigned and that was it. Each one got a very small passing
fleeting moment in time and he reigned and he reigned. and he reigned, all right? But
look with me at Isaiah 52, the last three words of verse seven,
it says, thy God reigneth. I love that. Thy God reigneth. What tense is reigneth? You know, reigned, we just talked
about all those kings, and he reigned, that's past tense. What
tense is reigneth? That's right now tense. That's
what it is. And that's forever tense. Right
now and forevermore, thy God reigneth. He reigneth. And this is the place where he
reigns. He's going to gather together
in one all things. all of his people in Christ. And when he does, this is where
he's gonna gather them to, all right? This is the calling. This is the bringing together
right here. Look with me at verse one, Isaiah 52, verse one. It
says, awake, awake, put on thy strength. We live our life here
on this earth in weakness. We live it in weakness, weakness
of the flesh, weakness of our sin. But Christ has reserved
an inheritance for us, and that inheritance is strength, strength. And when the dispensation of
the fullness of time comes, And it's time to be gathered into
the inheritance of His glory. This is what we're gonna hear,
awake, awake. When He comes and He gathers,
He's gonna say, awake, awake, put on thy strength, which is
Christ. Christ, He is our strength. We're
gonna hear, it's time. It's time, go ahead, physically
wear Christ. All of God's people right now
are in him, spiritually in him, but there's going to come a moment
in time when God's people will be physically in him, physically
robed in him. Verse 1 says, Awake, awake, put
on thy strength, O Zion, a particular people, God's chosen people.
Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for
henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised
and the unclean. In Isaiah 61, the Lord said,
I came to give beauty instead of ashes. to my people. He said, I came to exchange the
spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise. And that beautiful
garment is the very perfection and the very righteousness of
Christ himself. And in that moment, we're going
to hear, it's time to put it on. We're in his righteousness
and we are complete in him right now, spiritually. But there will
come a point when we are allowed to wear it. physically, we are
allowed to be not just in soul, but in body, exactly what Christ
is. Awake, awake, put on thy strength,
O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised
and the unclean. Sin is never going to touch you
again. That'll be the announcement. Verse two, shake thyself from
the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from
the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Take a load
off. That's what it's saying. It's
over. It's over. Come in, sit down. take that band off your neck.
You're not in bondage anymore. Right now. God's people are bound
to sin. We're bound to self. We're bound
to this, the captive captivity of the world. But one of those
day, one of these days, the announcement will come. You're free. You're
free. Verse three says, For thus saith
the Lord, You have sold yourselves for naught, and you shall be
redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord God,
My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there,
and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore,
what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away
for naught? They that rule over them make
them to howl, saith the Lord, and my name continually every
day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know
my name, Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he
that doth speak. Behold, it is I." He said, you
sold yourselves into bondage, the most awful, horrible bondage
and sin. But he said, I brought you back. And I did not do it with money.
Peter said, we were not redeemed with corruptible things such
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. That's what he bought his people
back with. As of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world for
this, and was manifested in these last times for you who by him
Do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave
him glory that your faith and hope might be in him. That's
who he did it for. That's who did it, what he did
and who he did it for and why he did it. That's our beautiful
gospel. That's the gospel. That's the
garment of praise. That's our strength. Christ Jesus,
our Savior and our Lord. Christ, our Savior and our Lord.
Verse seven says, 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. How beautiful. Who has brought
good tidings to us? Who is it exactly that brought
good news to us? Who published peace to us? Who is it that published and
declared salvation for us? Here's our question. Who owns
these beautiful feet? How beautiful are the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Christ Jesus the Lord, he's the
one who brought the good news. He's the one who brought peace.
When he came down, peace came down. When Psalm 2 says, kiss
the son lest he be angry, God's people know that means his feet. That means his feet. Bow down
and kiss his glorious, beautiful, precious feet. The feet that
brought the gospel to us. The Lord went to have dinner
in a Pharisee's house one time and when a sinful woman of the
city knew that he was there and knew that he was her savior,
knew that he was her only hope, it says that she brought an alabaster
box of ointment and she stood at his feet weeping and she began
to wash his feet with her tears and she did wipe them with the
hairs of her head and kissed his feet. and anointed them with
the ointment. And the Lord told the Pharisee
whose house he was in, he said, this woman right here belongs
to me. She is with me. She is one of
mine. And I'm sure that made her want
to kiss his feet all the more. Oh, kiss his feet, kiss his feet. Verse seven says, 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 watchmen
shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they
sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring
again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together,
you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His
people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare His holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. Where did he make bare that
holy arm? Golgotha's hill, the cross of
Calvary, the place where war was staged from the judgment
throne of God on the sin of his people. There's a song that says
up Calvary's mountain one dreadful born, walked Christ my Savior
weary and worn, facing for sinners death on the cross that he might
save them from endless loss and he did. This chapter goes on
to say he was marred more than any man. Read Isaiah 53 sometimes. Oh, he was bruised, he was wounded. Everything that he endured for
the sin of his people. But this is what it says, and
I'm out of time, but I'm just gonna tell you this. It says,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to do
this to his own son for his people. And to that we cry, thank God.
And because of that, in Him, all who have been given faith
to look to Him, they are all going to receive the inheritance
of Him and everything that's in Him. To that, we give God
all the glory. 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.