Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. Our message today is going to
come from 1 Corinthians chapter 2. First Corinthians chapter
two, verse two says, for I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. What a wonderful verse of scripture
that is. What a wonderful declaration
that is. The apostle Paul said, I determined,
I've made up my mind. not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified period period that is a very
important verse of scripture it's an important verse of scripture
to me it's an important verse of scripture period it very simply
declares what the message of the gospel is if you want to
get to the heart of the gospel That's it right there. And by
God's grace, that is all that we will ever know and preach
and believe. If he is gracious to us and if
he reveals his gospel to us, that will be our message. That will be what we cling to. Paul said he was determined not
to know and not to preach anything other than Jesus Christ crucified. Because in verse one, if you
look at the verse in front of it, he said, I brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. He said, that's what
I declared to you, the testimony of God. And he said in verse
two, for I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is the testimony of God. Sometimes men and women will
stand up in front of each other and give their testimony. That's
something that men and women like to do from time to time.
They are giving their word of truth. That's what they're giving.
They're giving their record of good news. Well, God has given his testimony. God has given his record of truth. He has given his word of good
news. What is it? Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's what it is. 1 John 5 verse
9 says, God has given us the testimony of His Son. That's God's testimony. If you
look at chapter one right here, first Corinthians chapter one,
verse six, it says, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you, Christ himself is God's record. He is God's Word. He is God's witness. He is God's truth. We speak of the Word of God.
Christ is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word was
made flesh. We speak of the truth. Christ
said, I am the truth. Christ is God's testimony of
good news. And Paul said, for that reason,
I've determined not to know anything else. Nothing else and not to
preach anything else. But Jesus Christ. And him crucified. Now, what I want for us to see
today is. Jesus Christ crucified is the
entire word of God. What is all of it saying from
the first page to the last page? Every book, every chapter, every
verse, every word, what is it pointing to? Jesus Christ and
him crucified. I don't want to come to you with
any excellency of speech this morning, just like the apostle
Paul said. All I want to do is show how all of the Word of God
is speaking of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, somebody
will hear that. Somebody will hear Paul say,
and I say it with Paul, by God's grace, somebody will hear that
I don't want to preach anything. I don't want to know anything.
Except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they're going to hear
that and say, well, what about the rest of the Word of God? You mean that's all you're going
to preach every time you get up into the pulpit. That's all
you're going to preach on. You're just going to speak on
Jesus Christ and him crucified. What about the rest of the word
of God? What about the Old Testament? Turn with me, if you would, to
Luke chapter 24. OVER IN LUKE 24, THIS IS A WONDERFUL
WORD FROM OUR LORD. IN LUKE 24, VERSE 26, THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST SAID, OUGHT NOT CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED THESE
THINGS? THEY WERE SPEAKING OF HIM DYING
ON THE CROSS. THE DISCIPLES WERE SAD BECAUSE
THEY SAID, WE THOUGHT HE WAS OUR REDEEMER AND OUR SAVIOR,
BUT HE DIED ON THE CROSS. THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND. AND THE
LORD SAID, OUGHT NOT CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED THESE and to enter
into His glory and beginning at Moses," It says, beginning
at Moses. Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets of the Old Testament, He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now, I don't know if
your Bible is like mine, but I have a center margin in my
Bible, a center reference and where it says beginning at Moses,
it gives, it lists scripture after scripture and Genesis and
Numbers and Deuteronomy. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, it gives me Isaiah, many scriptures in Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, just scripture after scripture, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures. the things concerning himself.
And then right here in verse 44, he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Me. Every time you see the word
Lord, every time you see the word God, who is that talking
about? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Isaiah said a son is going to
come forth. A son is a child is going to
be born. Son is going to be given. The
government's going to be on his shoulders. What's his name? Wonderful
counselor, the mighty God. Not just God's son, the mighty
God, the everlasting father. What's his name? This child that
will be born, the everlasting father. That's his name. The
prince of peace. That's his name. So Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, every word of the scripture points to Him.
And I love how it says in verse 45 right here. Then opened he
their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
And when God sends his spirit to a person. And gives life to
him and quickens him spiritually. That's what they understand.
They understand the scriptures. They see Christ crucified in
all the scriptures. Verse 46, he said unto them,
thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. That's what he opened
their understanding to in all the scriptures. Verse 47, and
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. He said, you're
witnesses of these things. So all of it speaks. of Jesus
Christ and him crucified. There's an old story that I love
so much. It's a story of a young man who
was called on to fill the pulpit for the pastor who was away.
This young man was called on to preach and He studied for
it and when the Sunday morning came, he stood up in the pulpit
and delivered his message and after the message was over, he
stepped down from the pulpit and he went up to an elder there
in the church and he said, what did you think of my message? And the elder said, I thought
it was a very poor message. And the young man was shocked,
he said, poor? Why did you think it was poor?
Did you think my delivery was no good?" He said, no, your delivery
was fine. He said, well, did you think
I didn't put in the time to study? And he said, no, clearly you
put the time in to study. He said, well, why did you think
my message was poor? The elder said, your message
was poor because Christ wasn't in it. And the young man said,
well, Christ wasn't in the text. The elder said, son, in every
portion of scripture, there is a road that leads to Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And our business is to find that
road and get on it. And that's the truth. IF WE'RE
GOING TO PREACH THE WORD IN TRUTH AND IN SINCERITY, WE ARE GOING
TO PREACH JESUS CHRIST CRUCIFIED IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES. ALL THINGS
POINT TO HIM. OUGHT NOT CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED
THESE THINGS? DIDN'T THE SCRIPTURE DECLARE
THAT HE WOULD AND THAT HE MUST? ALL OF THIS WORD SPEAKS OF WHAT
IT CALLS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. God, I want us to understand
that God Himself on the throne. God was manifest in the flesh. His name is Lord Jesus Christ. The word Lord means sovereign. If you look up the definition
of the word Lord, it means sovereign. It means ruler, controller, God. That's what it means. That's
his name of deity. Jesus means man. It's his name of humanity. Christ
means both. 100% God, no less. 100% man,
no less. The God man. Christ means he
is the God man mediator. the only mediator, Lord Jesus
Christ, the only hope for sinners. All of this word speaks how the
just God, God is holy. God is just. God must do what's
right. He can by no means clear the
guilty. He's holy. He's just. All of
this word speaks of how the just God made himself to be the just
savior of his sinful people. Just and
justifier. The Lord Jesus Christ crucified. IF YOU LOOK WITH ME AT FIRST
TIMOTHY CHAPTER THREE, IT SAYS IN FIRST TIMOTHY THREE VERSE
SIXTEEN WITHOUT CONTROVERSY, GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. GOD CAME DOWN. AND IT SAYS HE
WAS JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT. HE WALKED THIS EARTH AND THE
SPIRIT LOOKED AT HIM AND SAID, PERFECT, NO SIN. only righteousness. The Spirit descended like a dove,
landed on him and said, absolute perfection. And it goes on to
say, he was seen of angels. He was seen of angels when they
announced his birth. He was seen of angels when they
strengthened him after he was tempted in all points, like as
his people were, he was in the wilderness for 40 days, tempted.
He was seen of angels when he bowed his head and gave up the
ghost. And he was seen of angels when
they rolled the stone away from the tomb and he walked out of
it. So it's as great as the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
into glory. that is the testimony of God. How Christ came and gave Himself
to be the sacrifice for the sin of His people and because He
willingly offered Himself to the judgment of God, that judgment
had to be satisfied and because He died under that judgment,
with his death for a payment. In his death, that sin debt is
paid. And his people are free. Because
he died, they live. And because he finished the payment,
he lives. He satisfied the payment, so
he lives. God raised him from the dead. Outside of Christ,
when men die, they die eternally because they'll never be able
to satisfy the payment. But Christ did and he arose and
he lives and he has taken his rightful place on the throne
of his glory. He went right back to the throne
that he humbled himself from. That's the testimony of God.
And that's what all of the word of God speaks of every bit of
it. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. The Lord slew
an animal. and He covered Adam and Eve in
the skins of that animal. That's Jesus Christ crucified.
Another died in their place. They sinned against God and another,
something else, someone else, died in their place. And through
that death, God covered their sins. That's Jesus Christ crucified.
In the days of Noah, When God literally rained down His judgment
on this earth in the form of rain, it all fell down. Everything
in the earth died. Everything except for Noah and
his family and whatever was inside that ark. That ark bore the judgment. for Noah, his family, and whatever
was inside that ark. That's Jesus Christ crucified. God rained down his judgment
on Noah. God rained down his judgment
and his wrath on Noah's family and everything that was inside
that ark. But that ark was their covering. That ark was their
hiding place. That ark was their safety. That
ark was made to be their mediator between God and man. And because of that, they lived.
In Him, they live. That's Jesus Christ crucified. That's what that is. In Exodus,
the Passover lamb, I'm sure you know the story of the Passover
lamb. That's Jesus Christ crucified. God said that the firstborn male
in every house is going to die because of sin. He said, but
if you have a substitute who will die for your house instead
of your firstborn, he said, when I see the blood of that substitute,
I'll pass over you. Your debt will be paid, I'll
be satisfied. That's Jesus Christ crucified.
In Leviticus, you may have heard the story of the scapegoat. I
won't go into the details, but there's a story of a scapegoat
and they would take this scapegoat and the priest would symbolically
lay all the sins of the people on that scapegoat. And then a
fit man who represents the law, who represents justice, would
lead that scapegoat far away to a place where that goat could
never return. That's Jesus Christ crucified,
the one who bore the sins of his people and took them to a
place where those sins can never return from. Christ crucified. In the book of Numbers, I'm sure
you've heard of a story of the serpent on the pole. Moses and
the children of Israel, they were out in the wilderness and
the people were being bitten by deadly snakes because of their
sin. It's always because of their
sin and they were dying. And God told Moses to make a
serpent of brass that looked just like the snakes they were
being bitten from. And he said, you put that on
a pole and you lift it up. And he said, you tell the people
to look to that serpent on the pole. And if they look, they'll
live. They won't die. What he said
was you take the very thing that's killing them and lift it up on
a pole. And he said, if they look, they'll
live. If they see their death being
right there, they'll live. That is Jesus Christ crucified. Why was Christ crucified? Here's
the reason. It's because he was made to be
what was killing us. Our sin. Made to be the very
thing. He was made to be the sin of
his people. And our Lord plainly said in
John chapter three, verses 14 and 15, he said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. He said in John 12, 32, if I
be lifted up, men and women will live. He said, look unto me,
look unto the Christ of the cross, and be ye saved, Christ crucified. The smitten rock, if you've heard
the story of the smitten rock that Moses struck with his rod
because of the murmuring sin of the people, that rock was
Jesus Christ crucified, smitten by the justice of the law so
that life might flow out of it for the people of God. In Deuteronomy,
there's a story of the city of refuge. If any man has sinned,
there is a place of safety. There's a place to hide from
the wrath to come. That's Jesus Christ crucified.
In the book of Joshua, Rahab's scarlet line. You may know that
story of Rahab, that blood red scarlet line, that token of promise,
that binding covenant. When we see that scarlet line,
we'll spare your house. That line, the only way of escape,
they were let down through that scarlet line. That's Jesus Christ
crucified. His blood being the only way
of escape. In the book of Ruth, There's
a story of Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, the only man who had
the right and the ability to redeem, to buy back Ruth and
Naomi and everything that they had. That's Jesus Christ crucified,
our kinsman redeemer. Job said, I know that my redeemer
liveth. Who was he talking about? Jesus
Christ crucified. Job is considered to be the very
first book ever written. Speaking of Jesus Christ crucified,
David sparing the life of Mephibosheth. If you know that story of Mephibosheth,
he said, I'll spare his life for Jonathan's sake, representing
Christ, for Christ's sake, Jesus Christ crucified as God for Christ's
sake has spared us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
being delivered from the fiery furnace. Daniel being delivered
from the lion's den. It's all Jesus Christ crucified.
Jonah in the belly of the whale. Jesus Christ crucified. Our Lord
said that's the only sign that'll be given. Hosea taking this horrible
woman, Gomer, to be his wife. That's Jesus Christ crucified.
Zechariah said the righteous branch is coming. Malachi said
the Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings is coming
as Jesus Christ crucified. Matthew said He's here. Call
His name Jesus for He shall save. Call His name Emmanuel because
God is with us. The prophets said He's coming.
The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John said He's here. And
now the entire New Testament, all the epistles, all the apostles
say he's coming again. Who's coming again? Jesus the
Christ who was crucified. If you look with me at Revelation
chapter one, last book of the New Testament, verse one says,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Most people think this is the
revelation of Armageddon. It's not. This is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. What about Jesus Christ? What
does this book reveal? Look at verse five. From Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the
dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Jesus Christ
crucified. The entire word of God speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. Our Lord from the cross cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And it's because
our sin was laid on him. For our sake, God forsook his
own son. For our sake, God slew his own
son that we might live. He was made to be our sin that
we might be made to be the righteousness of God in him. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. Why was he crucified? Because
it pleased the Lord to bruised him. That's what God predetermined
for to be done. So in this one event, we see
all the love of God for his people. We see the grace of God to his
people. We see the mercy of God to his
people. We see all of the mystery of
godliness. We see all of the word of God.
It's the foundation and the basis of the gospel. It is the message. And my prayer is that God will
give us eyes to see it in all of his word. My prayer is that
God will, by his grace, make us determined to know nothing
among each other. saved Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May God reveal that to us through
His Word. 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, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.