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. I would like to bring a message
to you today from Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45, if you would
like to turn and read along with me. And while you're turning
there, let's consider the fact that God's word is eternal. It is eternal. Everything that
he says is eternal. Everything God has written is
forever. Not one word that he has spoken
will ever pass away. Nothing in the holy word of God
will be forgotten or skipped over. Every word that he spoke in the
beginning, it will stand true in the end. That's an important
thing to remember, isn't it? So his word to man a few thousand
years ago, that's his word to man today. Many people believe
God has changed and that God's word has changed and that God's
dealings with men and women have changed, but it's not so. He is the Lord. He changes not. That's what he said. God changes
not and his word changes not. It's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And this is what he said, this
is his word. If you want to look with me at
Isaiah 45, the end of verse 21 says, he said, there is no God
else beside me, a just God and a savior. There is none beside
me. So verse 22, he said, look unto
me and be ye saved. all the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word
is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto
me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear." Or confess,
every tongue will confess. God has revealed himself in his
word. We need to know who God is and
God has revealed himself in his word. Men and women naturally
wonder about God. Have you ever wondered about
God? Men and women wonder, how can
we know who God is? How can we really know? How can
we know what to expect from Him? When we go meet Him, how can
we know? What will He be? What will He
say? What will He do? Well, He has revealed Himself
in His Word. If we're going to know anything
about God, then we need to know His Word. We need to know something
of his word. If we do not know his word, we
cannot know God. It's vital that we know his word. If we do not know God, that's
a terrible condition to be in. It means we're in a dead state.
That's what it means. If we do not know God, it means
we're lost. Our Lord said, this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." We must
know him, we must. It makes me so sad, it honestly
makes me so sad when I see people and hear people talk and know
by the words they say that they do not know who God is. They
have no idea who the true and living God is. That makes me
so heartbroken for them. It's why I preach. It's the whole
reason I preach. I attended a wedding one time
many years ago, but the man who was conducting the ceremony,
he ended his ceremony with a prayer to God. He said, whoever he or
she may be. That's how he ended the prayer.
To God, whoever he or she may be. Well, that man does not know
who God is. Self-admittedly, it came out
of his own mouth. He said, I don't know who you
are, whoever he or she may be. I was driving down the road a
while back and I saw a sign in front of a church building and
this is what the sign said. God loves everybody without exception. Whoever put that sign up has
no idea who God is. No idea. You know what God said
in his word? Let me just tell you and let's
read it together if you have the scripture there with you.
Over in Malachi chapter 1, that's the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi 1 verse 1 says, The burden
of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you,
saith the Lord. Yet you say, Wherein hast thou
loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated
Esau. and laid his mountains and his
heritage wastes for the dragons of the wilderness." I laid him
and all of his people and all of his heritage waste. I chose
to love Jacob and I did not choose to love Esau. He said his own
words were, I hated Esau. That's an amazing thing to read,
isn't it? Over in Psalm chapter 5, it says
in Psalm 5 verse 4, this is verses 4 and 5, It says, For thou art not a God
that hath pleasure in wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with
thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Who is a worker of iniquity?
Romans 3 says, all have sinned. That includes me, that includes
you. That's interesting, isn't it? Look with me at Isaiah chapter
1, all right? This is why Isaiah 1, what he
said here is so critical, so important. Isaiah 1. Verse nine,
it says, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant. We should have been as Sodom
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Had God not chosen
to save, that's what this remnant is he's talking about. Had God
not chosen to save, He said a very small remnant of people. We all would have been burned
up in his wrath. Had God not chosen to save some
from the destruction they were owed, all of us would have been
burned up in his wrath. Why? Here's the reason why. It's because he is a just God. We just read that in our text.
He is a just God. That means justice will be served. Everything will be right. Everything
will be in agreement with the law. He's just. He's holy. Genesis 18 25 says, shall not
the judge of the earth do right? Yes, he will. He can and he will
and he must only do what's right. He's just. He's just. He is the just judge. With him justice is going to
be served. If we want to know something
about God we need to start by knowing this. With him justice
is going to be served. This is something that man naturally
doesn't know about him. It can only be revealed through
His Word. That's the only way. And it must
be revealed to us. Because if we do not know the
truth concerning Him, we'll never know Him. Would we like to know
something about God? Here it is. He's just. He's holy. He's right. If we never know Him, We'll never
bow before him and we'll never confess that he is the absolute
sovereign Lord of all. Now this right here is very critical
to get a hold of. Very critical. This is the absolute
truth. Mankind naturally thinks, all
right, this is the natural mindset of the majority of people. Man
naturally thinks that God is unjust. And I'll explain that
to you. Man naturally believes that God
is unjust. He naturally believes that He
has, man believes that he has to some degree sinned against
God. I have, and you have, and I believe
you know that. I believe you know that to some
degree you have sinned against God just like I have sinned against
God. All have sinned. We just quoted
that from Romans 3. And I believe mankind knows something
of that, not to the fullness, Not to the depth of his depravity,
but he knows that at some point in his life, he's committed sin
against God. All right. But this is what man naturally
believes. He believes that when it's his time to go stand before
God, God is going to say, that's okay. It's all right. Don't worry about it. We're just
going to sweep that one under the rug. That's unjust. That's unholy. That's not right. A just judge
cannot do that. A just judge cannot listen to
one who has offended the law say, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Somebody commits murder and goes
to stand before a judge. He's on trial for murder and
says, you know, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done
that. And I'm just going to ask you to forgive me. A judge who
says, you know what? Yeah, go ahead. That's unjust. That's unjust. God is holy and
God is just and God will only do what's right concerning all
men and women. If a man stands on trial and
pleads guilty, if he says, I'm guilty and the judge says, okay,
that's good enough for me, then not only does that man need to
be sentenced to eternal damnation for his crime, so does the judge. Because now the judge has committed
a crime against the law. This is not our God. This is
not our God. Let's be warned how dangerous
it is to accuse Him and think of Him as being unjust. He is a just God. Now, here's the good news that
goes along with it. He's a Savior. He said, I'm a
just God and I'm a Savior. HE HAS BEEN JUST SINCE DAY ONE. HE SAID, ADAM, IN THE DAY THAT
YOU EAT THAT FRUIT, YOU'RE GONNA SURELY DIE. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN
ADAM ATE THE FRUIT? HE DIED. HE SPIRITUALLY DIED. HOW DID HE SPIRITUALLY DIE? GOD
SLEW HIM. GOD KILLED HIM. GOD DID IT. GOD DIDN'T SAY, NOW I'M GONNA
GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE, ADAM. Just one more chance. No, immediately
he died. God slew him for his sin. In
the days of Noah, God looked down on all men and women that
were standing on the face of the earth and all of them were
only evil continually. And the thoughts of their imagination,
it was only evil continually. And God said, I'm going to destroy
every single one of them. What did he do? He destroyed
every single one of them just like he said he would. God destroyed
them. God did it. Some are going to
hear that and they're going to say, now, wait a minute. God
wouldn't kill anybody. That's not the God that I've
heard about. God would not destroy anybody. God doesn't want anybody
to die. Well, THEN WHY DID HIS SON DIE? THINK ABOUT THAT. WHY DID HIS
SON DIE? IF GOD WOULDN'T KILL ANYBODY,
WHY DID HE SLAY HIS OWN SON? THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, IT PLEASED
THE LORD TO BRUISE HIM. WHY DID GOD SLAY HIS OWN SON? IT'S BECAUSE HE'S A JUST GOD
AND THANK GOD HE'S A SAVIOR. He's a Savior. This is who He
is. He's a Savior. If we want to know something
about God, He is a merciful and kind Savior. If we ever come
to know Him, we're going to know this about Him. He is a just
God and He is a Savior. As soon as Adam died, we said
just a moment ago, Adam died. As soon as he spiritually died,
you know what the Lord our God did right after that? He slew
a lamb. That's what he did. He slew a
lamb and he covered Adam and Eve in the innocence of that
lamb. He took the skin of that lamb
and he made coats. He made robes and covered them
in it. And that animal, That animal
did not physically pay the debt of their sin, but that animal
pictured and pointed Adam and Eve to the one who would, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. John the Baptist was preaching
one day and our Lord came walking up and he pointed right at him
and cried, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world. There in Genesis six, right after
God said, I'm gonna destroy man with a flood, You know what the
next verse says? It says, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God said, Noah, I'm going to
put you in an ark. I'm going to destroy this world
for its sin, but I'm going to put you in a boat and I'm going
to spare you. I'm going to save you. That boat
did not physically deliver Noah from his sin. but it pointed
Noah and it pointed his family to the one who would, Christ
Jesus the Lord. God gave his holy law to Moses
and he said, you tell the people that death is coming to whoever
breaks it. He gave Moses two tables of stone
and he said, you tell everybody these are my commandments and
whoever breaks these commandments, death is coming. And he said,
I want you to keep them in the ark of the covenant. I make a
covenant concerning these. I want them to be preserved forever. But he said, Moses, I want you
to seal the top of that ark with a mercy seat, a mercy seat. You tell the people that I'll
meet them there at that mercy seat. through the sprinkling
of blood. That's where the priest used
to come in with the blood of the substitute sacrifice and
sprinkle that mercy seed. And God said, I'll meet with
you right there. I'll meet right there on the top of that mercy
seed. Now, how can God be just? This is a critical question.
We talk about God being just and holy. and only doing what's
right. How can God be just and save
his people who are sinners if he must punish sin? How can God
be just and right and holy and justify his people and still
be just and right and holy? When Adam was ruined and when
he was cast out because of his sin. And when an entire world
was destroyed, flooded, everybody died. It was well populated and
it was because of their sin. When the law says the wages of
sin is death, how can God spare his people from everything they
deserve? and still be just, still be right. Three portions of scripture will
answer that for us. Each one of these stands alone.
Each scripture will answer that question for us, but I want to
read all three of them. I can't imagine reading one without
reading all three of them. The first one is in Psalm 22. Psalm 22. The Lord Jesus Christ right here
is speaking and he's crying to his father. In Psalm 22, verse
one, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's the question. He said,
why art thou so far from helping me? This is the son of God speaking. And he said, why are you so far
from the words of my roaring? I'm crying out to you for help.
Verse two, he said, oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou
hearest not. And in the night season and am
not silent. But he said in verse three, thou
art holy. You're holy and you're just. Now this is Jesus Christ speaking. This is the son of God speaking
and look at what the son of God said right here. We know this
is him. Look what he said right here in verse six. He said, but
I am a worm. That's the son of God speaking.
He said, but I'm a worm. Why would he say that? Why would
God's son say that? Verse seven, he said, all they
that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They
shake the head saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him. Why does
the son of God need to be delivered? Delivered from what? Verse 14,
he said, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out
of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. This is Christ speaking. I may
tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They part
my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be
not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength. Haste thee to
help me. What's happening here? What's
happening here? Look with me at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says,
For he, speaking of God, hath made him, speaking of the God-man,
Christ Jesus the Lord, he hath made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He was a sinless, spotless sacrifice
to God who God took all the sin of His people and pressed it
into Him and made Him to be the very thing that His people was,
sin. And He did that so that we could
be freed from our sin and be made the righteousness of God
in Him. God's chosen people, they all
had to be dealt with and God the Father justly dealt with
them and punished them and forsook them in the person of His Son. When Christ was made to be the
substitute for His people, all holiness All of the commandment
of the law, all of the justice of the judge was rightly done,
rightly accomplished. God slew the one who bore the
sin that he might set the ones free who were innocent, made
to be innocent. God has never swept one sin under
the rug. Not one sin. Not one sin will
go unpunished. He justly dealt with all of the
sin of his people in the person of his Son. Now look with me
if you would at Romans 5. It says in Romans 5 verse 19,
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, But where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through the righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The salvation of all
of God's people has been accomplished and it is complete by the sacrifice
of Christ our Savior. There's nothing left to be done.
He did it. It's a finished work. And now
Christ says, Christ our God says in our text, you look unto me. I did it. I finished it. I put it all away so that you
could look unto me and be saved. He accomplished all of it by
the sacrifice of himself. And He is now declaring to us,
because you are saved, because you are quickened to life, and
because I have given you that ability and given you eyes to
look, look, look and live. Just look unto me and be saved. There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else." That's glorious news. May God
give us that ability to truly look to Him. Till next week,
the Lord bless His 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, 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 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.