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 text today will be Psalm
115, verse three. Psalm 115, verse three, it says,
but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Our God is in the heavens. And
David said he does whatever it pleases him to do. And to God's
people, that's a glorious thing to think of, to think of his
sovereignty, to think of his majesty, to think of the glory
of his power and his ability. He does whatever he wants to
do. He's the only one who can actually
do whatever he wants to do. Now, this morning, I'd like for
us to look at what it pleased him to do. Through His Word,
He has revealed to us His mind and His heart and His will and
His purpose in the things that it pleased Him to do. Every time
I look at this, I think this is the most amazing thing that
could ever be revealed to a sinner like you and me. Grace, God's
grace to sinners is an amazing thing. John Newton wrote a song
called Amazing Grace. And it really is amazing. Because
grace means freely given. A free gift. What it pleased
the Lord to freely do for his people. It's just amazing. What it pleased him to do is
an overwhelming thing to God's people. Once they really get
a hold of it, it's overwhelming. They cry with David and they
mean it in the heart. Not unto us, oh Lord. Before
God reveals this to a sinner who's just religious and he's
just found religion, he wants everything to be unto him. I
did this and I did this. This is what it pleased me to
do. I decided to get saved, I decided But once God reveals the truth
of His grace and what it pleased Him to do, every one of them
fall to their knees crying, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Now verse three starts by saying,
our God is in the heavens. That makes me think of a verse
of scripture over in Ecclesiastes chapter five. It says in Ecclesiastes
five, verse one, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of
fools, which men are prone to do, speaking, talking, for they
consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth and
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou
upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. Let them be few. That is not
only good advice, that's a commandment from God. That's a commandment
from God to all of his people, all of the world. but especially
to all of his people. God is in heaven and we're on
the earth, so we need to let our words be few. With that being
said, I would like to let our words be few this morning and
we are going to let our Lord speak his word of what it pleased
him to do. He's in the heavens. And we're
on the earth, so we're just going to let him declare through his
word what it pleased him to do. With each declaration that we
turn to, may we cry with David, not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. All right, our God is in the
heavens and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. What did it
please him to do? What did it please the Lord God
of heaven to do? Here's the first thing he mentioned
over in first Samuel chapter 12. First Samuel 12 verse 22,
it says. For the Lord will not forsake
his people. For his great names sake. Because. It hath pleased the
Lord. To make you. His people. It pleased the Lord
to make you his people. Now when I read that this question
comes to my mind in my heart. You who? Who are the you that
he's talking about? How can I know if I'm one of
his people? Clearly, from his word, as we
go through this word, we see that he did not choose everybody. He did not choose to make everybody
his people. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. He very plainly said that. He
told whole nations of people I'm against you. That's what
he says. If you want to look and you can
hold your place, our Lord said over in John 10 verse 24, it
says, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
how long does thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not. The work that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. Now listen to this right here.
He said, but you believed not because you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And he said,
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He said, you
believe not because you're not of my sheep. He didn't say you're
not of my sheep because you believe not. It's critical to understand. He said, this is why you believe
not. It's because you're not of my sheep. Not every person
is one of his sheep, one of his elect sheep. He did not choose
to make every soul one of his people. Well, how can I know
if I'm one of his people? I need to know that. I'm sure
you do too. Who did he say that he chose to make his people. Who are the ones that he chose
to make his people? Here's the answer. This is what
he said in his word. He said he chose sinners. That's who he chose. Go back
to first Samuel 12. If you turned over with me in
first Samuel 12 verse 20 Samuel said unto the people, fear not. You have done all this wickedness. You've done all this wickedness.
Samuel said, you're a wicked people. You all are sinners. That's what he told him. All
sinners. But then he said, that's who
God chose. That's who God chose to make
his people. He chose sinners. Now, let me
ask you a question. Are you a sinner? Answer that
in your heart. Are you a sinner? A man made
the statement one time and I agree with it wholeheartedly. A man
who I know and love very much. He he made this statement. He
said, I'm so glad that first Timothy 115 does not say my name. I'm so glad that verse of Scripture
does not say my name and I completely agree with him. I'm so glad first
Timothy 115 does not say my name. I'm so glad it does not say this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save Gabe Stoniker. I'm so glad
it doesn't say that. And the reason is because if
it said that, I would think maybe there's another Gabe Stoniker
in the world. How can I know that he's talking about this
Gabe Stoniker? But it doesn't say that. It says,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I know beyond
any shadow of a doubt I'm one of them. I know I am. I am a
sinner. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner
in your mind, in your heart? If you are, rejoice. How wonderful. It pleased the Lord to make sinners
like us His people. That's what it pleased Him to
do. Why did it please Him to do that? I don't know. That's
what he said. That's what he said in his word.
All right. So now he has a particular people. Who are all sinners. And he is
a holy God who must punish sin. That's what his word says. He
will by no means. He cannot. Clear the guilty. Which is what we are. All right,
according to his holy law that he gave. It says he must bruise
with the mighty blow of his wrath. Whoever bears the iniquity of
sin. All right. So what is he to do?
What's he to do with justice demanding that sin has to be
chastised and the one bearing it has to be bruised. then what
is he to do? Based on the holy law of himself,
the law he gave, what did it please him to do? Turn with me
over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, this chapter describes
our sin and the punishment that we deserved because of it. Based
on what we are by nature and what we've done in the flesh,
the things that you've done, The things I've done, the wrath
of God should have come down on us. Isaiah 53 verse 10 says,
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. Who is him? The one who stood
in our place, the one who came to deliver us, Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people, his people, from their sins. Verse six in
this chapter says, all we like sheep have gone astray. That's
what we've done. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him,
Christ, the iniquity of us all. Many years ago, about 100 years
ago, a man named Paris Reedhead, he was a missionary to Sudan,
Africa, and he tells the story of walking through the jungle
one time with some native men, and they heard a very faint voice.
A man was crying, somebody help me. They heard this voice, somebody
help me. And they followed it and they
followed through the jungle until they came upon this man laying
there in the jungle in the very last stages of leprosy. This
man was just eaten up with leprosy. He was literally rotting. His
flesh was falling off his bones. You could see his bones. And
he said, there was nothing I could do for him. Never have I felt
so helpless in all my life. All they could do is stand here
and watch this man in the loathsome disease he was in crying, help
me, please help me. And Mr. Reed had said, the thought
went through my mind that if I could pick this man up, and
put his body against my body, put his face, his rotten bone
exposed face next to my face and impart my health to him and
take his disease into me, I would have some understanding of what
my Lord Jesus Christ did for me, what it pleased him to do
for me. Right here in this chapter, verse
five says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. That's amazing,
isn't it? That's amazing, amazing love. How can it be that thou my God
would die for me? In Judges 13, a man named Manoah
and his wife saw the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, a picture
of Christ sacrificing himself. He entered into the fire of the
sacrifice and offered himself to God. And Manoah said to his
wife, we're gonna die because we've seen God. At that moment,
he realized we have seen God. And his wife said, by the Spirit
of God, She said, no, if the Lord were pleased to kill us,
if that's what it pleased him to do, he would never have shown
us all these things. He would never have revealed
salvation through Christ, our sacrifice. She said, because
he told us, because he revealed it, because he notified us of
these things, clearly that's not what it pleased him to do.
Clearly that's not. Now, in notifying us, what did
it please him to do? Well, turn with me over to 1
Corinthians 1. It says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
17, the apostle Paul said, for Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. He said,
Christ sent me to declare what it has pleased the Lord to do.
Verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of
God. It's the power of God, that preaching
of Christ sacrificing himself, what Manoah and his wife witnessed
a picture of. Verse 19, for it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It says right here, it pleased
God. This is what it pleased him to
do. In this notification, in this
declaration, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
what men call foolishness. to save them that believe, to
notify men and women of the salvation he accomplished in the sacrifice
of the cross. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. Thank God he was pleased to save
his people. That's what it pleased him to
do. He saved his people from themselves. You know, we're our
own worst enemy. We're nothing but sin. All we
can do in the flesh is sin. He saved his people from themselves. He saved his people from the
clutches of this world. He saves his people from the
lies of false religion. There's a lot of false religion
out there. Lies on what God has declared in his word and God
through the preaching of the truth, the preaching of the gospel
calls his people out of that he saves them from the lies of
false religion. He saves them from the fear of
wrath. For their sin, because they see
Christ. Their substitute, he notifies
them of their Savior. And one God given look of faith,
he sends faith by his spirit. One God given look of faith on
the Lord Jesus Christ, it brings light. Light out of darkness,
life out of death. That's what it pleased him to
do. It's amazing sight out of blindness. Hearing out of deafness. liberty out of bondage. That's
what it pleased him to do. If you look at second Corinthians
chapter four, second Corinthians four verse three, it says, but
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. If the
truth and the gospel has not been revealed to a person, then
he's lost because God reveals what it pleased him to do to
all of his people in his time. According to his will, they will
all be taught of God. That's what the scripture says.
It says in verse three, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world,
the little g, God of this world, the adversary, hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. It's of God. All of it is of
God and not of us. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to accomplish every bit of that. All of that quickening.
Seeing the light and the life of Christ, all of that. Through
the preaching of his word, that's amazing. That is amazing. Not only has it pleased the Lord
to reveal Christ to us, if you look at Galatians chapter one,
turn over just a few more pages to Galatians one, it says in
verse 13, for you have heard of my conversation. The apostle
Paul is writing to the Galatians about his time that he spent
in false religion. You've heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews religion. How that beyond measure I persecuted
the Church of God and wasted it. And profited in the Jews
religion above many my equals in my own nation. Being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, what did it please God to do? He said when it pleased God. who separated me from my mother's
womb, He called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. He revealed His Son in me. Not
only has Christ been revealed to us, it pleased the Lord to
reveal Christ in us. That's amazing. The holiness,
the righteousness, the purity in us, God's well beloved in
us. We see our hope of glory to be
Christ in us. When Christ looks at his people,
when the father looks at his people, he sees Christ in them
and he's satisfied. That's our hope of glory. Us
in him and him in us. One with him. Unity, that's what
it pleased the Lord to do. He quickened us together with
Christ. He seeded us with him. Oneness. His righteousness in
me. That's my only hope before God.
I cannot earn a perfect righteousness before God. God demands perfection.
And I cannot earn that I cannot do good works and earn satisfaction
from him. But Christ did every work that
needed to be done and he earned that perfection and that holiness
and that satisfaction and God. Put Christ in us and brought
all of that perfection with him. That's the only hope that I have
before God. That's the only hope that any
man has before God. His blood on me to cover my sin. and His righteousness in me to
produce every perfect work that I need to be in His presence. Our God is in the heavens, and
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. And it pleased Him to
make sinners like us His people. It pleased Him to bruise His
own Son in our stead, in the stead of His people. It pleased
Him to tell us of all these things. It pleased him to quicken us
to all these things. Notify us of everything he had
done through the preaching of his word. It pleased him to reveal
the perfect righteousness of Christ in us. It pleased him
to make us one with Christ, completely unified with Christ. And our
Lord gives us one more verse on what it pleased him to do.
If you look with me at Colossians chapter one, it says in Colossians
one, verse 19, speaking of Christ, For it pleased the Father, what
did it please him to do? It pleased the Father that in
him, in Christ, should all fullness dwell. All of the fullness, all of the
fullness. Think about everything that the
word fullness describes. All of the blessings in heavenly
places. All of the love of God. All of
the choice of God, all of the mercy and all of the grace of
God. The adoption. The acceptance,
the forgiveness, all of the fullness of the Godhead. It pleased the
triune God, Father, Son and Spirit to put all of it. In him. Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now go
back with me to Psalm 115. And let's see if we can say this
with David Psalm 115 verse one says, not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake, because of everything that you have revealed to us
in your word, that it pleased you to do. How unworthy we are. Isn't that what we say? Not unto
us. How unworthy all glory be to you for your mercy. We've
just read mercy. And for your truth's sake, thank
God. Verse three says, but our God
is in the heavens. and he hath done whatsoever he
hath pleased. That's the only God that I want
to bow to. How about you? Our God is in
the heavens and he hath done whatever it pleased him to do.
How thankful we are. May he be glorified and may 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.