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. If you would like to turn with
me to the book of 2 John, just before Revelation, 2 John, there
is one chapter in this book. And this message, I believe,
and I hope will be of some interest to you. 2 John 1, verse nine,
it says, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Whoever sins and
abides not in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. But
he that abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father
and the Son. Now, there are some facts that
the scriptures set forth that make an outline. A lot of times
we stand up and preach messages based on an outline. And there
are some truths, there are some facts in the scripture that create
an outline called tulip. This outline is also known as
the doctrines of grace. You may have heard people mention
the term the doctrines of grace. What they're talking about is
TULIP, T-U-L-I-P, TULIP. That is the outline of the scripture. That is the outline that the
scripture sets forth. That's what God has declared
in his word. And this is what TULIP means. The T stands for total depravity. Total depravity. Mankind is totally
depraved. Depraved means corrupted. That's what it means. It means wicked. It means ruined. It means sinful. Man is totally
sinful. That's what this word declares. When we open the scripture and
read what it has to say about me and what it has to say about
you, in our flesh, that's what it has to say. All of mankind
is totally corrupted, totally sinful. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Totally ruined, ruined. Not one speck of good left. The scripture says, no, not one. Totally ruined, all right? That's
the T. The U stands for unconditional election. God elected. That means God chose. When you
go to vote in an election, you are choosing. You're making your
choice. Well, God chose some people to
save from total ruin. All were headed to total ruin.
All were totally ruined. Headed to eternal destruction.
But God chose to save some from total ruin. They all came from
the same lump. They were all exactly the same.
Therefore, this election to salvation was unconditional on our part. That's what the scripture sets
forth. All come from Adam. In Adam, all die. We were all
the same. What sets one man apart from
another? Nothing. Not in the flesh. But
God chose some to save, and because all were equally ruined, that's
what made it to be an unconditional election on the part of the sinner.
There was no condition about us, nothing stood out, no condition
laid on us, no condition that influenced the election. God
just chose who he chose. That's what the scripture declares.
All right. So T is total depravity. U is unconditional election. And the L stands for limited
atonement. Limited atonement. This is what
atonement means. The word atonement means covering. Atonement means payment. Atonement means redemption. payment made in full. Not one
drop of Christ's blood that he shed was wasted. Not one drop. Not one drop. Every soul that
he died for is saved. Every soul he died for it. That's
what the scripture says. Every soul he died for is saved. Now, if Christ died for everybody,
which is what a lot of men will stand up in pulpits and say to
people, now Christ died for everybody, that's not in the scripture.
That's not in the word of God. That is not what God's word declares. And think about it, if Christ
died for everybody, then not one soul would ever be sent to
hell. If Christ died for everybody, if his blood was shed to pay
for all sin and all sin was put away, all sin was redeemed, then
not one soul would be sent to hell. If Christ died for every
man and woman sin, then no man and no woman would die in their
sin. It would be gone. It would be
completely gone. But this is what the scripture
is very clear about. Many have been damned to this
place that God calls hell. Many have been damned to go there. Therefore, we know, and the scriptures
declare that the atonement that Christ made, that covering, that
redemption that Christ made, the payment Christ made, was
for his people only. It was only for the totally ruined
sinners that God the Father unconditionally chose to save. That's who it
was for. Christ died for a particular
people. It was a particular redemption.
Thankfully, It was a redemption that spanned the whole world.
It wasn't just the Jews. It was Jew, Gentile, male, female,
bond free out of the whole world. Every tribe, nation, kindred,
tongue. That's wonderful. So we have
total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
Now the letter I stands for irresistible grace. Irresistible grace. Totally depraved sinners. If a sinner is truly depraved,
totally depraved, totally depraved sinners do not want grace. They
reject grace. Totally wicked sinners are not
interested in the kind favor of God. Not at all. Totally ruined sinners who feed
on darkness. They feed on evil. They feed
on sin. The flesh naturally loves sin. It soaks it up. And the flesh therefore rejects
the goodness of God. But thank God. Thank God. His people don't have a say in
the matter. If they had a say in the matter, they would reject
him every time. John chapter one says, our Lord
came to his own and his own received him not. But all of his people
don't have a say in the matter. Thank God we did not have a say
in the matter. That's the good news of the gospel.
Whoever God chooses to give the gift of salvation to, it is coming. Salvation is coming. If God chose
to give it, then it's coming and it will not be rejected. It will not be rejected by the
recipient for two reasons. Number one, it's because God
is the one who is sending it. God is the one who's giving it.
And the scripture says, no one and no thing is able to stop
his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? No one is able
to do that. And nothing is able to do that.
This is God. Men stand up in pulpits and they
tell people now he's knocking, he's trying, but you're going
to have to take it from him. You're going to have to open
the door to your heart and you're going to have to, that's not
so. God is God. God is not trying to be God. God is God. And if God says salvation
is coming, salvation is coming. So that's the first reason God
is the one giving it. And that's a big problem for
man today, is he does not believe that God is God, but God is God. All right, now the second reason
is, with the gift of salvation, when God Almighty gives salvation,
with that gift, with the gift of redemption, comes a brand
new everything. Once a sinner is redeemed, saved,
quickened, he gets a brand new everything. He gets a brand new
life. He goes from death to life. He gets a brand new heart. The
Lord said, I'm gonna take out that stony hard heart and I'm
gonna put in a heart of flesh, a real living, loving heart. It's actually the heart of Christ
himself. Christ in his people, that's the hope of glory. They
get a brand new mind. It's called repentance. Repentance
means a changed mind. They get a brand new will. He
said, my people will be willing in the day of my power. And they
get a brand new love, a brand new love, a love for God. When he comes for the first time,
they truly love God. They get a brand new need and
a brand new desire. Before they desired the things
of the flesh, the things of the world, the things of sin, and
after salvation comes and redemption comes, all of a sudden they start
desiring mercy. They start desiring grace. They start desiring Christ. When
salvation comes to a sinner, that sinner starts craving the
things of God. craving the gift of the Lord
Jesus Christ and everything that he brings, that mercy, that grace,
that love. So it's irresistible to him or
her. To say that it's irresistible grace means God has given it
and we cannot reject it. It's irresistible. But once it
comes, it is so irresistible. It is so needful and loving and
desirable to God's people. So we have total depravity. unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and then
the last one in TULIP, the P stands for perseverance of the saints. Perseverance means all the way
to the end. That's what the scripture declares.
It means whatever God starts, God finishes. Men stand up and
tell people, now you better watch it, you're gonna lose your salvation.
That's not so. Not if God saved you, not if
God started the work. Whatever God starts, God finishes. God does not start the work of
salvation and then leave it in the hands of the sinner to finish
it. Never does he do that. All right,
now I just told you that that's what the scripture says. That's
the outline the scripture gives. Let me show it to you. All right,
let me prove that to you in the word. If we have received salvation
from God, if I have received salvation from God, and if you
have received salvation from God, then this is what he will
cause us to believe in our hearts. This is what he will cause us
to see in his word. This is what every quickened
child of God is adamantly convinced of. Number one, I'm a sinner. All right, if God has quickened
us to life, if God has brought salvation and brought redemption,
this will be the first thing that you will be convinced of
and the first thing I will be convinced of. I'm a sinner. I know there's a lot of sinners
out there, I know that, The Apostle Paul said, I'm the chief. I am
the chief. Not I was, I am. I'm a sinner. Turn with me over to Job chapter
42. If you have your Bible there,
you can look with me at Job 42. God has just dealt very harshly
with Job. And this is Job's response to
him. Job 42 verse five, he said, I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear in heaven, all men and women. But Job said, I've
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. I see you for who you truly are.
Wherefore I abhor myself, I hate myself, and repent in dust and
ashes. He said, I'm a sinner before
you and I'm so sorry. I have a changed mind on who
I am and what I'm able to do before you. Oh, I'm so sorry. If you want to look at Psalm
51, this is David. He said in Psalm 51 verse one,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions,
wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.
This is David. The man after God's own heart.
He said, against thee, the only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and be clear when thou judgest. Whatever you do with me, you're
right in doing so. He said, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. He said, that's all I am. Sin, I was made in sin, created
in sin. Over in Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah
said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did cry. And one cried unto another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said Isaiah, woe is me, for I'm undone because
I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord
of hosts. I've seen the king. Is that all,
Isaiah? You're just a man of unclean
lips? He said in chapter one, Verse six, from the sole of the
foot, even unto the head, there's no soundness in it, but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. That's all I am. In my flesh,
I am totally ruined. Totally ruined. The apostle Paul
said in Romans seven, oh, wretched man that I am. He said in 1 Timothy
1, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the chief. Every child of
God will say this. Every quickened child of God
will say this. Here's the second thing that
a quickened child of God will be adamantly convinced of. God
did all the choosing. God chose me in spite of me,
not because of me, in spite of me. I would not come to him that
I might have life. I would not. If you look at John
chapter three, it says in John three verse 19, and this is the
condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. That's
what they chose. That's what man chose. I know
that this flesh is naturally drawn to the things of sin. I
know it is. I know that this flesh loves
darkness. I know that the deeds of this flesh are evil. I believe
you do too. Therefore, had he not chosen
me and had he not chosen you, neither one of us would have
ever chosen him. Neither one of us. My only hope starts with
His unconditional election of me. That's the only hope that
any sinner has before God. In Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine, there was
a, before I read this to you, I'll tell you a little story
here. There was a lady who came up to an old preacher one time
and she said to him, you preach that election, don't you? And
he said, yes, I do. And she said, why do you preach
that? Why do you believe that? I don't think I can go along
with that. I just don't think I can see that. And he said,
well, let me ask you a question. He said, who saved you? Did God
save you or did you save yourself? And she said, God saved me. He
said, okay, well, did he do it on purpose or was it an accident?
She said, he did it on purpose. He said, honey, that's election.
God saving whom he will on purpose. All right, now look at Romans
9 verse 11. It says, for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works. not of man's works, but of him
that calleth. Verse 23 says, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had aforeprepared unto glory. He before prepared them
unto glory. That's election. That's election. God choosing who he would save
on purpose. Everything is according to his
purpose. All right, this is the heart. This is the confession
of a truly enlightened child of God. I'm a sinner. God did all the choosing. God
saved me in spite of me. And my only hope, number three,
my only hope, all of my redemption is in the fact that Christ laid
down his life for me. For me, his payment was a particular
payment. I see that. I see that he died
for a particular people and my only hope is that he died for
me. Now look with me at John chapter
17. John 17 verse nine, the Lord
said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. but for them which thou," he's
praying to his father, for them which thou has given to me, for
they are thine. Do we see that? Christ did not
come to make intercession to God the Father for the entire
world. He said so himself in his own
prayer to his father. He did not lay down his life
for the entire world. He laid down his life for the
souls that his father gave to him out of the world. Not to the Jews only, but also
to the Greeks, the whole world. They're known as his sheep. They
are all known as his sheep. He said in John 10, Verse 14,
I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father and I laid down my life for the sheep. Verse
24, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
how long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. That's the reason why. Christ died for the elect. He
died for the elect and a quickened child of God sees that and is
given a heart to believe that. That has been revealed to him. and he's convinced of it. All
of his hope of salvation is in the blood of Jesus Christ. He knows that Christ died for
a particular people and his one desire is to be one of them.
He said right here in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice, I know
them, they follow me. They follow me. So this is what
a child of God will say in his heart. I'm a sinner. God did
all the choosing. My only hope is that the Father
gave me to Christ and he laid down his life for me, so I come
to him. I'm coming to him. There's nowhere
else to go. I have nowhere else to go. He said, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That's
what he said, so I'm coming to him. Psalm 42, this is a wonderful
psalm. It says, as the heart, as the
deer panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? That's irresistible grace. That's
what it is, irresistible grace. A heart that has received grace
cries, I must have him. So I'm a sinner. God did all
the choosing. My only hope is that the blood
of Christ was shed for me, so I'm coming to Him. Number five,
I'm coming because in Him, I am eternally safe. That's what a
child of God will believe in his heart. In Christ, I am kept
by the power of God. Every soul in Christ is being
and will forever be kept by the power of God. And every quickened
soul in Christ will rest in that promise. Every soul will rest. Every soul is persuaded and rests
on this right here. Okay, go with me to this last
verse of scripture. This is Philippians chapter 1
verse 6. Wonderful verse of scripture.
Philippians 1 6. Being confident of this very thing that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. If God started it, God will finish
it. That's what it means. He will
finish it all the way to the end. He will finish it until
the day that the Lord Jesus Christ returns and gathers all of his
people to himself. So we rest right there. That
is the doctrine of Christ. That's the doctrine of Christ.
And may God give that doctrine to us and convince our hearts
of it. May we truly, truly believe that
Christ is all. Till next week, I pray the Lord
will bless this 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.