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 Ephesians chapter six, In Ephesians chapter six, let's
read the last four verses of the chapter, beginning in verse
21. It says, but that you also may know my affairs and how I
do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the
Lord, shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto
you for the same purpose that you might know our affairs and
that he might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren and
love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Now there are some important
things, some specific things that I'd like for us to see in
these last few verses here. The apostle Paul said that he
was sending a beloved brother and a faithful minister to make
known all things. That's what he wrote to the Ephesians. And he said he was sending this
beloved brother and this faithful minister for the purpose of making
known the affairs of where he came from. He said, he's going
to make known to you our affairs that he might comfort your hearts. Now, do we not see the work of
God, the father, God, the son, and God, the spirit in that?
If we look at these verses with our spiritual eyes, our spiritual
glasses, we can so clearly see the work of God in just those
few words that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Verse 21, he said,
but that you also may know my affairs and how I do, Tychicus,
a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make
known to you all things. whom I have sent unto you for
the same purpose that you might know our affairs and that he
might comfort your hearts. At first glance, those two verses
just look like closing remarks. That's what you would see them
to be. Paul just finishing his letter.
He just has a few closing remarks. Here's the thing about those
verses. Not one word in the scripture is just a throwaway remark, just
a filler word. Not one word that God has put
in his Bible. Not one word. Every word in this
book points us to what God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Spirit have done for us. God the Father said, I am sending
my servant to you. BEHOLD MY SERVANT. Isn't that
what he said in Isaiah 42? BEHOLD MY SERVANT. CHRIST MY SON. HE IS YOUR BELOVED
BROTHER. MY ONLY BEGOTTEN SON GAVE HIMSELF
FOR YOU AS A PAYMENT FOR YOUR ADOPTION. HE JOINED HIMSELF TO YOU and
He died for you so He could be raised with you. He did all that
so He could be raised to life again with you because of my
faithful minister, because He is faithful. That's what the
scripture says about Christ. He is faithful. God says, God
the Father says, He was faithful to me. He was faithful to you. He was faithful to the work that
I sent him to accomplish because he is faithful. In him, you're
a joint heir with him. In him, because of what he did,
you are a joint heir with him. The father says, and with my
son comes his spirit. I send my son, and with my son
comes his spirit who will reveal all things to you. That's what
God's spirit does. He comes to his child and he
reveals the things of God. The father says he will tell
you, he will teach you, he will reveal to you all of our affairs
that he might comfort your hearts. That's the, that's the amazing
work of God in it. This word is glorious. Every
word in this book is glorious. Let's not just bypass or throw
away one word. This is a word from God to his
people. So let's look at who he's saying
this to. All right. In the middle of verse 23 says
that this glorious news and this word of comfort is from God,
the father. and the Lord Jesus Christ, but
who specifically is this word to? Who is he speaking to? Verse
23 says, peace be to the brethren. Peace be to the brethren. Is the word of God written to
every soul that it has ever been born into the world? Is this
word A word from God to all of mankind? No, it is not. It's to the brethren. Now he
has something to say about all of mankind. Those who are not
found in Christ, he clearly declares what his will and purpose is
concerning them. What is going to happen to them?
Those who do not bow the knee, those who reject him. But these
promises, this glorious word, is to His people. It's to the
brethren. Peace be to the brethren. That's who every promise is to. That's who all of the good news
is to, the brethren. Brethren is a very specific thing. It is a very specific thing. People in a physical family,
I have a physical family. You have a physical family, people
being brethren, brothers and sisters. That is not a general
thing. Not at all. That's not a general
thing at all. In my physical family, I have
three sisters, three specifically siblings,
three, not four, not two, three. With that being said, though,
me and my three sisters, we're part of a larger family, a much
larger family of brethren. As time has gone on, more and
more people have been added to the family. Now, the question
is, how does that happen? How is someone made to be a member
of the brethren, a member of the family? I know of three ways. I can think of three ways that
a person becomes a part of a family. One of the brethren. That person
can be born into it. That person can be adopted into
it. And that person can marry into
it. One of those three ways. Do we not see the work of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit in that? Everything
reveals the work of the Godhead. God the Father married us to
his Son. That's what he did. He married
us to Christ his Son. He betrothed us to his Son. God the Father chose a particular
bride. We talk about in the scripture
declares he has an elect people chosen to salvation. Well, who
did he choose? Every person who he willed to
become the bride of his son. He chose the bride. He chose
a particular bride and gave that bride to his son. As soon as
the last chosen soul enters the gates of glory, there's going
to come a point where all of God's people will leave this
earth and enter the new heaven and the new earth. Glory, the
beautiful city of God. And as soon as the last chosen
soul enters the gates of glory, the scripture says, all of us,
all of his chosen people are going to be seated at our own
wedding reception feast. All of his people are gonna sit
down to their own wedding reception, celebrating our union with the
bridegroom, Christ the bridegroom. Over in Revelation 19, it says
in verse one, And after these things, I heard a great voice
of much people in heaven saying, alleluia, salvation and glory
and honor and power unto the Lord our God. It all goes to
him. For true and righteous are his
judgments, for he hath judged the great whore. That's false
religion, the lies that have been told on God. which did corrupt
the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. And again, they said, Alleluia,
and her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and 20
elders and four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Christ the
Lamb is come, it's here. And his wife hath made herself
ready. Who's that? All of those chosen
people. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, For the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints, that perfection that
Christ earned for them while he walked this earth. And he
said unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed is every soul who's there.
And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. He said, you write this down
because this is the absolute truth and reality of eternity. All of God's chosen people, all
of his chosen bride for Christ is going to be called to himself
and she's going to sit down in her glorious robe of righteousness. in union with her husband, Christ
the Lord. A couple of pages over in Revelation
21, it says in verse one, and I saw a new heaven and a new
earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." You
talk about a blessed people. He said, blessed are all those
people who are called to this supper, There's gonna be no more
sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more death, no more. Verse five says, and he that
sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write. For
these words are true and faithful. Down in verse nine, it says,
There came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven
vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. and he carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city
the holy jerusalem descending out of heaven from god having
the glory of god this bride having the glory of God, and her light
was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal. So the Father married us, married
all of God's people to the Son. They're married. And the Son
adopted all of those people into the family. The Father married
them into the family. and the Son adopted them into
the family. Back in Ephesians 1, we look
at this chapter often, and I love it, it's a wonderful, wonderful
chapter. But Ephesians 1 tells us, at
the end of verse 3, it says, in Christ, that's who he's speaking
of, in Christ. Verse 4 says, according as he
hath chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. So the Father married us to the
Son, The son adopted us into the family by the payment of
himself, by that sacrifice of himself and the spirit. All those that the spirit comes
to. The scripture says are born of God. The spirit births us. Into the family of God over in
John three. It says in John 3, verse five,
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said
unto thee, you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth. and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth,
so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Those who have
been made to be brethren in the family of God have been made
to be a part of His family in every way that you can possibly
be made to be a part of a family, every single way. Every elect
soul is married in Adopted in and born in. That's wonderful,
isn't it? Every way. Okay, now here's the
question that I have. And here's the question that
I pray you have. Am I in? Every soul that the
father chose is married in. Every soul that the son died
for is adopted in. And every soul that the spirit
calls is born in. Here's my question. Am I one
of them? Am I in? We must be asking this
question. Men rarely ask this question,
they assume. And this is too critical and
this is too eternal to assume. Let's ask this question today. Am I in? Have I been made to
be one of the family members of God? Am I one of Christ's
brethren? Am I one of the brethren? Well,
back in our text, verse 23 says, peace be to the brethren, and
love be to the brethren, with faith to the brethren. And all of those things are given,
verse 23 says, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, And
all of those things can be summarized with this one word. Verse 24
says, grace. Grace. Grace means gift. Freely bestowed gift. Freely bestowed favor. God's grace is to the brethren. And this is how you can know
who the brethren are. Verse 24 says, grace be with
all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Those gifts, that peace, that
love, that faith, grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. All of the brethren, every soul
that has been made to be a part of the brethren, loves the Lord
Jesus Christ in absolute sincerity. And that's what I want to emphasize,
in absolute sincerity, in sincerity. What does that mean? What is
sincere love for Christ? It's vital that we find out,
because over in 1 Corinthians 16, it says in verse 22, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. That means cursed when he comes
back. If a man or woman does not love
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, then that man or woman will be
cursed when he comes back. I want to love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. Don't you? I truly do. How do we do that? How do we
do that? Has God put that kind of love
in me for Christ? How can I know? How can I know
if he has? Well, the definition of the word
sincerity is without corruption. It means without an underlying
motive. And think about these definitions. Without corruption, without an
underlying motive, it means purely, honestly, truthfully. Sincere love is loving something
because it truly is lovely to you. And you know that experience. There are some things that you
just love. It truly is lovely to you. You just find what it
is to be lovely. You can envision a parent or
a grandparent looking at like at a child and just love. It's
just lovely to him. You don't love it because you
have to love it. Well, I have to love it. You
don't love it because it's in your best interest to love it,
which is what most people feel about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, it's in my best interest to love him. You love it because you love
it. You love it because you love
it. All of the brethren love Christ. They just do. All who have been redeemed from
the curse All who are not cursed love Christ in sincerity. They love Him truthfully. They
love Him honestly. They all admit that had He not
loved them first, they wouldn't love Him at all. That's the truth.
That's the sincere truth. They know where their love comes
from. They give the credit for their love to whom it's due. They, in all sincerity, grieve
over the fact that they don't love Him as they ought to, and
they can't love Him as they want to. But in all the ability that
they have, all that they have been given, they love everything
they see in Christ. every single thing they see.
They love him exactly the way that he has revealed himself
to be in his word. Many people have a made-up view
of Christ. They think he is a certain way,
but they've made it up in their minds. And that's not a sincere
love. That's a made-up love. That's
loving something that's not reality. God's people see him the way
he has revealed himself to be and they love what they see.
They love him for who he is. They don't just believe him for
who he is. They love him for who he is. They love what he has done. They don't just believe on what
he has done. Believe in and believe on. They
love what he's done. They love where he is now. They
don't just bow to where He is now, they love where He is now,
seated on His throne. They say, I would love to have
that man reign over me. I would love nothing more than
for that man to sovereignly reign over me. That's a sincere love
for Christ. It's a love for the truth concerning
Him. If we love Him because we see
Him to be a helpless, innocent, little baby or or a weak, weak,
kind and gentle, but very weak man who needs us. If it's a sympathy
love, if we love him because we believe that he tried to save
us and he almost did. He almost did. We just have to
help him out with that a little bit. Just put the final touches
on what he tried to do. If we love him because we see
him as someone who never gave up, He never gave up. Even though he was defeated in
his cross, he never gave up. If we love him because we only
see him to be the one who knows God and can show us the way and
can put in a good word, if that's the case, we don't love him in
sincerity. Because those things are not consistent with the word
of his truth. So a love like that is not a
sincere love. If we love Him in sincerity for
the mighty God that He is, if we love Him for being God manifest
in the flesh, if we love Him for finishing the work that His
Father gave Him to do, if we love Him because He did for us
what we couldn't do for ourselves, then we love Him in sincerity. And the Word of God says, every
man or woman who loves Him in sincerity is one of the brethren
One of the brethren, I sincerely pray that God has given that
love to me and that love to you. May God cause us to love Christ
as he is the high and holy God of heaven and of me. Till next
week, 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.