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. In Ephesians chapter 1, the first
two verses say, Ephesians chapter 1, this is verses 1 and 2, It
says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. I would like for us to look just
for a moment at the subject of God's grace. What a wonderful,
blessed, beautiful subject, God's grace. Paul said, grace be to
you. God's grace be to you. What is
grace? When he says grace be to you,
what is grace? What does he mean by that? Grace
is probably one of the most commonly used words in religion. Everybody
uses the word grace. We talk about it, we say that
we believe it. You ask anybody, do you believe
in God's grace? Oh, yes. But what is it? What truly is grace? Well, verse two tells us that
it's something that comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse two says, grace be to you
and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's something that comes from God. It belongs to Him. It's His grace. That's an important
place to start. When we talk about God's grace,
it's important to understand that it's His grace. It belongs
to Him. Verse six here in Ephesians 1
tells us that it's something that brings praise and glory
to God. Verse six says, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. brings much praise and much glory
to him. The end of verse seven tells
us that it's something of great value. It says, according to
the riches of his grace, great value. And we can clearly see
that that is the case because chapter two, if you look at Ephesians
two with me, The end of verse five tells us that it is the
means of our salvation. The end of chapter two, verse
five says, by grace, you are saved. By grace, sinners are
saved. It's the means of salvation. Verse eight in chapter two says,
for by grace are you saved. Very clear, very plain. By grace
are you saved. And chapter three continues in
telling us what grace is. If you look at chapter three,
verse seven, it says, whereof I was made a minister according
to the gift of grace. The gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Verse eight
says, unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this
grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Grace is a gift. It's a gift. It literally means the word translates
kindness or favor. Freely bestowed. Kindness or
favor freely bestowed. It's a gift. That's what grace
is. It's a gift. And where do we
find this gift? How does this gift come to us?
This gift of God? Where do we find it? It is in
and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of God is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of God is through the
Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of God is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is God's grace. Grace comes from him, only him. If you'll look with me at John
chapter one, it says, In John chapter one, verse 17, for the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. God's grace is in him. It came to us by him and through
him. And what that means is his accomplishment. Everything that he accomplished
for his people was God's grace to us, God's gift to us. His work, His payment was our
gift. Everything He accomplished, our
gift. In order to enter in to God's grace, we have to understand
the true definition of the word grace. It is 100% a gift. I must emphasize this. If we're gonna get a hold of
God's grace at all, we must understand that it is 100% a gift freely
bestowed, freely given. on our part as the recipient
of the gift, as the recipient of grace, it is the exact opposite
of works. All right. To understand grace,
we need to understand that it is the exact opposite of works. If you'd like to look with me
at Romans 11, we can read in Romans 11, verse six, it says,
and if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace
is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. God's grace is in Christ and
it's freely given totally on his part and it's not earned
by the sinner at all. The sinner does not work for
it. We don't work for God's grace. And that's kind of shocking to
most people because many believe that's what we do. Many believe
you have to earn God's grace. But what Romans 11 just said
is salvation is either by grace or by works. You can't mix the
two. You cannot mix the two. And that's
true with even the way we live here on this earth. You just
can't mix works and grace. You cannot work for something
and fulfill what was required and then call it, if you get
paid for it, a freely bestowed gift. You can't do that. You
just can't do that. You know, you can't say, well,
I'm not gonna pay taxes on the amount of money that my employer
gave me because that was a free gift. You can't say that. It was not a free gift. That
was earned income. Isn't that how we listed on our
taxes? Earned income. It wasn't a free gift. That was
earned. You cannot work for a free gift. That does not work on our taxes
and that doesn't work with God. Cannot call it a free gift if
you earn it. At the same point in time, you
cannot receive something absolutely freely bestowed to you that involved
no effort on your part, no expense on your part, was completely
purchased and wrought and given to you by someone else. I mean
completely given. You cannot receive that free
gift and then go around telling everybody I earned this. You
can't do that. It's not so. He said in verse six, it's either
works Or it's grace. It's one of the two. And when
it comes to our salvation, we just read it. It's grace. It's
grace. By grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. That was
Ephesians 2 verse eight. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Grace is the gift. Faith is the
gift, by grace are you saved through faith. That's a gift,
that's not of yourselves, that's a gift. It is all a gift. It's all a gift. Now if you look
with me at Acts chapter 18, Acts 18 verse 27, it says, and when
he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting
the disciples to receive him, who when he was come helped them
much which had believed through grace. Men and women will naturally
try to make a work out of anything that they can. Anything they
do, spiritually speaking, they'll try to make a work out of it.
And they will say, well, now when it comes to salvation and
these things, you at least have to believe. Well, now you have
to believe now. You have to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. As though to insinuate now that's
on you. That's up to you. According to
the commandment of God. All of his people will believe. They will believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, but that ability to believe is God's gift to them. It's God who works in his people
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It is God's gift. It's not a work on their part.
That ability to believe, he quickens them. He does something in them. He performs the work in them.
And that is totally a gift to them. He enables them to do it. And he gets the praise for it.
He gets the glory for it. even our faith to believe on
him. Hebrews 12 says, he is the author and the finisher of our
faith. So he gets the glory for it.
We only believe through grace, through grace. This right here
is the message of the gospel. God's freely bestowed and complete
gift to sinners. That's the announcement. If somebody
is truly going to preach the gospel, that's what he's going
to preach. God's freely bestowed gift to
sinners. In Acts chapter 20, Acts 20 verse
24, it says, but none of these things
move me, Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
The gospel of the grace of God. If we are going to preach the
gospel, If we are going to hear the gospel and if we are going
to truly believe the gospel, then we have to preach, hear,
and believe God's freely bestowed gift to sinners. That's the gospel. We have to preach grace. If we
are going to preach the gospel, we have to preach grace. We must
preach grace. We cannot preach what sinners
need to be doing in order to earn what Christ has already
earned for them. We cannot preach what sinners
need to be doing in order to accomplish what Christ has already
accomplished for them. That's not grace. That's words. That's words. And God won't accept
it. This is critical information
to know. God will not accept it. Let me show you that in Romans
3. In Romans 3, verse 10 says, as it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. That's pretty clear. None. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
with their tongue they've used deceit. The poison of asps is
under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their way, in the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. No fear of God. That's man by nature. That is
mankind in his natural flesh. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Verse 19 says, now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. The law was not given. The law
of God The commandments of God, they were not given to show us
how to earn salvation. They were not given for that
reason. Moses did not write these things to show us how we can
earn salvation through our works. God gave Moses these commandments
and they are recorded for us in here to prove to us our sin
and prove to us that we cannot keep his commandments. Are they
his commandments? Yes, they are. He said, if you
do this, you'll live. But through these commandments,
we realize I can't do it. I cannot work the works that
God would require for me to be saved. Only Christ can do that. Only Christ. We cannot keep this
law. It's impossible. We cannot do
it. We have all gotten angry at some
point or another. God says that's murder, and a
murderer is not going into heaven. We have all lusted, God says
that's adultery. All of these things that just
freely come out of us, we have sinned against God. Galatians
3 says, whoever is trying to earn heaven through the works
of the law is under the curse because he's never gonna do it. All of the law is gonna have
to be kept. If we're gonna keep One commandment
in the law, we have to keep all the commandments in the law.
People say, well, now, at least I do this. Well, what about the
rest? It all would have to be kept.
That's impossible for flesh to do. That's just impossible. So
we cannot earn salvation through the works of the law. Verse 20
here in Romans 3, it says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. Manifested, a man came, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. Everything
in the law and the prophets points to Him. His work, His accomplishment,
His gift. Verse 23 says, For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace. All have sinned. All have sinned. And in that sin, man has condemned
himself. But is there any hope of being
justified before God again? Yes, there is. freely by the
grace of Christ, freely by the blood that Christ spilled to
redeem his people. Verse 24 says, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Verse 25 says, whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That
means it's by grace and not by works. To declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. That means He did it, everything
that needed to be done. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. It's His blood, it's His righteousness
alone. that redeems and makes the sinner
perfect before God. It's his grace. If I'm looking
to my deeds, many people do. Many people are looking within,
looking to themselves to see, am I good enough for God to accept
me? If I'm looking to my deeds, even as a partial payment, he
paid most of it and I have to pick up the slack. If I'm looking
to that, then I'm not looking to His blood and righteousness
alone. I'm mixing works with grace. And here's the thing we
need to understand about that. When it all boils down to brass
tacks, it's an insult to God. It's an insult to Christ. It insinuates that the life that
Christ lived and the death that Christ died was not good enough. That's what it insinuates. The
body he broke in the blood that he shared. It was just not enough. It was an imperfect gift. That's what it insinuates. It
was an incomplete gift and incomplete work. And God will not have that. He will not have that. He will
not have us insulting and dishonoring the work and gift of His Son. He will not do it. He said it's
grace alone. That means it's my Son alone. It's His work alone. It's the
gift of His righteousness alone, and the gift of His spotless
blood alone. So verse 27, right here in Romans
3, it says, where is boasting then? On our part, it's excluded. By what law? Of works? No, by
the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's
grace. That's grace. That is the kindness
and the favor of God freely bestowed. That's what it is, that's grace.
Now turn with me over to Romans chapter nine. It says in Romans
nine verse 15, this is quoting Exodus 33, where God said to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. There in Exodus
33, he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and
I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That's what he means
by compassion. I'll be gracious, I'll show grace
to whom I'll show grace. Verse 16 says, so then it is
not of him that willeth, Men stand up and they ask people,
won't you accept Jesus to be your personal savior? Don't you
want that? Don't you will for that to happen?
That's not how it works. He said, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. People stand up and say, now
you got to get on fire for Jesus. You got to go out and work the
works for Jesus. That's not how it works. He said, it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will give grace to whom
I will give grace. God's grace is sovereign. It's
sovereign. It is a freely bestowed gift,
and He gives it to whoever He's pleased to give it to. It is
absolutely sovereign. It is of God. Now, there are
still quite a few verses that we could look at that would give
us some insight to the truth of His grace. Very briefly, I'll
mention some of them. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15 says
it's abundant. It is abundant. If you need God's
grace, there's plenty of it. Abundant grace. It does not matter
how great our sins are. It's abundant. Romans 5 says
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Grace to cover
all my sins. It's abundant. 2 Corinthians
12 verse 9 says it's sufficient. He said, my grace is sufficient. Can we really put all of our
trust in his grace? I mean, can we put our soul in
his grace, cast it all on his gift of grace? Absolutely we
can. His grace paid it all. It's sufficient. It is all that
God requires. And there's an endless number
of things that we could say about his grace, but. Go with me to
one more place. This notification of of God's
Word. It comes to centers. This truth
comes to centers. And it gives an understanding
that grace belongs to God. It's his. It is his freely bestowed
gift. And it's an insult to him to
try to add anything to it on our part. and He sovereignly
gives it to whoever He will. And once a sinner sees that and
realizes that salvation and His grace is in His hands and not
mine, fear strikes the sinner. That sinner starts to think,
what if he doesn't give it to me? What if God does not give
his grace to me? He gives it to whom he will,
and I don't deserve it. I'm a sinner. What if he does
not give it to me? I need it, and I see that it's
in his hands. Seeing that, that being revealed
to us is God's call of saving grace. That ought to totally
comfort our fears. Seeing the fear of the Lord,
seeing that I need it and it's in his hands, and my only hope
is that he'll give it to me. That is God's call of sovereign
grace. Eyes to see, ears to hear, a
heart that believes, That's God's gracious call to sinners. The Apostle Paul said, I was
thriving in religion, but when it pleased God, he revealed his
son in me. And he struck fear in me. We
know the story of him on the road to Damascus. God said, I
am. And Saul of Tarsus said, you
are. God be merciful to me. That was God's call of grace. And it's that way for all of
his people. And this is my sincere prayer
for everyone who's listening to this. My sincere prayer is
what Paul told the Ephesians. Grace be to you. Grace be to
you. I pray that God would show grace,
His sovereign, kind favor, the gift of the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ. I pray that He will show that
grace to me and to you. God shed His grace on thee. That's my prayer. Till next week,
the Lord bless His word. 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.