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 have a message for you today
from the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one and I love
this book. I love this chapter. It's such
a place of comfort for me and a place of rest. It is always
so relaxing to be in Ephesians chapter one and I pray the Lord
will make this a blessing to all of our hearts. I want to
emphasize the last two words of verse three, Ephesians one,
the last two words of verse three say in Christ, in Christ, that's
the key to it all, isn't it? That is the key to it all. It is all in Christ. What do you mean it? I mean everything. Everything. It is all in Christ. Every promise, every blessing. It is all in Christ. God is a
God of love. God is a God of love, but only
in Christ. That's important. Only in Christ,
outside of Christ, he said that he is a God of vengeance. That's what he said. Outside
of Christ, he's a God of vengeance. God is a God of mercy. He is
a God who will have mercy, but only in Christ. Only in Christ, outside of Christ,
he said he is a God of wrath. Hebrews 10 says, it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And most people
are not aware of that, but it is. to go meet God is a fearful
thing. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. And the reason is because Exodus
34 says he will by no means clear the guilty. He will by no means
clear the guilty. In our flesh, we're all guilty. We are all guilty. Every soul
is going to stand before God. One of two ways, either in Christ
or outside of Christ. Every soul is going to stand
before the judgment throne of God. One of two ways in Christ
or outside of Christ. And the only hope that we have,
I mean the only hope that any sinner has, is if God will put
us in Christ. We must be in Christ. We have
to be in Christ. Because chapter two, verse one
says, we are all naturally in the flesh, dead in trespasses
and sins. It says, and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's where all of us
are. Verse two says that we naturally
walk according to the course of this world. According to the
prince of the power of the air, that's the adversary. We're walking
in captivity to sin. The spirit that now work within
the children of disobedience. Verse three says none of us are
exempt from that. None of us. It's every one of
us. It says, among whom also we all
had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and whereby
nature, the children of wrath, even as others, just like everybody
else, no different. Absolutely no difference. And
verse 11 right here in Ephesians 2 says, wherefore remember that
you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision,
not God's people, outcast, called uncircumcision by that which
is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. Remember
that at that time you were without Christ. being aliens from the
Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. To be without Christ. To be without Christ is to be
without hope. Without Christ, there's no hope.
There is no hope before God, no hope of standing before the
judgment throne of God. Verse 13 says, but now in Christ. Ephesians 2.13, but now in Christ
Jesus. In Christ Jesus. You who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. All spiritual
blessings are in Christ Jesus. Every blessing that God has for
a child of his, Every blessing that God has to give to a sinner
is only in Christ. It's only in Christ. If you'll
turn back just a few pages to 2 Corinthians 11, it says in
verse three, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. That's the answer, in
Christ. That's the gospel, in Christ. That's the heart of it all, the
simplicity of being in Christ, in Christ. That's what I want
us to look at for just a second. I want us to very simply see
what we have in Christ. See what God has given to centers
in Christ. Back in Ephesians chapter one,
if you go back with me to Ephesians one from verse three to verse
14, seven blessings are named. In those verses, from verse 3
to verse 14, seven blessings are named that we have in Christ. Seven great, wonderful, spiritual
blessings in Christ. All right? Verse 3, it says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. 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." What a blessing. What a blessing. If we had all
entered into what that just said, what a blessing. He chose us. What a blessing. He chose us. God choosing sinners. God choosing
sinful men and women who were at enmity against Him. That means
an enemy. He chose His enemies. Enemies
of Him. Dead, the scripture says right
here, in the corruption and the decay of sin, dead enemies. God choosing to reach down and
lay hold of some of those sinners and him choosing to draw them
to himself. That has to be the sweetest and
most precious and most loving and most kind declaration that's
ever been told. That has to be the kindest declaration
that has ever been told. The blessing, God's great blessing
of election. What a blessing. Look with me,
if you would, at John 15. It says in John 15, verse 16,
our Lord said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and
ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and
that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask
of the father in my name, he may give it you. You have not
chosen me. I've chosen you. Now, who's he
talking to? He's talking to sinners. He's
talking to all of his people. Every person he chose, the flesh
naturally will not choose God. His people naturally will not
choose him. But he said, I've chosen you.
You will not choose me, but I've chosen you. Now let's see if
we can get ahold of this. This is a very important thing
to know. There is no rejection in election. In God's election,
there is not one ounce of rejection in God's election. Many people
think when they hear about God's election, they think that it
is God choosing to accept one and choosing to reject another. That's what many people think,
but that is not so. That is not the case. Not at
all. If God makes a sinner willing
to come to Christ, If God does that for a sinner, he himself
said in John 6, 37, I will in no wise cast that sinner out.
If any man comes to me, I will not cast him out. I will not
reject him. If a man comes to me, I will
not reject him. There is no rejection in election. Men will not come to Christ on
their own. They will not come to him on
their own. The flesh is the natural enemy of Christ on its own. That's the important thing to
understand. Condemnation comes to sinners when God leaves them
alone. All he has to do is leave them
alone. Had God left us alone, we would have just remained dead
in our sins. That's where he found us and had he just left
us alone, that's where we would stay, dead in our sins. But in his loving kindness, in
all of his loving kindness, he chose to not leave us alone.
And because of his choice, Romans 8 verse 33 says, It is God that justify. That's
wonderful. Look with me, if you would, at
2 Thessalonians 2. It says in verse 13, but we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. What a blessing. Election is
choosing centers to salvation. That's what it is. That's a great
blessing. All right. Back in Ephesians one, here's
a, here's another great spiritual blessing. Verse five, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of His will. What a blessing. He predestinated
us. Predestinated means to appoint
beforehand. It means to ordain to. It means to limit in advance. Here is the great blessing of
God, the great blessing of God to His people. For every sinner
that he chooses in Christ, he ordains, he limits in advance,
he narrows everything about their path in order to bring that sinner
to one ending place. And what is that place? Christ
himself. Everything about that sinner's
life narrows and narrows and narrows. It's limited in advance. It limits that center all the
way to Jesus Christ. When we first start out, we're
running all over the place. Spiritually speaking, we're running
here, running there, trying to figure these things out. And
what does all of this mean? And God in his blessing starts
shutting things down, starts limiting our run. And he puts
us on a straight course. to arrive at the feet of Jesus
Christ. Brings us straight to bow to
him and believe on him. That's a wonderful blessing of
God that he would do that for us. Over in Acts 13, I love this
verse of scripture, Acts 13, verse 48, it says, and when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of
the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believe. Do you notice how that verse
doesn't say as many as believed were ordained to return alive?
It says, as many as were ordained, believed that's predestination. That's what it is. God's spiritual
blessing to a sinner. Turn with me, if you would, over
to Romans eight, it says in Romans eight, verse 29, for whom he
did for know. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified,
and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we
then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against
us?" That's just amazing. That's amazing. All right. Back
in Ephesians one, here's the next blessing. Verse six, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved. He chose us. He predestinated
us. He made us accepted. And all
of this happened in the beloved. That means in Christ. All of it happened in Christ. What had to take place in order
for Christ to make sinners like us accepted by God? What had to happen? Well, just
a moment ago, we read in Ephesians 2, the first three verses, they
told us how dead and how wicked we were. Verse four says, but
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together
with Christ. That's what had to happen. He
quickened us together with Christ. What does that mean? Well, look
down at verse 13, Ephesians 2, verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. The blood that he shed on that
cross. Verse 14 says, for he is our
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to
make in himself of twain one new man. So making peace. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Well, that means he joined us
together with Christ his son, joined us with the perfect life
he lived, and joined us with the perfect death he died. And
Christ, joining himself with our sins, bore the punishment,
suffered the wrath, and redeemed us to God. He broke down that
middle wall of partition by breaking himself. What a blessing. That's what it took for us to
be accepted by God, accepted in the beloved. All right, now
back in chapter one, verse seven says, in Christ, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. Can we fathom the blessing? the
blessing that God has given us in Christ. He chose us. He predestinated us. He accepted
us. He redeemed us. He redeemed us,
paid our price. Verse eight, wherein he hath
abounded toward us. He has enlightened us. He's notified
us. He's told us of these things,
called us to it. Verse 8, wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ. both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in Him." Whose will was it? His will.
Whose good pleasure? His good pleasure. He's going
to gather all things in Him. He called us to an understanding
of the great blessing of who He is and what He's done for
us. And this is the great blessing
of the call. This is the amazing part of his call. Those that
he has done this for, and those that he notifies of this, this
is just amazing to me. It says over in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 26, for you see your calling brethren, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Not many wise, not many mighty,
not many noble. I'm not a wise man. I confess
that to you right now. I am not a wise man, not in this
flesh. I'm not mighty, I'm not noble. But God said he's hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Simple
minds like mine. That's who he's chosen to do
this for. That's who he has called to himself. Those who say, I'm
nothing, I'm nobody. That's who the blessing's to.
That's who the good news is to. Verse 27 says, But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. And base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nothing, to bring to naught things that
are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are
you in Christ Jesus? Oh, the blessing of being in
Christ. You must be in Christ and I must
be in Christ. Now let's ask this question.
How does a sinner get in Christ? How can you and I be in Christ? If it's a vital condition of
life, how do we get in Christ? Of God are you in Christ Jesus. Of God. It's a work that God
does. It's a blessing that God bestows. It's His doing. His work. He gets the glory for it. Verse
30. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom. Christ is all of our wisdom.
And righteousness. Christ is all of our righteousness,
all of our perfection, all of our goodness, and sanctification. Christ is all of our holiness,
our purity, and redemption. Christ is our payment. He's everything
that we need. Verse 31 says, that according
as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. If
God ever reveals to a sinner what it means to be in Christ,
he will glory in the Lord. That sinner will glory in the
Lord. He'll say, what a blessing, what a blessing. Thank you to
God be the glory. Back in Ephesians 1 verse 11
says, in whom, in Christ, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance. He has enriched us. Not only
did he not kill us for our sin against him, and not only did
he pay the price to redeem us and set us back in the presence
of God, He enriched us. Back just a few pages to 2 Corinthians
8, it says in verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though He was rich, everything belonged to Him, though
He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor. that you, through
his poverty, might be rich. He gave it all. He gave it all. In Christ, we have been given
all things, not figuratively, literally. All things. If we have him, we have it all. All right, there's one more blessing
that's listed in our text. Back in Ephesians 1, verse 11
says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. He sealed us. In Christ, we are preserved. We are so preserved. In Christ,
we're being kept by the power of God. Whether or not you're
gonna make it all the way to glory has nothing to do with
you and everything to do with Him. everything to do with him. We're kept by his power. He said,
they are in my hands. I am in my father's hands and
no man can pluck them out of my father's hands. Safe, sealed all the way. Seven great, wonderful blessings
in Christ. He chose us. He predestinated
us. He accepted us. He redeemed us. He enlightened us. He enriched
us. And He has sealed us. That's good news. That's good
news. And the end of verse 14 says,
every bit of that is unto the praise of His glory. Every bit
of it. He did it all. And He gets the
glory for it all, and His people give Him the glory for it all.
They all cry, we didn't do anything. It's not by my choosing, not
by my decision, it's all by His. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. 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. you