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 Ephesians chapter 3, we are going to be looking at verses
7 and 8. And this portion of scripture
is very dear to my heart. Two verses, these are two verses
that are very personal to me and I believe you'll see why
as soon as we read verse eight. We're going to begin with verse
eight. It 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. 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." The Apostle
Paul very clearly was a man who thought very little of himself
in the flesh. He was not high on himself. He thought very little of himself,
just like John the Baptist did. John the Baptist, along with
all of God's true preachers, did not want himself to be even
known. He did not want himself to be
considered in the message of Scripture. They asked him, what's
your name? And he said, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He wasn't trying to promote his
name. None of God's true preachers are. They asked him, are you
that prophet? And he said, I'm not worthy to
tie his shoes. No, I'm not that prophet. We're
pointing to that prophet. Paul had the same view of himself. He had the same feeling about
himself. He said in 1 Timothy 1, I'm the
chief of sinners. That's what he said about himself.
I am the chief of sinners. When he looked at himself, when
he looked within himself, he was so disgusted. So disgusted with what he saw,
he said in Romans 7, I'm a wretched man. Think about that. The Apostle Paul, that's what
he said. After God converted him, as a writer of the scripture,
he said, I'm a wretched man. That's what he felt about himself.
That's why it was so shocking to him that God would give him
the stewardship of the gospel. It was shocking to him that God
would allow him the privilege to preach. What a great privilege
it is. He said in verse 8, unto me. He told Timothy before I was
a persecutor of the very people that I now preach to, followers
of Christ. He said, I was injurious toward
them. I injured them. I tortured them. I murdered them. I murdered them. He said, I blasphemed the very
God I'm now preaching. I was a blasphemer. So he said, you can see my shock. You can understand my absolute
shock over the fact that God would choose me to declare his
glorious news. Shocking. Me? Of all people? Me? Every true preacher and every
true believer, every quickened believer cries right along with
him. Why me? Why me? Most of the times you see people
in the world, they're angry with everything and angry with God
and they cry, why me? Why me? All of God's people are
saying, why me? Of all people knowing what I
am, why me? Paul said, I'm the least of all
saints. I'm the least of all saints.
There's a man that I'm sure many of you have heard of. His name
is Charles Spurgeon. And he was a English preacher
in the late 1800s, a preacher of the gospel. And I love what
he said about this verse of scripture. He said in his English language,
he said, I do not quarrel with Paul's language, but I do dispute
his right to push me out of my place. He said, less than the
least is a position which I had hoped to occupy, but he has taken
it from me. And I would fain give him a touch
on the shoulder and say, friend, go up higher. He said, Paul said he was the
least of all saints. And I say, I'm the least of all
saints. I say he's greater than me. And
I believe all of God's people say that. I'd like to say the
same thing to Mr. Spurgeon. Friend, go up higher. I'm the
least, I'm the least. Handling the gospel in any way
is a very humbling thing. It's a very humbling thing. It's
a very lowering thing. Being a preacher of God's true
gospel is a humbling, lowering thing. And being a receiver,
being a believer is a humbling thing. When God's gospel comes
to a sinner, it humbles, it abases, it lowers man and lifts Christ
up. Very humbling. But even though
Paul felt very humble, very lowly toward himself, he felt very
highly of the one he preached to. Highly of the Christ he preached,
and he felt highly of his brethren, the ones that he preached to.
He did not say, I'm the least of the apostles. He didn't say
that. He said, I'm the least of all
saints. I'm the least of every saint
that God has called. I'm the least of all of them.
I'm the least. If that is written in the word
of God, it's true. If God wrote that in his word,
it's true. He was not, Paul was not just
buttering them up. He meant every word of that.
He meant it in his heart. I'm the least. I'm the least. You may remember he had a falling
out with Barnabas. He and Barnabas had to go separate
ways. They had to break fellowship
for a while. But he still thought, Barnabas is a greater saint than
I am. He had to rebuke Peter to the
face. Peter was trying to go back to
the deeds of the law to impress some Jews and Paul told him,
we've been set free from that and you're being a bad example
to the Gentiles and the Jews. and he had to rebuke him to the
face, but he still thought Peter is a greater saint than I am. All of the letters that he wrote,
all of these epistles, this epistle to the Ephesians, the epistle
to the Galatians, you read what he wrote to the Corinthians and
the Galatians, and he had some hard things to say. He had some
real correction to sin. Some of those congregations were
just a mess, a total mess, but he still called them brethren
and he considered them to be greater than himself. Verse 8,
he said, unto me who am less than the least of all saints
is this grace given that I should preach. that I should preach. He felt so lowly of himself and
he felt very highly of the ones he preached to. He felt in his
heart that the ministry of preaching the gospel was the greatest gift
that God could ever give him. And I feel the same, I feel the
exact same way. The ministry of preaching this
gospel, this is the greatest gift I could ever receive. This
is the greatest gift. Paul was never acknowledged,
he was never given a title, he was never given a position by
any of his peers, any of his religious leaders in that day.
He was not celebrated in his day. He never had any best-selling
books. He never got a big salary. Never. Paul wasn't even received by
most of the people he preached to. He would go out and preach
this glorious gospel and many of them rejected him, hated him. He was hated by most all of his
kinsmen after the flesh because of the message he preached, because
of this gospel, God's gospel. He said that his own personal
assurance in his calling The reason he felt so strongly that
God had called him, his personal assurance, and he said his own
glory, was in his sufferings for preaching the gospel. He
said, this is my glory. My sufferings for preaching the
gospel. Paul was beaten for it. They
beat him for preaching this gospel. He was whipped for it. He was
stoned for it. He was shipwrecked. He was robbed. He is currently sitting in prison
as he writes this. Writing this from prison. Put
in prison for preaching this gospel and this is what he says.
He said, I cannot believe that God has honored me. and given
me such a great gift, shown so much favor to me by allowing
me to preach the message of this gospel. I just can't believe
it. Unto me. Look now at verse 7. He said, Whereof I was made a
minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto
me by the effectual working of His power." I was made to be
this. Chosen to this. I am what I am
by the grace of God. He's the one who said that. I
am but what I am by grace. I am what I am by the power of
God. Verse 8, unto me who am less than the least of all saints
is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles. I get to go tell sinners, the
Gentiles, those were any people who were not Jews. If you're
not a Jew, you're a Gentile. And they were considered outcast. They were considered heathen.
Not the natural nation that God said he was going to show favor
to. Sinners. That's what they were
considered. Sinners. That's what Gentiles represent.
Sinners. And Paul said, I can't believe that I get to go tell
sinners. I get to go tell sinners who
do not realize their need of salvation. have no idea truly
how deep in sin they are. Dead in sin. I get to go tell
sinners who are not owed it. I get to go tell sinners who
do not deserve it how great things the Lord has
done for them. Do you know that's why I'm here?
Do you know that's why I preach this message to you right now?
I get to tell how great things the Lord has done for us. Great,
great things. He said, I've suffered, this
is what Paul said, I've suffered the loss of all things, but I
count it done. Paul was a respected man, he
lost that. Oh, he said, I had to leave it
all. I counted all dung. Counted all dung. A true preacher
is not looking to get rich. A true preacher is looking to
glorify Christ. And he won't either. He won't.
Because this world will reject the message. He will not be celebrated. Paul was not celebrated. But he said, I counted all dung.
And the reason is because God has given me the great gift in
the honor of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. We have one
message to preach and we have one message to believe. There's
only one message to believe. Christ. Christ. By God's grace, we'll never stop
preaching and by his grace, we'll never stop believing throughout
all of time and eternity. Never. the glory, the praise,
the honor, the work of Jesus Christ. Not my glory, not my
praise, not my honor, not my work. That's what we'll be saying
throughout all eternity. Not unto me, Christ. Because the message of Christ,
the message that looks into the things of Christ and sees Christ
and hears Christ and knows Christ, that message is unsearchable
riches. Unsearchable riches. Look with me, if you would, at
Romans chapter 11. It says in Romans 11 verse 33, oh the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. That's what
unsearchable means, past finding out. It's past finding out. They go infinitely farther than
a man or a woman could ever dream of searching. It's so much farther
than a man could ever search out. Now for those to whom this
grace is not given, not given, there is no beauty in Christ,
in His honor, in His glory, in His work. There is no beauty
in Him that they should desire Him. They don't want to give
Him all the glory. They don't want to give Him all the praise.
They don't want to honor Him for all the work He accomplished.
They don't want to do that. There's no beauty that they should
desire Him. There was a man one time who was appalled by the
fact that the world does not naturally see Christ in the Scriptures. He was appalled that the world
does not see Christ in all the Scriptures. And another man responded
to him by saying, the world didn't see Christ in the Christ. They didn't see God manifest
in the flesh while he walked on this earth. They did not honor
him. He was here for 33 and a half
years and they didn't see God for 33 and a half years. Many,
many didn't. And the reason is because they
couldn't. That must be given, that has to be given. Eyes to
see must be given, ears to hear must be given, a heart that believes
must be given, it has to be given. But to you who have received
the gift of grace, that's who he is speaking to, those who
have received the gift of grace, the gift of God's grace, you
know he's altogether lovely, isn't he? Oh, He's so lovely
to us. The message of Christ is music
to our ears. As soon as we hear His name and
hear what He's done, we perk up because He's altogether lovely. He is unsearchable riches. Now, let's take just a minute
and try to search just a little bit of the unsearchable. All
right, let's see if we can fathom just a small piece of the unfathomable. Let's start with the riches of
His person. Let's look at Him and see the
riches of His person, the riches of who He is. Turn with me over
to Colossians chapter 2. It says in Colossians 2 verse
9, For in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the man who walked this
earth, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him dwells all the fullness. All the fullness. All of the
wisdom. All the wisdom of God. All of
the knowledge of God. All of the judgment of God. All
of the power of God. All of the ability of God. All
of the Godhead. All of it. Everything that God
is. Everything that God is capable
of is contained in him, is contained in his body, all of it. Everything we can see on this
earth, everything we can see, everything we can see in space,
he created it. He created every bit of it. He
thought of it, he designed it, he spoke it into existence. Without
Him was not anything made that was made. Nothing. Everything that is actively continuing
right now is being sustained by Him. Everything that's breathing,
I'm breathing, you're breathing. Every heart that is beating,
every one of them. The perfect order of all things. By Him, the scripture says, all
things consist. All things keep going. Think
about that. By Him, all things consist. He created all things. He created
that heart. And by Him, it's still beating.
By Him. Everything that is. obeys him,
everything, the unsearchable riches of his person, the unsearchable
riches of his sovereignty and his power. While he walked this earth, this
is an amazing thought to me, while he walked this earth, the
wind obeyed him. The waves obeyed him, the waves
of the sea obeyed him. The waves obeyed him. The angels
obeyed him. The devils obeyed him. Every
commandment he gave, every one of them, they obeyed him. Diseases
obeyed him. The dead obeyed him. Everything, everything obeyed
the voice of the Almighty God. That's who He is, the glory of
His person. In seeing that, we have to realize,
though, that that's Him veiling His power from us. That's Him
veiling Himself in human flesh. That's Him humbling Himself before
us. That's what the Scripture says
He did. He humbled Himself. That what we know of him is at
the lowest point of his own self humiliation before us. Wait till
we see him now high and lifted up in all of his exaltation,
the person of his almighty power and sovereignty. It's unsearchable. Completely unsearchable. Now
let's think about this. His kingdom is unsearchable.
The scripture says, of His kingdom there shall be no end. Don't
you love that? The scripture says His throne
is forever and ever. How long do you think forever
is? Go in your mind into forever. See how far you can go into forever.
It's forever. Never ending forever. We get so torn up over the 70
years that we're going to live out our life on this earth. We're
just so torn up over it. What is 70 years compared to
never ending forever? Forever. His person is unsearchable
riches. His kingdom is unsearchable riches. His riches are unsearchable riches. He owns everything. He said it's
all mine. The Father said He inherits All
things, all things. The apostle Paul was called up
to the third heaven one time and after he saw the unsearchable
riches of his person and his kingdom and all that he has,
Paul cried, I count everything here on this earth dung. It's
all dung. That I might win Christ and be
found in him. What unsearchable riches that
is. To have Him is to have it all. It's to have it all. Now
let's see if we can enter into the riches of His love. Look
with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 8. This is wonderful. 2 Corinthians
8 verse 9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. that you through his poverty
might be rich. Oh, the riches of his condescension,
the riches of his substitution, though he was indescribably rich,
yet for your sakes, he became indescribably poor, that you
and I through his poverty might be rich. The substitution that
He made for us completely redeemed us by completely destroying His
own life. He redeemed ours through the
destruction of His own. God sent His Son into the world,
His only begotten Son, to be the propitiation for our sins,
that payment, that atonement. And through that we have received
the unsearchable riches of His glory in His life. Where sin
abounded, the scripture says, the unsearchable riches of His
grace has much more abounded. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
the cross. His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness,
His love, His accomplishment, His victory. Every bit of that
abounded in the unsearchable riches of His death on the cross.
Every bit of it. We had a debt no man could pay.
We were bankrupt, we were hopeless, and then all of a sudden the
unsearchable riches of the gospel rang out and God cried, you're
in Christ and you're redeemed. In Christ, no condemnation, you're
free to go. That's the riches of the gospel. In Christ, you're free. John
said, I write these things to you that you sin not, and if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
his intercession for us, that Christ would intercede on our
behalf, making intercession for his people every day, crying,
I paid for that through the riches of my blood. One more thing that
we need to consider. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
His return. The unsearchable riches of His
return. He said when He comes back, He's
going to gather His people to Himself. They're going to meet
Him in the air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. He said
it's a place where instead of the thorn is going to come up
the fir tree. Instead of the briar is going
to come up the myrtle tree. It's a place where the desert
blossoms and flourishes as a rose, and lions and lambs dwell together
side by side, and everything breaks out into rejoicing. And
the reason is because He is there. It's all about Him. It's paradise,
because it's all about Him. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Till next week, may the Lord
bless those riches 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 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.