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 am going to be speaking to
you today from 1 Thessalonians 1. If you would like to turn
with me there to 1 Thessalonians 1, I want to emphasize verse
4. The title of this message is
going to come from verse 4. But let's begin reading in verse
1. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 1. It says, Paul and Silvanus and
Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in
God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God always for you all making mention of you
in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Knowing your election of God. Knowing that God chose you. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's telling the Thessalonians. He's speaking to those who are
in God the Father and in Christ Jesus the Lord. He's speaking
to a particular people. And He said, you are God's elect,
knowing that God chose you, chose you to salvation. Now, there
are some truths in the Scripture. There are some truths in the
Word of God that many people have a hard time understanding.
They struggle to understand some of the things that the Word of
God declares. Therefore, they don't believe
them. They have a hard time understanding
it, so they end up not believing it. Election has to be at the
top of that list. For many people, election has
to be at the top of that list of things that men and women
naturally do not understand and do not believe. To say that God
elected a people to save, to say that God chose who he would
save. God, before the foundation of
the world, chose who he would save. That's something that people
all over this world reject. That truth is something that
people everywhere reject and despise. They hate the thought
of that. The thought that God, before
man ever was created on this earth, chose who he would save. Men and women naturally hate
the thought of that. And they commonly say, that's
not the God I worship. That's not my God. About 10 or 15 years ago, a woman
who I know, who is a believing woman, was having a conversation
with another woman who was not a believing woman. And she was
explaining to her some of the truths of Scripture. Some of
these things that the sovereign God has declared in His Word.
And the unbelieving woman, after hearing these things, said to
the believing woman, I hate your God. That was her response. I hate your God. That's terrible,
isn't it? That's sad. That's sad. Hearing the truth about God naturally
causes many people to say, I will not have that man reign over
me. Once they hear the truth of what God says, they say, I
will not have that man reign over me. That's not my God. I
don't like that God. I don't believe that God and
I don't believe the Word." Well, let's quickly go through some
Scriptures and let's settle, truly settle, whether indeed
it is a fact that God elected a people. If you want to turn
with me and see this for yourself, I'm going to go first to Psalm
65. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Blessed is the
man that you choose and you cause to approach unto thee. That's
election. That's election. God chose. God caused. God drew. Over in Isaiah chapter 45, verse
4 says, for Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect. Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
And God said, for Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect,
have I even called thee by thy name? I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. You didn't even know me. What
he's saying is, I married you. I gave you a new last name, even
though you didn't know me. You had no idea that I did all
of this for you. I chose you. That's election. That's God's. election. Over in Isaiah 65, it says in
verse 9, I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah,
an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect shall inherit
it, and my servants shall dwell there. In verse 22, it says,
"...they shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not
plant and another eat. For as the days of a tree are
the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work
of their hands." Turn with me over to Matthew chapter 24. In
Matthew 24, it says in verse 22, and except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's
sake those days shall be shortened." Verse 24, "...for there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets." False preachers. and shall show great signs and
wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the
very elect." He said, if it was possible, but it's not. He said,
if it was possible they would deceive my very elect. Verse
31 here in Matthew 24, it says, "...and he shall send his angels
with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together
his elect." from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other. In John 15 verse 16, the Lord
said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. That's election. In Acts 13 verse
48, it says, as many as were ordained to eternal life, That's election. That's election. Look with me over at Romans chapter
8. Romans 8 verse 33, it says, Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Romans 9 verse 11, 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, but
of him that calleth." It was said unto her, The elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then?" That's
what God said. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. What that means is
neither Jacob nor Esau deserved His love. The shocking part is
not that he hated Esau. The shocking part is that he
loved Jacob. Jacob was a sinner against him, a trickster, a supplanter. All have sinned. All deserve
his wrath. So is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Verse 15, For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
That's election. Election. Ephesians 1 says, we
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
That's when it took place. Election. And we could keep going
with this. We could just go on and on and
on, seeing that God elected a people to save. God elected a people. Every saved sinner was chosen
to salvation. And that's the good news of the
gospel. That is the joy of the gospel, is that every sinner
who is saved was chosen to that salvation. They had to be. They
had to be. There was no other way that man
would be saved. And I selected that word very
carefully. Would. There was no other way
that man would be saved. It's true that there's no other
way man could be saved. But there was no other way that
man would be saved. Christ is salvation. Christ is salvation. When He
came to His own, His own received Him not. He was despised and
rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid our faces from Him. That's what Isaiah wrote. Look
with me at John chapter 3. In John 3 verse 19 says, And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light. Light came into the world, and
every person who is evil and does evil, which is sinners,
hates the light. That's what the Word of God says.
lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered. He doesn't want
what he truly is to be discovered and be known. This is condemnation. Men and women will not come to
the light. Will not. Will not. And it's because they love evil.
They love darkness. That's all they can love. In
order for condemnation to come to a person, In order for eternal
destruction, eternal condemnation to come to a person, all God
has to do is give that person what he or she wants. That's
all God has to do, is give that person what he or she wants. Sometimes we say it this way,
and this is the truth. All God has to do is leave a
man or a woman alone. That's all he has to do, just
leave them alone. That's the truth. But all God has to do ultimately
is give him what he wants. You know, if a man was drowning
in the ocean, truly drowning, going down, and we could see
that man drowning and say, well, all we have to do to let him
continue to destruction is leave him alone. That's all we have
to do, just leave him alone. And that would be the truth.
Leave him alone and he'll die. But here's the deeper reality
of the situation of man's nature. Okay, this is what man is by
nature. Man jumped in the ocean on purpose. Man jumped in to drown himself
on purpose. Man does not want to be saved. Salvation is come and man rejects
it. That's what it means. Salvation
is come and man rejects it. Man has rejected salvation. Man despises salvation. Man says, I will not have it. I will not have it. So the greater
reality, all God has to do is give a man what he wants. Give
a woman what she wants. This is critical, critical information. I want to make this so clear
because this is the absolute truth. Election, when men and
women talk about election, when a man stands in a pulpit and
preaches election, when we read in the Word of God of His election,
election is God in mercy. not giving a sinner what he wants. That's what election is. It's
God in kindness, in goodness, in grace, in mercy, not giving
a sinner what he or she wants. Election is not God denying men
and women salvation. I choose you and I don't choose
you. I deny you salvation. That's not election. All men and women are headed
into destruction, running headfirst into destruction. They want to
go the way of sin and destruction. So election is not God denying
any man salvation. He's running into damnation on
his own. Election is the love that drew a sinner to himself.
Election is the love that stopped his path. Election is the love that drew
the glorious blueprint of salvation. Election is what chose men and
women to salvation. Election is unto salvation. One time the apostles were rejoicing
because They could do a few miracles. The Lord gave them the ability
to perform some miracles. And the Lord told them, don't
rejoice over that. He said, rejoice because your
names are written in heaven. Rejoice over your election. Rejoice because God chose to
have mercy on you. Rejoice over that. Well, back
in 1 Thessalonians 1, Verse 4 says, "'Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God.'" Knowing your election of God. Paul told
the church at Thessalonica, he said, "'I know that God has chosen
you to salvation because...' And may the same thing be said
about us." This is my prayer. I pray this same thing might
be said to me and to you. May this be said about us. This
is the evidence of your election. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, verse 5 says, 4, because our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. He said, our gospel, our message,
meaning, The message of Scripture. Not just because it comes out
of my mouth. The message of Scripture. Doesn't
matter what I say. All that matters is what has
God said. The message of Paul. God used the apostles to write
this word. The message of Peter and James
and John and Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jude, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah,
Malachi, Moses, all of these men. This message, our message,
our gospel, He said, it came unto you not in word only. You didn't just hear it in one ear and out the other.
Many have heard with the ears the words of these men, the message
of the scripture. Many have heard it with the ear,
and that's all that happened. They just heard it with the ear.
That's all that happened. But he said, that's not what
happened with you. Not only did you hear it in word, he said,
you heard it in power. And you heard it in the Holy
Ghost. God's Spirit came to you through the preaching of the
gospel. You heard it in such a way that it went straight to
the heart of your soul. And you heard it in alarming,
awakening power. You heard something you'd never
heard before. You said, I've heard a lot of men preach, but
I've never heard anybody preach like this. And it's not the man,
it's the word. I see something in the word I've
never seen before. Alarming, awakening power. But how do you know, Paul? How
do you know that God's Holy Spirit moved on me with power? How do
you know He called me as one of His elect? He said, you believed. You believed. It came to you
in much assurance. God convinced your heart. I believe
that's the truth. I believe this is the truth.
It takes the power of God's Holy Spirit to make a man or a woman
believe. Men and women cannot believe
the truth of God's Word. It's so shocking. It's so far
from what man naturally believes about God and about the Scripture.
And it takes God's Holy Spirit to cause a man or a woman to
truly believe it. truly believe it, the message,
this message of Scripture. Paul said, you heard it, it came
to you in word, and it said to you, the message of Scripture
came to you and said to you, you're a sinner. That's what
the Scripture said to you. That's what the Scripture said
to me. Gabe Stoniker, you're a sinner. And Paul said, you
believed it. I believe I am a sinner. This Word said, salvation came
and you despised Him. By nature, you rejected Him and
you believed it. You said, oh, I see what I really
am. I see what I really am by nature.
But this Word came to you, He said, in power and it said to
you, In spite of you, in spite of what you are, in spite of
man's wicked sin, God in love and kindness and tenderness chose
to show mercy to some. Through the giving of his own
son, he chose to show mercy through giving his own son to be a sacrifice
for their sin. And Paul said, you believed it. You believed it. Verse 5 says,
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. A dear
man said this one time, a preacher of the gospel. He said, quite
often people would come up to him and say, I'm just struggling
over assurance. I need to know that God has chosen
to save me, and I just struggle so much over assurance. I just
don't seem to have much assurance. And He said that His response
to them has become, Do you mean to tell me you don't believe
that Jesus is the Christ, God's Messiah sent to save His people? And they say, Oh no, I believe
that. And He says, Well then, do you mean to tell me you don't
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? equal member
of the Trinity of God, able to perform everything He said He
would accomplish? And they say, oh no, I believe
that. And He says, well, do you mean to tell me then that you
don't believe that God the Father chose a people to save from their
sins? And that God's Son accomplished
that salvation for every soul the Father chose in His death
on the cross? You don't believe that His death
accomplished that salvation? And they say, oh no, I believe
that. And He said, well then your problem is not assurance.
Your problem is you're looking to yourself. And that's the truth. When we look within, oh, we just
can't find any assurance. All of our assurance is in Christ. Our assurance is in the fact
that God has revealed the truth to us and we believe it. We believe
that I cannot do anything. He must do it all. Salvation
is totally of the Lord. And Paul said, this is the evidence
that Christ has come to you. God has come to you by His Spirit. You believed it in much assurance.
The end of verse five says, as you know what manner of men we
were among you for your sake. And verse six says, you became
followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. He said, you became followers
of us and the Lord. You wanted to gather where the
message of Scripture was being preached. It's not preached everywhere.
And he said, once you realized it's not being preached where
I'm sitting right now, it made you want to get up and go find
it. You wanted to gather with the message, gather with the
Lord's people. And he said, you received the
word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost in spite
of all the persecution. When this truth comes, And God
opens a sinner's eyes to it. Others around him usually don't
see it. And it comes with much persecution
and affliction. But he said, you received it
with joy. Verse 7, so that you were examples to all that believe
in Macedonia and Achaia. You were examples to all. Verse
8, for from you sounded out the Word of the Lord, not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith to
God were to spread abroad so that we need not speak anything.
He said, you went around telling everybody. And I know from personal
experience, when God revealed this truth to me, I couldn't
help it. I'm telling you right now. I have to go tell everybody.
This is the glorious truth of the Word. Verse nine, for they
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you
and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God. Men have little idols, but our greatest idol is ourself.
And he said, you turn from yourself, from your own works and your
own pride and your own ability and your own, you turn from yourself,
turn from your biggest idol to the true and living God. Verse 10, and to wait for His
Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which
delivered us from the wrath to come. He said, this is how I
know God chose you to salvation. The preaching of the gospel came
to you in power, power of the Holy Ghost, and you believed
it. And you identified with Christ. Christ and His message and His
people, in spite of the persecution, In spite of the affliction that
came from it, you turned from yourself, you turned from your
works to the true and living God. You said, I must decrease
and He must increase. I believe Him. Paul said, you're
elect. You're one of God's elect. May
that be said about us. Until 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 AM, worship at 10.45 AM and 6 o'clock PM,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 PM. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.