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 would like to begin our message
today by reading one verse of scripture from John chapter 17,
if you'd like to turn there with me. Our text is actually going
to come from Matthew 11, but let's begin reading one verse
of scripture in John 17, and it's verse three. It says, and
this is life eternal. Do we want to know what eternal
life is? Our Lord said, This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. This is life eternal. This is eternal life. This is
eternal life. Our Lord plainly declared, this
is eternal life. That a sinner might come to a
saving knowledge of the only true and living God. That is life eternal. That a
sinner might truly know God. we might know Him. I mean know
Him, a saving knowledge of who Christ is and why He came and
what He accomplished. Most people believe they know
who Christ is and why He came and what He accomplished. But
the truth of who He is and why He came and what He accomplished
He has declared that truth in His Word. In a saving knowledge
of truly who He is, that is salvation. If a sinner ever comes to truly
know who Christ is, that's a saved sinner. If he comes to know Him. Now, turn with me over to Matthew
chapter 11. This will be our text. And as
you turn, I'll remind us one more time that that verse of
scripture said, this is life eternal, that they might know
thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. All
right. Matthew chapter 11. Look with
me, if you would, at verse 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. This is our Lord speaking. And
no man knoweth the Son. No man knoweth the Son. No man. Our Lord said, no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. No man knows the Son, and no
man knows the Father. Now, what is life eternal? What
did we just read life eternal was? That we might know Him. That we might truly know Him.
In verse 27, our Lord said, no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. You know what that means? That
means everybody is lost. That's what it means. Every soul
on this earth is lost naturally without eternal life. See, this
is life eternal that we might know him. And he said, no man
knows the son and no man knows the father. That means we are
all naturally without eternal life. We are naturally without
the hope of salvation. We are born into this world. You were born into this world
and I was born into this world naturally separated from God. As soon as we were born into
this world, we took that first breath of air. We were at that
very moment, naturally, physically separated from God. And that's
where we will remain and all men and women will remain until
they come to a saving knowledge of who Christ is. If God does
not reveal who Christ truly is and who God truly is, then we
will remain in that sin. Now, the great lie of this world,
the great lie in life, The great lie through the religion of the
world is everybody's saved. Everybody's saved. People assume
everybody's saved. Whenever a person dies, everybody
assumes they go to heaven. The great truth of God's word
is everybody is lost. The great lie of the world is
everybody's saved. The great truth of God's Word
is everybody's lost. All have sinned. Is that not
what God's Word says? All have sinned. Every soul is
born into this world, separated from God, and judgment is coming. That's what the Word says. That's
what God has declared in His own Word. The Scripture says,
The wages of sin is death. That's what God's Word says.
The wages of sin is death. The only reason that death comes
is sin. That's the only reason. Men and women die every day. We are a dying people. We're
born into this world, we live for a God-given amount of time,
and then He takes us. We die and the reason we die
is sin. By one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin. That's Romans 5 verse 12. If
there were no sin, there would be no death. If there was no
sin, there would be no death. So generation after generation
has proven to us that every single person on this earth is a sinner. Every person on this earth. We
are all born into this world covered from head to toe with
sin. And God's word declares to us
that there is only one hope of getting rid of it. There's only
one hope. We all are covered in sin. And
there's only one hope of getting rid of it. If we leave this world
with that sin on us, if we go out and stand before God with
that sin on us, we are going to eternally die in that sin. But there is one hope. This is
what I have to tell us today. This is the good news of the
gospel. There is one hope of being rid of it. One hope. This is life eternal. That they might know the. That
they might know the inverse 27 here in Matthew chapter 11 says
all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth
the son but the father. neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him." No
man knows the father and no man knows the son except for those
that God has chosen to reveal himself to. God in love and in
mercy and in kindness has selected some sinners, chosen some sinners
to reveal himself to. And he tells us right here who
that is. He tells us who he is going to reveal himself to. If
you look back at verse 25 here in Matthew 11, it says, at that
time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent." He said, I thank you, Father, because
you have hid these things. Hid what things? The things of
Christ, the things of salvation, the things of eternal life. He
said, you have hid these things from the wise and the prudent."
That's an amazing statement, isn't it? You have hid these
things from those who are wise in the ways of the world, wise
in the ways of religion, wise in the ways of doctrine, wise
in their own eyes. Completely hid these things.
You know, Saul of Tarsus was a man who was wise in his own
eyes, and he was wise in the things of the world, and definitely
wise in the things of religion. He studied under a man named
Gamaliel. But do you know that before God would use him, the
apostle Paul had to count every bit of that dung? He had to count
it lost. He had to throw it away. Every
bit of it. You can read that for yourself
in Philippians chapter 3. He said, I had to throw every
bit of that away. Verse 25 says, at that time,
Jesus answered and said, I thank the old father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. That's who he has chosen to reveal
these things to. Babes. Not those who see themselves
to be wise. Those who see themselves to be
untaught, unskilled. Babes. Is that us? Babes. One man very truthfully
said a long time ago that a That a God called preacher is merely
one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. And I'm
telling you, that's the truth. That's all it is. Just one beggar
telling another beggar where he found bread. Our God said he has revealed
these things and revealed himself. to those who are just babes.
Babes. Now, why has he chosen to do
it that way? Why has he chosen to reveal himself
to babes? Well, verse 26 right here in
Matthew 11 says, even so father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight. That's just what he wanted to
do. Why did he do that? That's what he wanted to do.
That was his will. That was his purpose. Salvation
is according to his will. Salvation is in his hands. It's
his to do with it as he pleases. And that's what he pleased to
do. So if a person sees himself or
herself to be wise, wise in these things, wise in religious matters,
holier than thou. And honestly, a lot of people
see themselves to be that holier than another, wiser than another,
a teacher rather than a student. If a person sees himself or herself
to be that, then there is no good news in this word for that
person. No good news at all. But if that's
not us, if that's not you, if that's not me, If we can truly,
in our hearts, say with the apostle Thomas, God called an apostle
named Thomas, and Thomas said, Lord, we don't know the way.
We don't know the way. Can you say that? Lord, in my
flesh, I don't know the way. Man naturally thinks he has it
all figured out. Not God's people. God's people
are looking to Christ. Oh Lord, don't leave me to myself,
don't leave me to my ways, don't leave me to my wisdom, don't
leave me to my anything. I don't know the way. If we can
say with King Solomon, now King Solomon was the man that God
said was the wisest man on this earth and this is what King Solomon
said, Lord, I am but a little child. I'm just a little child. If we can say with the Apostle
Paul, I'm the least of all saints. I'm the least of all saints.
He said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm not holier than thou. Paul
said, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. If
we can say with John the Baptist, he must increase. I must decrease. I'm not worthy to even tie his
shoes. I'm not worthy to stoop down
and tie his shoes. If that's us, then I have some
good news for us. Our Lord has given us some very
good news in his word. We are the kind of sinners that
he has chosen to reveal himself to. Now let's see if he will
reveal himself to us right now through his word. In verse 27,
he said, all things are delivered unto me. All things are delivered
unto me of my father. This is life eternal that we
might know him. This is life eternal that we
might know him. Who is he? Who is Jesus Christ? Who is the son of God? Well, he is the one who has all
things delivered into his hands. That's who he is. He's the one
who all things have been delivered into his hands. Now, when we
say all things, or when he says all things, what does that include? What is included in all things? The answer is all things. All things. Let's take a look
at a few of them. Turn with me if you have your
Bible there to Matthew 28 and look at verse 18. It says, and
Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. Now, who is Jesus Christ? He
is the one who has all power over everything. Everything that
is in heaven, everything that is in earth, especially the people. Daniel 4 verse 35 says, all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? That's who Jesus Christ is. All
power over all flesh. All power. That's a shocking
revelation when God reveals that. This man Jesus Christ that everybody's
feeling sorry for and having pity on, they start to realize
all power is in his hands. All power. Proverbs 21 verse
1 says, the king's heart, all of these rulers in these different
countries all over this earth, the king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. sways the hearts of men. He makes
men do things. And then he makes them believe
it was their idea. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord. All power, all power. He needs help from no one. All power. He needs cooperation
from no one. He does not need for you to cooperate
with him. He does not need for me to cooperate
with him. All power. He needs permission
from no one, especially in the things of salvation. All power. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I will work and who shall let
it? He has all power over every single thing. That's who Jesus
Christ is. Now, if you look with me at John
5, verse 22 says, For the Father judgeth no man. This is an important
verse of scripture. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. The Son. He said, all things are delivered
unto me. Now, who is Jesus Christ? Most people believe, and see
if you can honestly agree that this is not so. Most people believe
that He is the one who is trying as hard as He can to keep everybody
out of hell. That's who most people believe
he is. He's going around trying to do good and trying to sway
this and that and trying to fight the devil. And he's the one who's
trying as hard as he can to keep men and women out of hell. It's
not so. He's the judge. He is the judge. Everybody must
stand before the judge who determines. Heaven or hell, life or death.
He's the judge. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the Son. He said in Deuteronomy
32 verse 39, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal. He said, I the Lord do all these
things. I the Lord do all these things.
In Revelation 1 verse 18, he said, I hold the keys of hell
and death. I'm the one who holds those keys.
All judgment over all things. He has all power. He has all
judgment. He has all authority. If you
look with me at Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8 says, but unto the
son He saith, the Father saith. The Father says to the Son, Thy
throne, O God. Now, wait a minute. Who is Jesus
Christ? The Father said to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. This is life eternal. that they
might know thee. Who is he? He's the one who holds
all power in his hands. He's the one who has been given
by his father all judgment over all flesh. And he's the one who
holds all authority and all dominion. What that means is he's the king. He is the king of kings. He is
the Lord of lords. the Almighty God of heaven and
earth. That's who He is. If that's who
He is, why did He come? Why did He come? If He did not
need anything from anyone, if He is actually the judge of everybody,
why did He come? He said in John 10 verse 10,
I am come that they might have life. That's why. Had he not come, we could have
never known who he was. We could have never known him.
So he said, I am come that they might have life. That who might
have life? Every soul that I've chosen to
reveal myself to through my word. every soul that I've chosen to
reveal who I am and why I came and what I accomplished. Well,
what did he accomplish? If you look with me at Philippians
chapter two, verse five says, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, God
himself thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. Amazing, isn't it? And took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth for his babes. And he took the actual sin, all
have sinned, all those babes sin, and he took the actual sin
that his babes committed in their life, and he took that sin completely
off of them, and laid every ounce of that sin on himself, and then
he put himself on death row. And he went and stood before
the judge, and condemned himself. And he died. And when he died,
suffering the punishment for that sin, that sin was gone. It was gone. Every one of those
babes were at that moment totally rid of it. And if there's no
sin, there's no death. Where there is no sin, there
is no death. In the payment of his blood,
it's eternal life. Every single soul that he did
this for, every babe that he reveals who he is, why he came,
what he accomplished for them, every single one of them, with
that revelation, he says to them in our text, Matthew 11, verse
28, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest." Are you labored over your sin?
Are you burdened over your sin? Do you see now who he is and
why he came and what he accomplished? This is what he has to say to
every babe he reveals that to, come unto me. Don't go to the
law. Don't go to morality. Come to
Christ. Come just as you are. Bring everything
to Him. And He said, I'll give you rest.
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.