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. Our message today is going to
come from John chapter 3. But I would like to begin in
John chapter one, and I want to encourage you, if you have
a Bible, to grab it and open it with me because there are
some things that we all need to see in God's word. We need to see with our own two
eyes. Now, I want to begin by asking a question that we all
need to ask. I need to ask myself this. You
need to ask yourself this. This is very, very important. It's a very vital question. Do
we know why Christ died? Do we know why Christ died? Most
everybody knows Christ died. Do we know why Christ died? It's a very important question.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not begin on this earth like you
and I did. He did not start when he was
born into this world. He left glory to be born into
the world. He left heaven in order to be
born of a virgin. He left his throne to become
an infant, born into the world. Now, in John chapter 1, it says
in verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit are one. One God, three persons. He is
God from the beginning. Verse 14 says, and the Word was
made flesh. God came down. And it says in verse one, in
the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the
word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. So the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one who was born 2000 years ago, made everything. He is the one who spoke this
world into existence. He is the one in the beginning. from the beginning. He came here
on purpose. He came here on purpose. And
before he came to this world, he was holy. From eternity, he
was holy. He is holy, sinless, spotless. And the entire time that he walked
on this earth, he was holy. He was always holy. While he
walked on this earth, he was holy. and spotless and sinless. So why did he die on a cross? He was holy, he was perfect,
sinless. Why did he die on a cross? Was that an accident? Something that is without sin
does not die. The reason men and women die,
the reason there's no one on this earth who has been living
for thousands of years is because all have sinned. The wages of
sin is death. It's why people die. Sin. Something that is sinless does
not die. So why did he die on a cross?
Was that an accident? No. There are no accidents with
God. None. Christ came here on purpose. And he died on that cross on
purpose. Why though? Why would he willingly
give his life on a cross in Jerusalem? What did that accomplish? For
God to leave his throne, be born of a virgin, grow, amazingly
grow, live perfectly and then die on a cross just outside of,
not even in Jerusalem, just outside of Jerusalem. What did that accomplish? There is one truthful answer
to that question. Only one, one truthful answer. Our God has told us the one truthful
answer right here in his book. Right here in this book, he has
not hid the answer. If he gives a person faith to
believe that one truthful answer, you can go out and ask men all
over the place, what is this answer? They might tell you a
different story, each one of them. You might end up with thousands
of answers, but there's only one true answer. And if God gives
a sinner faith to believe the one true answer, then that's
the evidence that God is going to save that person by redeeming
that person to himself for all eternity. That's the evidence
that Christ died on that cross for you and me. If God does not
give a person faith to believe that one truthful answer, then
that is the evidence that God is going to damn that person
for all eternity. So this is a very serious question.
Very vital question. Why did Christ die? What is the
one truthful answer? He has honestly given it all
through His Word. He repeats it over and over and
over. For this message, I want us to read it in John chapter
3. Turn with me over to John chapter 3, and let's look at
verse 16. Many people know this and can
quote this. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." The reason for Christ dying on a cross in
Jerusalem begins with the love of God. That's where it begins. Why did Christ die? The love
of God. The love of God. It says, for
God so loved the world. God so loved the world. Amazing. What does that mean? What does it mean that God so
loved the world? What is the truth in the statement? God so loved the world. Did God
love the entire world? That's an important question.
Did God love the entire world? Well, it doesn't say as we read
it, it doesn't say God so loved the entire world. That's not
what's written there. It does not say God so loved
the whole world. Is that what it means though?
Does God love the whole world? That's another important question.
Does God love the whole world? Well, turn with me to Proverbs
6. This is what we need to see together
in God's Word. We need to see this with our
own two eyes. Proverbs 6, verse 16, it says, these six. If you have italicized words
in your Bible, you'll see that the word things, these six things,
that word things is in italics. And what that means is that was
added by the translators to make it more readable and understandable
in English. And the translators did a wonderful
job of adding these words. But sometimes it can be a little
bit confusing on what is written and what our God has said. And
in this case, we need to understand that these are not things. These
are people. These are people. Verse 16 says,
these six, doth the Lord hate. You see that? Yea, seven are
an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands
that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren. The Lord said, I hate them. Not I love them. I hate them. Did you read it with me? That's
strong language. It's a little bit shocking every
time I see that in the word that the Lord is so clear. on how
he feels concerning sin. Look with me, if you would, at
Jeremiah 44. Turn over a few books to Jeremiah
chapter 44. Let's read beginning in verse
2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, this is God speaking, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the
evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem. He said, I brought
it upon Jerusalem. I the Lord do all these things.
He said, you've seen all the evil that I have brought upon
Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah, and behold, this day
they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein. Because
of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me
to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other
gods. They put other gods before me.
whom they knew not, neither they ye nor your fathers. Howbeit,
I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and
sending them saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I
hate. He said, I sent preacher after
preacher, after preacher, telling you my word, warning you of my
word. And I personally want to hear
this. He said, they all said, do not
this abominable thing that I hate. Verse five, but they hearkened
not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness to
burn no incense unto other gods. They did not stop burning their
incense. Wherefore, my fury and my anger was poured forth and
was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and desolate
as at this day. People say, people make this
statement all the time, and I don't know where they get this. I don't
know why they're so convinced in their heart of this, but they
say, God doesn't hate. God doesn't hate. God says, I
hate. I hate it. People say, well,
God hates the sin, but not the sinner. He hates the sin, yes,
but not the sinner. He doesn't hate people. Well,
look with me at Malachi chapter one. This is the last book in
the Old Testament. Malachi chapter one, verse one
says, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Malachi had to deliver the word
of the Lord and it's a burden. It's a great burden on the heart
to tell men and women and warn men and women this is the reality,
this is the truth. Verse two, this is the word of
the Lord. I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet you say wherein
hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob and I hated
Esau. I hated Esau, and laid his mountains
and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas
Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build
the desolate places. That's what they said, we'll
recover. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall build, but
I will throw down. I'm not going to let them prosper.
They shall call them the border of wickedness and the people
against whom the Lord hath indignation. forever. He said, all those people,
I'll have indignation against them forever. Indignation means
to abhor, to curse, to foam at the mouth against, to be enraged
by, to hate. Oh, how awful, how terrible. So what is the one truthful answer
concerning God's love to sinners in the world? What is it really?
Well, in John 17, verse 9, the Lord himself said, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, praying to his father. for
them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. In verse
six, he said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. The ones that you gave me out
of the world, out of the entire Gentile world, not just Israel. Not just Israel, the entire world. That's the good news that includes
me in this. That's the good news that includes
me in his love. I'm a Gentile. I'm not a Jew. I'm a Gentile. I'm a heathen
of the world. According to this word, I'm a
heathen. If God had not shown his love
to the world, then I couldn't have any hope. I couldn't have
any hope. Ephesians 2 says, we were aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise having no hope and without God in the world. That's where we were. But it
says God did something. That's always the case. God does
something in spite of us. God does something. God came
down. The God-man, Christ Jesus, came
down. He came to this earth on purpose. And he died on a cross in Jerusalem
on purpose. And he did that because God his
Father chose some people out of the world. The scripture says
they were scattered abroad. The scripture also says they
were out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
of the world. God chose them on purpose to
save them on purpose. But, all right, with that being
said, that still does not fully answer our question. Our question
is not fully answered yet. Why did Christ die? Why did Christ
die? Why did He have to die? Why did
God have to kill His Son? Why didn't God just save the
ones He wanted to save? Why didn't He just do that? Why
didn't God just pick them up and set them in glory? Just pull
them out of this wicked world and set them in glory to be with
Him? The answer is, it's because He's a just God. That's the reason. He is a just God. We must know
the truth about this. He is a just God. It says in
Psalm 24 verse 3, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And
who shall stand in his holy place? Who will be allowed to? Who will
be worthy to ascend up and stand in his holy place? Verse 4 says,
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted
up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
his salvation." That is none of us. That is none of us. None of us are without sin. That's who he's saying will be
allowed to go up, whoever is without sin. None of us are without
sin. First John 1 verse 10 says, if
we say we have no sin, we're making God a liar. Making God
a liar, because he said all have sin. Time and time and time again,
all have sin. Therefore, none of us can stand
in his presence. That's why God did not just reach
down and pluck them out and set them in heaven. God is holy. God is holy. God is just. God is only right. He's only
right. He can and he will only do what's
right. Only what's right. He will by
no means clear the guilty. It's not right. The law says
it's not right. A man commits murder. Ah, let's
just let him go. The law says that's not right. And he will not clear the guilty.
He will not clear the guilty. That's the answer. He will not
clear the guilty. The only way a person can enter
into heaven is if he is not guilty. That's the only way. He must
be not guilty. And again, that's not us. That's
not us. By nature, we are guilty. In
this life, in this world, we are guilty. We have broken God's
law. All of us, including me, we've
broken God's law. What's done is done. It can't
be undone. It cannot be undone. There is
no forgiveness in saying, I'm sorry. We do something wrong
and we want to go to the person we've wronged and say, I'm sorry.
Well, that is not good enough when it comes to eternal salvation.
God is holy. We're not holy. God is holy.
God is just. There's no forgiveness in saying,
I'm sorry. There is no forgiveness in trying
to do enough right to outweigh the wrong. Sometimes we wrong
others and then get in our minds, well, I'm going to go do twice
as much good as I did bad. And maybe that'll, maybe that'll
take care of it. There's no forgiveness in that.
Not with God. We can go do all the good we want to do in this
world. That means nothing to God. What's
done is done. What's on our record is on our
record. It cannot come off of our record. Sin cannot be undone. The only thing that sin can be
is punished. That's all it can be. Therefore,
because God so loved the souls that he chose out of the world,
He gave His only begotten Son. That's what it says in our text.
For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Gave
Him to what? The sin of man. Gave Him to the
sin of man. Gave Him over to the sin of every
soul that God chose to save. Christ could not produce his
own sin. Could not. He's spotless. He's
sinless. He's holy. He's perfect. Christ
could not produce his own sin. There was no sin in him. But God laid on him the sin of all those people
he chose to save. He took their sin off of them
and laid it on His Son. And when God the Father did that,
when He laid all of those sins on His own Son, all of those people became sinless.
God removed the sin from them, laid them on His Son. And by
that transaction of the Father, His people became spotless and
holy. They became what Christ was. And the sinless one, Christ Himself,
became what they were. He was made to be their sin. Christ did not die on the cross
as a martyr for His cause, like many people believe. Oh, he was
showing us the way, he was trying to do good, but they laid hold
of him anyway and they crucified him anyway as a martyr for his
cause. That's not why he died. Not at all. The exact opposite. Christ did not die on the cross
to be an example for anyone to follow. Christ died on the cross Because
he made himself to be guilty. That's the reason. That's the
answer. He made himself to be guilty,
bearing in his body the sin of all his people. All of his people,
all of their sin. The sin that they have lived
all their life, the sin they are currently living, and the
sin that they will live. and commit until their time on
this earth is done. He bore all the sin of all of
his people in his body, and because of that, God killed his own son. Because of that, Christ had to
die on the cross. God is just. God is holy. Christ died on the cross being
the substitute for his people. That's why he died. He died to
set them free. When he died, they were set free. They had to go free. When he
died, they had to go free. His own justice demanded it.
The law says what's right. Whatever the law says is right,
that has to be done. If it's paid, it's paid. They
had to go free. Christ had to die because justice
demanded it. His people had to go free because
justice demanded it. Had to. Now, we started by asking
the question, what did it accomplish? That's one of the questions we
began with. What did it accomplish? The answer is absolute deliverance
for his people. Complete and total deliverance
for his people. Back in our text in John chapter
3 verse 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. The question is asked in the
scripture. The question is still asked in the hearts of men and
women today. What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be
saved? The answer that he himself gives
is this. Believe on Christ. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. What does believe on him mean?
Believe what? What do we believe about Christ?
We believe everything he has said concerning salvation. We
believe everything he has said, period. But the believer believes
the one true answer that God has given concerning salvation. He said it is finished. It is finished. Every soul his
father chose to save Christ redeemed and they're safe and they're
secure. Rest in the person. Rest in what he did. Rest in
having a substitute. Rest that it's over. God is now
satisfied. Rest in the fact that Christ
has made us free. If God put us in Him, we are
free indeed. Free indeed. And if God gives
us the ability to rest in that and believe that, that's the
evidence that when Christ died, He died for us. If we have that,
He died for us. And if we have that, we'll have
everlasting life. 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.