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 be turning
in your Bible, we're going to begin this morning in Genesis
chapter 1. And while you're turning there,
I'll quote a couple of scriptures to you. The Word of God says,
it pleased the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Romans 10 says, how shall they
believe if they don't hear? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall he preach except
he be sent? sent of God, sent with God's
truth. Now the reason I quote those
scriptures is because we are going to see some things that
are glorious about our God through His Word this morning. I want
to declare the glorious truth of who God really is. And we're
going to see that through His Word, the means that He has given
to reveal Himself to us. The Lord chose some men throughout
time to reveal God, the true and living God, through His Word. He used Moses. And he used the prophets. He
had those men write some things. And the things that those men
wrote, number one, are true. And number two, they reveal God
to us. He used 12 apostles in the New
Testament. All of those men were given the
inspired word of God. meaning they declared God in
a way that he had never been declared before. The Apostle
Paul didn't have the book of Ephesians when he wrote that
letter to the Ephesians. But God inspired him. God put
his word in Paul when he wrote that letter. Paul was writing
from his heart. He was writing Exactly what he
wanted to say, exactly what was in his heart, but it was actually
what was in God's heart. There is not one scripture in
this book that's of private interpretation, meaning not directly from the
heart and mind and will of God, but all of these men were moved
by the Holy Ghost. All these men that penned the
Word, every single one of them, was moved by God's Holy Ghost
to write the truth of God's Word. And it's only through the Word
that we can know who God is. It's only through what He has
revealed of Himself that a sinner can know anything of the truth
about God. Our Lord said, this is life eternal
that they might know Thee. And the only way that's possible
is if God will reveal Himself through His Word. It's the only
way it's possible. An illustration was given years
and years ago of a remote savage man, a jungle man, who found
a watch that had floated in from the ocean. And it was just sitting
there on the sand. And this savage man saw that
watch and he went and picked it up. And after he looked at
it a while, he realized somebody made this. I've never seen anything
like this. This is too perfect. Somebody had to make this. And
this savage man was curious in himself about this watchmaker.
Who could possibly make something like this? So he sits down there on the
sand and he tries with all of his ability by just looking at
the creation, he tries to understand and know the watchmaker. He wants to know this watchmaker.
and he's bound and determined in his mind. He's just gonna
sit there and he's just gonna study the creation until he comes
to know who this watchmaker is, the manner of this watchmaker,
what his inward affections and his heart desires are, what the
man's disposition is, what kind of man he is, what his moral
character is. Everything that makes up this
man's personality. You know, that savage man can
study that watch all he wants to. He can study that watch all
he wants to, but do you think he will ever come to know the
true knowledge of who the watchmaker is? Do you think he will ever
find out the truth of the moral character and the inward affections
of who that watchmaker is just by studying that watch? The answer's
no. How could he? He can clearly
see the creation and see how wonderful and brilliant this
man is, but the answer's no. He could not find out who the
watchmaker is in character. Well, the One who made all of
creation is God Almighty. God Almighty. And the heavens
do declare His glory. The Scripture says they do. The
firmament does show His handiwork. But we cannot, by searching the
creation, find out God. Compared to this great God, we are nothing but savages, and
that's a generous term, that's a very Very generous term for
us. Trying to find out who God is.
Man searches the creation. He searches the heavens. He searches
outer space trying to find out who God is. And it's never gonna
happen. It's never gonna happen. God
must reveal himself. And God has revealed himself
through his word. And in this word, we see the
true attributes and the true character of this great God of
heaven, this great creator. And I want us to look at one
of his attributes this morning, one of his character traits to
let us know through what he has revealed of himself, who this
God is. This morning I want us to see
the solitariness of God. Through this word I want us to
see the singularity of God. What that means is I want us
to see that there is none like Him. No one and nothing compares to
Him. That savage man looking at that
watch, he didn't know if there was one watchmaker or a million
watchmakers out there. Well, the true and living God
is one God. One God. He is the solitary God. Solitaire means alone, one. Right here in Genesis chapter
one, verse one, the very first verse of God's entire word says,
in the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. Now there
was a time, if you could even call it time, there was a time
when there was no time. There was no time. But for the sake of our simple
understanding, we'll say there was a time when God, the one
God who dwells in three persons, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, there was a time when God dwelt all alone. all alone. Verse 1 says, in the
beginning, God created the heaven. There was a time when there was
not a heaven. God created the heaven. And before
that, there was no heaven. There were no angels. There were
no cherubims, there were no seraphims. There was no universe to be upheld
by the word of His power. There was nothing. There was
nothing. Verse one says, in the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. Until He did that, there was
nothing. And it wasn't that way for a
short while. It was not that God was just
all alone for a short while and then very soon after that He
decided He didn't want it to be that way anymore and so He
created some things. It was that way from everlasting. Everlasting means there's no
stop to it. When we think of eternity, we
usually think of the eternity to come, the eternity after we
end this life on earth, and it's a never-ending eternity. But have we ever thought about
the fact that eternity was before us as well? There was no beginning.
As far as the imagination can go into not having an end, we
need to try to imagine not having a beginning. Everlasting. It cannot be measured with a
starting point and an ending point. Our lives can be. This
world can be. But what was before he created
all of this cannot be. From everlasting, He is. He is. Now, if you have your
Bible open, turn with me over to Psalm chapter 90. Psalm 90
verse 2 says, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou
hadst formed the earth and the world, before you had ever formed
those things. Even from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. During a past eternity, God was
alone. He was self-sufficient, self-satisfied. He was in need of nothing. Nothing. Had he needed angels,
had he needed human beings, had he needed a universe, he would
have created them from eternity. But he didn't need them. He's
God. And the fact that he did create
those things, the fact that he purposed from eternity to at
some point in time create those things. When He did that, it
did not add anything to what He already was. It did not improve
Him or His being or anything about Him at all. It did not add anything to His
glory. It did not add anything to His
sovereignty. He said in Malachi 3 verse 6,
I change not. I change not. People ask the
question all the time, does God change? God has not changed from never
beginning eternity. for ages and ages and eons. He has remained unmovable, unchangeable. And he's not gonna start changing
now. The scripture says he is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. So this God is from eternity. He needed nothing then and He
needs nothing now. He needs nothing now. He has not changed. He does not
need man's praise. He did not create man because
He needed man to praise Him. He does not need man's praise.
He does not need man's glory. He does not need man's company. He needs nothing. He needs absolutely
nothing. Turn with me over to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians 1, this is the next
thing about our God's solitariness that is so amazingly glorious.
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. He is not influenced by anyone
or anything. He doesn't need anyone or anything. And he's not influenced by anyone
or anything. He is under no obligation to
do anything or create anything or sustain anything. Everything he does is a sovereign
act of his own good pleasure and will. Everything he does. Right here in Ephesians 1 verse
5 says, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. He is the only one who does as
he pleases. He's the only one. He answers
to no one. No one, man talks about having
a free will, that is such a joke. The only will that man has is
a sinful will. He is so bound by his sinful
fleshly will. Man is so far from having a free
will, but the true God of heaven has a free will. He does whatever
he wants, however he wants, whenever he wants, with whomever he wants. He does as he pleases. Look with
me at Romans chapter 11. Romans 11 verse 33 says, 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! For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?
Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto
Him again? For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen. What that saying is, the Almighty
is under no obligation to any creature. No obligation. No one counseled him. No one made him what he is. You think about that. No one
made him what he is. No one taught him. No one. That's amazing. But still, amazingly
enough, still, somehow, sinful man has it in his mind that he
has to make Him Lord. Man goes around saying that all
the time, won't you make Him Lord, make Him your Lord. Verse 35 right here in Romans
11 says, who hath first given to Him? and it shall be recompensed
unto him again. Man says, you gotta make him
your Lord so he can save you. Who hath first given to him so
it can be recompensed again? That's foolishness. Job said,
if thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he
of thine hand, even if we were righteous. We're nothing but
sinners. That's all we are. Sinners saved
by grace. We're saved by grace. If God
chose to show mercy to us, we're saved by grace, but we're still
just sinners saved by grace. Nothing special in us. The only
thing special is Christ. the one who loved us and gave
himself for us. And Job said, even if we were
righteous, what could we possibly offer him? We're just sinners, but even
if we were righteous, what could we possibly offer the eternal,
almighty, complete, in need of nothing, God? Let me show you what this God
says all of the creation collectively is to Him. Turn with me, if you
would, over to Isaiah chapter 40. What a wonderful chapter
this is, Isaiah 40. Man thinks that he has something
to offer God, but Isaiah 40 verse 15 says, Behold, the nations
are as a drop of a bucket. That's how God sees the nations
that are on this earth. A drop of a bucket, it says,
and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold,
he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. All the islands
of the earth has a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn. All those great cedars of Lebanon
that people are so proud of, God said they're not sufficient
to burn. Nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before him are as nothing. And they are counted
to him less than nothing and vanity. To whom then will you
liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto Him? That right there is the God of
Scripture. That is the God of the universe. That is the God of all existence. The true God of time and eternity. But the Apostle Paul spoke the
truth when he said he is still, to men and women, the unknown
God. They just don't know who God
is. He's the unknown God to them.
Right here in Isaiah 40 verse 21 says, have you not known?
Have you not heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? Man ought to know, but he doesn't. How sad it is. that the actual
true God of all sounds nothing like the God that's being preached
in the average pulpit today. Do you know how sad that is?
Men and women are not being told. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It has pleased the Lord
to reveal Himself through His Word. And men are not God-called
preachers, but they're standing up in pulpits and they're not
declaring God's Word. And men and women are not finding
out God. And they're not bowing to the
true and living God. And it's so sad. The God that
is being preached in religion today has been brought down to
a level that man can understand. He's a God who does not work
alone. He's a God who needs. They say
God needs. God needs you. God needs you
to help Him. And in saying that, they are
not declaring the God of the Bible. This God that is clearly declared
in the Scripture is the only God. The God of Scripture is
the only God. He alone is worthy to be feared,
He alone is worthy to be worshipped. He alone is worthy to be praised. And He's the only one worthy
to be declared. All of these other gods of men's
imaginations, those gods are not even worthy to be declared.
The true and living God is the only God. And He's the only God
we declare. So this is where we're gonna
leave it. We're gonna leave it right here. We're gonna declare this
in our heart and we're gonna leave it right here. Turn with
me if you would to 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy six and
look with me at verse 13. It says, I give thee charge in
the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Christ
Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this God that
we've been talking about? It's Jesus Christ. I am God manifest in the flesh. We receive the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is this
great almighty God. Verse 15 right here says, which
in his times he shall show. who is the blessed and only potentate. That word means mighty authority. The King of kings and Lord of
lords. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Verse 16 says, who only hath
immortality. dwelling in the light, which
no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see,
to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Amen. We worship and we praise and
we honor and we glory the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only
mighty authority, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the true and living God
of heaven. And we bow to Him and we worship
Him and we beg Him for mercy on our souls. Until next Sunday
morning, 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, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. 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 Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.