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 want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter
1. The Apostle Paul begins his letter
to the Galatians with some very precious news. He begins it with
the reason for our hope, the reason for a sinner's hope. That is the glory and the goodness
of the gospel, that God would give an unworthy, rebellious
sinner some hope. hope of life, hope of salvation. That's what Paul is declaring
here. He declares our salvation. The one who is our salvation,
the one who saved us, Christ the man, the God man. He declares to the Galatians
and to us how our Lord saved us, who it is that saved us and
how He saved us. And that's all we want to hear
this morning, isn't it? Who saved us and how He saved us. Verse one says, Paul, an apostle,
not of men, neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead." Paul said, I am an apostle. He
acknowledged what God had done. But he said, I'm not an apostle
by man. I'm an apostle by Jesus Christ
and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Every believer will say, I am
what I am by the grace of God. That's all Paul is saying right
here, and that's what we say. We are what we are by the grace
of God. By the grace of God. If it were not for God's grace,
God would have left the Apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus. That's what he was. That's what
he was born. He was Saul of Tarsus, the self-righteous,
God-hating, Christ-hating rebel, rebel against God. He hated the
message of Christ. He hated the gospel. He hated
Every man and woman who believed and clung to that message, clung
to the Christ of the cross. He wanted to do away with that
message. And if it were not for God's
grace coming to him, blinding him, knocking him off of his
horse and blinding him to everything, but the holiness of God Almighty
and His own sin. Had it not been for God's grace, He would have been left Saul
of Tarsus. And if it were not for the grace
of God, He would have left every child of heaven a child of hell. Every soul that has been redeemed
back to God He would have left them in their natural state,
the state that they entered the world in. But for God's grace,
every child of mercy would still be a child of wrath. That's what
Ephesians 2 says. If you look with me at Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 1 says, And you hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
you are saved. Don't you love those words? Don't
you love those words? Aren't those words precious to
us? It's all by grace. It's all by
grace. Let me show you what Paul said
about himself. over in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15,
he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. This is what he said about himself,
the Apostle Paul, he said, I am the chief of sinners. I'm the chief. No man or woman
is as sinful as I am, not was, am. I'm the chief. He said over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 verse 9, he said, for I am the least of the apostles. that am not meet to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. He said, I'm
the least of the apostles. I'm not worthy to even be called
an apostle. Not worthy. But this is what
he said in Ephesians three. In Ephesians three, verse eight,
he said 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." Oh, he said, thank God for grace. Thank God for grace. Oh to grace
how great a debtor. Daily I'm constrained to be. Thank God for grace. That's all
that any child of God can say. Any believer of the truth, any
believer on Christ, on His work and His blood alone. That's all
He can say, is thank God for grace, the grace of God. Back in Galatians 1, verse 1
says, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead, and
all the brethren which are with me. all the brethren which are
with me." The title of this message is the first three words of verse
four, who gave himself. That's what it says at the beginning
of verse four, who gave himself. Do we know why he gave himself
to be a sacrifice to God? Do we know why? Romans 8 says
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Ephesians
1 says it was unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. All of the souls that God chose
to save have been made to be true brothers and sisters through
His death, who gave Himself. It's all through His death, united
together in Him. through Him, because of Him.
Because of His death, we have an eternal Father. When our Lord
arose from the grave, He told Mary Magdalene, you go tell your
brethren that they have peace now with God. My Father, your
Father. My God, your God. All because
of His death, The bride of Christ has an eternal
husband. All because of His death, His
sacrifice, we will eternally have brethren. Brethren in Christ. Over in Ephesians 3, again this
time verse 14, it says, For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named." All named after Him. Adopted brothers, adopted brethren
in Him. Galatians 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren
which are with me unto the churches of Galatia." This letter is the
inspired Word of God. And this letter is written to
a particular people. This Word is not written to every
soul in Galatia. It's written to the churches.
That's who he said he's writing to, the churches. God's churches. And he's not talking about the
buildings. The buildings are not the church. The people in
it are the church. Those who have been laid hold
of, those who have been called, those who have been brought drawn by God the Father. Those
who God's Holy Spirit has given faith to believe on Christ. They've
been made willing to bow the knee to Christ. Those that God
has caused to thank Him and praise Him and remember Him in His death. If that's us, then this is written
to us as well. Now what is the message? What
does God have to say to us? Verse three, he says, grace be
to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ. What a message. What a message. What a message we have to declare. Grace be to you and peace. Who's saying that? God the Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know when you can truly
believe something? When you can be settled and be confident that you can
believe something. It's when it's at the mouth of
two or three witnesses. That's what this scripture says,
and that's the truth. When you hear the exact same
thing from the mouth of two or three witnesses, and Paul said,
I'm saying this on the behalf of two other witnesses, God the
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, grace be to you and peace. Grace and peace, what a beautiful
message. What a beautiful thing for a
sinner to hear, grace and peace. Do you know why people go on
vacation? I'm sure you love to go on vacation
just as much as I do or anybody does. But do you know why we
all go on vacation? It's because we want a moment
of peace. We want a moment of rest. A moment of relief from the reality
of this world. Well, in the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that is exactly what every believer
will find. Every sinner who is wrestling
with his sin. Every sinner who is exhausted,
utterly exhausted, trying to work his way to God and gaining
no ground. Every sinner who knows I am spinning
my wheels and I don't see any progress, not in myself, not
in my works. Every sinner who looks to the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ will find absolute rest, absolute
peace, absolute relief. When we take a moment and remember
the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, when God allows us a minute
to just dwell on the sacrifice, the finished accomplishment of
the Lamb of God, we're refreshed. We receive every ounce of the
peace and rest and relief that we could possibly need. Here it is right here in Galatians
1 verse 4 says, who gave himself, who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world. according to the will of God
and our Father. That's amazing. That's just amazing. That's all you can say about
it. That's amazing. We clearly see why the songwriter
said, this is amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. It's amazing. He didn't just
give His decree. He did not from His throne just
speak the Word. He didn't just give His time. He didn't just give His effort. He didn't just give His possessions.
He gave Himself. He gave Himself. He gave His
life. He gave His breath. He gave His
sweat. He gave His body. He gave His
blood. He gave it all. He gave it all for our sins. He gave it all for our sins. Turn with me to Matthew 20. Look
with me right here at Matthew 20 verse 28. It says, even as
the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. A ransom, a payment. For many. Many. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful news? Many! Did Christ die for everybody? Did Christ die for everybody? No, He did not. But thank God
He died for many. Many. He gave His life a ransom for many. A person hears that Christ didn't
die for everybody and the flesh naturally says it's not fair. What would have been fair would
have been for God to leave all of us in the state we were in
and allow us to continue down the path of rebellion and sin
that we love by nature and to allow us to continue straight
on into the depths of hell. What would have been fair would
have been for him to give us what we deserve. What would have
been fair would have been for him to give us what we earned.
What is the wages of sin? What do the scriptures say the
wages of sin are? death, that would have been fair. Fair would have been for every
single soul to end up eternally damned. But thank God, there's
grace in His heart, and there's mercy in His heart, and there's
compassion in His heart, and He chose to lay hold of many He chose to save many. He chose to give His life a payment,
a ransom for many. Every recipient of grace and
mercy, He gave Himself for our sins. our sins, the sins that
you and I have already committed today. And if we believe in our
hearts that we haven't committed any sins today, that's a sin. If a man say he has no sin, he
calls God a liar. Isn't that what 1 John 1 says? Calling God a liar is a sin.
And when a person says, well, I don't really consider myself
a sinner and no, I haven't sinned today. Well, then we're calling
God a liar. That's a sin. But if God in mercy
reveals our sin to us, then that's our evidence that He has already
blotted out our sin. He has given Himself for our
sins. He has brought us to the knowledge. He's brought us to the repentance
of who He is and what He did for us. He gave Himself for our
sins, the sins that we've committed during the short span of this
radio broadcast already. Every single sin, everything
that I am, everything that I am, not just the things that I've
done, everything that I am, the sin that I am. produces the sins that I do.
And all of those sins were nailed to His cross. They were all nailed
to Him. They were driven into Him. The song says, and I bear them
no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. It's well with my
soul. My soul didn't deserve it. My
soul sure didn't earn it. But He gave Himself for my soul. In goodness, in grace, in kindness,
in love and in mercy. He gave Himself for our sin. Verse four, back in our text,
back in Galatians 1, verse four says, who gave Himself for our
sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. Everything around us is evil.
It's evil, so it shouldn't be a shock to us when everything
around us disappoints us and discourages us and brings us
down into that miry clay of sin. Not only the things that we do,
not only the things that go on inside us, but the things that
go on around us. This present evil world, but
let's remember this. He gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us. That he might deliver us from
this present evil world. That's the glory of the gospel.
He has delivered us from this present evil world. And He did
it according to the will of God and our Father. What that means is because of
His one sacrifice, all because of the sacrifice
of Christ, it is now our Father's good pleasure to give us the
kingdom. Look one more time with me at
Ephesians 1. In Ephesians 1, verse 12 says, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom? In Christ. You also trusted, after that
you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
His glory. What that means is all we have
to do is sit, wait, and hold on to our promise. We have the promise of eternal
life through the blood of Jesus Christ. If God has given us total
faith, in that promise, if he's given us total faith in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, if he has caused us to believe that
that alone is our security, that alone is our surety for eternal
life, then that's our evidence. If he's caused us to believe
that and trust in that, then that's our evidence that Christ
has redeemed us. Every soul that Christ gave Himself
for, God sends His Spirit with that faith to believe it. That's the evidence that Christ
has redeemed us. He has redeemed us from sin. He has redeemed us from death. He said, whoever lives and believes
in Me shall never die. He has redeemed us from hell. Knowing that, it doesn't matter
what's going on in our life. It does not matter what's going
on around us in this present evil world. Just the remembrance
of His death. Just the remembrance of His sacrifice
for our sin. That's all we need. That's all
we need. Knowing we have that, holding
on to that, we can say back in Galatians 1 verse 5, To whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. To whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. We may still be living
out our days here in the pit, but we are not going to go down. God has found a ransom. His own
Son, Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave Himself. He gave Himself
and we say to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 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.