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 in your Bible to John chapter 12. And I want to encourage you to
turn with me here because our Lord says, in verse 27, a very
holy thing to His Father. He says something that we should
give much attention to. In John 12, verse 27, He said,
now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. What a weighty thing to read. What a serious thing to read. The gospel is not just a bunch
of religious sounding words. The gospel is something very
specific. The true gospel, the one and
only gospel can be summed up in two words. Substitution and
satisfaction. Substitution and satisfaction. Those two words make up the best news a sinner
could possibly hear. The gospel is called good news. And it's the best news I've ever
heard. And the reason it's the best
news I've ever heard is because God has revealed to me through
his word, through this book, that I'm on death row in God's
eyes. I'm a sinner. I'm a transgressor
of His law. And if I'm left to myself, if
God leaves me to myself, I'm just a sinner waiting to die.
That's all I am, I'm just a sinner waiting to die. Let me prove
that to you over in Isaiah chapter 13. Turn and look at this with me
in Isaiah chapter 13, verse 9 says, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. He shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun
shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not
cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will cause
the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness
of the terrible. I will make a man more precious
than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore,
I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of
her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day
of his fierce anger." That's pretty clear, isn't it? Is there any doubt what He is
saying He is going to do? A person might hear that and
say, well, yeah, but that's the Old Testament. He said that in
the Old Testament. We have the New Testament now.
All right. Well, turn with me over to 2
Thessalonians chapter 1. Our Lord said in 2 Thessalonians
1 verse 6, seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints
and to be admired in all them that believe. Because our testimony
among you was believed in that day. Do you believe God is really
gonna do that? That's what he said he would
do, that he's gonna come in flaming fire and take destruction on
sinners. Do you believe he's really gonna
do that? Well, let me ask you this. Can
God lie? Ask Noah. God said, I'm gonna destroy this
earth with a flood. Why, Lord? Sin. That's why, sin. He said, Noah,
build an ark. Build an ark. And for 100 years,
Noah told this world, you had better get inside this ark. You must be inside this ark. That ark represented Christ.
And the world laughed and the world mocked. And God shut the
door. He shut the door to that ark.
And He rained down His wrath from heaven. And He killed this
entire world, didn't He? The entire world, except for
eight souls. The eight souls that He put in
that ark. Whoever was inside that ark was
saved. Whoever was outside of that ark
was damned. Alright, now turn with me to
2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3 verse 3 says, Knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers,
walking after their own lust, and saying, where is the promise
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this, they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word
of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of
the water and in the water. whereby the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and
the earth, which are now, by the same word, are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. Verse 10 says, but the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night. in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up." If God leaves us to ourselves,
we are dead men and women walking. You know what you call that? The truth. called the truth. And the truth
is a fearful thing. But let me show you the gospel.
Let me show you the gospel. I told you that the gospel could
be summed up in two words. Here's the gospel. It's in Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 27 says, It is appointed unto men once to
die. But after this, The judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. Many, not all, but many. He said
it's a number of the stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore.
Many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I was on death row waiting for
God's wrath to punish my sin. I was waiting to die. But Christ
came and He took my place by taking my sin off of me and laying
it all over himself, he took my place, and that's called substitution. True substitution. And then God poured out his wrath
on Christ. And the reason he did that is
because he had my sin all over him. God killed me in Christ. And after God finished punishing
my sin in his own son, as soon as every last sin was punished,
God was satisfied. And he said, you're free to go.
You're free to go. There's a song that I love. It
says, lo the great king of kings with healing in his wings. to
every captive soul, every soul who's been made to see a sin.
You know, every man and woman can't see their own sin. They
can't see it, but everyone who can, everyone who Christ has
given eyes to see that, every captive soul, a full deliverance
brings. And through the vacant cells,
the song of triumph rings. Our comforter has come. He's
come. That's what the first verse of
our text is saying. Go with me back over to John
12 and look at verse 27. Our Lord said, now is my soul
troubled. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. He was troubled. He was truly
troubled over the sin. As a man, he was troubled over
the sin and the wrath and the separation from God. And he said, Lord, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Save me. What shall I say? Father, save
me. He was saying that on my behalf.
He was saying that as me. He was my substitute. And he
answered that cry by saying, but for this cause came I unto
this hour. Why did Jesus Christ come to
this earth? Was it so he could do some humanitarian
work? Was it so he could do some motivational
speaking? Was it to be an example to us,
to show us how to save ourselves? No. It was for this cause right
here. Christ Jesus came into this world
for one reason only. It was to go to that cross and
die. His greatest glory was the death
that he accomplished for every single one of his people. All
that the Father gave him. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. And the Lord said, I'm gonna
have mercy on sinners. That's my glory. Well, right
here in John 12, verse 27, it says, now is my soul troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Father, I'm ready. glorify thy
name, glorify the name which is above every name. Verse 28
says, then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both
glorified it and will glorify it again. This is the third time that God
the Father spoke out loud. He spoke out at the beginning
and the middle and the end of our Lord's ministry, and all
three times declare the good news of substitution and satisfaction. All three times. Let me show
you that. The first one is over in Matthew chapter 3. Matthew
3 verse 16 says, And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water, And lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting
upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Well pleased. Now, when we confess the Lord
in baptism, We're confessing our union to Him. We died with
Him. We were buried with Him. And we rose with Him. And when
our Lord was baptized by John, He was confessing His union with
us. He died for His people, with
His people, as His people. We deserve to die. He died with
us. He was buried for us. He rose
for us, as us. And when He came up out of that
water, God the Father spoke out loud from heaven and He said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Why was He well pleased? The reason is because for 33
years, Jesus Christ walked this earth. And for 33 years, every
step he took, every thought that he thought, every word that he
said, every emotion he felt, earned heaven. Every one of them,
as a man. Even though he never stopped
being God, he walked this earth 100% a man, a real man. And God the Father
said, he's perfect. He is a perfect man. He is a
holy man. He is a sinless man. He's a righteous
man. And I'm satisfied. God was satisfied in him. Now here's the glory of substitution. When Christ took the sin off
of His people and laid it on Himself, He took His perfection
off of Him and He laid it on His people. He took that satisfaction off
of Him and He laid it on His people. It was true substitution. He took my thoughts and my emotions
and He gave me His. And now not only does God say
that I'm not guilty, He also looks at me and He says, well
done. Well done. That's the greatest news I've
ever heard in my life. Substitution and satisfaction. Now here's the second time God
the Father spoke out loud. Turn with me over to Mark chapter
9. Mark chapter 9 verse 2 says,
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and
John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before
them. And his raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white
them. And there appeared unto them
Elias with Moses, Elijah and Moses appeared there, and they
were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to
Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make
three tabernacles, One for thee, and one for Moses, and one for
Elijah. For he knew not what to say,
for they were sore afraid. Poor fella, he didn't have any
idea what to say. And in his foolishness and in
his ignorance, he should have kept his mouth shut, but he didn't. And he said, Lord, let's make
three tabernacles here. Let's worship three people, you
and Moses and Elijah. And as soon as he says that,
verse seven says, there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a
voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear
him. God the Father spoke out loud
in order to tell every soul on this earth, there is one substitute
for sinners, hear him. There is only one who is able
to satisfy a holy God. Hear Him. Father, glorify Thy
name. I have glorified it. Hear Him. Hear Him. I love how it says right there
that Peter didn't know what to say because he was so afraid.
They were all so afraid. John 12 says that the people
who stood by and they heard God's voice, they said it thundered. Have you ever been too close
to lightning? when the thunder cracks at the exact moment that
the lightning strikes, and it strikes absolute fear into you,
and you realize this is so much bigger than me. Hide me. Hide
me. This world has no idea how almighty
this God really is. No idea. When they go stand before
Him in the judgment, They're not even going to want to hear
His voice. They're not going to want to hear His voice. Over in Psalm 29, David wrote
that the voice of the Lord is powerful. It knocks down cedar
trees, the biggest cedar trees in the world, the cedars of Lebanon.
It just lays them over. The voice of the Lord makes the
hinds to calf. It makes everything run into
the forest, crying, hide me, hide me. But this word of God says that
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning
of wisdom. You know why? It's because it
makes sinners run to Christ. It makes sinners run to Christ
the rock. Christ the ark. Noah said, get
in this ark. Run to the ark. Run to Christ. The shelter in the time of storm. Thy shield and thy defender. Run to Jesus Christ. Hear Him. Hear Him. Turn with me over to
John chapter 5. John 5 verse 25 says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live." Live. The dead will hear and live.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged
sword. It pierces the heart and it says,
live. Live. Back over in John chapter 12,
verse 27 says, our Lord said, now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood
by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel
spake to him. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sake. Everything
God has done has been for the sake of his people. Everything. This entire book was written
for our sake. if we belong to Christ. Verse
31 says, now is the judgment of this world. All men and women
are going to be judged, either in Christ or out of Christ, but
all are going to be judged. Father, glorify thy name. He
said, I have, and I'm going to do it again. I'm going to judge
some sinners in Christ. and they're gonna give all the
glory to His name. Every bit of it, all the glory to His name. Glory be to thy name. Verse 31
says, now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. That's our adversary, that's
Satan. When Christ died on that cross, He secured eternal peace
for His people, ordered and secured. Verse 32, he said, and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, if I be lifted up on that cross,
I will draw all men unto me. Do you see in your Bible how
the word men is in italics? That means it was added by the
translators. He said, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me, all that the Father has given
me, all that I came to save. I'll lose none of them. Verse
33, this he said signifying what death he should die. Why did
Christ die? He died to be the substitute
for his people. That's why he died. And he died
to be the satisfier of God's holy law. And he said in John
chapter 19 verse 30, it is finished. It's finished. The mission is
accomplished. Father, the work you sent me
to do, I finished it. Salvation. For the sinners that
you gave to me, the sinners that fell from us, but the sinners
you chose to bring back, I've made their salvation secure.
I've shed my blood. I've paid the price. I've taken
their place. It's all finished. And it's all
secure. Every bit of it is secure in
me. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. If a person wants to know what
the gospel is, it's substitution and satisfaction. And those two
things are only found in Jesus Christ. He's the only one who
could become the substitute for a sinner. And he's the only one
who could satisfy the holiness of God, the justice of God, It's
all found in Christ. Thank God for substitution and
satisfaction. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless this 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.