Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, located at 2709 Rock Springs Road in Kingsport, Tennessee, would like to invite you to listen to a message of Sovereign Grace by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. For information and service times, visit www.ksgc.church. And now, Gabe Stoniker.

I am going to speak to you today from a wonderful psalm, Psalm 130. This is just such a precious and glorious psalm. And I want to begin by reading all eight verses of Psalm 130. It says,

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Now let me just sincerely tell you something before we get into this. I am never interested in just delivering a sermon. People talk about preachers preaching a sermon. I am never interested in delivering a sermon. Every time I stand up, my desire is to deliver a message. That's what I want. I want to truly deliver a message. I only want to be the instrument that carries God's word to God's people. That's it. I want to carry God's Word to God's people without any involvement or opinion of my own. That's my sincere desire. I do not want to interject any opinion of my own.

When you leave a voice message on a cell phone, you know, back in the day, we all had answering machines, and you would leave, and that's what a cell phone is now, and you would leave a message. They're not there, leave a message. When you call someone and leave a voicemail, the answering machine, the cell phone, does not add any words or opinions to what you say. When the hearer hears the message, all the hearer hears is the message you left for him or her. And that is the work of a true preacher. That's all that a true preacher should do. That is my desire in preaching. It's to not interject anything. I do not want to interject my take on religion or my opinion on anything. All I want to do is deliver God's Word to you. The message. Is that clear? The message.

I believe in my heart that I have a message for us today. I pray I do, and I believe that I do, and that message is this. Verse four in Psalm 130 says, there is forgiveness. What an amazing three words. There is forgiveness. Today's message is for anyone and everyone, and you'll see why I say that come the end of this. You say, well, what about election? What about limited atonement? Well, you'll see why I say that come the end of this. There is forgiveness. There is forgiveness.

Now in this command to preach the gospel, God's preachers are to number one, glorify Christ. That's what he tells us to do. If any man glory, let him glory in the Lord. God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said, we preach Christ crucified. That's what we preach. He said, I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. The calling of a true preacher is to number one, glorify the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the calling of a true preacher is also to feed the sheep. Isn't that what the Lord told Peter? He said, Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. How? How do we do that? by glorifying the cross of Christ. Comfort God's people, that's his command. Isaiah 40, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The calling is to bind up the brokenhearted, to strengthen the weak, to apply the balm of Gilead to the sick and to the bruised. The message of the gospel is supposed to be a help. That's what it's supposed to be, a help.

Well, three words from God Almighty will do every bit of that. It will glorify the cross. It will be food to the hungry. It will be comfort to the fearful. It will be a bandage to the sick. And it's these three words right here. There is forgiveness. There is forgiveness. Those three words go right alongside of, it is finished. That was the cry of our savior from the cross. It is finished. There is forgiveness.

Now, if I've ever been clear in a message, I desire to be clear today. I really do. I pray that every soul listening will hear this, not just with the mind, but with the heart. And I pray that this message will cause every soul listening to do what David did, the penman of Psalm 130. In verse three, he acknowledged, I am a sinner. Verse 3, he said, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Who shall stand? So in verse 5, he said, I wait for the Lord. I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait. What are you going to do, David? Wait? Just wait for the Lord. And in his word do I hope. I'm going to wait. and I'm going to hope. Wait on the Lord, hope in his word, because that's where mercy and redemption is. Verse seven says, let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Now, in trying to be as clear as I can on this subject of forgiveness, I want to look at it from all sides. We will understand what forgiveness truly is if we will see this from all sides. We will understand how forgiveness can be had with God if we see this from all sides. And what I want to stress through the whole message is there really is forgiveness. There is. That's the message. There is forgiveness.

Forgiveness became the need of all of humanity when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. From them, sin has passed to every man and woman in the world. In Adam, all die. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And some will say, now wait a minute, Adam sinned in the garden, not me. I ought to have a chance just like he did. Well, all of us did have a chance just like Adam did the moment we were born and we failed. We all failed. All of us were born into this world crying out in anger. Babies cry out, they get mad and they're crying, change me, feed me now. As soon as we all started talking, every one of us started speaking lies. You don't have to teach a child how to speak a lie, it's natural. We ruined our chance the moment we were born.

But I'll tell you this, if our slate was wiped clean right now, say okay, right now it's just gonna be a clean slate, we would all ruin it before this program is over. all of us. And it's because sin is not just what we do, sin is what we are. It's just what we are. We are sin, and sin cannot dwell in the presence of God. God is holy, and what that means is, above everything, God must be just. God is holy, and it means God must be just. Just like a judge in a courtroom, if he's gonna be a just judge, every ruling must be according to the law. Do you want a judge behind a bench judging you who is not doing everything according to the law? The fact that God is holy means he must bring justice to the law. His justice comes first. God cannot be gracious outside of his justice. That's the truth. God cannot be merciful outside of his justice. God cannot forgive. He cannot forgive. He said, I will by no means clear the guilty. He cannot forgive outside of his justice. God can only justify his people if he is just and right and fair in justifying his people.

He cannot have two murderers standing before him. You know, the scripture declares that God elected a people to save. He chose one, he didn't choose another. He can't have two murderers before him and tell one of them, now you're going to prison. and say to the other one, you know what, I'm gonna turn my head and you just go and I'll lose your paperwork and it'll be fine and I'll tell somebody to bring a broom over here and we'll just sweep everything under the rug and oh no, no, God cannot do that. If God did that, he would no longer be the holy God.

So every man and woman has sinned and therefore it's condemnation and death for every man and woman. Every man and woman. But God chose to redeem rightfully, justly. Redeem means pay for. PAY THE SIN DEBT FOR. HE CHOSE TO REDEEM SOME OF HIS FALLEN CREATURES. BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, AND AGAIN, I JUST WANT TO BRING GOD'S WORD TO YOU, AND THIS IS WHAT IT SAYS. BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, GOD THE FATHER SELECTED PARTICULAR SINNERS TO REDEEM. THAT'S WHAT GOD DID.

And He put them, the scripture says, He put them in the hands of God the Son to redeem them. And the only way the Son of God could redeem them according to justice was He had to become them. If there was a murderer standing before the judge, It's not fair to say now you murdered. So I'm going to make this guy over here pay the price. I'm going to send this guy to prison because the price has to be paid. So we're going to send this innocent person over here to prison and we're going to let the guilty person go. That's still not justice. You say, well, the price is paid. Somebody is in prison. It's still not justice.

The only way that Christ could redeem a soul from that soul's sin is Christ had to become that soul. He had to be literally made to be that person. This is called substitution. That's what this is. That's what God did. When the scripture says he was made sin, That means he was made his people because that's what his people were. He was made his people. He was made sin. Sin is not just what they had done, it's what they were. He was made what they were. This is too holy for me. These things are too great and too wonderful for me, as the scripture says, too full of wonder.

To say that Christ was made to be the substitute for His people, that does not mean that He and His people were in a tag team, which is how a lot of people see it. They were just in a tag team partnership, and His people couldn't do it, so His people tagged Christ in, and Christ came in and did it for them. They were in a cooperation. That's not so. Read it for yourself. Hebrews 7, verse 26 says, He became us. He became us.

I am guilty. Let me tell you something about Gabe Stoniker. Gabe Stoniker is guilty. Christ is innocent. Let me tell you something about Jesus Christ. According to God's word, he is innocent. In him is no sin. He knew no sin. He is innocent. Never did he commit sin. but the only way that God the Father could justly accept me and forsake Christ. You know, Christ cried from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Can God, can a holy judge forsake an innocent man? Not according to justice, not according to holiness, If a man has done nothing but good and right, can a holy judge say sin, condemnation, death? Not according to justice.

The only way that God the Father could justly forsake Christ is if he was made to be the guilty one. He had to become the guilty one. And he had to make me to be, and you to be, and all of his chosen elect people to be, the innocent ones. Truly innocent, honestly, really, factually innocent. That's the only way that forgiveness could justly come to the child of God. It was by the substitution, sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God the Father had to look at the guilty one and say, you're guilty and you're gonna have to die for that sin. And then God the Father had to kill the guilty one and say, the guilty one has been killed and justice has been served and the law is satisfied and now everything's fine. That's what had to happen. Christ secured forgiveness for every single soul that the father gave to him. That collective particular people, they are all called the bride of Christ. All of his elect people.

God the father chose a bride for God the son to redeem. And Christ redeemed them, and the work is done. All right, let me establish this. He has already chosen who he was going to save. The scripture says, and I could just start rattling off chapters and verses, read Ephesians 1 and read all of these different places. Second Thessalonians 2.13. God the Father elected a people to save. He chose exactly who he was going to save before the foundation of the world. That's done. That's finished. Everybody who's gonna be saved has already been chosen. And God the Son has already fully redeemed every single one of them. It is done. They are redeemed. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Father, they are kept. None of them are lost. None of them. but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled, Judas, who was never chosen for glory. It's finished, it's done.

All right, now, the question is always asked whenever a person hears that, and I understand, I would ask the question too. I did ask the question at one point in my life. Number one, why didn't God choose everybody? If he was able to choose a number no man could number, that's a lot of people. Why didn't he just choose everybody? Why didn't Christ redeem everybody? Why didn't the bloodshed of Christ just pay the debt for everybody? Why isn't everybody the bride of Christ? Why did God choose a particular bride? And why those particular people? Why them?

To that, this is the only thing I know to say. The only thing I know to say to you is what God said in His word. Let me repeat what God said in His word to you. That's what it pleased Him to do. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. That's what it pleased Him to do. Other than that, I don't know. I don't have anything to add or any opinion to make on it. That's what it pleased God to do.

I'm a married man. Those of you who are married, you have a wife. Why did you choose that wife? You realize how many women there are in the world? Why that woman? And you ladies, if you have a husband, why that man? All these other men, why? Well, that's what it pleased you to do, right? You did what it pleased you to do. You say, well, how could you choose one over another? That's not fair. Actually, it is fair. That's your right. That's what it pleased you to do.

My wife and I have a dog. We have a dog. We prepared a place for her. We provide for her. We have made her to be a part of our family. And when we decided, when we elected, when we chose to receive a dog to ourselves, we started by going to the pound. We went to two or three different pounds and we didn't find the dog that we thought was right for us. We would walk into the pound and then we walked back out of the pound and we didn't adopt any of those dogs. And somebody can say, well, what in the world gives you the right to do that? If you're going to adopt one dog, you have to adopt all the dogs. If you're going to adopt one, then you got to empty the pounds. No, that's not actually so. That's not true.

We finally did select a dog and we went to a lady's house who her dog had a litter of puppies. And there's a picture of me holding two little puppies in my hand. And it was our dog and her sister. And we ended up, you know, we were looking at both of them and we ended up choosing our dog and we didn't choose her sister. Why would we do that? That's what it placed us to do. Do we have the right to do that? Yes, we actually do.

You know, the reality is most people don't question your right to select which dog you want to adopt into your household. Most people don't question it, and most people don't say how horrible, how unfair. Most people say, that's so sweet. That was so loving and kind of you to do that, to open your home and to include such a one into your family. Well, do you know that's how it was with God? When he chose, he had the sovereign right to choose, and all it was was loving kindness and generosity. He did what he wanted to do. Most people have no problem with man's sovereign right, but they sure do with God's sovereign right, don't they?

Everything is in God's hands. And God has the sovereign right to do with it whatever He will, whatever's in your hands. If you own something, you have the right to keep it, to sell it in a yard sale, or to throw it away. That's your right. And this is God. This is God. And what He has done, He has done. And it is finished. Everything with God is set in stone finished.

All right, if that's the case, let's close with this. What are we doing right now? If everything's done, if everything's finished, if everything's set, why are we even preaching the gospel? Why are you listening? Why am I preaching? What are we doing? Here's what we're doing. We are notifying God's elect of what he purposed to do and did for them in the blood of Jesus Christ. God has purposed this means of notifying his people of everything that he has finished for them. By the command of God Almighty, He tells his people that they are his elect by telling them, you are a sinner, and this is what I did for sinners. And his elect will hear that and say, you know, I really am a sinner. I really do need to be included in this election.

Now let me ask you this. God elected a people. Do you need to be included in it? Or is your response, I don't want to hear that, I don't like that, that's not my God. I hope the response is, I need that election. I need to be included in that election. Christ has died for his people, shed his blood for his people, only his people. He didn't die for everybody. He died for his elect that the Father chose and they're redeemed and saved. Now let me ask you this. Do you need that redemption? Or do you hate and reject that redemption? I pray that God has caused you and me to say, I need that redemption. I need that election. I need that redemption because I'm a sinner in need of salvation.

Every soul that he did that for, he puts that need in them. Every soul he did not do this for, this is a saver of death unto death. It's not a saver of life unto life. It's not a saver of, Lord, thank you for doing that. Please include me. It's a saver. I don't want to hear it. I don't believe it. I don't like it.

Now, I'm gonna end this message with this word. If God has put a need in you for this God, this sovereign, holy, just God, if he has put a need in you that cries, I need to be included in that election, I need to be included in that redemption, I need to be included in that purchased possession, I need to be called home to glory, there is forgiveness for you. Every soul that he puts that need in, has the need because that soul has the forgiveness. That need is the response to the forgiveness. If you have it, it's for you. There is forgiveness. Look to Christ. Amen.

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 call or write to the number and address on your screen, or visit www.ksgc.church. Tune in at this same time next week for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.