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 follow along
with me in your Bible today, we are going to be looking at
a verse of scripture in Matthew 11. Matthew chapter 11 and before
we get into this message I just want to say that I truly do pray,
my desire for today and for this message is that the Lord might
make this very personal to us today. I pray that he might allow
this to be a very personal message. I pray that this is personal
to you. Our Lord did a work for sinners, he did a work for some
and I pray that he might reveal to my heart and to your heart
that he did it for us. Our Lord left heaven, he was
in glory, left heaven and he came down to this earth to die
for sinners. He came down to this earth to
live for sinners and I pray that he might reveal to your heart,
I pray that through his spirit he might say to your heart, I
did that for you. Not only my elect and not only
sinners but for you. We know that he shed his blood,
he came here for one reason only and that was to go to the cross
and on that cross he shed his blood which was the only payment
that could be made for sin and my sincere prayer is that through
his word and through his spirit He might speak to me and speak
to you and say, I shed that blood for you. That blood was shed
for you. I laid in that grave for you. I gave up my ghost and I died. I was buried and I rose again
for you. And I've ascended back to my
father. and I make intercession for you. I pray that the Lord might make
this to be a very personal message today. I pray that he might speak
to us, I pray that he might call us through his word not mine
and that's my prayer is that you don't just hear my voice
today, I'm just a vessel, just a messenger. My sincere prayer
is that the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ himself will
speak to you and you'll hear his voice. I pray you hear him
in this verse of scripture right here. Our text is Matthew 11
verse 28 and this is what our Lord Jesus Christ said. He said,
come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will
give you rest. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest." I pray that you
need that and you need to hear that as badly as I do. I pray
that we need that, we desperately cling to that, cling to his word
as a personal word to me when he says, come to me. all ye that
labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest." If we really
think about it, that is a simple statement. There are no big words
in that, no hard words. Very, very small, come to me,
very small words. That's a simple statement and
he's speaking it to a simple people. He said, come to me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, a simple people, and it has a
simple outcome. He said, I'll give you rest. So if you need that, and if you
hear him in that, and if you desire that, then his command
is come. This is his call in his word. through his gospel, by his spirit. He says to the hearts of his
people, he gives them ears to hear. He gives them a heart to
believe. He gives them life to live and respond. And he says
to them, come, come. If you are labored and if you
are heavy laden, he said, come to me and I'll give you rest. Does that not sound wonderful?
Does that not sound wonderful? Come to me and I'll give you
rest. What is it to be labored and
heavy laden? How can I know if I'm labored
and heavy laden? Who exactly is he talking to? What does he mean in that? What
are God's people, God's particular people labored and heavy laden
over? I'll give you three things, three
things that God's people are truly labored over and heavy
laden over. First one is sin, sin. God's people have a real awareness
of their sin. Those who are not God's people,
those who are just religious, merely religious, there are a
lot of religious people who are not God's people. And those who
are not God's people, they are not labored and not burdened
over their sin, they're not. They're not, they don't even
hardly see their sin. God's people are labored, labored,
burdened over their sin before him, their sin against him. God's
people are labored and burdened over salvation. They consider
their ladder in. They take this seriously. They
say, tell me the truth about these things. They don't put
it off. They don't put off till tomorrow
what they need to lay hold of right now. Those who are not
God's people have no concern for salvation. So God's people are labored and
heavy laden over sin. labored and heavy laden over
salvation and they are just like everybody else labored and heavy
laden over circumstance, the things that happens in this life.
There are so many things that burden us and weigh heavy on
us. Now, I want to ask all of us
this question, and I'm prefacing the message by saying I want
this to be personal. And that's why I'm going to use
the word you. I'm speaking to myself also. I'm speaking to
us, but I want to say it to us in this way. I'm going to ask
you a question, me and you, all right? Do you know what you are? This is me trying to be as sincere
as I can possibly be, as honest and as candid as I can possibly
be right now. This is just me and you. I understand I'm speaking through
a screen to you but I want to ask you this question. Do you
know what you are? Most people don't and I pray
that you do and I do. I pray God has revealed that
to you but that's an important question. Do you know what you
are? Have you gotten a good look at
you? Has God ever allowed you to really see yourself? Now,
I don't mean what's on the outside. I don't mean what you can see
when you look in the mirror. I'm talking about what's on the
inside. I'm not talking about the little
sins that these hands commit. I'm talking about what's on the
inside, deep inside, in yourself, in myself. Do we know what we are? Have we seen our selfishness? Have we seen it? Have we seen
our greed? Have we seen our pride? Have we seen our arrogance? Have we seen our vileness? Oh, we're so vile. Have you seen
what's in your mind? Do you really know what goes
through your mind? The wicked imaginations, have
we seen it? All that's called sin. That's
all sin. Have you seen a glimpse of your
sin? Do you have no choice but to
say with David, when you look at yourself, do you have to say
with David, this is what David said in Psalm 51 verse three,
he said, I acknowledge my transgressions. Yeah, David said, I see him.
I see it. He said, I acknowledge my transgressions. and my sin is ever before me. It is ever before me. Do you
see that? Turn with me if you have your
Bible there to Psalm 38. It says in Psalm 38, now either
this describes us or it doesn't. When we read this, either you
will see yourself in this or you won't. And either I'll see
myself in this or I won't. But I'm gonna go ahead and confess
to you, this is me. Honestly, I see myself, I'm not
just saying that. I see myself right here. All
right, this is Psalm 38, verse one. David said, O Lord, rebuke
me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in
me, and thine hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in
my flesh. no soundness in my flesh. Because
of thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones because
of my sin." David said, I cannot rest in what I see in myself. If I come to myself and come
to my deeds and come to what I am in the flesh, I can't rest.
I won't find any rest, all because of my sin. Verse four. He said, mine iniquities are
gone over my head. I'm drowning in them. My sins,
I'm drowning in them. As in heavy burden, they are
too heavy for me. I can't overcome them. I can't
dig my way out of them, climb out of them. I'm labored under
them. That's what he's saying, I'm
burdened under them. Verse five, he said, my wounds
stink. That's describing sin, the Lord
said in Isaiah 1 that man from the crown of his head to the
sole of his foot is just wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
that's describing our sin. He said my wounds stink and are
corrupt because of my foolishness, foolishness. David said when
I take a step back and I look at myself this is what I see
in my flesh, this is what I see, a fool. I see a fool, what I
am, what I do, where my priorities are in the flesh," he said, it's
all foolishness. Verse six, David said, I am troubled,
I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, I
sorrow over this. That's what it is to be labored.
You see that? Labored and heavy laden. It's
to be labored and heavy laden over what I am, what I do, and
what I see in myself. That'll make a man labored and
heavy laden over salvation. If a man ever becomes labored
and heavy laden over sin, If he ever sees his own sin and
it just brings him down, he'll become labored and heavy laden
over salvation. David said in Psalm 130, he said,
Lord, if you should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who shall stand? Who
shall stand? What hope is there for me? That's a heaviness that every
single one of God's people have felt the load of, they have. When the Lord revealed himself
to Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul who was Saul of Tarsus on
the way to Damascus, when God revealed himself Saul fell down,
he fell down under that heaviness, fell off his horse, fell down
to the ground under all that heaviness and this is what he
cried, Lord what would you have me to do? I'm at your mercy,
I'm in your hands. You see me for what I am. When
God revealed himself to that Philippian jailer, he fell down
under the heaviness, the labor, the burden. He fell down and
he cried, sirs, what must I do? Isaiah fell down. Peter fell
down. John fell down at his feet as
a dead man. I want us to really enter into
the labor, the burden, the weight that comes upon a child of God.
when God reveals his sin to him in his desperate need of salvation. That heaviness comes seeing the
judgment of God on my sin, my sin. The holiness of God requires
the judgment of God. So that's what it is to be labored
and heavy laden. It's a burden over sin. It's
a burden over salvation. And nothing in this world can
relieve the burden. Nothing. Man tries to search
out the things of this world trying to relieve the burden
and justify himself before God and he's trying to no longer
sin. He's trying to clean up his act
and clean up his self but nothing in this world can relieve the
burden. A man can try to come to himself. You'll hear people say that,
well, he finally came to himself. A man can try to come to himself
and come to his senses. A man can try to come to the
law written in the word, come to morality. A man can try to
come to doctrine. Try to come to sacrifice. Well,
I'm going to start sacrificing some things. I'm not going to
do this anymore. A man can try to come to service. Well, I'm
going to go try to do more. I'm going to volunteer more and
be a better citizen. None of those things will ease
the burden. None of those things. Trying to become a better person,
that's something that everyone ought to do. I would rather me
be a better person and you be a better person but that won't
ease the burden before God, that won't ease the burden of sin,
that won't ease the burden of judgment, the burden of our need
of salvation, none of those things will. But this is what our Lord
said, through his word he says to his people, you come to me
come to me and I'll take that burden away. I'll take that burden
away." And he does, he truly does. There's a story that you
may have heard of and it's called Pilgrim's Progress. A man named
John Bunyan wrote it and it's a story, it's an illustration
of salvation and the life of a child of God on this earth
and his journey. to the promised land, the celestial
city of glory itself. And the main character in that
book, his name is Christian. He's the pilgrim, the pilgrim's
progress. And he had this, it starts out
with, he had this burden on his back. He had this great burden
and he could not find relief from it. He just wanted relief
from it. And he met a man, a man crossed
his path and the man's name was Evangelist, which represents
the preacher. And Evangelist pointed him to
yon wicked gate, a way, there's a way. This straight and narrow
way, he said, you seek and you follow this straight and narrow
way. And it'll lead you to a cross,
that's what he told him, it'll lead you to a cross and he said there at the cross
your burden will be taken away, your burden of sin, your burden
of salvation, your burden over what you are and your judgment
and God's holiness. So this pilgrim Christian he
told all of his family and his friends that that's what he was
going to do. and they all laughed at him, they mocked him, they
made fun of him until they realized he really was leaving. And then
they got sad and they started, they laid hold of him, they grabbed
him and they started tugging on him saying, don't go, we don't
want you to leave us, stay with us. And he was torn between having
his burden lifted and those who were wanting him to stay. And
so it says, he stuck his fingers in his ears, he wouldn't hear
anything But what evangelist told him, God's word, he stuck
his fingers in his ear and he started running toward that gate
and running toward that straight and narrow way crying life, life,
eternal life, that's what I need, that's what I must have. And it says that he ran down
that way and ran up to the foot of the cross, he finally made
it to the foot of the cross and it says when he got to the foot
of the cross He looked up and as he looked up the burden fell
off his back. As he looked up and that's what
we do, that's what God's people do, as they look to the Christ
of the cross, the Christ who bore the burden, the Christ who
took the sin, our burden falls off. Our burden falls off and
we live. There is only one place, there's
only one way, there's only one person who can relieve the weight
of our heavy burden. If you have a heavy burden, there's
only one. And that person is the Christ
of the cross, truly. The whole reason he came was
for the purpose of carrying our sorrows. That's the whole reason
he came. He came to bear our griefs. He came to take our burden from
us. And when it comes to sin and
when it comes to salvation and when it comes to any and every
circumstance of life that there is, A weighted burden, whatever it
may be, whatever weighted labor it is. This is what he said.
If you come to me, come to me. If you bring it to me, I'll give
you rest from it. I'll give you relief from it.
I'll give you liberty from it. I'll set you free from it. I'll
take that burden from you and I'll bear it myself. Bring it
to me. I'll bear the burden. Come to me, you'll see I already
have borne the burden. Now that sounds to me like something
I desperately need. I hope that sounds like something
you desperately need. I hope that this is personal
to us right now. I truly do pray God will make
this personal to us. I pray he will cause us to see
I need this. I need this. I desperately need
this. If you see that, then let's ask
this question. How do we come to him? How do
we come? If he has said to our hearts,
you come to me, then how do we come? How does a sinner come
to Christ? Well, I wanna show you two verses
of scripture that will summarize how a sinner comes to Christ,
all right? The first one is in John 6. If
you have your Bible there and wanna read with me at John 6,
verse 44, it says, no man can come to me. No man can come to me except
The Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day." How do we come to Christ? We come with
no ability of our own. That's important for us to know.
We come with no ability. No man can come. Can means ability. No man can
come. This word tells us that those
who come to Christ, those who the father draws to Christ, this
word says they're spiritually blind. We can't even see the
way, can't even see where we're going spiritually blind. The
word says we're spiritually lame, can't walk. How does a man come
who can't walk? The word says we're spiritually
dead. You talk about no ability, dead. How do we come to Christ? We
come with no ability of our own. We come crying. If the Lord has
moved on your heart and you say, I want to come to you, then know
this. I need to know this. We come
crying, Lord, I can't come to you. Cry that to him. Lord, I can't come to you. My
only hope is that you will come to me. That's it. It's not my choice. This is your choice. It's not
my will. This is your will. It's not my
work. This is your work. I'm helpless. I'm helpless. That's how we come.
No ability of our own. Here's the other scripture. Isaiah
55, it says, Verse one, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. How do we
come to Christ? Empty. Empty, no money, without
money, without price. We come with nothing to offer
him. Say that to him. I have nothing
to offer you. nothing but my sin, nothing but
my ruin, nothing in my hand, no price I bring. That's how
a sinner comes to Christ, helpless and empty, helpless and empty. If that's you, if you are helpless
and empty, then don't listen to my voice right now. Do not
listen to my voice. Listen to his voice through his
spirit in his word when he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. If we do, if he
causes us to come, our burden will be lifted. If you come to
Christ, if the Father draws you and the Son raises you up, your
burden will be lifted. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.