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 turn with
me in your Bible, we will be looking at Luke chapter 15 today.
Luke 15, and I believe you will be very glad to read this with
me. I have some wonderful news. I
have truly wonderful news today. I have compared before, and I've
thought a lot about a gospel preacher being like a newspaper
boy standing on a street corner, crying extra, extra read all
about it. Wonderful news. And that's what
we have today. I have some truly wonderful news. It's in the middle of verse two,
Luke 15, the middle line in verse two says, this man receiveth
sinners. This man receiveth sinners. That's good news, isn't it? That's
good news. That is worthy of a headline. That's front page news. This
man receives sinners. I hope that'll sink in to us,
both of us, you and me. I hope that will really sink
into us. This man receives sinners. I have a Bible right here. And
in this book, there is bad news. There is some bad news in this
book is much good news. And here's the truth of the matter.
All of the good news is percenters. All of the good news is for centers. I want to tell you something.
And if I've ever told the truth, it's right now. The gospel is
for centers. It's for centers. The gospel
is for centers. Now, here is a question for all
of us. In our hearts, let's give a one
word answer. Okay. Answer this in your heart.
It's either yes or no. One of those two, yes or no.
Now here's our, here's our question. Am I a sinner? Are you a sinner? Go deep, go into your heart,
go into your mind. Think about yourself. Think about
your flesh. Think about your life. Think
about your thoughts. Think about the motive of your
heart. And be honest with yourself. Be honest with God. And answer
the question. Are you a sinner? Am I? A sinner. Now, if our answer is no. one or the other, yes or no.
If our answer is no, then I don't have one word of good news for
us. If that is the answer, and I
can tell you that will be the answer for a lot of people. When
you point blank, ask them, are you a sinner? They will say no. Well, if our answer is no, then
I don't have one word. I don't have one single word
of good news for us. But if our answer is yes, if
it really is yes, then I want to show us the greatest news
we'll ever see in our lives. Starting with this right here.
This man receiveth sinners. This man receives centers. Salvation is for centers. Salvation, eternity. Eternal life. Is for centers. It's for centers. Now let me
show you that in Mark chapter two. I'll prove that to us in
Mark chapter two. Verse 15. It says, and it came to pass
that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, this other man's house,
many publicans and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his
disciples. For there were many and they
followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, now get this picture
into your mind. It says there were many. He was sitting there
eating with publicans and a publican, the Jews hated publicans because
they were Jews, people of their own nation who collected money
from the Jews in order to give it to the Romans. And they were
not just pencil pushers. They took the money with brute
force. They enforced a tax and they
got their money. It was very mafia-like. It was
a horrible, horrible, brute force taking the money from people,
and they did not like publicans. Well, these Pharisees, these
religious leaders, these preachers, And these scribes, these men
who transcribed the Bible all day long, that's what they did.
They saw him sitting at this table with many publicans and
sinners. I mean, sinners, harlots, drunks. Sinners, and it says in verse
16, when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and
sinners, they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and
drinketh with publicans and sinners? What's he doing? Verse 17, when
Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, they that are whole have
no need of the physician, but they that are sick, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, some may
hear that and believe that he is saying the righteous don't
need repentance. They're righteous, self righteous. So I haven't come to call them
to repentance. I have just come to call sinners
to bring them up to the same level as the self righteous people. That's not what he's saying.
Not at all. He told a multitude of people
in Matthew chapter five, this is what he said. except your
righteousnesses. And we need to hear this. I'll
tell us now we need to hear this. He said, except your righteousnesses
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
You shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. He said it
must exceed their self-righteousness. It must exceed the righteousness
of all these famous preachers. And the reason is because their
righteousness is not good enough. If all we have is the same righteousness
they have, we're not going to enter in because it wouldn't
be good enough. Their righteousness is not good
enough. Our righteousness is not good enough. We will never
make it in on our own righteousness. Meaning the things that we're
capable of doing in this body, things that would be good deeds,
righteous deeds. It's never going to be good enough.
They're never going to be righteous enough. If that's all we have,
we will never make it in. No man or woman will ever enter
the kingdom of heaven based on his or her own good deeds. No man or woman. They're not
good enough. They're tainted. They're all
tainted. You know, men and women see themselves
and they see each other to be good church going folk. Good
church going people. Well, It's not good enough. It's just
not good enough. No one is going to enter heaven. No one because he or she is as
this world says. A fine Christian person. Oh,
he's a fine Christian person. That's not good enough. I'm glad. I'm glad that some have a concern
for morality and a concern for God and those types of things,
but it's not good enough. It's not good enough. In Luke
18, our Lord gave the parable. He gave this parable of the Pharisee
and the publican, the center. And I'm sure you know that story. You've heard that story. It says
they both went into the temple to pray. This Pharisee, this
self-righteous preacher, and this sinner, this publican. And
it says there that the Lord gave that parable because There were
certain there, there were certain people standing there in the
Lord's presence, which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. That's the whole reason he gave
the parable, because they thought within themselves that they were
good, good people doing good deeds, good enough to enter into
heaven, righteous. I hope that's not us. I truly
do. I'm concerned for my soul. I'm
concerned for your soul. And I truly do hope and pray
that we are not trusting in ourselves that we are righteous before
God. I hope and pray that because
the Lord said in that parable, he said that man or that woman
who is trusting in his or her own goodness, his or her own
righteousness will never enter into my kingdom. Never. will
not be justified in my eyes." That's what he said. The one
who was justified is the one who smote upon his breast, crying,
God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. God said that man is justified,
that man. Our Lord right here in Mark 2
referred to himself as the physician. And he referred to all those
that he came to save as the sick. He's giving this illustration
here. He's illustrating salvation as a hospital. And this is a
wonderful illustration. Our Lord is so wise. He perfectly
declared who God came to save. He said, those who are well don't
need a hospital. And that's so true, isn't it?
That is so true. And he said they will not be
admitted into the hospital. Not if they're well. You don't
admit a well person into a hospital. You don't do that. You admit
a sick person. And I mean sick. I mean sick. You don't admit a person who
only needs to be given an aspirin and sent on his way. You don't
do that. You admit a person. You prepare
a place for a person. The physician only operates on
the person. who is truly sick, truly sick. This is what I want us to get
ahold of today. I pray God will make this crystal
clear to us. Here it is. Hospitals are for
the sick. May that be settled in our minds
and hearts. Hospitals are for the sick. And salvation is for sinners.
Salvation is for sinners. I pray the Lord would confirm
that to us. Salvation is for sinners. All
right, now let me ask our question again. Are you a sinner? Honestly, before God, God sees
all, he knows all. Are you a sinner? Am I a sinner? We need to make sure. because
the call to salvation is for true centers, not part centers. Many people believe they are
part centers, half centers. Well, I'm half good, half bad. Salvation is not for part centers. It is for crown of the head to
sole of the foot sinners. Back in Leviticus, God gave his
commandment concerning leprosy, the disease leprosy. It was an
illustration of sin. Leprosy in the scripture is always
an illustration of sin. And this is what he said. He
said, if a man has one little spot on his flesh, just one little
speck on his flesh, pronounce him unclean and cast him out
of the camp. One little speck. But he said,
if he is covered from the crown of his head to the sole of his
foot, with the evidence of this horrible disease, if he is completely
covered, then pronounce him clean and welcome him in. Why would he say that? Why would
he say it that way? Well, it's because he's God and
it's his right to do so. If God says he's clean, then
he's clean. But this is what we need to take
from it. It is a very dangerous thing. It is a very dangerous
thing to, in our own eyes, just be a little sinner. Most people
take so much comfort in just being a little center. I'll just
tell a few white lies every now and then. Just let a few words
slip out that shouldn't come out every now and then just a
little center. It is a very, very dangerous thing to see ourselves
to be little centers. mostly righteous, just a little
sin. Christ does not receive those
who trust in themselves that they are at all righteous. Our only hope is to get rid of
all self-righteousness and come before him as a head to toe,
in and out, through and through sinner. Well, Gabe, are you condoning
sin? Are you promoting sin? God forbid. God forbid. But we must acknowledge
to God what we are. Lord, I'm a sinner. That's what
I am. I am a sinner. I acknowledge
to you that that's what I am. That's what David acknowledged
to the Lord. In Psalm 51, he said, I'm telling
you exactly what I am. Now, are you a sinner, a real
sinner? If so, the news gets better,
it gets even better. Back in our text in Luke 15,
the middle of verse two says, this man receiveth, receiveth,
that's present tense. That means right now. Right now. Thank God. It does not say this
man received. It doesn't say that as if to
say he used to, there was a time when he did, but, but not anymore. He received, but not anymore. No, he is right now receiving
centers right now. Today is the day of salvation. Today is. Somebody's going to
hear this and they're going to say, yeah, I know today is, I
know that he is, but I'm such a sinner. Oh, I'm such a sinner. You don't understand what kind
of sinner I am. I'm the worst. I'm the chief. Sin has never been so great as
it is in me. Never. That ought to give us all the
more assurance to come. That ought to give us all the
more confidence to come. That is exactly who he said he
is receiving. That's exactly who he says he
is receiving. Had it said, this man receives
the righteous. Well, then we would be wise to
not come. We would be wise to stay away
because there's none righteous. No, not one. All of our righteousnesses
are filthy rags, but thank God that's not what it says. It says,
this man receiveth sinners. The more confident that we are,
that we're sinners, the more assurance that ought to give
us to go running to him. I have seen signs in jewelry
stores and pawn shops and places like that. And I know you have
too. They'll put a sign in the window that says, we buy gold. I'm sure you've seen those signs.
We buy gold. And what that means is you can
get all of your old jewelry that you don't wear anymore, and you
can take it to them and they'll test it and they'll determine
the value of it. And then they'll pay you cash
for it. And you walk away with cash. Well, I have known some
people who have taken their jewelry to those types of places and
after having it tested, come to find out it wasn't pure gold.
And in some cases it wasn't gold at all. They brought it thinking
it was gold, but after having it tested, it wasn't gold at
all. And do you know that the store
in those cases wouldn't receive it? If it wasn't gold, they wouldn't
receive it. They would not take it. And those people had to walk
away empty handed. The more confident that you are
that it's 100% gold, the more assurance you can have of it
being received. Well, the same goes for our sin. This man receives sinners. And the more confident you are
that you are a center, the more awareness that we have of our
sin, the more assurance that will give us of being received. This man receiveth right now,
right now. He is receiving right now. Here is my message to both you
and me right now. Let's go to him right now. In
the heart, go to him right now. I'm telling myself this too,
and I'm telling you, go to him right now in the heart, go run
into him right now as a center. Somebody will say, yeah, but
I haven't cleaned up anything yet. Don't you think I ought
to clean up a little bit first? Absolutely not. Nope. The more you clean it up, the
less assurance you can have of being received. Don't clean anything
up. Just go running. Go running to
him. Fall on your heart's knees, crying,
Lord, I am a sinner. And I hear your call, I hear
your call through your word, the call of the glorious news
you've given to us, this wonderful news in your word. So I'm coming
to you. You said come. So I'm coming. I'm coming because of your blood.
I'm coming because of your mercy. I'm coming because you receive
sinners. That's why I'm coming. That's
what I am. I'm a sinner. You know, after
Noah finished the ark, you know the story of Noah's ark. He and
his family sat inside that ark for seven days and God left the
door wide open for seven days. You know that they sat there
for seven days. For seven days, that door was
wide open for any soul who needed to be saved from the destruction
that was coming. But for all seven of those days,
the hardness of man's heart would not enter in. And had God not
had mercy on Noah and his family, they wouldn't have entered in.
God chose to put them into that ark. He elected for them to be
in that ark. But after God shut the door,
he was too late. He was too late. There was a
moment in time when it was said, it could be said, Noah could
cry out to everybody. This ark receiveth. This ark
is receiving. Are you in need? This ark receiveth
right now. Well, concerning us and our sin,
Christ is our ark. And that time is right now, this
man, right now, this man, and think about that, this man, this
man, Jesus Christ, the God man is receiving sinners. It wouldn't
be any shocking news to say that the adversary was receiving sinners. That wouldn't be shocking at
all. It wouldn't be shocking to declare that other centers
are receiving centers. That wouldn't be shocking, but
this man, this spotless, holy, sinless man is receiving centers. Why would he receive centers?
There's a song and it says, for he alone is able to save, that's
why. He is the only one able to save
sinners. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. For this cause came he into the
world. He came to remove that sin from
his people by taking it upon himself He came to suffer the
judgment and the punishment that His people was owed. He came
to break His body. He came to shed His blood that
He might deliver every single one, every one of His people
from all of their sin. And that's exactly what He did.
That's what He did. A man, the God man, a man saved
us. Not a doctrine, a man, not a
decision, a man unto him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in his own blood. Behold the man. That's the message. Come see a man. After he had
risen, he said, touch me, handle me, behold these scars. See the
evidence this man receives centers. So here's here's the cry of the
gospel. There's another song and this
is these are the words of the song. It says centers as to you
and me centers. The Lord Jesus will receive.
Sound this word of grace to all grace. It means free gift sound
this free gift to all. To all who the heavenly pathway
leave. Sound it to all who linger. Sound
it to all who fall. Sing it over and over again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. I'm telling you the truth. All
of the good news is for sinners. It's all for sinners. And if
you are a sinner, and you see your need of Christ, run to Him.
He will in no wise cast you out. 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 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.