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. Our message today is going to
come from Acts chapter 16, if you would like to read along
with me. we will be in Acts chapter 16. And I have a message that
I pray will be of much help to anyone who has never seen this.
I pray this will be a eye-opening message and an encouragement. This is the story here in Acts
chapter 16 of Paul and Silas being thrown in prison for healing
a young girl who was possessed with an evil spirit. And it says
in verse 19, when her magistrates saw that the hope of their gains
was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the
marketplace unto the rulers. They healed this girl and her
Her bosses didn't like that because she was a fortune teller and
she couldn't tell fortunes anymore without this evil spirit in her.
So they brought them before the rulers to be judged. Verse 20,
they brought them to the magistrates saying, these men being Jews
do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not
lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans. And
the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates
rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them, beat Paul and Silas. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. They threw them in prison and
chained them up. Verse 25 says, And at midnight,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners
heard them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice
saying, do thyself no harm for we are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? After he saw this miraculous
work, he fell down before Paul and Silas and he said, what must
I do to be saved? Now that's the title of this
message. What must I do to be saved? With natural man, with
humanity, that is the question of all questions. That right
there is the question of all questions. That is the question
that denominations of religion, as you drive down the road and
you see all of these religious buildings, they have different
names associated with them. Every different denomination
of religion that's out there. The reason that there are so
many different denominations of religion is because each one
of them has a different answer to this question. If you wanna
get to the heart of it, and you wanna know why there's so many
different churches out there, it's because each one of them
has a different answer to this question right here. What must
I do to be saved? When people agree on that answer,
They become members of the same denomination. They attend the
same place. When people disagree on that
answer, they become members of different denominations. That's
why. That's why some go here and some
go there. They disagree on the answer of
what must I do to be saved? Now, this is the honest truth. This is the honest truth. There
is only one answer to that question. Only one answer. There's only
one true answer to that question, and I'm going to go ahead and
tell you it is not my answer. And it is not your answer. It's
God's answer. Honestly. God's answer, if everyone
believed God's answer. We would only have one denomination
of church. We would just be God's people,
there'd only be one religion on this earth. You know, there's
only one religion in glory. If we can say it that way, there's
only one belief. And it's God's. Everyone there
has been conformed to God's answer, God's Word. Now, what that ought
to tell us is there are a lot of wrong answers out there. As we drive down the road and
we see all these different places, in seeing them, that ought to
prove to us that there are a lot of wrong answers out there. A
lot of them. If there is only one true answer,
But there are thousands of answers out there. And that ought to
tell us that there's a lot of error in this world. There is
a lot of error. Now I want to know what the right
answer is. I'm being sincere with you right
now. I want to know what the right
answer is. And I want you to know what the
right answer is. So here's what we need to do.
Me and you both, this is what we need to do. We need to stop
listening to men. That's what we need to do. We need to stop listening to
men and we need to only listen to God. I have a Bible right
here. We need to only listen to God. When we listen to men,
who are not getting their message from God's word. Now, the gospel,
the Lord has ordained the gospel to be preached by men. In order
to hear God's word preached, we have to listen to men. But
when we listen to men who are not getting their message from
God's word, we will only be lied to. We will only hear man's opinion,
which is not God's truth. We will only be lied to, and
we will only end up confused. Have you ever been confused by
religion? Because you say, well, huh, he says this, and he says
that, and I'm confused. Let's stop listening to men.
Stop listening to men, and only listen to God. Only, only listen
to God. This is what the scripture says.
Let God be true and every man a liar. Every man. That's what
the scripture says. So this is the wisest thing we
could possibly do. Let's stop listening to all men
and start listening to God. And when I say let's stop listening
to men, I'm talking about myself. I'm talking about me. If I tell
you something that does not come from this word, don't listen
to me. And I'm talking about you. Don't listen to yourself. There's a way that man has in
his mind that he thinks is right. Don't listen to it. Isaiah 55
says the end of it is destruction. So only listen to God. The only hope that we have is
to listen to the word of the Lord. That's it. Ezekiel cried,
O ye dead dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Solomon wrote,
trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own
understanding. Don't do it. Don't do it. There's
only one way that will stand in the end and it's God's way. That's the only one. There is
only one answer that will be proven in the end and it's God's
answer. And here it is, all right, Acts
16, verse 30. He brought them out and this
jailer said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy
house. They said, you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And they said, if your
house believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be saved too.
Now that's God's answer. That is God's answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us that one same answer
over and over again in his word. Over and over again. Over in
John 3, verse 16. This is a verse that most people
can quote. John 3, 16. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse
18 says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Verse 36
says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. AND HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT THE
SON SHALL NOT SEE LIFE, BUT THE WRATH OF GOD ABIDES ON HIM. THAT'S
THE ANSWER. THAT'S GOD'S ANSWER. BELIEVE
ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THE ANSWER IS NOT BE BAPTIZED. NOW WE'RE COMMANDED TO BE BAPTIZED.
but only because that is a confession of our faith in Him. That's a
confession, an open confession of the fact that we believe on
Him. Being baptized is not the answer. The answer is not speak
in tongues. That's not the answer. The answer
is not come down to the front of the church building and confess
all your sins to the preacher. That's not the answer. I tell
you another one. Listen to this one. The answer
is not stop sinning. Sinners are sinners because they're
sinners. A dog is a dog because he's a
dog. He can't stop being a dog and sinners can't stop being
sinners. And thank God that's not his answer. If that was his
answer, he would have told us so. Had God given any other answer
than the one that He gave, then that would have been the answer.
But the fact of the matter is, because God gave the answer He
gave, that's God's answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with that being established,
what does that answer mean? All right, we declare it. Here's the answer. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Here's what
it means. It means you don't believe on
yourself. That's what it means. To believe on him. Is to believe on him. And not to believe on yourself
or anything else or anyone else. It's to believe in Him and to
believe on Him. And I'll explain that. To believe
in Him is to believe that He exists. We believe in Him. We believe He exists. To believe
on Him means you believe that without Him, you can't exist. It's total reliance on him. You
think of this illustration, think of an infant in the womb of its
mother. That infant believes on the mother. If that, if you could rationalize
with an infant in the womb, I'm sure that infant would believe
in the mother. You believe that your mother exists? I do. But
that infant also believes on the mother. Believing on Christ
says, without him, there's no life in me. You think about an
infant saying, without my mother, there's no life in me. To believe on Christ says, if
he does not feed me, I won't be fed. Just like an infant. It says, if he does not provide
for me, I won't be provided for. If he does not do it, it won't
be done. I only live and move and have
my being in him. That's it. Now that's not what
mankind naturally believes. That's just not man believes. that he's in a cooperation with
God. He believes he's an entity and
God's an entity. And he believes that God is waiting
for him to do his part before God will save him. That's what
man naturally believes, but that's not what God said in his word.
And that's not what believing on Christ is. To truly believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ means you believe beyond any shadow
of a doubt that you can't do any part. You believe He's not
waiting on me to do my part. He knows me. He knows I can't
do any part of this. It means you believe that there
is no cooperative effort. None whatsoever. And this is the reason why, if
you look with me over at Genesis chapter two, way back in Genesis
two, verse 16 says, the Lord God commanded the man saying
of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. You know,
Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden. The Lord said, you can
eat of all these trees, but of the one that's in the midst of
the garden, don't do it. And he said, of every tree of
the garden, thou mayest freely eat, verse 17, but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it,
for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, let me tell you what he
did not say. He did not say, you're gonna be in trouble. He
didn't say that. He did not say, you're gonna
receive a slap on the wrist from me. He said, thou shalt surely
die. There's an old saying that is
so true and it's this, wrong on the fall, meaning the fall
of man in the Garden of Eden, wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. If we miss what actually happened
in the Garden of Eden, When man sinned against God, if we miss
that and we don't understand what man became in the eyes of
God, then we're never gonna understand anything else. If we don't understand
that, we'll never understand anything else in the word. Wrong
on the fall, wrong on it all. What did man become in that moment
right there when Adam and Eve sinned against God, what did
man become? Here's what God said, dead. spiritually dead. Now you and I naturally cannot
understand spiritual death because we are physically alive. Spiritual death does not really
compute with us because we're physically alive. But that's
what God said that man became in his eyes. That's what God
said man became in his presence spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. All right, now, if that's the
case, let's ask this question right here. What can a dead man
do? Honestly. What can if God said
we are dead? What can a dead man do a spiritually
dead man before God for the work of his or her salvation? What
can he or she do? Here's the answer. Nothing. Nothing. Now that's what it is
to believe on Christ. That's what it is. It's to believe.
I can't believe on myself. I can't do anything. I'm dead
before God spiritually dead and a dead man can do nothing. Either
he must do all the work or the work won't be done all or nothing. A true preacher from the late
1800s named Charles Spurgeon. This is what he said. He said,
if I was standing at the threshold of the door of heaven right there
on the at the door of heaven, the threshold, he said, if I
was standing there and the very last step was up to me, he said,
I'd never make it in. I'd never make it in. A man who
understands something of the condition of his deadness believes
that, truly believes that. He believes that Christ had to
take the first step and Christ had to take the last step and
every step in between. He believes that the only reason
he is alive to even believe The only reason he even has any ability
to believe is because Christ has already taken that last step
and given life to him. He believes that even his faith
in Christ, that's not the cause of his salvation. He didn't do
that. That's the evidence of his salvation. That's what Ephesians
2 says. If you look up with me at Ephesians
chapter 2, it says in verse 1, 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. NO DIFFERENCE. 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, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come,
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus, for by grace are you saved through
faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. By grace, that means free gift,
God's free gift, by God's doing, He said, you are saved through
faith. And even that faith is not of
ourselves. It's not a work we do. Even that
is a work that God does in us. That's something God does in
us. Philippians chapter two, verse 13, it says, for it is
God which worketh in you. both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. If there's something in us that
wants to believe on Christ and believes on Christ, if there's
something in us that wants to look to Christ and truly does
look to Christ and casts our all on Him, if there's something
in us that wants to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in our
hearts, we do come to Him and we do bow before Him, if that
happens, He said, that's God doing it in us. It's God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So anything that is done in a
believer, that's God doing it. God doing it in the believer.
It is not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy. HE BY HIMSELF SAVED US. OVER IN GALATIANS 3, IT SAYS
IN GALATIANS 3 VERSE 1, O FOOLISH GALATIANS, WHO HATH BEWITCHED
YOU THAT YOU SHOULD NOT OBEY THE TRUTH, BEFORE WHOSE EYES
JESUS CHRIST HATH BEEN EVIDENTLY SET FORTH, CRUCIFIED AMONG YOU?
THIS ONLY WOULD I LEARN OF YOU. HE SAID, RECEIVED YE THE SPIRIT
BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH? ARE YOU
SO FOOLISH? Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? That means when Christ said it
is finished. When he said that, he said, do
you really believe there's something left in the work of salvation
that needs to be done when he said it's finished? It's finished. Do you really believe something
still needs to be done? To believe that. Would be to
make him a liar. Because if something has to be
done, it's not finished. But it is finished. It is finished. Verse 11 says that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God. It's evident for the
just shall live by faith. There's nothing left to be done.
God's people are not justified by doing the law. They were justified
by Christ on the cross of Calvary. And it says that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. It's evident for the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that do with them shall live in them. Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Everyone. There's nothing left
to be done. THE LAW WAS GIVEN TO SHOW US
AND TO PROVE TO US THAT WE CAN'T DO IT. THAT'S WHY GOD GAVE US
THIS LAW. TO SHOW US WHAT GOD DEMANDS AND
TO PROVE THAT WE CAN'T DO IT. SOMETIME READ THE END OF ROMANS
CHAPTER 3. READ THAT END. GO FROM VERSE
19 TO THE END OF THE CHAPTER. READ WHAT IT HAS TO SAY ABOUT
THE LAW BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY. Now that's what it is to believe
on Christ. And that's what it is to believe
that he has already finished the work of salvation. And if
it's finished, it's finished. And here's a little illustration
in closing. I work puzzles every now and then I like to put puzzles
together. It's pretty clear whether a puzzle is finished or not.
If there are any pieces not put in place, it's not finished.
But once that last piece goes in, it's finished. And if at
that point somebody walks up and says, well, what can I do
to help? Here's the only answer that can be given. You can't
do anything. It's finished. It can't be any
more finished than it is. All you can do is look at it
and enjoy it. You can call others over here
and say, behold this, look at this, it's beautiful, it's finished.
That's what Paul and Silas said to that Philippian jailer. When
he said, what must I do to be saved? This was the only answer
they could give. They said, you can't do anything.
It's finished. Christ finished that work on
the cross of Calvary. All you can do is behold it,
Enjoy it. Rest in it. Tell others, come
see. Come behold it. It's finished. Just believe on Him. Have faith
in Him. Trust what He said in His Word.
May the Lord make that to be so. May he put that faith in
us. And may he bless it to our hearts
till next week. 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 7 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.