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 is going to come
from one of the Psalms today. Psalm 138. I'd like for us to
read the first five verses here in Psalm 138. It says, I will praise thee with
my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. In the day when I cried, thou
answeredest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the
glory of the Lord. Those are wonderful verses in
that Psalm, aren't they? David here is declaring the difference. That's how he begins the Psalm. He's declaring the difference. As Exodus 11 says, he's putting
a difference in God and the gods. In Exodus 11, our Lord said,
I'm putting a difference in my people and those who are not
my people. Well, David said there's a difference
in God, the capital G God and the gods, the lowercase G gods,
the false gods, the gods who are no gods at all. There's only one true and living
God. All of God's people will come
to know that only one true and living God man worship different
gods, little g gods that they've made up in their minds, that
they've formed in their minds. Men have different versions of
God. These are all false gods, little
g gods, but there's only one true and living God. And he has
declared himself in his word. He said, beside me, there's none
else. There's only one. There's only
one God. That's why David said in verse
1, I will praise Thee. I'll praise Thee with my whole
heart. I pray the Lord will cause us
to say the same thing. I pray the Lord will reveal Himself,
the only true God, to us, and I pray that He will cause us
to say with David, I'll worship you. I'll sing praise to you,
only you. And I'll do that with my whole
heart. All of my heart, every bit of
it goes to you because there's no one else and nowhere else
to send my praise to. There's only one God, only one
object, one true capital G God. Sadly though, he declared the
truth that there are many counterfeit gods. There are many, many gods. One god declared by the word,
but many gods declared by men. And David said, I want us to
know the difference in the two. I want us to mark the difference
in the god that men have made up in their minds. They have
changed the declaration of this word, and this is the the sad
truth and the sad error for men and women today, men and women
throughout every generation. This one living God has declared
who he is, but man has changed his declaration. Man has twisted
his declaration, altered His declaration of Himself. And the
reason man does that is because he does not like the declaration.
God has declared who He is and man reads it, man sees it, but
the natural flesh of man does not like what he sees. So he
changes it. Man thinks that he can improve
on the declaration, so he changes it. He sees how God has declared
Himself and he says, I can imagine a better God than that. so he
thinks he can improve on it. Man thinks he is wiser than the
decree that God has made concerning himself. Man sees God's will
and God's purpose, and man says, well, I have a wiser will and
a wiser purpose. That's why man changes it. Man
thinks that he can fashion a better God, and in the process, Man
loses God. He loses God. He throws God out
and he ends up with no God at all. That's where man is left
when he does that. No God at all. That has always
been the case and that will always be the case. That's what the
nature of sinful men and women are prone to do. They're prone
to fashion their own little g God. And here's the truth of the matter.
But for the grace of God, but for God's goodness, but for God's
mercy, but for the grace of God, all of us would try to change
His glory. All of us would try to change
and fashion a different God than the God as He has declared Himself
to be. We would worship and serve the
gods of our imagination. That's where God finds all of
his people. They're all worshiping the God of their imaginations.
When he comes to them, that's where they are. But for his grace,
that's where they would still be. Had he left them alone, that's
where they would still be. They would worship the false
God of false religion. If you look with me at Psalm
135, it says in verse 15, the idols of the heathen are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They form them themselves. They form their own God. They make them into whatever
they want them to be. And we read a verse like that
and we think, well, that's what man used to do and we don't do
that anymore. That's not so. That's not so. Man may form an actual image
or man may form one in his mind. It's the same thing. Man forms
his own God into what he wants that God to be. It says in verse
16 right here, they have mouths. This little God that man forms.
They have mouths, but they speak not. The one who made the little
G-God has to speak for the little G-God. He forms a mouth, but
he can't speak. So the man has to speak for him.
It goes on to say, they have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes
have they, but they see not. Man has to see for His God. He has to see what His God can't
see. Verse 17 says, They have ears,
but they hear not. Man has to hear for the God. Men cry unto a God and pray unto
a God that can't even hear them. Man has to hear his own cry.
Man has to hear his own prayer. Verse 17 says, They have ears,
but they hear not, neither is there any breath in their mouths. Man has to live for them. This is describing men and women's
gods today that they formed. Man has to live for his God. Do we see that? Man has to, if
you don't live for your God, nobody will. Verse 18, it says, they that
make them are like unto them. They that make them are like
unto them. What are the gods that they make like? They're
dead. They're dead. They're not alive.
They're not living. They can't do anything. And he said, they
that make them are just like them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. They're trusting in the work
of their own hands. Their own hands form something. And then they cast all their
trust into what their hands have done. That's what you get when you
worship a false god. A little G God, you have to worship
yourself. That's what you have to do. You
have to worship yourself. You have to worship what you
have made. You have to worship what you
have done. There's no one else to worship. You have to trust yourself. There's
no one else to trust. With a false God, there's only
you. With a false God, it's all up
to you. With a false God, everything
lies in the hands of you. Does that sound familiar? Does
that sound familiar? Look with me at Isaiah 44. It
says in Isaiah 44 verse one, yet now here, O Jacob, my servant,
and Israel whom I have chosen. He said, I've chosen you. You
haven't chosen me. I chose you. He said in verse
two, thus saith the Lord that made thee. You see that? And formed thee. He said, I formed you. You didn't form me. I formed
you from the womb. Which will help thee, I'll help
you. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou, Jessarun, whom I have chosen, He said, you didn't make
me, you didn't form me. I made you, I formed you. And he said, I'm gonna call you
to myself. I'm gonna speak to you with my
mouth. I'm gonna hear you cry unto me. I'm gonna draw you with my hand. I'm gonna reveal myself to you.
I'm going to reveal my living self to you. I'm going to say,
I am. I am the living God. I'm going to show you who the
true and living capital G God is and what the true and living
capital G God has done for you. Not what you have done or need
to do for me, but what I've done for you. verse 21 right here
in this chapter. He said, Remember these, O Jacob
and Israel, for thou art my servant, I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have
blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. What did
he blot them out with? His own blood. his own blood,
his own living, redeeming blood that flows through his veins. He said, I blotted out as a thick
cloud that transgressions and as a cloud, thy sins return unto
me for I have redeemed thee. Verse 23 says, Sing, O ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth, break forth into singing. Ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. He said, that's what I've done
for you. That's what I've done for you. So in chapter 45, verse
20, he says, Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together,
ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. They have no knowledge. They
set up all their gods, and they're praying to their gods that cannot
save. He said, tell ye, tell them. Tell them and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? Have not
I told you, and there is no God else beside me, a just God and
a Savior? There is none beside me, none. So he said, look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there
is none else. Once a sinner sees Him, once
a sinner sees Him, Once a sinner sees His Word, hears His Word,
sees the work of His hands, once a sinner realizes that He is,
He's the one who forms, He's the one who makes, He's the one
who controls. Once a sinner sees Him, that
sinner will say with David back in Psalm 138, Verse one, he will
say, I will praise thee with my whole heart. Before the gods,
all these other gods that men have made, man sets up his God
here and sets up his God there. Before all the other gods, I
will sing praise unto thee. Unto thee, thee alone. I'll do
it with my whole heart. All of it will be to you. All
of my worship, all of my praise goes to you only. You only. The Apostle Paul, who
was known as Saul of Tarsus, he grew up in religion, worshiping
the gods. He had his own god made up. He
had his own imagination of what God was. It was a false God. He acknowledged that to be so.
It was a God that required the work of His hands. Many people
today have a God just like that, a God that requires the work
of their hands. But after the true and living
God revealed Himself to this man, Saul of Tarsus, He went
around telling everybody, And we know the story. He was on
his way to Damascus and God knocked him off of his horse. Saul was
going to persecute and to punish and to kill those who worshiped
the true and living God. And God revealed himself to Saul. He knocked him down into the
ground and he said, I am. And Saul realized you are. And
he said, what would you have me to do, Lord? Paul went around
after that telling everybody who would listen, he said, don't
let anybody come to you preaching another Jesus. Don't let anybody. And every child of God, every
sinner who sees this true and living God will say the same
thing. Don't let anyone preach to you another Jesus. But this
one right here, this true and living God, Paul said, there's
not another one. Don't listen to anyone who is
preaching another gospel. Another way of salvation than
through the work of this Christ alone. And the blood of this
Christ alone, there's no other way. He said there's one God,
there's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one hope, one. One. Many people will say, well, you
have your way and I have my way and this person has their way
and it's OK. We'll all just meet up in the
end together. There's one way. There's only one God, only one
God that saves. And it's not my way or anyone
else's way, it's God's way, and he has declared it in his word.
One way, David said, I will praise thee. with my whole heart." With
my whole heart. If a man or woman is going to
truly praise the living God, that's how he or she will praise
Him. That's how, with the whole heart. With the whole heart. So many people try to worship
Him with the mind. They try to worship Him with
the mind. They try to worship They're made up God. They try
to worship the God that's in the scripture with the mind.
Many don't realize they're doing that, but they are. Trying to worship God with the
mind, trying to worship God with the hands, trying to worship
God with the knees, trying to worship God with the mouth. God's people worship him with
the heart. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. That was the warning that our
Lord gave to the Pharisees in Mark chapter 7. He said to them,
here's the problem. The Pharisees were going through
all those motions of the law. The law says do this, so we'd
better do this. And it says do that, so we'd
better do that. And they'd come up to him and
say, good master, that was lip service. They didn't believe
on him. And he said, here's the problem.
He said, your heart is far from me. Your heart. Romans 10, verse 10 says, with
the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, with the heart.
Proverbs 4, 23 says, out of the heart are the issues of life.
Proverbs 23, 26, it says, my son, give me thine heart. Heart,
that's the whole man, that's the love. If God ever gives that
command to a sinner, He'll give that sinner the ability to give
His heart. That's what the sinner will do. That's what the sinner
will want to do. He will be made willing. David
said, with my whole heart will I praise Thee. And that is the
giving and the doing and the work of God toward a sinner. That's God's kindness. That He
would cause a sinner to do that. That's His kindness. That He
would give a new heart that's able to praise. He said, I'm
going to take out that stony heart, that old rotten, dead,
sinful heart. I'm going to put in a heart of
flesh, a living heart. That's the heart of Christ. It's
God's goodness that he would give a living heart that's able
to praise, has a desire to praise. That's
the grace of God to the sinner. So verse one says, I will praise
thee with my whole heart before the gods will I sing praise unto
thee. Verse two, he said, I will worship
toward thy holy temple. I will worship you in the place
where you have chosen to put your name there. The place where you've chosen
to put your truth there and God's people will. They will. That's exactly what God's people
do. David said, I'm not going to
go worship in the houses of these false gods. And all of God's
people will say that. A lot of times you'll hear people
say, well, they don't preach exactly according to the Bible,
but I like going there and no, no, no. David said, if it's a
house of lies, if it's a house of bondage, if it's a house of
man's works where they're telling man that he has to do for his
God and not the truth of the other way around, God does all
the doing for his creation. David said, I'm not stepping
foot in that place. And that's what all of God's
people say. Verse two, he said, I'll worship toward the holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth. I'm gonna gather in the place
where I can praise you for your grace and for your truth. He said in verse two, for thy
loving kindness and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. Magnified your word above all
your name. What is his name? The name God,
the name Jehovah. You think about that. What is
his magnifying of his word above his name? John 1 verse 1 says,
In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word
was God. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the scripture says, the father, the word, the spirit.
Who is the word? It's Christ. It's Christ. He said, I'm going to magnify
Christ. Christ, your word, Christ is
magnified above all your name. Everything that you are, the
name, there's no other name given among men whereby we must be
saved. God has magnified Christ above
all things. Where did he magnify him? On
the cross of redemption. redemption for His people. Those
that the Father gave to Christ, He humbled Himself. Christ humbled
Himself. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Therefore, God the Father has
highly exalted Him and given Him a name that's above every
name. David said, You've magnified
Your Word above all that You are, Christ. And David said,
I magnify him too. Verse three, he said, in the
day when I cried, thou answered me and strengthened me with the
strength in my soul, not the strength in my body, not the
strength in my flesh. David said, strengthen my soul.
I love Psalm 66. David said, come and hear all
ye that fear God and I'll declare what he's done for my soul. Verse four, he said, all the
kings of the earth shall praise thee. Oh, Lord, when they hear
the words of thy mouth, all the kings of the earth, you know
who all the kings of the earth are, the kings he's referring to,
he's referring to God's people. The scripture says they've been
all made to be kings and priests unto their God. So verse 5 says,
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the
glory of the Lord. There are going to be a lot of
souls singing throughout eternity. All of the redeemed are going
to sing the song of the redeemed. There's a song called Marching
to Zion, and one of the lines says, Let those refuse to sing
who never knew our God. the true and living God, a sinner
who sees Him will start singing. Verse 5 says, Yea, they shall
sing in the ways of the Lord. What are His ways? His ways are
mercy, His ways are grace, mercy in His blood, the free gift of
His love and favor and kindness. His ways are truth. His ways
are peace. His ways are rest. His ways are
security. All his ways, David said, all
your people will sing in all your ways. May God put that song
in us. For the only true and living
God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Till next week, may he 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.