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 will come from
one verse of scripture in Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16 verse
15. He said unto them that speaking
of our Lord. He said unto them. Go ye into all the world. And preach the gospel. To every creature. Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, the Apostle Paul said,
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Do you know that? That's what he said. Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. That doesn't just mean that it's
a good idea. It's a better idea to preach
the gospel than to not preach the gospel. That means judgment
is coming to me if I don't preach the gospel. Any man who stands up to preach,
if that man does not preach the gospel, Judgment is coming to
that man. That man will be judged in the
sin of not preaching the gospel. The gospel. So as I preach, whether
it's here on this program or anywhere else, this commandment
rings loud and clear in my ears, in my mind, in my heart. Our Lord Himself said, go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature. Now I would like
to do that right now. I'd like to do that. I want to
preach the gospel to you. And I want to preach the gospel
to myself. I need to hear the gospel just
as much as anybody does. In order for me to do that, We
need to ask this question. What is the gospel? What is the
gospel? I want to know the answer to
that question. I want you to know the answer to that question.
I don't want us to just think we know the answer to that question.
I want to know what is the gospel. People talk about the gospel.
Religion talks about the gospel. What is the gospel? It's important
that we find out. It's important that we know.
And the reason is because the true gospel preached is a rare
thing to find. It is truly a rare thing to find.
And once we find out what the true gospel is, I believe you
will see that to be the case. Most preachers stand up in pulpits
and they preach on morality. Morality is not the gospel. Many
men will stand up and preach on motivation. It's motivational
speaking. Motivational speaking is not
the gospel. Many men will stand up and preach to the intellect
of the mind and science and history and such on and so forth and
none of those things are the gospel. That's not the gospel
at all. What is the gospel? What is the
gospel? We're going to find out through
the scriptures. We're going to find out through
the scriptures. The scriptures are the only thing that can be
trusted. The word of God, that's the only
thing that can be trusted. I'm going to make a statement
here and this is something we need to really get a hold of.
It does not matter what I think the gospel is. As you listen
to me right now, I want you to know that it does not matter
what I think the gospel is. It doesn't matter what any man
thinks the gospel is. You say, well, he believes it's
this and he believes it's that. It does not matter what any man
thinks the gospel is. Here's all that matters. What
does God's Word say the gospel is? That's all that matters. That's what you can count on.
That's what you can rest your soul on. We must preach what
God's Word says we must preach. And God said through the Apostle
Paul, this is what he said, preach the Word. We must preach whatever
this Word tells us to preach. And this is what the Word says
to preach. Preach the word, preach the word, whatever the word says
concerning the gospel, preach that. Whatever it says the gospel
is, preach that. That's what the gospel is. So
what is the gospel? Well, let's turn to the word.
Whatever this word preaches, whatever these men were told
by God to preach, that's the gospel. Turn with me over to
Acts chapter 5. This is a favorite story of mine
in Acts chapter 5. We'll begin reading in verse
17. It says, Then the high priest
rose up and all they that were with him, which is the sect of
the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation. They
were filled with envy. And they laid their hands on
the apostles and they put them in the common prison. Do you
know why they did that? It's because they were preaching
the gospel. And the Pharisees didn't like it. The Sadducees
didn't like it. The religious leaders didn't
like it. That's odd, isn't it? It would be odd for religious
leaders to not like the fact that the apostles were preaching
the gospel. But they didn't, and they put
him in prison for it. Verse 19 says, But the angel
of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them
forth and said, Go stand and speak in the temple to the people
all the words of this life. He brought him out of that prison
and he said, Go preach the gospel. And when they heard that, they
entered into the temple early in the morning and talked. what
they teach, the gospel. But the high priest came, and
they that were with him, and called the council together,
and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison
to have them brought. But when the officers came and
found them not in the prison, they returned and told, saying,
The prison truly we found shut with all safety, and the keeper
standing without before the doors. But when we had opened, we found
no man within." There was no one in there. Now when the high
priest and the captains of the temple and the chief priest heard
these things, they doubted of them where unto this would grow. They said, words going to get
out about this. Then came one and told them saying, behold,
the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and
teaching the people." They're over there preaching the gospel. Then went the captain with the
officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the
people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had
brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest
asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that you
should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us. Who is this man? Jesus Christ,
the one they were preaching. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost
whom God hath given to them that obey him. They said, he died,
this one that you laid hands on and crucified and slayed,
he died and he was buried with the sin of his people. The God
of our fathers slew him and hanged him on a tree. You were the means,
but God the father is the one who did this. But he said that
same God has highly exalted him. raised him up. Why has God raised
him up? If God slew him because he had
sin on him, why did he raise him up? It's because the sin
is gone. That's why. Verse 31, God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Verse 32, and we are his
witnesses up these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey him." When they heard that,
they were cut to the heart and they took counsel to slay them. They took counsel to slay the
apostles because they told them the truth concerning Christ. Who he was, who killed him, what
he did, who raised him from the grave. Verse 34, Then stood there
up one in the council a Pharisee named Gamaliel, A doctor of the
law had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put
the apostles forth a little space. He said put them over there and
let me talk to you for a minute. He said unto them, You men of
Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching
these men. For before these days rose up
Thudias, boasting himself to be somebody to whom a number
of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and
all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught."
A man was in his own name going around preaching and he got some
followers, but it all came to nothing. Verse 37, and after
this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and
drew away much people after him, he also perished. And all, even
as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. It came to nothing. And now I
say unto you, refrain from these men and let them alone. For if
this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught.
But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it. lest happily you
be found even to fight against God." You fight against them,
you're fighting against God. And to him they agreed and when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, they were beaten
for preaching the gospel. They beat them, they beat them. They commanded that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed
from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple
and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? What is the gospel? If I am going
to go, as our Lord said, or if I'm going to stay and preach
the gospel, what must I preach? If I'm going to preach the gospel
to you right now, what must I preach? Here's the answer. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the God. Did you know that Jesus Christ
is the God? The Almighty God, the highest
God. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. The government shall be on his
shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He said,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. The one who came
is the very God of gods. The God Himself. To preach Jesus
Christ is to preach the man. God became a man. God made Himself
to be a man. To preach Jesus Christ is to
preach His will. It's to preach His purpose. It's to preach His work. Not what we're going to do, but
what He has done. What He purposed to do and did. It's to preach his accomplishment,
that it's finished. It's to preach the hope that
we have in him. It's all about him. The gospel
is a person. If I'm going to preach the gospel,
I'm going to preach a person. I'm not going to preach anything
but this person. I'm going to preach who he is
and what he has done for every sinner he was sent to do it for.
They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Now, what is it to preach Jesus
Christ, to say we're going to preach Jesus Christ? What is
it to preach the God-man? What is it to preach the will
and the purpose and the work and the accomplishment and the
hope? What is it to preach Christ, really? Is it just to say His
name? Is that what it is just to say
Jesus Christ every now and then? Is that what it is? Is it just
in saying that He died on the cross? Well, you know, Jesus
Christ died on the cross. Everybody knows He died on the
cross. But everybody does not preach the gospel. Everybody
does not preach the person. Look with me, if you would, at
Acts chapter 17. It says in Acts 17, verse 1, Now when they had
passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures." Out of the Scriptures. The Word of God,
I have a Bible in front of me right here. I know you can't
see it on your screen, but I have a Bible right here. And this
is where all of our instruction must come from. This is what
we preach. This is where the message is.
It's not in any other book. It's not in any other opinion.
It's not in any other man. It's in God's Word. Verse 2 says,
Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered. Do you see that? Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered. Not just that He did, but that
He must needs have suffered. and risen again from the dead
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Christ, that's
what we preach about him. That's the glorious news to sinners.
Here it is right here. Here's the gospel. Let me preach
the gospel to you right now. It's in this sentence right here.
Christ had to suffer. Christ had to suffer. He had
to suffer in the garden of Gethsemane. He had to be nailed to that cross. That's not just a history lesson.
He had to be nailed to that cross. God the Father said He must die
on that tree. His death was not Him being a
martyr for His cause. Well, He tried to raise up this
great cause and they killed Him for it and made a martyr out
of Him. That's not what it was. His death was not man having
his way with Christ. Well, Christ was trying to promote
good, but evil reigned and had his way with him. No, sir, that's
not what happened at all. His death was not a ceremonial
thing. that he just went through. He
didn't just go through some motions to give his father and give his
people and give his law something visual to satisfy them. Well,
we're going to go through this ceremonial motion and that's
not what it was at all. His death was not a legal transaction. Well, we just got to accomplish
this legal transaction. Absolutely not. God the Father
said he must needs suffer. And he must be hanged on a tree. And he must die. Now why would
God the Father say that? Why would God the Father say
that? Why would God the Father actually, truly, physically forsake
his son? Why would he do that? Here's
the reason why. It's because His Son was bearing
our sin. His Son had the sin of His people
on Him. It was laid on Him. It was pressed
into Him. All of the sin of all of the
people that the Father gave to Him was physically pressed into
Him. Physically. He was physically
marred more than any man. That's how physically. We wonder
how physically did he bear our sins. Look at the suffering of
the cross. Look at what he endured. He was
marred more than any man. That means he physically bore
the sin of his people. Our sin was physically removed
from us. And because it was pressed into
him and because he suffered for it, because he bled for it, he
died for it, he put it all away, because of all that, it's gone. It's gone. Are you worried about
your sin? Does it ever get to you that you're a sinner and
you know you're a sinner and you've tried to hide it from
God and you've tried to hide it from other people and you
try to hide it from your own conscience but you can't? That prick, it's like a worm.
Oh, my sin, my sin. Are you a sinner? Well, if God
the Father laid that sin on Christ, it's gone. That's good news. The word gospel means good news. Good news. They're gone. They're
gone. With them being gone, Christ
had to be raised from the dead. You know, if we die outside of
Christ, outside of the sacrifice of Christ, we will never be raised
from the dead. And here's the reason why. We'll
never be able to satisfy our sin debt. We'll never put away
our sin debt to him. But because Christ put our sin
debt away and because the sin is gone, he had to be raised
up. And all of his people that he
accomplished that for have to be raised up with him. There's
no sin to keep them down. All of their sin is taken away,
all of it from the cradle to the grave, all of it. Now that's
the gospel. That's the gospel. It's not what
I'm going to do for him or what I'm going to do for my neighbor
or what I'm going to do for myself. It's what he has done for his
people on the cross of Calvary. It's how he saved his people
from their sins. That's the good news that I am
commanded to tell everybody. I'm commanded to. Christ had
to suffer. Christ had to die and he had
to be raised again because he took our sin, if God the Father
gave us to him, he took our sin from us. He died bearing our
sin for us. that he might be raised again
with us. He did that and it's finished.
You know, every soul that Christ did that for, God's Holy Spirit
will send faith to that soul and will cause that soul to believe
it. That soul will believe Christ finished the work. He accomplished
what he came to do. That soul will believe I'm secure
in him. God the Father chose me. Had
He not chosen me, I would have never chosen Him because I'm
a sinner. But He chose me and He laid my sin on His Son and
His Son paid my debt and set me free. And His Spirit has brought
me faith to believe it, I bow to it, I rejoice in it. That's
the gospel. Over in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
17 says, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. Men love to use, in their mind,
wisdom of words. Big words, hard to understand
words. They're trying to remove the
offense of what actually happened on the cross. Trying to remove
the offense of the fact that Christ had to die because I'm
a sinner and you're a sinner. Had he not died, we would have
died in our sin. That's offensive to the flesh.
But Paul said, I'm not going to hide. I'm not going to remove
the offense lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. I'm not going to do that. If
you take the physical substitution of Christ out of the message,
you don't have the gospel anymore. If you don't have why he had
to die, if you don't have the fact that he was made to be what
we were, if you don't have the fact that he became us, he didn't
show us the way, he is the way because he became us and caused
us to become him. Complete trading of places. If
we don't see and we don't understand that God gave us exactly what
we deserve when he made us to be in the place of his son. On that cross, God looked at
us and punished us. He slew us. We didn't hold up. Our sin went before him in judgment
and it didn't hold up. He forsook us in Christ. He slayed us in Christ. And because
of that substitution now God the Father looks at us and sees
his son, the perfection of his son in his people and we are
accepted in his place just as he was forsaken in our place.
We are accepted in his place. As he was made guilty in our
place, we're made innocent in his place. That's the only way
a sinner can be just before God. That's the way. He's the way. He said, I'm the way. Now, Paul
went on right here to say in verse 18, the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness. We need to talk
about other things. We need to get off of this subject.
But he said, unto us which are saved, this is the power of God. This is the power of God. This is the only way that a sinner
can be justified before God. It's to see the substitution
of Christ for his people and to believe on it and bow to it. Now, here's the question. Has
God given us faith to see Christ? Has God given us faith to see
him to be our substitute? Has God given us a heart to cry
out to him for that mercy? Lord, even me, let your substitution
and let your blessing be on me. Has God given us faith to see
that he did indeed pay it all? He put it all away. He accomplished
the work. There's nothing left for me to
do. Has God given us faith to rejoice in it? and thank God
for Christ. If he has, God has revealed the
gospel to us, and we will see that nothing else matters. There
is only one thing needful, and that's the blood, that's the
mercy, and that's the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the gospel. May the Lord reveal it 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.