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. I will be speaking to you today
from 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4. Our text specifically is verse
5, but let's begin reading in verse 1. 2 Corinthians 4 verse
1 says, Everything that we do in God's ministry is based on
the fact that we have received mercy. Everything is built on mercy,
grace and mercy. We don't do anything in order
to receive mercy. Everything that we do is because
we have already received mercy. Everything that we do in the
ministry is because of God's mercy. And what is mercy? What does the word mercy mean?
It means not getting what we deserved, that's what it means,
not getting what we deserved. Because of our sin we deserved
God's wrath, that's what I deserved because of my sin against him
I deserved his wrath. And you deserved His wrath as
well for your sin, we deserved wrath. Because of our sin we
deserved judgment, God's judgment, God's punishment. We deserved
death, that's what we deserved. Eternal spiritual death, not
just a physical death but an eternal spiritual death. We deserved to be forever separated
from God, just like when Adam and Eve sinned against God and
God said, cast them out, separate them from us, father, son, and
spirit. That's what we deserve for our
sin, the very same thing. But God did not give his chosen
people what they deserved. God did not give his chosen people
what they deserved. God gave Christ what they deserved. Everything they deserved, he
gave it to Christ. That's mercy. That's mercy. Not giving us what we deserve,
but giving Christ what we deserve. That's mercy. So verse one says,
therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty. Now we're going to come to some
words and I'm going to give you the definition of them. You can
look them up in a concordance. You can get one yourself and
look them up if you want to, but the word dishonesty means
lies. It means shame and that shame
is because of the lies. Paul said, we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty. God's people want the truth. They do. They don't want lies.
Some are okay with being lied to, they prefer the lies, but
not God's people. They want the truth alone, only
the truth. Is that you? That's me. I pray that's you. God's people
know that the truth can be shocking. It can be. It can be very shocking. God's people know that the truth
can hurt. But they also know that in the
end, the truth is the only thing that's going to stand. Only the
truth shall stand. So this is what all of God's
people cry. Give me the truth. Give me the truth. If we know
the truth, it will make us free. The truth will make us free.
And that's a person, Christ our truth. Verse two says, we have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness. That means trickery, false wisdom. He said, we don't try to use
big words to make you think that we're smarter than we really
are. Paul was always telling people that. Verse two, we have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully. Telling people that
it says what it doesn't say and telling people that it doesn't
say what it says. That's deceitfully, which that
happens all the time. People say, and you've heard
people say this, they'll come and say, well, now, you know,
the Bible says when it doesn't, whatever comes next out of their
mouth, it doesn't, it doesn't say that. Somebody made that
up and passed it along and they believed it and now they're trying
to pass it along. Deceitfully, handling the Word
of God deceitfully. If we don't know what the Bible
says, then let's not say, well, now the Bible says. We need to
see it with our own two eyes. We need to know what it says
and what it does not say. Verse two says, we've renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. The word manifestation means
bestowment. It means revelation, making known,
showing the truth. Verse two, he said, we are commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Verse three,
he said, but if our gospel be hid. The fact that he said our
gospel tells us that there are some out there who preach something
else. Not the same thing we preach,
not the same thing Paul preached. And he tells us right here that
it's a very dangerous thing to do. Verse three, he said, if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. To preach
or to believe anything other than exactly what has been written
in this word is to be lost. That's what it is. Let me show
you how Paul worded that to the Galatians. If you look at Galatians
chapter 1 verse 6, he said, I marvel that you are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel, which is not another. There's not another. But there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
So Paul said back in our text, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, he said,
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. And whom
the God of this world, that's the adversary, the devil, hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not. If a person does
not believe the record of the gospel that God has given, that
person is under the captivity of the adversary. If a person
does not believe this gospel, he's under the captivity of Satan.
Verse 4 says, lest, it goes on to say lest, or if they weren't
blinded, The light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image
of God should shine unto them. Verse five says four for that
reason, because of that, because this is the means that God has
chosen. and because we have received
mercy, because the light of the glorious gospel of Christ has
shined unto us, he said in verse five, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. Now, there are two words in verse
five that I'd like for us to dwell on. Two words, here they
are. We preach. Those two words we
preach. Clearly, he has established that
there is a difference in those that have received mercy and
those that have not received mercy. There is a difference
in those that preach truth and those that preach lies. Dishonesty, craftiness, handling
the word of God deceitfully. There's a difference in those
that are saved and lost, captive and free, blind and seeing. There's a difference. There's
a difference in what we preach and believe. Paul said, the writer
of these words, and all of God's people say the same thing. There's
a difference in what we preach and believe. If we belong to
God, if we're God's people, there's a difference. There's a difference. There is a difference in our
message and the other message, which is no message at all. No
message at all. Now, what is it? What is the
difference? What do we preach? That's what
we're getting to. What do we preach? Well, let's
start right here. Let's start with what we don't
preach, okay? Let's start with what we don't
preach. Verse 5 says, we preach not ourselves. Let's start with that. We don't
preach ourselves. What does that mean? What does
it mean to preach ourselves? PREACHING OURSELVES WOULD BE
PREACHING OUR WORD. WELL NOW YOU KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE
SAYS. PREACHING OUR WORD. IT WOULD BE PREACHING OUR WORK. THE THINGS WE DO, HAVE DONE,
WILL DO. AND PREACHING OUR GLORY. Look at everything I've done
for God, everything I've done for Christ. Paul said, that's
not what we preach. We don't preach that at all.
Paul said in verse five, for we preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus, the Lord, we preach Christ. Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now, what does that mean? What
does it mean to preach Christ? If somebody's going to preach
Christ, you say, well, does your pastor preach Christ down there?
Oh yeah, he preaches Christ. How do you know? How do you know?
What is it to preach Christ? Here it is. It's to preach his
word, his word, whatever it says. It's to preach His work. His work. His work. And it's
to preach His glory. That's what we preach. By God's
grace, that's what we preach. Look with me at Acts chapter
5. In Acts chapter 5, verse 42 says, And daily in the temple
and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ." Jesus Christ, that's what we preach. We have a very
specific message and that message is a person. a person. I pray God might make
that clear as to what that means. We preach a person. Look at Acts
chapter eight, over in Acts chapter eight, verse five, it says, then
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ
unto them. preached Christ unto them. That's
what he preached. Verse 35, right here in this
chapter, it says, Then Philip opened his mouth and began at
the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our emphasis is not a thing. What's the difference in what
we preach and others preach? What's the difference in what
the Word truly says and what others may say the Word says?
What's the difference? Here it is. The Word does not
preach and God's people do not preach a thing. We don't preach a thing. We do
not preach a mindset. We do not preach a doctrinal
position. We don't preach a doctrinal position.
We preach a person. We preach a person. It's all
about a person. We're telling men about a person.
We preach Christ. We preach Christ in everything
that the scripture deals with. The scripture deals with everything.
Any subject known to man, the scripture deals with it. But
we preach everything in light of Christ. Everything. Over in Colossians chapter 1,
if you look with me at Colossians 1, it says in verse 27, To whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory, We're talking about Christ. That's who we're talking about,
Christ. Now look at verse 28. Whom we
preach. Whom we preach. Warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Not perfect in himself. perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the work, in the blood of Christ. All of the warnings are in light
of Christ. All of the warnings. The scripture
says, He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. The wrath of God abides on him.
All of our teaching is in light of Christ. All the warning is,
all of the teaching is. The scripture says, husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved his wife, the church,
and gave himself for it. We don't love our wives so that
Christ will love us. We love our wives in light of
the fact that Christ has already loved us. Our work and doing
is only a response to His work and His doing. He gave Himself
for her first. Everything surrounds, everything
looks to, everything is in light of this person. This person,
the Lord Jesus Christ whom we preach. We preach Christ. We preach Christ. We preach His
Word. We preach His Word. Only His Word. Not our own. Not our own. His. His. Really think about this.
We preach His Word. Over in Mark chapter 2, the gospel
of Mark chapter 2, it says in verse 1, And again, he entered
into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was
in the house. And straightway, many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word
unto them." The word, the scriptures. He held the scriptures. And he
preached the scriptures. He preached the word to all who
listened when Christ preached. And if we want to know how we
ought to be preaching, then we need to look to Christ. What
did he do? Well, when Christ preached, he preached the word
unto them. The word, the apostle Paul told
Timothy, preach the word. We're going to go to church and
we're going to listen to a man preach. He's going to have a
sermon. What's what's he going to preach on? Well, he's preaching
on this subject or he's preaching on that subject or how we can
be a better this or a better that or a. Preach the word. Preach the word, Paul said, preach
the word, be instant in season, out of season, whether it's popular
or not. He said, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering and doctrine, meaning do it with all patience.
That's what long-suffering means, patience. And do it with the
Word. Preach the Word with the Word.
He didn't say, read one verse. Paul didn't tell Timothy, here's
what I want you to do, Timothy. You get up there and read one
verse so that you can say you did it and then go off on a rant
for 45 minutes about something. which is what a lot of men do.
No, he said, preach the word to people, fill the message with
the word, show people this is what God's word says. He didn't
say preach Dr. so-and-so's thoughts on it. Well,
this, you know, brand new doctor written a book on it and we're
going to preach his book. No, no. He didn't say, preach
this particular denominational opinion on it. No, he said, preach
the word, whatever it says, preach it. Whatever it says, preach
it. Preach the word, hear the word. The father cried, this is my
beloved son, hear him. Christ is called the word of
God. Hear him, believe his word, preach it, believe it. Whatever
this book says, preach it, believe it. Whether we understand it
or not is irrelevant. It's irrelevant. There are things
in here that I don't quite understand but if this is what God's word
says by his grace, I believe it. Preach the word, believe
the word. Let me give you an example of
that. The scripture says he is our creator. We are his creation,
Jesus Christ. Everything was made by him. Without
him was not anything made that was made. All right, so it says
he's our creator. The scripture says he's our king
and we're his subjects, we're his servants. The scripture says
he's our brother. Our elder brother. It says we
are joint heirs with him. He's the son of God and in him
we are sons of God. He's our brother. The scripture
says he's our husband and we're his bride. Now here's the question. Which one is it? Which one is
it? Creator, King, brother, husband? Scripture says he's our friend.
Which one is it? Which one are we going to preach?
All of them. All of them. If that's the way
God says it is, then that's the way it is. The scripture says
that we're going to approach and we are going to bow before
the throne. The scripture also says that
we are already seated with him in the throne. Which one is it? Which one are we going to preach?
We're going to preach both of them. If that's what God said,
then that's the way it is. We preach His Word, whatever
it says. Over in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
23 says, but we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. We preach His work. only his work. First Corinthians
two verse two, the apostle Paul said, I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's it. The scripture says
the father chose and elect people to save. That's what the scripture
says. What are we going to do with
that? We're going to preach it. We're going to preach it. This
word says the decision was in God's hands and not our hands.
And we're going to preach that. The scripture says that Christ
redeemed all the souls and only the souls that the father gave
to him. It was a particular redemption. It was a full redemption, a complete
redemption. What are we going to do with
that? We're going to preach it. We're going to preach that. The
scripture says that God's Holy Spirit will call every elect
redeemed child to Christ. What are we going to do with
that? We're going to preach it by God's grace. We are going
to preach Christ. We are going to preach his word.
We are going to preach his work and we're going to preach his
glory. We're gonna preach His glory. David said, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Not unto us in any way, shape,
or form. Never do we turn His grace back
into our work and back into our glory, never. John said, the
one who's coming after me, I'm not worthy to stoop down and
tie his shoes. He said, he's the bridegroom,
I'm just the friend who's standing by. I must decrease, that's what
John said, he must increase. John said, I've done nothing,
I deserve nothing. You don't even need to know my
name. I'm just here to give all the glory and all the credit
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He cried, behold the Lamb of
God, not me. the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world." That's what it is to preach Christ. That's what it is to preach Christ.
And that's what Paul meant when he said in 2 Corinthians 4, verse
5, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves,
your servants for Jesus' sake. It's all unto Him, all unto Him. 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.