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 Psalm chapter 67, if you would like to read along with
me. Psalm 67, and I want to bring a message of good news today. Very, very good news. There are
only seven verses in this Psalm. Let's read it together. It says,
God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine
upon us. And then David put the little
word Selah at the end of that verse. And that word means just
pause right there and think about that. Just that one verse. God be merciful to us and bless
us and cause his face to shine upon us. Just think about that.
And then verse two says that thy way may be known upon the
earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise
thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. O let the nations
be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously,
and govern the nations upon the earth. Let the people praise
thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth
yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless
us. God shall bless us. and all the ends of the earth
shall fear him. David is begging God to bless
us. That's what he's doing. He is
begging God in verse one to bless us. And then he very confidently
declares that God shall bless us in verse seven. He's begging
in verse one, And then he confidently declares that God shall, in verse
seven. And that's what I want us to
focus on in this psalm. God blessing us. God's blessing upon us. If you have a center reference
in your Bible, you may see that verse one references Numbers
chapter six. Turn with me over there to Numbers
chapter six. This is a very beautiful benediction
or a prayer that our Lord gave to us in Numbers six, verse 22,
it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron
and unto his sons, saying, On this wise shall you bless the
children of Israel, saying unto them, This is what I want you
to say to them. Verse 24 says, The Lord bless
thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them. He said, that's what
I want you to tell them. I will do all these things, and
I will bless them. The Lord has a particular people
that he has chosen to bless, and he said, I will bless them.
I will bless my elect, the ones that I have set my love upon.
The blessing of the Lord, to get right to the heart of it,
the blessing of the Lord is Christ. That's the blessing of the Lord.
In begging for God's mercy, we're begging for Christ. When we beg
for mercy, we're begging for Christ. Mercy is not getting
what we deserve. That's probably the simplest
way to explain it. Not getting what we deserve.
We deserve wrath. We deserve punishment for all
of our sin. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner.
The Word of God says every man, woman, boy and girl on this earth
is a sinner and a sinner deserves punishment for his sin. And the
only hope that we have of standing in the day of judgment and being
justified, that God looking at us and saying, just, you're just.
Justified, accepted. The only hope we have is mercy
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only hope
we had. David cried, God be merciful
to us. And what he meant was, don't
give us what we deserve. Now, how can God do that? How
can God not give us what we deserve? Here's the only answer. He has
to give Christ what we deserve. God is just and holy and he must
punish sin. And so the only hope we have,
this is mercy, it's that God would take the sin that we have
committed and lay it on Christ his son and judge Christ in our
sin and not give us what we deserve because he gave Christ what we
deserve. That's what David was begging
for. Please, please give Christ what we deserve. Please give
Christ what we deserve. We read in the scripture of what
God says that he is going to do in the punishment of sin and
particular sins. And we think Well, I've done
that too. Have you ever thought that? That's
I think all the time. We see that this is what God
says he's gonna do in the punishment of sins. He said, if you do this,
then I'm gonna do this. Well, the thought has to go through
my mind, I've done that. Have you ever thought that? Because
you've done it too. We think, why won't he punish
me? If he says he is going to punish
those who commit sin, THEN WHY WON'T HE PUNISH ME? IF HE WILL
NOT CLEAR THEM, THAT'S WHAT HE SAID. HE SAID, I'M GONNA PUNISH
THEM. WHY WON'T HE PUNISH ME? IF I'M IN CHRIST, HE DID PUNISH
ME. IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST, HE DID
PUNISH YOU. IF WE ARE IN CHRIST, HE DID NOT
CLEAR US. GOD THE FATHER GAVE US EVERYTHING
WE DESERVED IN THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON. THAT IS GOD BEING
MERCIFUL TO US, REMOVING THAT SIN, DEALING WITH IT IN THE PERSON
OF HIS SON. SO THAT'S WHO THE US ARE. AS
WE GET INTO THIS AND WE SEE THAT HE'S BEGGING ON BEHALF OF US.
When he says us, he's talking about all of God's elect people
who were chosen to be placed in Christ and chosen to have
their sins dealt with in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
David cried, God be merciful to us. And then he cried, and
would you bless us? Would you be merciful to us?
and bless us. If you want to look with me back
at Psalm 67, verse one says, God be merciful unto us. Would you please give Christ
what we deserve? And then would you please give
us what Christ deserves? Now that's a bold request, isn't
it? Would you please give us Everything that Jesus Christ
deserves for everything that he's done, all of the good that
he's done, all of the perfection and holiness that he's earned.
Would you be merciful to us and bless us? Would you be merciful
and gracious? mercy and grace, grace. The simplest way to describe
grace is getting what we don't deserve. It's a free gift. We
haven't earned it. It's not owed to us. We do not
deserve it. Getting what we do not deserve.
Lord, would you please not give us what we deserve? And would
you please give us what we don't deserve? The true blessing of
God is Christ. God's true gift to sinners is
Christ. It's Christ himself. The end
of verse one says, cause his face to shine upon us. That's David's request. And I
pray that's our request. Please cause His face to shine
upon us, be merciful to us, bless us, be gracious to us, and cause
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ to shine upon us. He said nothing would be a greater
blessing to us than if He would just look upon us with favor. If He would just look our way,
His countenance of favor, He would just smile at us. That's
what he's saying. There's a song in our hymnal that we sing sometimes
here in our congregation, and the song is called, That Will
Be Glory. And this is what that song says.
When all my labors and trials are o'er, over. and I am safe
on that beautiful shore, when this is all over, and I'm safe
on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
will through the ages be glory for me. Throughout all time and
eternity, that will be glory for me. When by the gift of his
infinite grace, I am accorded in heaven a place, Just to be
there and to look on His face will through the ages be glory
for me. Friends will be there I have
loved long ago. Joy like a river around me will
flow, yet just a smile from my Savior I know will through the
ages be glory for me. He said, oh, that will be glory
for me. if he will just look my way and
smile at me. Verse one, David said, God be
merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon
us. Now I want us to consider this
for just a moment. In verse one, he said, oh, may
God bless us. And in verse seven, he said,
God shall bless us. What does God's blessing look
like? That's what I want us to think about. What does God's
blessing look like? If we are going to spend the
rest of our days on this earth, God's chosen people, the ones
that he set his love on and paid the price for, if we're going
to spend the rest of our days on this earth, In the blessing
of God, what does that look like? What is God's blessing on us? What is the evidence of God's
blessing? How are we gonna know it when
we see it? Well, we could try to point the finger all we want
to at those who are worldly minded. But the fact of the matter is,
believers think the same way that unbelievers think. because
believers are still flesh. They're still in the flesh. They're
gonna live out life in the flesh and the flesh can't help it.
It just cannot help it. It naturally thinks that the
evidence of God's blessing is health, wealth, and happiness. That's what all people naturally
think. Health, wealth, and happiness. Now the spirit within a believer
knows better, but the flesh just can't help it. We who are believers,
we cannot help it. We think the same thing the world
thinks. When our health is gone, and
when our money is gone, and when our happiness is gone, we think
God's blessing is not on us. I'm not experiencing the blessing
of God. His blessing has skipped over
us. That's what we think. When we are in the midst of health,
you talk to people and say, how's everything going? And people
say, oh, God's really blessing us. We're so healthy. Well, we
hadn't been sick at all this year. Or, oh, God's blessing
us. Work is just going so great and
things are going so great and everything's so great. God is
really blessing us. I'm just so happy and so content
in life and When all those things are gone,
the flesh naturally thinks God has skipped over us. He's doing
it to everybody else, but he just skipped over us. Does our
health and our wealth and our happiness, does that determine
whether or not God's blessing is upon us? Is that what it is?
Turn with me over to Matthew chapter eight. In Matthew 8 verse
one, it says, when he was come down, our Lord, when he was come
down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. Now,
when the scripture says great multitudes, it was great multitudes
of people. Verse two says, and behold, there
came a leper, one leper. One man out of that great multitude
of people, a vast multitude of people, one man came to him in
the sickness of his flesh. Verse two says, and behold, there
came a leper and worshiped him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed out of all those people. You think
about, imagine in your mind, this vast crowd of people out
of all of those people who was the blessed one. I'm sure there
were all types of people, all classes of people. Who was the blessed one? Here's
the answer. The one who had a need. The one who had a need. Now I'm sure that was not the
only sick man in that crowd. I'm sure there were other sick
people too. But he was the only man who came
to Christ with a need. He had a true need. Do you have
a need? Do you have a need? The average
person will say, no, I'm doing great. Do you need Christ? Do you need salvation from sin? Oh no, I'm doing great. God's
blessing is on the one who has a need, a true need. Look with
me at Mark chapter five. In Mark five, it says in verse
25, a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and
had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all
that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus,
came in the press behind, and touched his garment, for she
said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned about him
in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples
said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, they
were all over him, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he
looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But
the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. She
confessed it all. And he said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy
plague. Out of all those people who were
thronging him, They were all thronging him, grabbing him,
and she was the only one who touched him. Out of all those
people, she was the only one who touched him with a need. Now, she wasn't the only one
touching him, but she was the only one who touched him with
a need. I need. I need. Who was the blessed one? The
one who had a need. Look with me at Mark 10. It says
in Mark 10 verse 46, they came to Jericho and as he went out
of Jericho, the Lord, as he went out of Jericho with his disciples,
and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. Here's a man who has
no health, just like the rest of them, no wealth, and you know
he's not happy sitting there begging. No health, no wealth,
no happiness. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man saying
unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive
my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. and immediately he received
his sight and followed the Lord Jesus Christ in the way. Out of all those people, who
was the blessed one? All those people that watched
him pass by, they're all standing there saying, blind Bartimaeus,
she doesn't want you. All standing there watching him
pass by, who was the blessed one? the one who had a need. This is what our Lord said, they
that are whole, speaking of a man concerning his sin before God,
they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick do, sick with sin, He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. The greatest blessing that God
could ever bestow on sinners like us is a heart cry and a
heart need for Christ. THAT IS THE GREATEST BLESSING,
NOT JUST A MIND NEED. WELL, YEAH, I KNOW I NEED CHRIST.
WELL, SURE, EVERYBODY KNOWS I NEED CHRIST. I MEAN A HEART NEED,
A HEART NEED FOR CHRIST. AND IF HE USES PHYSICAL SICKNESS
TO BRING THAT ABOUT, THEN PHYSICAL SICKNESS IS OUR BLESSING. IF
THAT'S WHAT HE USES TO BRING THAT NEED ABOUT, And that's our
blessing. You may have heard of a man named
Charles Spurgeon. He was a preacher in England
in the late 1800s. Great preacher. He was a very,
very sick man. I believe from the time he was
30 through the end of his life, he was constantly sick. He dealt
with much sickness. And he died at the age of 57.
He was a young man when he died. But this is what he said. He
said, one of the greatest physical blessings, not spiritual, but
physical. He said, one of the greatest
physical blessings we could ever receive on this earth is health. Physical blessing. He said, the
only physical blessing that is greater is sickness. The reason he said that is because
it drives us to Christ. It drives us to Christ. A need
for him is the evidence of God's blessing upon us. Now, do we
beg for sickness to come to us? No, not at all. But if that's what it takes for
me to see my need, so be it. When there's no need for Christ,
and no need for his spirit, and no need for his worship, and
no need to be gathered with his people, there's no evidence of
God's blessing. A man may be out there just running
marathons. Business is doing great, millions
of dollars, and just high on life, but if there's no need
for Christ, and no heart for Christ, and no heart to gather
together with his people, and no heart to bow to him and worship
him, there's no evidence of God's blessing. A heart need for Christ,
that's the blessing. Sometimes God sends that blessing
by removing our health. doing the exact opposite that
man thinks is the blessing of God. The same thing can be said
about wealth. Our Lord said, it's hard for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Why is that?
There's no need. There's no need. He said, blessed
are the poor in spirit. And if it takes him stripping
us of everything we have to see that need and cry out to him,
then may He pour the blessing on us. The Apostle Paul said, I've suffered
the loss of all things, but I've won Christ. And in Him, I've
won everything. I have it all. As far as happiness
goes in the world, this is what God's people are promised. Trial
upon trial upon trial, sickness, suffering, tribulation, persecution,
pain. That's what we're promised. But
if that's what it takes to turn our hearts to Him and cry out
to Him, then may He pour the blessing on us. God's blessing
on a sinner is evidenced by that heart need and heart cry for
Christ. Hebrews 12 says, whom the Lord
loves, He chastens. And through that chastening,
if it brings that need, we see His blessing and we thank Him
for it. We thank Him for it. It may help
us to remember that the blessings of this world can be the opposite
of the blessings of God. They can be the very opposite.
Do you have that need for Christ? Do you have that need? If so,
our text, Psalm 67, David cried out to the Lord and he said,
God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine
upon us. That thy way may be known upon
the earth, thy saving health among the nations. Let the people
praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee. O let the
nations be glad and sing for joy, for Thou shalt judge the
people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Let
the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee.
Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own
God, shall bless us. God shall bless us and all the
ends of the earth shall fear him. What a wonderful promise. 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 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.