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. If you would like to follow along
with me, I will be speaking to you today from Psalm chapter
40. Psalm 40. And I would like to
focus on one particular verse in that Psalm. This is a verse
that God's people have no choice but to say amen to. When God's
people hear this verse of scripture, it's the only response there
is. It's verse 16. It says, let all those that seek
thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Amen. Amen. That's the only response
to that. Let such as love thy salvation say continually. Let every person who absolutely
loves your salvation, let them say it over and over and over
again. Let them say it continually.
The Lord be magnified. Now, if you look with me at First
Chronicles 16, I want to show you some more verses that cry
Amen. Amen. First Chronicles 16, verse
one tells us that this is when David brought the ark of God
back to Israel. It says, so they brought the
ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent that David
had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices
and peace offerings before God. Verse seven says, Then on that
day, David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord. David,
they brought the ark back. And on that day, David wrote
a psalm and he delivered it into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. And then in the next verses,
we read what that psalm said. David was so overjoyed, he couldn't
help it. He had to write a psalm to the
Lord. He delivered it to the chief
musicians. And then after we see what the psalm says, it says
in verse 31, let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice
and let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth. This is how
David closed his psalm out. The Lord reigneth. Let the sea
roar in the fullness thereof. Let the fields rejoice in all
that is therein. Then shall the trees of the woods
sing out of the presence of the Lord, because he cometh to judge
the earth. O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And say ye,
save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together and deliver
us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name
and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
forever and ever. That's how David closed his song.
And all the people heard it. It was read to them. And all
the people heard it, and it says at the end of verse 36, and all
the people said, Amen. And praised the Lord, they heard
that they heard all of these glories and all of these praises
given to the Lord. And the only response they could
have was a man, a man and praise the Lord. This one right here
is one of my favorites. This is Nehemiah chapter eight. It says in Nehemiah eight and
all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the
street that was before the Watergate. And they spake unto Ezra the
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord
had commanded to Israel. All the people came together
and they asked Ezra, would you bring God's word and speak it
to us, read it to us, preach it to us. Verse two says, and
Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both
of men and women and all that could hear with understanding
upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before
the street that was before the water gate from the morning until
midday. He read from six o'clock in the
morning until high noon, six straight hours. Before the men
and the women and those that could understand, and the ears
of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. They
were consumed with it. They were taken with it. They
were just feeding on it, listening to it. And Ezra the scribe stood
upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose. And
beside him stood Mattathiah, and Shema, and Ananiah, and Uriah,
and Hilkiah, and Maasaiah on his right hand. And on his left
hand, Paddaiah, and Mashael, and Malachiah, and Hashem, and
Hashbodanah, and Zechariah, and Meshulam. And Ezra opened the
book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all
the people. And when he opened it, all the
people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God, and all the people answered, amen, amen, with lifting
up their hands. And they bowed their heads and
worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground in humility,
in sorrow over their sin, in thankfulness to God. all through the Psalms, all through
the prophets, all through the New Testament, all through the
ages of time, and all through eternity. God's people cry, amen,
amen. They will cry Amen to everything
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we say to Psalm
40, verse 16. If you want to turn with me back
over to Psalm 40, verse 16, it says, let all those that seek
thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Amen. Now let's break this verse down
and let's enter into each line. Let's really enter in to what
is being said here. It says, let all those that seek
thee. Think about that. Let all those
that seek thee. That is a very particular group
of people. That's not everybody. That is
a very specific. Particular group of people. Let all those that seek the every
man and woman needs to examine himself. Examine his own heart. I need to do that within my own
heart and you need to do that within your own heart. What do
we seek? What are we seeking? Right now,
what are we seeking for eternity? What are we seeking? I fear that too many people are
seeking heaven rather than Christ. And you, you need to go into
your heart. I need to go into my heart and
let's examine what are we seeking? People think about heaven. They
think about this, this place called paradise. But I fear that
people are missing the mark. I fear that they are truly missing
the mark. I fear that too many people are
seeking a city rather than a savior. I fear that people are seeking
golden streets, enamored with golden streets, gates made out
of pearls. A mansion with no mortgage, here's
you a free mansion. Who wouldn't want that? Do you know that all those that
seek heaven, and this is the truth, all those that seek heaven
will not receive heaven. All those who are just seeking
a blessing will not receive a blessing. The reason is because Christ
is heaven. Heaven is not a place. Heaven
is a person. And if we are seeking a place,
then we will never find the person. Christ is heaven. He is unsearchable
riches. People become enamored with the
gold and the pearls and the mansions and the He is unsearchable riches. He is the pearl of great price. That's what the scripture says.
All of the blessings of God are in him. They're all in him. Truly to have him is to have
it all. We have him, we have it all,
but until God quickens a sinner, Thank God, I say with humility
and fear and thankfulness, God quickened me. I am a sinner who
has been saved by grace. I am still a sinner. I'm a saved
sinner. And God comes in time and he
gives life to the sinners that he's chosen to give life to.
He opens their spiritual eyes. He causes them to see. He reveals to that sinner that
Christ is all. They see Christ. They see past
the things and they see the person. A sinner will not and cannot
seek Christ until God's spirit quickens that sinner to do so.
It says right here, let all those that seek thee. Well, a sinner
can't do that until God's Spirit moves on that sinner. A sinner
cannot see Christ until God moves on that sinner. He's spiritually
blind. When the scripture says that
we're dead in trespasses and sins, it's talking about a spiritual
death. And we can relate that to a physical
death. You think of A man or a woman
laying in a casket dead. That man can't see. He's dead. That man can't hear. He's dead.
That man can't walk. He's dead. That man can't do
anything. He's dead. Physically dead. Well, the same applies spiritually.
When we are spiritually dead to God, we can't see God. We
can't hear God. He speaks to his people through
his word, but we can't hear him. Spiritually deaf. We cannot have
a heart for Christ. We we say that too many people
are seeking these other things instead of Christ. And it's because
until God quickens us to life, we can't have a heart for Christ.
We're dead, spiritually dead. But this is what David said,
and this is what all of God's people say when God comes to
him, when God quickens him, if you want to look with me, it's
in Psalm 27. David said in Psalm 27 verse
8, When thou saidst, seek ye my face. When you said, seek
ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I
seek. When you told me to, when you
commanded me to, when you gave me the ability to, when you drew
me to yourself, That's when my heart said, Thy face, Lord, will
I seek. I let everything else go, that's
what a sinner will cry, everything else has to go. I must have Christ,
I must have you. That's what it is to seek him.
Thy face, Lord, will I seek. All these other things, they're
nothing, they mean nothing. If I can just have you, if I
can just be with you, I'll be in heaven. To be with you is
to be in heaven. Well, in Psalm 40, verse 16 says,
let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Not the world, and this is the
truth. You know, as well as I do, this
is a difficult world. This is a hard life to live. It's full of sorrow, it's full
of trouble. And it's very difficult sometimes
to rejoice and be glad in the world and the things that are
going on in the world, the things that we see in the news. The
things that go on right around us. The world will disappoint us
every time. If we are seeking the world,
it'll disappoint us every time. Every time. This is what man
naturally thinks the blessing of God is. He thinks that the
blessing of God is health in the world, wealth in the world,
and happiness in the world. But that's not it at all. Not
at all. This world will only bring sorrow
and pain and emptiness and disappointment. I promise you. That's all it
will bring. We spend our lives putting so
much effort and so much stock into this world. We just pour
ourselves into this world and it ends up disappointing us every
time. We get something and it's just
not what we thought it would be. We work for something and
we don't end up attaining it. Everything we work for dissolves
and rots and breaks and dies. That's what happens to everything
in this world. But in spite of the fact that
God's people are in the world. And all of these things are happening
around them. All of these things are happening
to them. Never will they not be able to rejoice and be glad
in thee. In Christ, even though there's
nothing but sorrow and nothing but disappointment, there is
only gladness and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the
fullness that is in him. It is true fullness. It is true
happiness. It is true peace. It's true rejoicing. It's success. It's satisfaction. It's accomplishment because he
did it all. He is the successful one. He
is the one who accomplished it all and gave it to us. He is
our health. He is our wealth. He is our happiness. We may never be able to rejoice
in anything else. It could be that there's nothing
else for us to rejoice in, but we will forever be able to rejoice
in him forever. If God made him to be the desire
of our heart, if God has quickened us to him, if God gave us to
him, put us in him, if God made him to be our all, then we will
forever be able to rejoice in him. Verse 16 says, let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee and let such as
love thy salvation. Love thy salvation, not my salvation. Not your salvation. Not the salvation
that I earn, not the salvation that I decide to have. That's
what men are telling people. Now you need to decide to have
salvation. That's not it at all. You need
to earn salvation. That's not it at all. They say
you need to accept salvation. You need to allow him to save
you. That's not it at all. It's not
a salvation that is secured by my doing in any way, shape or
form. It's a salvation that is secured
by his doing. It is thy salvation. Let such as love thy salvation. What is his salvation? What is
his doing? Well, it's right here in Psalm
40. David penned this. David was moved in his heart
and he penned this, but these are the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. These are the very words of Christ. It says in verse six,
sacrificed an offering thou didest not desire. All of these sacrifices
for years and years and years, they made sacrifice after sacrifice,
but it didn't put away sin. God was not satisfied with that,
to put away man's sin. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. Our Lord said, mine ears hast
thou opened. Burn offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It is written of me. That's Jesus
Christ speaking. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Oh, it took more than the blood
of bulls and goats to redeem sinful men and women to God.
It was not possible that man could do anything. Then said
Christ, I'll come. I'll do that. Well, I'll accomplish
everything you require. Verse eight, he said, I delight
to do that. Will. Oh, my God. Yeah, that
law is within my heart. He said, I'll do everything for
them that they cannot do for themselves. That's why it's his
salvation. It was a salvation that we could
not do. We could not do it. Never. Verse
nine, he said, I've preached righteousness in the great congregation. That's Christ. I've not refrained
my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. That's what the gospel is. That's
the message of truth, his faithfulness and his salvation. That's eternal
life, the faithfulness of Christ and the salvation of Christ.
He said, I've not concealed by loving kindness and that truth
from the great congregation. That's the life he lived, that's
the the life he ministered to his people on this earth. He
preached the truth, he preached his faithful salvation. All right,
now here's the sacrifice of that life. He lived this perfect,
spotless, holy life. Here's the sacrifice that he
made. For sinful men like you and me, he made it for his people.
He entered into the Garden of Gethsemane. And the sin of all
of his people that he came to put away. That sin was pressed
into his body. And he said in verse 11 right
here, this is Christ speaking to his father. He said, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have
compassed me about. All of this sin is on me, in
me. He said in verse 12, mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me. The sin of his people was made
to be his own. He didn't say their iniquities
have taken hold upon me. He said mine. He was not a sinner. Oh, he never did one thing wrong.
He is the spotless lamb of God, but he made the sin of his people
to be his own. He said, mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up They are
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart fails me.
He died. He died. He died because of that
sin, because of that payment. He caused his own heart. To fail
him. He gave up his own ghost. And then they pulled his sacrificed. Body down from the cross and
they laid him in the grave. And from the grave, he cried
to his father in verse 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul
to destroy it. Let them be driven backward and
put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward
of their shame that say unto me, ah-ha, ah-ha. Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love
thy salvation, those who see what I'm doing, what I have accomplished
for them, let them say continually, the Lord be magnified. He said,
but I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art
my help and my deliverer, make no tearing, O my God. Did God the father deliver him?
He made himself to be weak. He made himself to be poor. For
our sake, he cried, please deliver me. Did the father deliver him? Look with me at verse one. It
says, I waited patiently for the Lord. This is Christ speaking.
I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit. out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see
it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that
man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the
proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts
which are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more
than can be numbered. Oh, do we not thank God for his
salvation? Do we not thank God? Verse 16
says, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee,
Let such as love thy salvation, and thank God for thy salvation,
and see that they could never do anything within themselves
to save themselves. It was all of Him, by Him, through
Him, and to Him. Let all of them say continually,
the Lord be magnified. Oh, the Lord be magnified. Always. Always, no matter what the situation
is, always. He did not say, let those who
love thy salvation say it every now and then. He said, continually. He did not say, let those that
love thy salvation say when it's convenient. He said, continually. He did not say when things are
going good. He did not say, as long as things
are going the way I think they ought to go. This brings us back
to the fact that in this world, things may not go the way we
want them to go. This will not be easy. There may be sorrow,
there may be disappointment, but oh, in him. In him and in
his salvation. There's peace, there's rest.
And there's praise and rejoicing. The Lord be magnified. May his word be magnified. May his name be magnified. May he himself be magnified. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice. I pray that we seek him. I pray
that you seek him and I seek him. And I pray that God will
cause us to rejoice in this. Open our eyes to this. and rejoice
in this and be glad in Christ. And may he put that word in our
heart. May he cause us both to say continually, the Lord be
magnified, all glory be to him. Till next week, the Lord bless
his word. 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.