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 am going to be speaking to
you today from Ephesians chapter six, and we are going to be looking
at verses 18 to 20. And in these ending verses of
Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul is exhorting all believers to
put on the whole armor of God. That's the wording he uses, and
he goes through these different things that he lists to be armor. All of those things represent
Christ. He is the armor, His truth is
our armor, His righteousness, His gospel, the gospel we preach,
the faith He gives, the salvation He has secured, the Word of God
itself, all of these things are our armor. And the Apostle Paul
said, put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the adversary. The adversary is constantly seeking
to devour God's people, devour everything about them, devour
the mind, devour the heart. And he said, put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the adversary. And the last piece of armor that
he listed is prayer. The first word of verse 18 is
praying. In all of this, he said, cry
out to God for help. As we see ourselves in moments
of desperate need, cry out to God for help. At all times, he
said in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance. He said always, at all times,
keep going, fervently beg God for your own soul's sake. Just
constantly cry out to God, Lord, help me. Help me, I need Christ. Draw me nearer to him. Do you
need to be nearer to him? I do. Always draw me nearer,
Lord, please. I need to hear his voice. I need
to hear his word. There's a song and it says, prone
to wander, Lord, I feel it. I feel this sinful, wicked, dead
flesh that is just so prone to wander from you. Please keep
me close. Cry that out to him. Cry out
to him, Lord, help me. That's what Peter cried when
he was going down. He just cried, Lord, save me.
Paul said, pray this for yourself. And he said at the end of verse
18, supplication for all saints. He said, pray this for your brethren,
those who believe on and bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture calls them the
called true brethren. Pray this for yourself. Pray
this for your brethren. Pray, Lord, keep me and keep
us. Keep us, don't let us go, please
don't let us go. There's another song that I love
and it says, keep us Lord, oh, keep us cleaving to thyself and
still believing till the hour of our receiving promised joys
with thee. So he said, pray for yourself,
pray for your brethren. And verse 19, he said, pray for
me. Pray for me. Pray for the man
who is going to preach the word of God to you. And I do mean
the word of God, not just a man who's gonna stand up in a pulpit.
Those are a dime a dozen. Pray for the man who is going
to faithfully preach the word of God to you. It pleased the
Lord to write a book, the Bible, the holy word of God. It is indeed
the written word of God. Not one word in this book is
of any private interpretation. Man did not come up with one
word of it. Every word is the written word
of God. And it has pleased our Lord to
call preachers to preach it. A true preacher preaches the
word. A true preacher preaches the
word. There are many profitable things
in the world and things about life and things about humanity. There are many profitable things
that we can learn, but a true preacher of God will preach the
word. He'll preach the word to you.
It has pleased our Lord to use the preaching of the word to
call out the sinners that he has chosen to save. He has been
pleased to use the preaching of the word he has written. So
the apostle Paul said on behalf of himself and on behalf of every
man that has truly been called to preach this word, verse 19,
he said, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may
open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may
speak boldly as I ought to speak. Oh, may utterance be given. May
that be given to boldly make known the mystery of the gospel. I've titled this message, What
is Bold Preaching? What is bold preaching? That's
what I'd like for us to consider this morning. What is bold preaching? We need bold preaching. We desperately need bold preaching. Paul said, pray for me that I
might preach boldly, boldly. And I need for the Lord's people,
those that he has called to himself, I need for the Lord's people
to do the same thing for me. I sincerely do. Oh, that I might
preach boldly. That's my desire. Boldly. There is only one way to preach
God's word. Boldly. There's only one way. So what does that mean? We can
say that all day long, but what does that mean? How do we do
that? What is bold preaching? Well, verse 19 tells us that
it is not something that comes natural to a man. It must be
given. The ability to preach boldly
has to be given. Verse 19 says, and for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, given unto me, that I may open
my mouth boldly. If it is not given by God, if
it's not naturally in man, then it has to be given by God. And
if it is not given by God, then a man cannot preach with boldness.
He never will. He never will. Verse 20 tells
us that the man who preaches boldly will not be received. He will not be well received,
widely received by those that God has not given a heart and
an ear to hear the word and love the bold preaching of the word.
He will not naturally be received. Paul said, they put me in prison
for preaching this way. That's the whole reason they
continually locked him up in prison. Verse 20 says, for which
I am an ambassador in bonds. The whole reason I'm in bonds
is because of this bold preaching. Our Lord very clearly said that
the preacher who preaches his word with boldness will suffer
persecution for it. He will suffer rejection for
it. But even so, every man who has
been called to preach the word of God will know how he ought
to preach it. Every man that has been called
to do so will know this is how I must preach it. Verse 20 says,
for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may
speak boldly as I ought to speak. Come what may, there is only
one way to preach God's word boldly. That's how I ought to
speak it. That's how I ought to preach
it. And I pray that the Lord would enable me to do so. Give
me the ability to do so. Now, what is bold preaching?
Well, verse 19 says, and for me, that utterance may be given
unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the
gospel. When you hear the word bold,
or boldly the first thing that may pop into your mind. This
is probably the first thing that pops into everybody's mind. You
envision a man standing in a pulpit, just gritting his teeth and he's
just straining so hard. Veins are popping out of his
neck and he's screaming at the top of his lungs and he pound
in the pulpit. That is not boldness. Not at
all. Not at all. That is not the definition
of boldness. Now there is a fervency. There is a very serious urgency. That goes along with bold preaching. But boldly does not mean arrogantly. Men stand up in pulpit sometime
thinking I'm about to cram something down your throat. Boldness does
not mean arrogantly. Boldness does not mean offensively. Some men just want to see how
offensive can I be? That's not boldness at all. Doesn't
mean offensively at all. When the true word of God is
clearly preached, there will be an offense. Our Lord said
there will be an offense and there must be an offense. But
if a man or a woman is going to be offended by the preaching
of the word of God, then may they be offended by what God
has written in his word and not by the delivery of the man who
is telling what God has written in his word. So I want to make
that clear first. When we ask what is bold preaching,
it's not a wild man standing in a pulpit. That's not boldness. All right, what is boldness?
Verse 19, and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may
open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. The definition of the word boldly,
if you have a concordance, a Bible dictionary that gives the definition
of these words, The definition of the word boldly is freedom
in speaking, unreservedness in speech. It means openly, frankly,
without concealment. And it means cheerful courage. A man who stands up and sees
something in the word, but won't preach it to people, because
he's afraid that it might offend them and he would prefer that
they like him and he's just trying to grow his numbers and such
on and so forth as a man who's not preaching boldly. Boldness is freedom in speaking,
unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, without concealment,
cheerful courage. Paul said, brethren, pray for
me that utterance may be given unto me. that I may open my mouth
with cheerful courage to make known the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may
speak freely with no reservation, openly, frankly, concealing nothing. And he said, pray that I may
do it cheerfully. as I ought to speak. He said, pray that
for me. And I begged the Lord's people,
pray that for me. Pray that for me. Now let's see
if our Lord will give us some boldness with what his word declares,
all right? Here's what his word declares.
I'll just repeat to you with no concealment what his word
declares. Salvation is not in man's hands
at all. And I hope that really sinks
in right now. Salvation is not in man's hands
at all. I mean, not at all, not a little
part of it. Not not acceptance, I mean at
all. The scripture says all flesh
is grass. Starting with me. Including me,
all flesh is nothing more than grass. Men and women have no role in
their own salvation, none. It is not our decision. We do
not and cannot decide to be saved any more than a baby can decide
to be born. Babies don't make decisions to
be born. It's something that happens outside
of their control. Never has one sinner ever been
offered salvation. Men will stand up and say, God
is offering salvation to you. That is the opposite of bold
preaching. That's concealing the truth of
what he said. Never has any man or woman ever
been offered salvation. Never. Salvation is life. Life. Has anyone ever been offered
life? Were you offered life when life
came to you? Men and women say all the time,
they'll go around telling people, I'm born again. That's a very
common phrase, I'm born again. What that is supposed to mean
is, here's what that's supposed to mean. I was dead in trespasses
and sins, spiritually dead, and I have life again. Have life. Never has anyone ever been offered
life. Never. Either we have it or we
don't. Either we have it or we don't.
Not one time has any person taken a role of any kind in their physical
birth. And if that will sink in, we
can see the truth of our spiritual birth. Not one time has a person
taken a role in his or her spiritual birth. Every soul who receives
salvation to life, this word says in many locations, is born
of God. Born of God. Now, this is called
the mystery of the gospel. because these things are hid
to the natural eye. Men and women are not born with
this knowledge. It must be revealed by the spirit
through the word. These things are hid. Man cannot
see and they cannot understand these things until God reveals
it through this bold preaching, this unconcealed preaching of
the truth. The mystery of his gospel is
revealed in his word. That's where he has revealed
it. But until God gives life, that life of salvation without
life, men and women cannot see the mystery of the gospel. They
cannot hear the mystery of the gospel. They cannot understand
the mystery of the gospel. They cannot believe the mystery
of the gospel. But once life is given, all of the senses that life brings,
they start to reveal these things. Life allows all of these things
to take place. When life is there, we see that
salvation is not in our hands. We see, oh, it's not in my hands
at all. When life is there, we understand
this is not my decision at all. When life is there, we believe
that every bit of this is according to His will. There is only one
being in existence that has a free will, and it's the God of heaven
and earth. His name is Jesus Christ. He's
the only man with a free will. He's the only man who can do
whatever He wants to do. Free will. Over in Ephesians
chapter one, It says in verse three, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will. according to his good pleasure,
which he had purposed in himself." Everything concerning the salvation
of all of God's people happened according to his will. That's as boldly as I know to
tell it. It all happened according to his will. Man does not have
a free will. Chapter 2 verse 1 is where we
find you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Who was dead? Us. Who did the quickening? Him. Him. He did. How can anyone go
around saying that he has a free will if he's dead in trespasses and
sins? How can a man go around saying
that I have a free will to do whatever I want when all man
can do is be dead? That is all that a dead man can
do, be dead. A man can say it all he wants,
but it doesn't change the fact that he does not have a free
will. All things are according to the
will of God. James 1.18 says, of his own will begat he us. It was His will to give us spiritual
life. Now why was that His will? If
we were dead in trespasses and sins, if that's what we read
here, why would His will be to save us from the grave, save
us from that deadness? Why would it be His will to give
us this salvation unto life? Here's the reason. It's because
He's merciful. That's just who he is. He is
a merciful God. It's not because we earned life. It's not because we were old
life. It's because he's merciful. He's so merciful. Verse four
right here in Ephesians two says, but God who is rich in mercy. For his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us
together with Christ. By grace you're saved. He gave
us life with Christ. So that's where the offense comes
in. When you tell men and women that they have no role in salvation,
that's offensive. When you tell men and women that
salvation is completely in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that is offensive. He earned it all. He accomplished
it all. When you tell men and women that
the scripture says, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, that's an offense. No work has
ever been done by a sinful man that is pleasing to God. That's
what the word says. You tell men and women that,
and it's an offense. There has not been one deed ever done by
any sinful man that God will accept, not one deed. Some will
say, well, yeah, I've done some bad things, but I've done some
good things too. Well, not according to God. Titus three, verse five
says, it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Galatians 3 says,
whoever's under the works of the law is under the curse. Man
is trying to earn something that he cannot earn. He's trying to
obey the law that God has written to satisfy him and be accepted
by him and he'll never do it. He'll never do it. And you tell
men and women that and it's an offense. But it's the truth. There is
only redemption, only salvation, only life in one place. It's
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way that life
can come to men and women is through the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the substitution of Christ, through what he gave
and what he took. He gave his life and he took
our sin. That's the only way that men
and women can be redeemed. That's the only way. God came
down because his people could not go up. That was the only
way redemption could take place. Great is the mystery of godliness,
the scripture says. God was manifest in the flesh.
God was justified in the spirit. Everything he did was perfect.
God was seen of angels, seen when he entered this world, seen
when he was suffering in the garden of Gethsemane and hanging
on that cross, seen when he walked out of his tomb. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
to glory. That is the truth without concealment. That is the truth. Jesus Christ
accomplished it all. He accomplished everything that
needed to take place. He came down, he finished the
work, and he ascended back to glory. May God give us the ability
to preach that over and over again, boldly, not concealing
His glory, not concealing His work, only declaring who He is
and what He has done for sinners like you and me. If God will
give us that ability and give us a heart to love it and bow
to it and believe it, then life has come to us. May He give us
that boldness and may He give us that life. 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.