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 have something today that I
pray the Lord will allow us to enter into in a special way,
me included. This is a vital subject, a vital
issue. Life and death. Eternal life
and eternal death. And I would like to begin this
message by reading two scriptures before we go to our text. Two
verses of scripture, and I'm not going to explain the story
around the verses. I just want us to read these
two verses. to set up our point, set up the
subject of the message. The first one is in Luke 17. If you would like to turn to
Luke 17, we will read verse 5, which says, and the apostles
said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. They said, that's what we need.
Lord, this is what we need. The Lord gave them a realization
of something. And they had the opportunity
to come up to God manifest in the flesh and ask something of
Him. And this is what they asked for.
They said, Lord, increase our faith. Lord, we need for you
to give us more of this gift that comes from
you, the gift of faith. All right, now if you'll look
with me at Mark chapter 9. In Mark 9 verse 24 says, And
straightway the father of the child cried out and said with
tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Help thou mine unbelief. Increase
our faith and help my unbelief. Increase our faith and help my
unbelief. Now, I want faith. I want faith. I need increased faith. I need for the Lord to increase
my faith for two reasons. Number one, it's because without
faith, it is impossible to please Him. That's what He said in Hebrews
11. Hebrews 11 verse 6, without faith,
it is impossible to please Him. It's impossible to please God. Without faith in Christ, there
is no salvation. Without faith in Christ, there
is no salvation. Now somebody will say, but you're
making a work out of faith. You're trying to make a man work
through faith. That's not it. It's not it at
all. That's the declaration that God
has written in his word. I'm just repeating the declaration
that God has written. Okay, listen to these scriptures.
Let me quote some of these scriptures to you. And he brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. If your house believes, you've
heard the message of truth. If your house hears that message
and believes, they'll be saved just like you. That's Acts 16,
30 and 31. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, here's the next one.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? How are they going to call on
a person who they don't even believe in? That's Romans 10,
13, and the first part of verse 14. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, But the wrath of God abideth on him."
That's John 3, 36. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's John 3, 16. For by grace are you saved. through faith. And that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. That's Ephesians 2 verse
8. Faith is not of ourself. It is God's gift to a sinner. It's his faith that he gives
to whomever he pleases to give it to. And I want that faith. I need faith. I need His faith to be given
to me. I need that faith in Christ. I desire that faith in Christ
because without the God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
on the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in Him and believing on Him,
Believing that He is who He says He is and casting my all on Him,
my only hope on Him. Without that God-given faith,
there's no hope for me. If I don't possess that faith
in Christ, there's no hope for me. If I'm looking to myself
and believing in myself, which is what most people do, they
believe in themselves. Without faith in Christ, there's
no hope for me. If God does not put a desperate
need in me for Christ, and we're getting to the heart of the issue
right here. This is the subject of the morning. This is what faith is. Faith
is a desperate need for Christ. That's what faith is. If we want
to really understand what faith is, It's a desperate need for
Christ. And that's the message this morning,
the subject of the necessity of this desperate need. If God
does not put that in me, if God does not put that cry, if God
does not put that look in me for Christ, I'm a goner. I'm a goner. Now let's see if
the Lord will allow us to enter into this. Let's see if we can
truly enter into the difference here. The difference in what
most people believe faith is. You talk about faith and most
people think they have an understanding of what faith is. Let's see if
the Lord will cause us to enter into the difference in what people
believe faith is and what it actually is. Faith is not a mental
understanding. People in their minds believe, I believe I have faith. Faith
is not a mental understanding. Faith is a need. That's what faith is. Faith is
not confidence in myself and confidence in faith is a need. Faith is an open hand. We see children come up to their
parents. You see it all the time. Young
children come up to their parents and they walk up to their parents
and they hold their arms up and they just stand there holding
their arms up. And what they're saying is, I want you. I need
you. I want you to hold me. I want
you to pick me up. That's faith. That is faith. Faith is not in
my ability. Faith is in Christ. That's the
difference. If any person hears this, if
anyone hears this right now and says in his or her own heart,
after we truly assess our own hearts, I want to right now go
into my heart and I'd like for you to go into your heart. Let's
take a moment and be real with ourselves. Let's assess what
is inside this heart. If we do that and then say, well, I want to go to heaven. Sure, yeah, I want to go to heaven.
Who doesn't want to go to heaven? When I look at this heart, you
know, I believe, I want to see Him. You want to see the Lord? Sure, yeah, I want to see Him.
I want to go to heaven. I want to be with Him where He
is. If I have one of two options,
I choose Him and Heaven. But I don't know if I feel a
desperate need. I don't know if I see a desperate
need. I mean a begging, a crying, a
pleading. I don't know that I feel that
inside when I think about these things and I assess these things.
I don't know if I see myself mentally, physically, spiritually
falling on my knees before Him, crying out to Him, help me, have
mercy on me. I don't know if I see a begging
in here, if that's what you mean by desperate need. I don't know
that I see that in here, if that's the case. If that's the case, if that's
the case for me, if that's the case for you. If that's what we find when we
go into this heart, then this is what all of us need to do,
all of us. We need to start crying, Lord,
increase our faith. If you do not see a desperate
need for Christ, if your good works have you feeling pretty
good, sitting in a good place, I'm good if I can just maintain
my own If you don't see a desperate need for Christ, and if I don't
look within and see a desperate need for Christ, because without
Christ, I'm a goner, if I don't see that, then we all need to
start crying, Lord, increase our faith. I believe, help thou
my unbelief. Help that portion of me who has
confidence in himself. Help that portion that's not
totally looking to Christ. Increase my faith. Increase my
desperate need. Lord, I need more of a desperate
need. I need to beg more. I need to
cry more. I need to fall flat on my face
at your feet, falling prostrate at His feet. That means flat
on your face before Him, crying and begging and pleading, help
me, save me, because without you, I'm a goner. Help my unbelief. Increase my
faith. Lord, if you don't put a desperate
need for Christ in me, I'm not gonna make it. I'm not gonna
make it. No matter what my mind knows,
and that's important to understand. It doesn't matter what my mind
knows. It does not matter what theology I have up here, if I
don't feel a begging, burning need for Christ, I'm a goner. Increase my faith. So I personally,
I mean this, I'm speaking from my heart, I want His faith. I desire, I need the faith of
Christ. the faith that is not of myself,
the faith that is that gift. I need Him to give me that gift. Because without that faith, without
His work on my heart, if God does not perform an operation
on my heart, causing me to cry out, causing me to see my need,
then there's no salvation for me. That's the first reason I
need it. That's the first reason I desire it greatly. The second
reason that I desire for Him to increase my faith and help
my unbelief is because I want to have more rest. I want to have more peace. I want to have more contentment.
I want to have more happiness in this life here on earth. I want to stop trying to carry
all the load." That's what men and women do until the Lord opens
their eyes to Christ and puts faith in Christ. They try to
carry all the load. That's what the works of the
law produces in a man. That's what he believes he must
do is carry all the load. Somebody told the story one time
a long time ago of a woman in a city who was carrying a big,
heavy suitcase. And she got on a trolley in downtown. The trolley was taking her from
one location to another. And she was standing there holding
on to the pole that they have in the trolley cars, carrying
that big suitcase. And every time that trolley turned
and moved, that suitcase was just moving her back. She was
struggling so much with that suitcase. And a man who was watching
her struggle with this for a moment, he finally said to her, ma'am,
if you'll set the suitcase down, it'll get to the same place you're
going. It'll make it there just like
you will. What he's saying is, you don't have to carry that
suitcase, the trolley's carrying it. You don't have to struggle
with that. The same one who is carrying
you is carrying that. Faith is what lets us set the
suitcase down. That's what faith is. Faith in
Christ, faith in His ability, faith in what He has done, faith
in why God sent Him, faith in everything He accomplished. That's
what lets us set the suitcase down. The suitcase of all of
our works, trying to Earn a righteousness before God that Christ has already
earned for us. Trying to do all the good deeds
that Christ already did for us. Trying to pay for the sins that
Christ has already paid for. Faith lets us set the suitcase
down. Faith in the one who is truly carrying the load. It's
what will give us a moment of rest. It'll cause a man or a
woman to rest. They'll rest from their works.
They'll cease from their works as God has ceased from His. He's satisfied. It's finished.
Christ finished the work. He's seated. He sat down. It's
finished. So I pray the Lord might increase
my faith. I pray He'll increase your faith.
I pray He'll increase my faith because I truly do want to take
my burden to the Lord and leave it there. I would love to have
that ability. He said that I could. He said
that you can. Take all the burden of your sin,
take everything that you're carrying to Christ and leave it there. Set it down, leave it there.
Well, turn with me over to our text and let's see an example
of this faith in a woman who came to the Lord. Go back to
Mark chapter 5. This will be our text. Mark chapter
5. Mark 5 verse 25 says, And a certain
woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered
many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had,
and was nothing better, but rather grew worse. This woman had an
issue of blood for twelve years. This woman was sick. Sick. She had an internal sickness. And it represents sin. It represents
the internal sickness that you and I have. But she was sick. She had a problem
that she had tried to find a remedy for. Tried many things. And that's what people do in
religion. They're trying all these different religions, trying
all these different ways. They're trying all these different
things. Well, maybe I need to get baptized. Maybe I need to
rededicate my life. Maybe I need to... She tried
all these things and it says she wasn't one bit better for
it. When she looked inside, she was still sick. And when you
and I look inside, that's all we can say. We're still sick.
I still see sin. And it says she only grew worse. Everything she did only made
it worse. Sometimes that's the position our Lord has to put
us in. Our Lord said that He would make His people willing
in the day of His power, and sometimes that's what it takes.
He has to truly open our eyes to what we are and what we need
to cause us to cry, cause us to run to Him. But it says in
verse 26, she'd suffered many things of many physicians and
had spent all that she had and was nothing better, but rather
grew worse when she had heard of Jesus. Somebody told her about
a remedy. Somebody preached the gospel
to her. When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the press
behind and touched His garment, for she said, If I may touch
but His clothes, I shall be whole." I believe He's able. And if I
could just touch His clothes, I'll be whole. This woman was
sick. Sick, and she needed to be made whole. Now, this does
not even come close to comparing to this woman's condition. Not
at all. to illustrate what the Lord does
spiritually. I'll give you a physical story
here, a physical illustration that happened to me. Last winter,
I got sick. Last winter, I woke up one morning,
and I didn't feel just right. And I went on to my office like
I always do, and I started working. And it didn't take me long to
realize that this was not just a fluke thing. This was not going away. So I
did what I thought was the best thing to do. I took some vitamins
and got some vitamin C and some different things like that. I
thought I'll boost my immune system and knock this out. I kept working and realized the
vitamins, they're not gonna knock this thing out. So I decided
to go get me some cough drops. My throat was hurting pretty
badly. So I went and got some cough
drops and I ate on some cough drops for a while and it only
grew worse. So I went and got some antiseptic
spray. I started spraying that in my
throat and the pain, it got so bad I had to go home. And I took
some ibuprofen. And after I waited long enough
to realize the ibuprofen's not working, I told my wife, I want
antibiotics. I want to get to the root of
this problem. I've tried everything else. I've
tried to not take antibiotics. I can't do this on my own. I
need something to take care of this for me. And so I... Went to a doctor,
and I told that doctor everything that was wrong with me. I didn't
hold anything back from him. I told him all my infirmities. You know, most people, when they
come before the Lord, they try to make themselves appear better
than they really are. They want to hide some of the
really bad things. Not a sinner who sees the truth
of his sickness. I went to that doctor, and I
didn't hide anything from him. I didn't say, oh, I'm doing pretty
good, when he said, well, how do you feel? I didn't say, oh,
I feel pretty good. I didn't say that. I said, doctor, I'm sick. I'm
sick. I wouldn't dare go up to him
and say, well, you know, I'm, I'm not that bad. Others are
worse than me. I wanted antibiotics. I didn't
want to be turned away. I need what you have to give,
and I can't leave until you give it to me." Isn't that what Jacob
said? That sinner Jacob before the
Lord, he said, I can't let go. The Lord said, let go, the day
is coming. He said, I can't let go until
you bless me. I can't let go. That's what faith
cries. That's faith, I can't let go. I've come to you, you're my only
hope, you're my only hope. Well, that doctor appointed me
to a pharmacy. And in that pharmacy was my remedy. And I went to that pharmacy and
I walked up to that counter and they said, what's your name?
And I told them, Gabe Stoniker. And they said, yep, we have you
right here, it's ready to go. I did not get those antibiotics
and look at them and say, yep, there's my antibiotics and then
go home and put them on the shelf. I didn't do that. I didn't go
around telling everybody else, you need to get some antibiotics.
Mine are at home sitting on the shelf. I didn't do that. I opened
that bottle and I reached in and pulled out a pill and I swallowed
it. I laid hold I had to have it. Just like when our Lord broke
bread with His disciples, He said, this is my body which is
broken for you. He said, you take this and you
eat it. Eat it. My body and my blood,
this is the only thing that will cure your disease. Me being hung on a cross and
slain. You can try every other option
you want to. This is the only remedy. There's
only one remedy. He said, I want you to take this
and eat it. This represents my body broken for you. Take it, eat it, chew on it,
swallow it, become one with it, become vitally joined with it.
He said the cup This represents the blood of my covenant for
you. The blood shed for you. He said,
drink it. Drink it. Because my body broken
for you and my blood poured out on you for you. That's your life. That's your health. That is marrow
to your bones. Faith sees that. Faith sees that. God-given faith causes a sinner
to see that Christ is his only cure. When all self-helps fail,
faith points us to Christ and shows us that He is our only
remedy. I need to start crying, Lord,
increase my faith. You need to start crying, Lord,
increase my faith. Cause me to believe that I'm
as sick as you say I am. Point me to my remedy. I need
your faith. That gift of God, the work of
God's Holy Spirit in us, it says in our text, Mark 5 verse 28,
she said, if I may but touch his clothes, I'll 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 Him
about in the press and said, Who touched Me? And His disciples
said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Me, and say,
Who touched Me? And He looked round about to
see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing, trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him
and told Him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith has made thee whole. Go in peace, be whole of thy
plague. May God give that faith to us
and make us whole. Till next week, the Lord be with
you. You have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker,
pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock AM, 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.