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 would like to bring a message
to you this morning that's very near and dear to my heart. It
comes from a verse of scripture that is very dear to my heart. This is one that I need often. This is a verse that I need to
be reminded of often. It's in James chapter four, James
chapter four, verse eight. This verse and this subject brings
me great comfort, great comfort. I need it. And I know we all
need it. And I'm very thankful to the
Lord for putting this verse in his scripture. Every verse is
needful. It's wonderful. But sometimes
certain verses bless us in a way that we just need them. And I'm
very thankful to him for putting this in his word. James chapter
four, verse eight says, draw nigh to God. and he will draw
nigh to you. Draw nigh to God and he will
draw nigh to you. Nothing sounds better to me than
that. Nothing sounds better to me.
In this world that we live in and in the trouble that we live
in, all of the hardships, all of the heartaches, all of the
pain, all of the sorrow, it's all around us. It's everywhere
we look, everywhere we turn. Trial and tribulation and difficulty
and sin. It's all because of sin. The
wickedness of sin and the filth of sin, and sometimes we just
need a break from it. Sometimes we need just a moment
of relief from The trouble and heartache that this flesh brings
to us, we bring it on ourselves and we bring it on each other. And sometimes we need some relief
and our Lord said, come unto me. All ye that labor and are
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. You come unto me and I'll give
you rest. Come close to your God. And your God will come close
to you. The true and living God. Not the God of our imagination
that God can't do anything. The God of our imagination is
just a graven image that we've. Made up and like he said so many
times, they make their gods, they make their idols and they
carve them and they set him up and they have no hands. They
can't do anything. They have no legs. They can't
go anywhere. But the true and living God of the Bible. The
true God who created all things and created this world and created
us. And created. A way of salvation. The true and living God come
close to that God. And that God will come close
to you. Well, I guess the first question we ask is where is he? Where is he? If we're gonna come
close to him, where is he? My heart's desire, I'm just speaking
personally to you. I'm speaking from my heart. My
heart's desire is to do that. I want to draw nigh to him. I want to come close to him.
So, where is he? Where is the true and living
God? Well, David said, our God is
seated in the heavens. He is seated right now in the
heavens, and that's a comforting thing, to know that He is seated
on His throne, ruling everything, ordering and controlling everything. He is right now in the heavens. He is in the heavens. But that's
not the only place that He is. He is there, but that's not the
only place that He is. If you want to turn with me over
to Psalm 139, Psalm 139 verse eight says, David
wrote, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. Speaking of the
Lord, he said, if I make my bed in hell, if I lay down in the
grave, behold, thou art there. Job said, though He slay me,
yet will I trust Him. Though He slay me and put me
in the ground, I'll trust Him. And David said, if I die and
they bury me in the ground, thou art there. Behold, thou art there.
You're with me. You're with your people, even
in death. He said in verse nine, if I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, anywhere I could
go, the farthest place from here that I could go, Even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. There was a man, very dear man
to me, a man I knew and loved, and he passed away a few years
ago. He pastored a church in Madisonville, Kentucky, a dear
group of believers in Madisonville, Kentucky. But when he was a young
man, he was going into the service, going into the military. And
as he was getting on a bus, leaving his family, he was going to head
out overseas. His dad said to him, last thing
he said to him as he was getting on the bus, he said, son, God
goes everywhere. God goes everywhere. Remember
God goes everywhere. God is everywhere. Wherever you are right now. God
is everywhere. There is no place where we cannot
draw nigh to him, wherever you are right now. There is no place
on this earth where you cannot draw nigh to him. He's everywhere. Isn't that wonderful? He's everywhere. Draw nigh to God and he will
draw nigh to you. Now, how do we do that? How do
we draw nigh to God? Well, first, we can do it with
the heart. We can do it with this heart.
With the inner thoughts and the inner emotions of this heart,
we can draw nigh to His blood. We can draw nigh to His blood.
May the Lord cause us to enter into this and cause us to understand
this. And may He cause us to do this.
With this heart, with the inner man, we can draw nigh to the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Draw nigh to the blood that He
shed. He hung Himself on a cross Yes,
they laid hold of him and they put nails into him. But God hung
Christ on the cross. Christ said, no man takes my
life for me. I lay it down. And Christ willingly shed that
blood, he shed his own blood. For the sin of his people, and
we with this heart, we can come so near. To that blood. so near to the blood that cleanses
us from all sin, so near we can enter into it. That's how near,
so near we can enter into it. A woman named Fannie Crosby,
an old songwriter, she wrote many hymns in the hymnal that
we use, and she wrote a song and the song says, Lord Jesus,
keep me near the cross. Keep me near the cross wherever
I am. Keep me near the cross. Keep this heart near the cross.
How near Miss Crosby? How near do you want to be to
the cross? She wrote. In it. In the cross. In the cross. That's how near
in the cross. The cross is not a piece of wood.
The cross is his blood. the blood that was shed, Lord
Jesus, keep me near the cross. There is a precious fountain. Free to all a healing stream
that flows from Calvary's mountain in the cross. In what Christ gave on the cross. Be my glory forever. May that
be my glory forever. May my heart rejoice in that
forever. Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. We can draw near to his blood.
Draw near to his blood. In the heart, wherever you are
right now, draw near to that blood. We can draw near to the acceptance
and every blessing that we have in him through that blood. Because
of that blood. We can draw near to the intercession
that he has made for us with that blood. We can draw near
to the mercy we've received in that blood. We can draw near
to that. We can draw near to his full,
abundant payment that he made for us. Over in Isaiah 55 verse
6 says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon
him while he is near. Let's remember that. Let's remember
that. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way.
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." He will abundantly pardon, abundant forgiveness. That's
what we have. Abundant acceptance. One man wrote, Near, so very
near to God, I could not nearer be. So near, I could not nearer
be. For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He. If I'm in Christ, I'm as near
to God as Christ is. How near is Christ to God? So
near that He is God. We can draw near to the thought
and the glory of what we have in him because of his blood.
In that same song, Fannie Crosby wrote, near the cross, a trembling
soul, love and mercy found me. I love the thought of that. I
just love the thought of that. Can't you see her, this woman
writing from her heart Riding from drawing near with her heart.
Can't you see her a trembling soul? Are you a trembling soul? I am I'm a sinner who needs the
grace and mercy of God and Miss Crosby is also a was also a trembling
soul and I can just see her coming up and in the heart collapsing
at the foot of the cross. and love as he hangs there. Love is a person. The love of
God is a person. As he hangs there, he looks down
at her, and he cries, Father, forgive her. She knows not what
she does. Be merciful to her. God, be merciful
to her, the sinner. We can draw nigh to that. We
can come very near to that. We can draw nigh to his word.
He's given us His Word. Don't you love His Word? Precious
Word. Over in Romans chapter 8, our
Lord inspired the Apostle Paul to write in verse 28, Romans
8 verse 28, we know, and this is the promise of God, the promise
of His Word to us. We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God. To them
who are the called according to his purpose, every soul soul
that God, according to his purpose, called. Every soul that God said
his affection on and chose to show mercy to, he said, I'll
be merciful to whom I'll be merciful. Every soul God chose to save
them in the blood of Christ and call them. by His Spirit for
every one of those souls. He is not working for their good.
He is not working hard so good might come to pass. Everything
that takes place, all things are ordered and sure, and they're
all working together. They work together for good to
them that are the called. according to his purpose, to
them that love God, the true and living God of scripture. I have good news and I have good
news. Which one do you want to hear
first? Here's the good news. You, I, me and you are sinners. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner.
You're a sinner. People hear that and say, oh,
that's not good news. No, I wish I was not a sinner.
But here's the good news. Christ came to save sinners. Christ came to save sinners.
I am a sinner and you are a sinner. And I pray God reveals that to
us. We didn't used to be sinners. And I'll prove it to you with
this. John said in first John chapter one, if a man say he
has no sin, Are you a sinner? Oh, no, I'm not a sinner. Now,
I used to be, but I'm not anymore. If a man say he has no sin, he
makes God a liar and the truth is not in him. Now, are you a
sinner? I am. I am. But Christ came to save sinners.
He came to save sinners. Here's some more good news. You're
dead. I'm dead. We are dead in trespasses
and sins. We can't do anything. I'm not
here this morning to tell you what you need to do in order
to be saved. I'm here to declare you're dead and I'm dead. You
can't do anything to save yourself. I can't do anything to save myself. And we hear that and naturally
think, well, that's terrible news. That's terrible. Yeah,
but. This Word says, the promise of
this Word says, and you hath He quickened. You hath He given
life to. He quickened us together with
Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter
to the Philippians and he told them in that letter, they put
me in prison. They've laid hold of me and put me in prison. The
natural response is, oh, that's terrible. That's terrible news.
I hate to hear that. Paul said, it's for the furtherance
of the gospel. Good news. It's for the furtherance
of the gospel. How could a negative thing be
for the furtherance of the gospel? How could a setback being put
in prison? Paul was supposed to go out preaching.
How could a setback be for the furtherance of the gospel? Romans
8 verse 28 says, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God. to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Had Paul not been put in prison,
he probably would not have had time to write a letter to the
Philippians. And how many believers have now
read the letter to the Philippians and God bless their heart by
his spirit through the promise of the word. We can draw nigh
to these things. We can draw nigh to his word
and draw nigh to the promise of his word. Draw nigh to His
blood, draw nigh to what His blood means for us. Acceptance,
forgiveness. We can draw nigh to His Word,
His promise. In Psalm 122, Psalm 122, verse
1 says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into
the house of the Lord. We can draw nigh to His people.
We can draw nigh to believers who truly believe on Christ alone. Our Lord said, where two or three
are gathered in my name, I'm in the midst of them. That's
what he said, I'm in the midst of them. In Psalm 133, verse
one says, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. So good for brethren, true brethren. He said, it's like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard that went down to the skirt of his garments as the dew of
Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for
there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.
It's like that precious ointment, that anointing, that soothing
oil, that sweet smelling oil, that sweet savor that ran down
Aaron. And it's like the dew of Hermon,
that mountain that is snow covered in the winter. And in the spring,
the sun comes out and it melts the snow and it floods rivers
of living fresh water down to Zion. It's just precious, wonderful,
beautiful. God's people love being together. They love being together. The
reason that God's people come together is to be nearer to their
God. He said, we're two or three are
gathered in my name. I'm in the midst of you. So we
come together to be nearer to him through prayer, through praying
and prayers of the heart, true prayers of the heart. We can
come straight up to the throne of grace, the throne of God's
grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. We can go straight up to the
throne of God, through prayer, through the blood of Christ,
through the Son of God. We draw nigh to God because He
said He will draw nigh to us. He'll draw nigh to us. He will
get closer to us. Let's do that. Let's do that. He will draw nigh to us. Now, how close will He get to
us? If we draw nigh to Him, how closely
will He draw nigh to us? Well, Luke chapter 5 says in
verse 12, It came to pass, when He was in a certain city, behold,
a man full of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face, and
besought Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me
clean. He drew nigh to him, he came
before him, he fell on his face, and he said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. Verse 13 says, And he, the Lord,
put forth his hand and touched him. Touched him. How near will the Lord get? He'll
reach out and touch us. He'll reach down and touch us. And he said to that man, I will.
Be thou clean, I will. How does our Lord touch us? How
does he reach down and touch us? He touches us with his word. He touches our heart by his spirit
through his word. He said in Isaiah 41, I will
hold your right hand. Saying, fear not, I'll help you.
That's what his spirit says through his word. His spirit bears witness
with our spirit. That we are the children of God.
That's what Romans 8 says. His spirit bears witness with
our spirit. So draw not to God and he will
draw not to you. He will. He'll communicate his
love. He will truly help in time of
need. He will take his gracious words. and He'll speak them to our hearts.
Now back in Luke chapter 4 verse 16 says, He came to Nazareth,
where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
Him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when He'd opened the book,
He found the place whereon it was written, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave
it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. on him. And he began to say unto them,
This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him
witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? The gracious, gracious words. Draw not to him through his word,
and he will draw not to us through his word. Now this is the beauty
and the glory of the gospel. Here's the sweetness of drawing
nigh to Him. We cannot draw nigh to Him before
He draws nigh to us. A moment ago in Isaiah, we said,
let's remember, while He is near, if we desperately need Him, do
you need Him? Do you want so desperately to
draw nigh to Him? If we need Him and if we in the
heart draw nigh to Him, it means He has already drawn nigh to
us. That's what it means. We draw
nigh, begging and hoping and pleading and needing for Him
to draw nigh to us. And that means He has already
drawn nigh to us. If we love Him, it's only because
He first loved us. He moves first. He draws first. So when we draw nigh to Him,
we don't have to wait for Him to draw nigh in return. He has
already drawn nigh to us. Why would He do that? Why would
He do that? It's because He loves His own.
He loves His own. No man can come to Him except
the Father which hath sent Christ draw that man. And if we draw
nigh to Him, then it means He's the one drawing us. He is pulling
us close to Him. Absolute kindness. That's what
it is. Absolute kindness. If God draws
nigh to us, here's the reality. If God draws nigh to us, then
we will draw nigh to Him. He will cause us to approach
Him. He will cause us to draw nigh
to Him. And the closer we draw nigh to
Him, the more we'll need Him. The more we will love Him, the
closer we get. There's a song and it says, I'm
thine, O Lord. I've heard thy voice and it told
thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms
of faith and be closer drawn to me. And the closer we become,
the more we say, as the song says, draw me nearer. Draw me
nearer, draw me nearer, please draw me nearer. To the cross
where thou hast died, draw me nearer to thy precious bleeding
side. Here's the commandment to us.
Through the word of God, he said, draw nigh to God. because He
has drawn nigh to you. May the Lord enable us to do
that in the heart. Truly, draw nigh to 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.