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 this morning, our text will come from 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We call this declaration what
is taking place right now. We call this delivering a message. Delivering a message. A man who
has been called of God to stand up and declare his word. Really,
that's what a true preacher does, is he stands up and tells people
what God has written in His Word. He doesn't add His opinion to
it. He doesn't add anything to it. He doesn't take anything
from it. He just tells what God has written. And we call this
a message. And it is a message. A message
that God has recorded for His people in His Word. And I do have a message for us
today. I have a message from our Lord
to all of us through his word. I must deliver the message. I must deliver what the Lord
lays on my heart to deliver through his word. And I want to prepare
us that this is a very serious message. This is a very sobering
message. It's to God's people directly
from him through his word. Now, here is the message. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 11 says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord. It is such kindness and it is
such mercy that God would reveal to anybody the terror of the
Lord. Such, such kindness. Not all
men and women know the terror of the Lord. Many people do not
know the terror of the Lord. The scripture says it's few. Few people. Very few men and
women know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Very few people know that. In
Hebrews 10, verse 28 says, he that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Whoever sinned against
the law that Moses wrote died under the punishment of it. Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? and hath counted the blood of
the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Of how much sore punishment. He goes on to say in verse 30,
for we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Man's thoughts toward God,
man's natural thoughts toward God, his conversation toward
God is naturally so flippant. It is so foolish, it is so arrogant,
it's so proud. Man talks about God and what
he's gonna tell God and say to God and ask of God. It's just so flippant and so
proud. But once a sinner comes to know
the terror of the Lord, once God strikes terror into the heart
of a sinner, that is a changed man forever. that is a changed
woman forever. The soberness of eternity comes
over that sinner. Oh, the soberness of it. The
guilt of his sin consumes him. He starts to realize all of the
sin he has committed against this holy God. Humility, that
proud, that arrogant soul, all of the sudden humility. Lays
heavy on him, humility brings him down, just brokenness. True
brokenness. Fear for the first time, the
fear of the Lord. influences everything that sinner
says, everything that sinner believes, everything that sinner
does. It sinks in that the Lord said,
and if you want to see this for yourself, he said it in Matthew
12 verse 36, every idle word, and think about that, every idle
word that men shall speak They shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. People just let things roll off
the tongue. Not only the tongue, every idle word that goes through
the mind, every idle word that goes through the heart. Every
man and every single woman is going to have to stand up before
the judgment. And God is going to have to from them, hear the account.
They're going to have to give an account for every single word
that he or she said on this earth. Every single one. Give an account
in the judgment. Revelation chapter 20 says in
verse 11, and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. I saw this throne and I saw the
one who sat on it, whose face everything fled away. Why did
they flee away? The terror of the Lord. That's
why the terror of the Lord. And it goes on to say there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and
great stand before God and the books were opened. Everything
man had ever done, it was recorded. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. Everything they had done was written down, and they were
judged according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
and this is the terrible part, it's the Lord. We're talking
about the Lord Christ Jesus, the Lord, the only one who is
able to save. the only hope of escape from
the wrath and the terror. God's provided lamb, that's who
we're talking about. Men and women are going to have
to hear him say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. I
never knew you. Now, back in our text, which
is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11 says, knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men." We persuade men. Persuade means
to cause to believe by urging. It means to convince one by words
to believe. Our Lord has given us words to
believe. These are words to believe. These
words must be believed. Verse 11 says, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Manifest is what? What are God's messengers manifest
as? Here's the answer. Tellers of
the truth. Tellers of the truth. This word
will make manifest who is a messenger of the truth. This right here is the truth.
I have a Bible sitting right here. I know you can't see it
on your television screen, but I have a Bible sitting right
here. And this is the truth. I'm not the truth. Don't listen to me. I'm a sinner
just like you. This is the truth. This is the
truth. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. We persuade men, knowing, therefore,
Therefore means because of what was just said. Look at verse
10 if you have it there with me. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. Now, the reason men and women
do not naturally know the terror of the Lord, it's because they
do not know who is sitting in the judgment seat. That's the
reason why they don't know who's sitting there. They have no idea. who they have to stand before.
I believe people know that they will attend some type of judgment.
They're going to go stand before somebody, whoever they think
God is, but they don't know who it truly is. And they do not
know what they are headed towards. Over in Romans chapter 14, verse
10 says, but why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou
set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ." The judgment seat of Christ.
Matthew chapter 25 verse 31 says, when the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, when Jesus Christ comes back, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory
and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate
them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And he goes on to say that the
sheep are going to be on his right hand and the goats are
going to be on his left hand. And verse 41 says, Then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. People leave this world having
been told all their lives that Jesus Christ is a man. who stands
before them with this pleading countenance on their face. And
you have probably been told the same thing at some point. Jesus
Christ is a man who has this sad pleading countenance on his
face. Oh, and he has his arms stretched
out and he's just begging people saying, please, won't somebody
have me? I'm here for you if you'll have
me. Please won't you let me do something for you? Men are told
that all their lives. Poor men and women, poor souls
have to sit in pews and waste their precious time. They could
be off doing something else. But they have to sit in there
Sunday after Wednesday and hear a man stand up and lie to them
and lie to them and lie to them and they get this vision in their
mind who Jesus Christ is and what he's like and what they're
going to stand before and then all of a sudden they are catapulted
to the judgment throne. Their time has come. God himself,
Jesus Christ says that's it. Not another breath of air. And
they're catapulted to the judgment throne and all of a sudden they
see him. There he is. And they immediately
realize he is not begging and pleading like that man told me
he was. He is judging and damning, dividing
sheep from goats. And it's a sobering moment. It's
a very sobering moment. Knowing therefore. the terror
of the Lord. You and I, let's not be caught
up in those lies. Let's not listen to those lies.
Let's listen to God's Word, knowing us, knowing the terror of the
Lord. Back in our text, which is 2
Corinthians 5, verse 10 says, we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. that everyone may receive the
things done in his body. We spend our time on this earth
doing things in our body, and everyone is going to receive
the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Every soul is going to get what
he or she deserves. That's what it's saying. Whether
good or bad, based on the things they've done, they're going to
get what they deserve. Now, what have we done? What have we done? You think back on your life.
I don't know how old you are, but I've lived for a few years
and I can think back on my life and I know what I've done. And
you know what you've done. Everything we have done in these
bodies, We're gonna be judged based on it, whether good or
bad. What have we done? In Romans chapter three, verse
10 says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. We're seeking after the
things of this world. We're seeking after the things
that gratify and glorify this flesh. We seek money. We seek
happiness. We seek self-glory. But man by
nature does not seek after God, not really. Verse 12 says, they
are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. Every soul is going to be judged.
Now let's see, did you do good or bad? There is none that doeth
good, no not one. Verse 13 says, their throat is
an open sepulcher. That means death comes out of
it. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. and the way of peace they have
not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. And verse 23 says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now, I know, believe me,
I know that people see themselves as being good. When you ask the
average person to look back on his life, what do you see? I
understand that most people see themselves as being relatively
good. I understand that. I know that
when many people hear the declaration we just heard, the declaration
we just read right here in God's Word, I know that when many people
just read it from God's Word, they don't believe it. They think
it's talking about somebody else. I understand that. I know that
when people look within, when they look inside and assess themselves,
they are relatively happy with what they see. I see a good person. Yeah, I see a person who did
a few bad things, but I don't see a bad person. I see a good
person. Here's our only problem. Here's
the only problem. God says we're not. That's the only problem. God
says we are not. It does not matter what we say.
When we look inside, when we look back on our life, it doesn't
matter what we say. All that matters eternally is
what God sees. And the reason is because he's
the judge. He sentences to life or death. And God says, as he looks on
us and as he sees us, God says from the crown of our head to
the sole of our foot we're nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. That's what God says. God says
all of our good deeds are filthy rags in his eyes. The truth of
the matter is the person who looks at himself or herself and only sees just a few spots
of sin The person who looks at himself and just sees a few spots
of sin, that person is worse off than the person who looks
at himself and says, there is nothing good in. nothing good on me, no soundness
in me. The person who just sees a few
spots, just a few little freckles of sin, that person is in worse
condition than the person who cries, oh, wretched man that
I am. And here's the reason why. This
is the reason why. Pride is what is causing a person
to only see a few spots, pride. And our Lord said, pride is the
number one thing that he hates. Pride. A man or a woman will
be judged and damned for pride faster than anything else on
this earth. There is none righteous. There
is none that doeth good, no man or woman. We have some historical
characters that are well known, well known throughout the years,
religious people who are very famous. There is none good. No, not one, none. All have done bad. Now, if you
don't turn with me to any other scripture, Make sure you turn
to this one. Go one more time with me to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 7 says,
Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me to do thy will Oh God. Jesus Christ came into
this world for one reason only. It was to trade places with His
people. With His bad, wretched, wicked
people. Those sheep that we read about
in Matthew 25. All that the Father chose to
give to Him. The ones whose names were recorded
in the Lamb's Book of Life. There is no hope for fixing us. None. No hope for reforming us. Not only are we bad, we're flat
ruined. So the message of hope is not,
this is not the message of hope. Now we need to cut out the bad
spots and salvage what's good. That's not the message. That's
not the message. The message is not we need to
nurture and we need to heal those bad spots so that we can make
them whole again and make everything good again. That's not the message.
We're flat ruined. We're ruined. There is no hope
for our condition. Here is the message from God
Almighty to ruin sinners. Psalm 14 says, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside,
they are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth
good, no not one. He said in Isaiah 40, all flesh
is grass. God the Trinity looked down at
every single man and woman that would ever walk on the earth
to see if there were any that understood and sought Him and
did good with every one of them. Did he do good? Nope. Did she
do good? Nope. No hope. Then said Christ,
I'll go do it. I will go do it with every one
of them. Nope. Nope. Nope. Then Christ
stood up and He said, I'll go do it. Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. He said, I delight to
do thy will. He was born, the scripture says,
a holy thing, a perfect, good, righteous, holy thing, born of
the incorruptible seed of the Holy Ghost. From the moment he
entered this world, everything he did was in agreement with
God's law. Throughout his life, he increased
in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. On the
day he began his ministry, God his Father spoke out loud and
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He went about throughout his
life doing good, throughout his ministry doing good. He is the
only man who has ever done good. Yes, the only one. Everything we have ever done
and will ever do is bad. Everything he ever did and will
ever do is good. And the books were opened. His
book was perfect. Our book was ruined. And he traded
records with his people. He took all of that bad upon
Himself, stood before the judgment throne, and suffered the penalty
of death for it. In that, we now have His record. And now we go stand before God
and the books are opened. And God reads in that book that
we now hold everything Christ ever did. Christ suffered our
penalty and God reads that book and it says here, you were absolutely
perfect throughout your life. Is that so? In Christ it is. You never said a corruptible
word or did a corruptible thing or had a corruptible motive in
your heart. Is that so? In Christ it is. In Christ, He bore our sin, we
receive His righteousness. That's salvation. 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.