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 from Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. In this entire
chapter, our Lord is exposing false religion. That's what he
is exposing here throughout Mark chapter 12. Now, one of the definitions
of being religious is if a person is religious, here's the definition
of it. Devotion to duty, devotion to
duty, being committed to something that I feel I need to be committed
to. doing it over and over and over again. You know you can
do anything religiously, I mean anything. You can be committed
to anything and you can do it over and over and over again. You can do something so much
you don't even have to really think about it anymore. Your mind can just go into autopilot. You can do it so much. It becomes
second nature to you. And that happens to me a lot
of times. Whenever I get in my car, I have certain places that
I drive and I feel like sometimes I get in my car and it just goes
there and I'm not even paying attention to where I'm going.
I'm sure you've experienced that. And I'll catch myself often realizing
I'm going the wrong way. I'm supposed to go to this other
direction, but my car is just mindlessly driving to where it
always drives to. It's like I have blinders on
and I can't see what's around me. And I'm afraid, I fear that religion,
false religion is blinding people. I fear that false religion has
put blinders on men and women, and I'm afraid that religion
is making people blind leaders of the blind. That's what I'm
afraid is taking place. Isn't that what our Lord said?
The Pharisees were the leaders of false religion, blind leaders
of the blind. I'm afraid that People are mindlessly
following men because that's what they've always done. They're
just doing what they've always done. Mindlessly following men
who have no idea what they're doing. They stand up behind a pulpit
and they have no idea what they're saying. No idea what they're
preaching. And the people have no idea what
they're hearing? I'm afraid that if you ask men
and women, what did you hear today? You went to a church service. What did you hear? What was it
all about? What is truly salvation? What
does God have to say about it? That's the question. I'm afraid people have no idea
what they're hearing. I'm afraid men and women are
just on autopilot in religion. The autopilot of religion, trying
to be committed to what they think they're supposed to be
doing. Their heart is trying. They believe in their heart.
This is what I ought to be doing now. We need to be going to church.
We need to be. And they're trying to be committed
to it. Having no idea that false religion is auto piloting men
and women straight into the depths of hell.
And every time I say that, I realize that's a, that is a very shocking
statement. Every time I say that it's shocking
to me. False religion is doing that
to men and women. People believe, well, if you
have religion, you're okay. Your religion may be a little
different from my religion, but it's okay. At least you have
religion. It's not so false religion. is autopiloting men and women
straight into the depths of hell. It's happening every single day. If I want my soul to be damned
for all eternity, all I have to do is get false religion. That's sobering, isn't it? That
makes me want to take a second look at my religion. That makes
me want to take a second look at what I believe. I don't want
to be in false religion. I'm trying to speak as honestly
with you as I can right now. I'm speaking from my heart. I
don't want to be in false religion. I want to be in Christ. I want
to be in Christ. I want to worship the true and
living God religiously over and over and over again. I want to
be committed to worshiping him. The true God. But Lord, please
spare me. Please, please spare me from
the lies and the damnation. a false religion. Please do that
for me. Now, right here in our text,
there was a man who was in the Bible business. He was a scribe. That's what he did for a living.
Scribes wrote the Bible by trade. They didn't have printing presses
back then, so they couldn't just print more copies. Men had to
take a copy of the scripture and transcribe it over because
those papers would deteriorate over time. And had we not had
these scribes, the scriptures would have been lost. So he literally
was in the Bible every single day. It's what he did for a living.
He made copies of the Bible and he came up to the Lord here in
this chapter, Mark chapter 12, and he said, master, You've said
the truth. The Lord said some things and
he acknowledged you've said the truth. There is one God. That's what this man said, there's
one God, and to love him with all the heart is better than
any sacrifice. And the Lord said to him, this
was the Lord's answer. He said. You're not in the kingdom
of God. That was his answer to him. He
said, you're not far from the kingdom, which means you're not
in it. And that man turned and walked
away. He just turned around and he
walked away. Does that stop anybody's autopilot? It stops mine. Why was he not in the kingdom
of God? How could the Lord say that to
him? Why would the Lord say that to him? The reason is because
all that man had was religion. That's all he had. And religion
cannot save anybody. People think, well, I want to
be saved, so I need to go get religion. That's not how it works. Religion cannot save anybody. Right after that man walked away,
it says in Mark 12 verse 35, Jesus answered and said, while
he taught in the temple, how say the scribes that Christ is
the son of David? Why do the scribes, the man who
just walked away, he was a scribe and this man walks away. And
the Lord said, why do the scribes say That Christ is the Son of
David. Why do they keep writing that
over and over every single day? That Christ is the Son of David. Verse 36, For David himself said
by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore
himself calleth him Lord. And whence is he then his son? What he said was, if he's David's
God, then how can he be David's son? That was the question the
Lord asked. If he's David's God, how can
he be his son? Verse 37 says, And the common
people heard him gladly. Who are the common people? The
regular folks. Those who don't know a whole
lot about religion. Just the regular old common people. They said they heard him say
this and they said, now, wait a minute. While everybody else
seems to be so blinded by religion and so caught up in what they're
doing and just autopiloting and error and false doctrine and
false religion. These common people said, now,
wait a minute. He's about to actually tell us
something about God. They recognize this. They said,
something is different here. I hear what all these other men
are saying. Something's different here. Something's different. I don't think he's going to tell
us what we want to hear. I don't think He's just going
to tell us what He thinks we want to hear so we can be happy.
I don't think He's trying to just tickle our ear. I believe He's about to tell
us the truth. It sounds to me like He is about
to tell us the truth. Verse 38 says, He said unto them
in His doctrine, in His words, in His teaching, this is what
the Lord said to them. Beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing
and love salutations in the marketplace. He said beware of the scribes. That's what he told these common
people. I want to be a common person. Don't you? Beware means be cautious and
alert to the dangers of. It means be on your guard. It means watch out. For those who come to you in
the name of religion. That's what God Almighty said.
That's what the Lord said. Watch out. Beware. I am not here in the name of
religion. I'm not here on this. TV station
this morning in the name of religion. I'm here in the name of Jesus
Christ. I'm here speaking in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 38 says he said unto them
in his doctrine, beware of the scribes, which love to go in
long clothing. They love to put their robes
on all their, what they believe to be holy garments on. And it
says they love salutations in the marketplaces. They love that. They're not interested in getting
alone in their closet. They like to do everything out
in the open to be seen of men. You know, our Lord told us when
we pray, get in our closet. I don't know why men decided
that they need to do everything out in the open. Let's do it
so everybody can watch us doing it. Our Lord said, when you pray,
you get in your closet. They want to be seen. They want
everybody to see them. They want everybody to hear them.
They love these salutations. They want everybody to say, oh,
what a religious man. You see him? Now that right there,
that's a religious man. Our Lord said in verse 39, they
love the chief seats in the synagogues. They love to sit up high so everybody
can get a good look at them. They just want to be seen. He
said, beware of those men. Be cautious and alert to the
dangers of those men. Verse 39, he said, they love
the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at feast,
which devour widows houses. And that's exactly what they
do. That is exactly what they do. They get up in pulpits and
they get on TV and they say, if you want to be saved, You
have to send in your money. That's what they say. Now listen
to me if you want to be saved you're going to have to make
an investment in God's storehouse. You want to be saved don't you.
Now you better send us your money. That's what they say. Listen
and I say this as humbly as I can say it. I'm here to tell the
truth. I'm here in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ to tell the truth. And this is the truth right here.
God does not beg for money. God does not beg for money. God
does not raise money. God does not ask for money. You
know what God said? God said, all the gold is mine. He said, all the silver is mine. He said, all the cattle on a
thousand hills is mine. He said, everything is mine. He said, I believe it's in Psalm
50, if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. If I needed anything,
I wouldn't come to you for it. God does not ask for money. If you hear a man saying, now,
if you want to be saved, you're going to have to send us your
money. You're going to have to don't listen to that man. He's not
of God. He's not speaking on God's behalf. God does not beg
for money. He does not do it. Verse 40,
he said, which devour widows houses and for a pretense, make
long prayers. You know what the word pretense
means? It means an attempt to make something that is not the
case appear true. It means make believe. It means putting on an act. It means faking. That's exactly
what false religion is. That's what our Lord said it
was. They put so much sorrow on their faces for a pretense.
They make these long prayers. You know, they can't just bow
their heads like the Lord told them to do. They lift their heads
up so everybody can see all this agony that they put on their
face. Listen to what our Lord has to say about it. The end
of verse 40. He said, for a pretense, they make long prayers. These
shall receive greater damnation. Oh, They're going to receive
greater damnation. The Lord said, beware of them.
Don't fall in with them. Don't do it. You do not want
to receive the same damnation that they're going to receive.
That's what He's saying. And I'm telling you, I do not. I
do not want to fall in with false religion. I don't want to have
anything to do with what the world calls religion. what is
against what God calls true religion. I don't want to have anything
to do with it. I do not want to fall into that same damnation.
By God's grace, I'm here to declare the truth. By God's grace, I'm
here to tell the truth about God and how He saves sinners
like me. And that's it. I'm here to tell
the truth of how centers like you and me can be saved. And I'm going to tell you this,
it's not through our giving. It's not through our doing anything,
starting with giving, we don't give a dime in order for God
to save us. We don't make investments in
God's storehouse. We don't do that. Not to be saved. We cannot buy our salvation. Cannot do it. It's not through
anything on our part. Salvation is not through anything
on our part. And I'll tell you this too. When
it comes to this issue of salvation, we don't have to let Jesus come
into our heart. Men will stand up and tell you
that's the next thing now. You're going to have to let Jesus
come into your heart. If you want to be saved, you're
just going to have to Go ahead and unlock the door of your heart.
You're going to have to let Him in. He's standing there knocking.
This is what they tell people. He's standing there at your heart's
door knocking. You're going to have to open
that heart's door if He's going to save you. Let me tell you the truth of
the matter. If God wants to come into our heart's door, if God
wants to come into our heart, He will knock the door down.
That's what will happen. He will knock our hearts door
down. If God Almighty wants him, he's
coming in. He is coming in. He will take
what belongs to him. He owns it all. He owns you and
me both. And He will take what belongs
to Him in your heart and my heart. If He comes and knocks our heart's
door down and lays hold on us and takes up residency in there,
we will cry in our hearts, Abba, Father, we will. So don't worry if you won't let
Him into your heart. Some people hear that and think,
well, what if I don't let Him in? What if I don't let him in? What if what if I never opened
my heart's door? Trust me, it's not a problem.
It's not a problem at all. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to accept him
as your personal savior in order to be saved. That's another thing
that men stand up and tell people, you're going to have to accept
him as your personal say. No, you don't. You don't have to
pray a sinner's prayer. You don't have to do that. You
don't have to come down to the front of a church building and
shake anybody's hand. You don't have to do that. You
don't have to get into a tub of water. Not to be saved. You don't have to eat a wafer.
You don't have to drink a cup of wine. You don't have to do
anything. And I'm going to show you why.
I'm going to show you why. The Lord asked them a great mystery. How can the Christ be David's
Lord and David's son. The answer to that question is
salvation. The answer to that question,
our Lord so wisely asked that question. The answer to that
question is salvation. Turn with me to first Timothy
chapter three. In first Timothy chapter three,
it says in verse 16 and without controversy, Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. The God of all heaven and earth
made himself to be born in the likeness of sinful flesh. If he's David's God, how can
he be David's son? Isn't that the question? If this
is God, I mean God, how could He become a child? If this is
God, how could He become a child? If this is the Almighty God,
how could He be tempted for 40 days and be weak and hungry? He's the Almighty God. If this
is the God who created everything, How could he have no place to
lay his head? How is that possible? It's because
he humbled himself. And he made himself to be a servant
for sinners like you and me. He came here and he obeyed the
will of his father perfectly. Everything God demanded of us.
He obeyed it perfectly. It says in verse 16, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, justified in the spirit. God, the father said out loud. this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased everything he's done as he walked this earth
I'm well pleased with it well done thou good and faithful servant
that's the only man God the father ever said that about the only
man and God said to him here are the sins of my people and
your people Here are the sins of every soul I chose to save.
You take them and you put them away. So God in human flesh, he walked
straight into the heart of Jerusalem, bearing the sin of his people,
and he allowed them to nail him and the sins of his people to
the cross of Calvary. And on the cross of Calvary they
all died. He died and the sins of his people
died. And as the final blow of God's
wrath came down on the Lord Jesus Christ, he cried so everyone
could hear, it is finished. It's finished. What he was saying
was, you don't have to give a dime. I paid it all. I've paid it all. The price is paid in full. Verse 16 says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels. God sent those angels
down. They rolled that stone away and
the angels watched the Lord of glory walk out of the tomb. They
watched the Lord of Glory walk straight out of the grave. And
they waited around to tell everybody, He is not here. He is risen as
He said. Right now, today, He is being,
as verse 16 says, preached unto the Gentiles. Who He is, what
He has done, where He is right now. And if God in mercy, will
send His Spirit and call out His sheep, He will be, as verse
16 says, believed on in the world. And His promise is every soul
that believes on Him will be received up into glory. Every
single one, just like He was. That is the truth of salvation. Christ did it all. Christ paid
it all. It's done. Salvation is a notification,
not a plan of attack. It's a notification that the
battle's over. The war is over. But I will tell
you this, and I'm going to close with this. He did not come to
save everybody. He did not come to save every
soul on this earth. Only a particular, certain, chosen
group of people can have the hope of this salvation. And I'm
going to show you who it is. And you look at this with me
to see if you fall into this category. Only these particular
people can have the hope of the salvation that Christ accomplished
on the cross. It's in 1 Timothy. Chapter one,
verse 15. It says, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. The apostle said of whom I'm
chief, if you're not a center, this does not apply to you. But
if you are a sinner, then I'm here to tell you, the Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world to save you from your sins. You
believe on Him, bow to Him, and you'll find rest. 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.