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 want to look at a portion of
scripture this morning that I believe is a little bit shocking. If you have never seen this before,
I believe you will find it to be very eye-opening. The gospel is good news for sinners. That's who the gospel is to,
sinners. So I always have good news for
centers as we go through this word and preach this word. We,
we always hear good news for centers, but this morning I even have
good news for those who are religious. Now I almost never have good
news for those who claim to merely be religious, but I do this morning. Now to any soul who has worked
the good works of morality, done the things they ought to do,
abstained from the things that they shouldn't do, to any soul
who has given himself or given herself to the church, remained faithful, Faithful to
your spouse. Faithful to your children. Diligently
led your children in the right way. To any soul who has given his
or her time and money to promoting Christianity. Any soul that has
accepted Jesus as his or her personal savior. Any soul who
has witnessed to others that he or she has indeed accepted
Jesus to be his personal savior. To any soul who can honestly
say, I am religious. I'm religious. Well, this morning I have good
news for you. You only lack one thing. You're only one thing away from
salvation. And our Lord is about to tell
us what that one thing is. Now if you'll look with me here
at Mark 10 verse 17, it says, and when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeling to him and asking
him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he
answered and said unto him, Master, All these have I observed from
my youth. This man was religious. He said,
all these have I observed from my youth. Since I was a child,
all the way up. And I will say that's a good
thing. Knowing God's commandments and following God's commandments,
Spare a person from a lot of heartache in this life. If we commit adultery, we need
to expect heartache around the corner. If we kill, we need to expect
to be punished for it. Stealing, lying, defrauding,
it never ends well, never. If we don't honor our father
and our mother, then we need to either expect a spanking from
them or a spanking from God, one of the two. So I do wanna
seriously encourage every single one of us to obey and observe
God's commandments from our youth up. This man was a moral man. You could trust this man and
that's a good thing. If you'll look with me over at
Luke 18, Luke's account, this is the same account, and Luke
tells us here in Luke 18, verse 18, a certain ruler asked him
saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This man was a ruler, a certain
ruler. What that means is he was a ruler
in the synagogue. He was not just a religious man,
he was a preacher. He was a preacher, a ruler in
the synagogue. And Paul told Timothy, if a man
desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. This
man worked and he worked hard. Look at the end of verse 23 right
here in Luke 18. It says, he was very rich. You don't get that way by being
lazy. In every way, shape, and form, this man could be respected. He was an honest, sincere, hardworking,
religious man. And if that describes you, then
I have wonderful news for you this morning. Look with me back
over in Mark chapter 10, verse 17. When our Lord was gone forth
into the way, there came one running and kneeling to Him and
asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he
answered and said unto him, master all these have I observed from
my youth up. Then Jesus beholding him loved
him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest. go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And in this man's case, verse
22 says, he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he
had great possessions. He was very rich. Now we are all sinners. We are all sinners, we just are. The scripture says all have sinned. Right here in verse 18, our Lord
said to this man, why callest thou me good? There is none good
but one, and that's God. So we're all sinners. And if
a sinner is banking on his or her religion, his or her morality,
his or her good deeds, good works, obedience to the scriptures. If religion is what a sinner
is banking on to inherit eternal life, in order for that sinner to receive
eternal life, our Lord said, one last thing has to be done.
That sinner has to get rid of everything. All of those things. Verse 21, then Jesus beholding
him loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give it to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross and
follow me." Now if this man had come to the Lord and asked Him,
what must I do that I might inherit eternal life? And if the Lord
had given him a list of a thousand things, or ten thousand things,
or a hundred thousand things, that would have been terrible.
That would have been bad news. But the good news is, he said,
it's one thing. You have to take everything you
have and get rid of it. It's either everything I have
or Christ. One of the two. Everything I
have, everything you have, or Christ. Turn with me over to
Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew 6 verse 19, our Lord
said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth
and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through
nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. The light of the body is the
eye, if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall
be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy
whole body shall be full of darkness. And if therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can
serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon,
the riches of the flesh. It's either the things that this
flesh possesses, or it's Christ. It can't be both. And if we lack
this final thing that He's commanding us, we lack it all. Even if we have every other thing
right, Without this final thing, we cannot inherit eternal life. Now, somebody might hear this
and say, well, okay, let's see. I guess I could sell my house
and I could sell my car and my furniture and my jewelry and
my clothes and things like that. And I guess I could empty my
bank account and sell my stocks and my retirement accounts. And
I'm sure there's a few other things that I'm not thinking
of right now. I guess I could do all that.
You know, the truth of the matter is that's exactly how our Lord
lived. He didn't own a house. He didn't
own a car, a horse or a camel. He didn't own jewelry. He didn't
even carry a change of clothes with him. But that is not what
our Lord is talking about right here. Not at all. Please listen to what our Lord
is saying. Come the end of this message,
if that's what we take from this, we have missed it. Our Lord is
not saying you have to go sell your house, sell your car, empty
your bank accounts, and end up living in a gutter. Our Lord
is not saying that. That is not the riches that He
is talking about. If any soul who is in the religion
of the flesh, the worship of the flesh, if any soul wants
to see the final thing that must be done, turn with me over to
Philippians chapter 3. In Philippians 3 verse 4, the
Apostle Paul said, though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more." Circumcised the eighth day. Saul of Tarsus
could say, that was taken care of from my youth up. From the
eighth day up. Verse five, circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew
of the Hebrews as touching the law. What did our Lord say in
the text? He said, don't commit adultery,
don't kill, don't steal, don't bear false witness, defraud not,
honor thy father and thy mother. The Apostle Paul said, as touching
the law, I was a Pharisee. All those things I kept from
my youth up. Verse six, he said, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law? Blameless. Verse 7, he said,
but. But. Paul is about to tell us
there was one thing he lacked. He said, but. What things were
gain to me? Those things that were riches
to me, those things that I thought I could give to God, those things
that I thought God saw value in, my religious works. He said, I had to get rid of
them. I had to count all those things
loss. in order to obtain Christ. Verse 8, He said, Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law. but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." That is the only way a sinner can inherit eternal
life. God must put that sinner in Christ. That sinner must be conformable
unto His death. What that means is a sinner must
die in Him. When He died, that sinner died.
When he was buried, that sinner was buried. All of God's punishment
on the sinner for his sins was taken out on Christ. And that
sinner suffered that punishment in Christ. And then when Christ
arose, that sinner arose. And that's it. All works excluded the blood
of Christ alone. The work of Christ alone. That's it. Every soul who is
following the works of religion in order to inherit eternal life
must understand that there's one thing he lacks. He must take
everything that the works of this flesh has tried to accomplish. Everything the works of this
flesh has tried to attain and he must get rid of it. He must count it all done if
he or she wants to win Christ and be found in Him. You know, a man may not be rich
in his bank account. A man may not have anything.
He can still be rich in the pride of his own flesh, I'll tell you
that. A man may not have a ton of things sitting around his
house, but he can still have a ton of self-righteous works
sitting around his heart, sitting around his mind. Paul said in verse 7, what things
were gained to me. Those I counted lost for Christ. He said, I counted all lost.
I counted all dung that I may win Christ and be found in him.
Now God's people do have a heart to obey God. They do obey his
law. But God's people are not resting
on that to inherit eternal life. God's people do have a heart
that believes God. but we don't even rest on our
own faith. We're resting on the blood of
Jesus Christ alone. Outside of that, everything else
has to go. Everything else has to go. Back
over in Mark chapter 10, verse 21, then Jesus beholding him
loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, Go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross and
follow me." You get rid of everything and take up the cross. Lay hold of the cross of Jesus
Christ. Somebody in religion will say,
well, yeah, I've got my morality though. Throw it out. Let me
tell you, morality is a wonderful thing. I wish this world was
a more moral place. I do. I love men and women who
are moral. They have some morals about it.
But when it comes to inheriting eternal life, when it comes to
what God will accept, throw that out. A man might say, well, I've
got my zeal now. I've got that good zeal for good
works. Throw it out. I personally love
a zeal for good works, but God will not accept it as a payment
for sin, and we've all sinned. The only thing God will accept
is the blood of Jesus Christ. We must throw our own zeal for
good works out. A man might say, well now I've
got my faithfulness to the church now and I've been faithful to
my wife since we've been married, faithful to my children. Throw
it out. Throw it out. I'm gonna tell
you something that is shocking, but it's true and it needs to
be said because we need to understand this. Hell is a horrible place. But hell is full of good church
goers. full of good husbands, full of
good fathers who were clinging to their own personal goodness
and not the blood of Christ. They lacked one thing, and without
that one thing, their goodness could not save them. That's the
truth. That is the truth. Somebody will
say, well, at least I've accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.
Throw that out. Don't hold to your acceptance
of anything. If I can accept Him, I can reject
Him. And I'm fickle, and so is every
man and woman on this earth. The only thing we can hold to
is the blood of Jesus Christ, the accomplishment of Jesus Christ
on that cross. Let's take everything we have,
everything we consider to be a righteousness before God, and
let's all cry out in acknowledgment to Him that all of it put together
is nothing more than a filthy rag. Let's count it all dung
that we might win Christ and be found in Him. Now verse 21
says, Jesus beholding him loved him. There's no proof of this,
but it is believed by many that this rich young ruler was Saul
of Tarsus. And if indeed it was Saul of
Tarsus, then we know what the result was of that love that
God had toward him. God had mercy on him. But whoever
this was, it doesn't matter if it was Saul or not. Whoever it
was, God's word mercifully says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And that's not only what the
Lord did for this man here in the text. That's what the Lord
did for this man behind the microphone this morning. And the Lord is
able to do it again. And he's able to do it again
and again and again. Verse 23 says, And Jesus looked
round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. The riches of
this flesh. The riches of the works of this
flesh. Verse 24, and the disciples were
astonished at his words, but Jesus answereth again and saith
unto them, children, how hard is it for them that trust in
riches? And we could substitute for the
word riches anything but Christ. How hard is it for them that
trust in anything but Christ to enter into the kingdom of
God? It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God, rich in his own efforts, rich in his own
self-worth. Verse 26 says, And they were
astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can
be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, With men it is impossible. It's impossible. That's why we
throw everything out. It'll do us no good. It's impossible. It's not just hard, it's actually
impossible. With man it is impossible, he
said, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. That's why we come to Christ.
That's why we take up the cross and follow Him. It's because
with God, all things are possible. With the blood that God shed
on Calvary's tree, not only is it possible, it's certain, it's
ordered, it's sure. Verse 28 says, then Peter began
to say unto him, lo, we have left all and have followed thee. And I believe from a spiritual
standpoint, All who have been caused by God's grace to put
all their trust in the blood of Christ can say the same thing. We've left all and have followed
Thee. We're holding on to nothing but
Christ. Verse 29, And Jesus answered
and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands for my sake and the gospel's. But he
shall receive an hundredfold now in this time houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mother, and children, lands with persecutions,
and in the world to come eternal life. but many that are first
shall be last and the last first. The truth is a sinner does not
lose anything in Christ, nothing. To let go of everything and to
lay hold of Christ is to actually gain all things. Just like this
man here, people come in religion asking what must I do to inherit
eternal life? But when the gospel comes to
them, they find out what Christ has already done that they might
inherit eternal life. Christ gave up all that he had. and He gave it to poor and needy
sinners. Though He was rich, yet for our
sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be
rich. Outside of that right there,
the riches of His grace, the riches of His mercy, the riches
of His blood, outside of all the riches that are in Christ,
let's throw everything else away. Let's all come to the Christ
of the cross and let's follow Him. Until next Sunday morning,
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, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. 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 Sunday
morning at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.