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 begin this message
with a couple of questions. And here's the first one. Does
God change? Has He changed? He has no beginning and he has
no end. But over the course of time,
has he changed? In Malachi 3 verse 6, he said,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. So no, God does not change. But let me ask us this question, has His message changed? What He has to say to men and
women throughout time, has it changed? Look with me if you
would in Mark chapter six, verse seven. Our Lord said, he called
unto him the 12 and began to send them forth by two and two
and gave them power over unclean spirits. Now down in verse 12
it says, and they went out and preached that men should repent. He sent them out to preach. and
they went out and preached that men should repent. That was God's
message while our Lord was on this earth. In Matthew chapter
four, verse 17 says, from that time, Jesus began to preach and
to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He began to preach and to say,
repent, that was God's message while he was on this earth. It
was also his message before he came to this earth. Ezekiel 14
verse six says, therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus
saith the Lord God, repent and turn, and if you're reading along
with me, you'll see that this verse of scripture has an italicized
word in it. Yourselves is in italics, and
that means the translators added that word to make it more understandable. But if we take that word out
and if we read it like it was originally written, if we read
it as God said it, this is what he said, therefore say unto the
house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn from
your idols and turn away your faces from
all your abominations. So that was his message before
he came. It was his message while he was
here and it was his message after he left this earth and ascended
back on high. Acts chapter two verse 37 says,
now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and
said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. Now let me read to you what our
Lord said in the last book of his Bible. Our Lord gave 66 books
in his Bible. And in the last one, Revelation
chapter two, he said in verse 12, to the angel of the church
in Pergamos, write, these things saith he which hath the sharp
sword with two edges. That's our Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God Almighty. Down in verse 16, he said, repent,
or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth." The message of repentance is
his message. It has always been his message. It will always be his message.
Our Lord said in Luke 13, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish. So we all must repent. That's
pretty clear, isn't it? That is God's command to us. And we all must obey his command. We all must repent. But if we're
gonna do that, then we must understand what the word repent means. How
can we truly repent if we do not know what it means? And when
it's so vital, when it's so necessary, if without it our Lord said,
we're going to perish, wouldn't we be wise to understand what
the word means? Now, let's see what our Lord
has to say in the verses leading up to repentance in our text,
and then I want us to find out this morning what is repentance.
What is repentance? Go with me back over to our text
in Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six, verse seven. It says, he called unto him the
twelve and began to send them forth by two and two and gave
them power over unclean spirits. He gave them the ability to perform
miracles. He said he would. To prove the
fact that they were declaring God's word. It was not written
down yet. Now we have it written. And that
ability from God died with the apostles. That ability is not
needed anymore. We have God's word. Those miracles
proved that the apostles carried God's word and now we have it.
And all of those miracles of healings and the power over unclean
spirits, they died with the apostles. If a man today claims to be a
healer, If he claims to have power over evil spirits, he is
not of God. He's not of God, he's of something
else. Stay away from him. Stay away from him. But verse
seven says, he called unto him the 12, and began to send them
forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. and commanded them that they
should take nothing for their journey save a staff only, no
script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with
sandals and not put on two coats. Now for a man who is called into
God's ministry, There is a lesson here in faith and there's a lesson
in humility. He needs to run with the message,
believing that God will provide for him. And he also needs to
be warned about being taken with the things of the flesh, being
covetous and giving others the impression that he's covetous.
Our Lord said, you don't need two coats. So there is a wonderful lesson
in all that. But our Lord is saying much more than that in
these verses. He said, I'm sending you out
to preach the message of life to sinners. You're going to go
tell men and women the way. That's what the word journey
means in verse eight. It means way. He said, take nothing
for the way. but the staff only. David said, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. What does he mean by that? He's
talking about the word of God. Preach the word only, the staff
of life only. That's Christ. Christ is the
word. He said, take nothing for the
way but Christ and his word alone. And our Lord said, I am the way.
I am the way. He said in verse eight, don't
take a script. A script was a leather pouch. It was where they kept
their money. It was where they kept their
food. The things that served and glorified the flesh. The
Lord said, don't you go out and lie to men and women. Don't you go out and serve and
glorify the flesh. Don't you tell them that you
have a message from me of health, wealth, and happiness. Don't
you go out smiling saying God loves you for who you are and
he wants you to be rich. And he wants you to be filled
with everything this world has to offer. No matter what, he
just wants you to be happy. That's not what he said, is it?
That was not the message sent from God, was it? He said the
message is repent. Repent. He said in verse eight,
don't bring a script. And he said, don't bring bread.
Our Lord said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Leaven
is what makes bread rise. In the scripture, it always represents
the flesh, the pride of self, the sin of man. Our Lord said,
a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. You mix any part
of the flesh with this message, his message. and it will ruin
the whole thing. It will ruin the whole thing.
Have you ever listened to a man preach and thought 95% of everything
he said was good? 95% of it was in agreement with the
word of God. It was just that last part where
he brought it back into the hands of man. I tell you this, if a man does
that, if a man preaches a message where 95% of it gives God all
the glory and 5% gives man the glory, the whole message is ruined. It's ruined. The Lord said in Jeremiah 23,
a message like that will not profit the people at all. Men and women don't take a message
like that and say, well, I'll take the good parts and throw
away the bad parts. No, a message like that will
not profit God's people at all. Not at all. So he said, you bring
the staff only. No script, no bread. And he said, no money in your
purse. That word money, we look up these words in a concordance
and the word means to hollow out. It means to lower. Do not go as an empty vessel,
a hollowed out vessel. Do not lower the authority and
the urgency of this message. Do not bring a message that can
be bought swayed. He said in verse nine, you be
shod with sandals. In Ephesians six, the apostle
Paul said, have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. You be prepared to deliver the
gospel of peace. And he said, don't clothe yourselves
with two robes. The end of verse nine, he said,
Don't put on two coats. Do not put on two coats. There
is only one robe of righteousness. Only one robe for a sinner to
wear. And that's the righteousness
of Christ. In order to be accepted into
God's presence, that's what we need. We need to be accepted
into his presence. And in order for a sinner to
be accepted into God's presence, God must be pleased with the
things that that sinner has done. He must be pleased with us. But
everything that we have done is a filthy rag in God's eyes. And all those rags of self-righteousness,
they have to be burned. They have to be burned. The only
deeds that God the Father is pleased with are the deeds of
Christ His Son. Those are the only ones. He's
not pleased with anything I've done. He said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. And if I try to add my deeds
to His deeds, if I try to wear two coats It all becomes a filthy rag again.
I ruin it. It must be Christ alone. It must be Christ alone. God
does not love us for who we are. That is so important to understand. God does not love us for who
we are. He loves us for who Christ is. That's why He loves us for Christ's
sake, for the accomplishment of Christ, for the works of Christ. We are accepted in His righteousness
alone. There's only one robe. There
is only one robe. So He sent His disciples to deliver
His message. And verse 10 says, He said unto
them, In what place soever ye enter into and house, there abide
till ye depart from that place." If they're willing to keep hearing
the message, then keep preaching it to them. Stay there and preach
to them. Verse 11, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear
you when you depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet
for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city. Our Lord is using some clear
language, isn't he? He's using some very dogmatic
language, some bold language. He said, you preach Christ and
his word. and whosoever will not hear it,
whoever will not believe it, and whoever will not bow to it,"
he said, you shake the dust from under your feet. He said, it
shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city. Verse 12, he said, and they went
out and preached that men should repent. Our Lord sent them and
they went. These apostles went out and they
told all the people that would listen, we are dealing with God
almighty. We are dealing with a holy God. We must obey his command. and repent. We must. Verse 13 says, And they cast
out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick,
and healed them. What that means is their message
was successful. Devils were cast out. The balm
of Gilead was applied. And those who were truly sick,
truly sick, were truly healed. Now here's what I want to say
to us this morning. And here's what I am commanded
to say to us this morning. We all must repent. Both of us, me and you both.
This is the truth. We must repent. Our salvation depends on our
repentance. Except ye repent, you shall all
likewise perish. But before we finish this radio
program, before this is over, we need to find out what is repentance. We've established how necessary
it is. We've established that it's God's
commandment. But before this program is over,
we need to find out what is repentance? What does God have to say about
repentance? Not what do I think repentance
is. It doesn't do me any good to
think repentance is something when that's not what it really
is. God demands true repentance. So what does God have to say
about it? What does God in his word have
to say about it? That's what I want us to find
out right now. If you're turning with me, look at Luke chapter
15. Luke 15 and look at verse seven. Our Lord said, I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Here's the first thing we need
to understand. A person who is just before God does not need
to repent. Repentance is only for sinners. Repentance is only for sinners. So the first thing that repentance
is saying is, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. That's where repentance
starts. When the message is repent, the
first thing that means is you and I must acknowledge the fact
that we're sinners. First John 1 10 says, if we say
that we have not sinned, we make God a liar and his word is not
in us. So we must acknowledge to God
Almighty, I am a sinner, I'm a sinner. Now here's the second
thing to understand about repentance. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 says,
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. Although
the world, very wrongly, tries to make repentance a work, the
truth is It's the exact opposite. True repentance is from dead
works. What that means is a man cannot
repent on his own. He cannot. Hebrews 12 verse 16
says, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who
for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, For you know how
that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing,
he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though
he sought it carefully with tears. After it was too late, He wanted
that inheritance, he cried for that inheritance, he begged for
that inheritance, but he could not bring himself to repent. My margin says, way to change
his mind. He could not bring himself to
change his mind. True repentance says, I can't,
you must. True repentance. turns a sinner
from man's dead works. It acknowledges, I'm a sinner
and I have no ability to help myself. All right, here's the
third thing God has to say about repentance. In Acts chapter five,
verse 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
we ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. True repentance is a gift
from God. Our Lord said He did not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to call
sinners to repentance. It's a gift and it's a calling
of God. Acts 11 verse 18 says, when they
heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God
saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. Who gets the glory in repentance? Who gets the glory in repentance? Romans 2 verse 4 says, it is
the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance. True repentance
says this is all a gift. This is all because of your calling. It is your goodness alone that
has led me to Christ. Your goodness alone has turned
me from my idols, turned me from all my dead works, to the true
and living God. God's commandment says turn.
True repentance says, turn thou me and I shall be turned. That's true repentance. We all
must confess to God, I'm a sinner. I can't do anything for myself. And my only hope is in the goodness
of your gift in your calling. Now our salvation depends on
that repentance, that changed mind, that changed heart, that
confession of truth before God. And our God has said it's not
in our ability to produce that changed mind, that changed heart. But here's His promise. Here
is His promise to every sinner that He has chosen to put in
the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1, verse 1 says that
Peter is writing to those that have obtained like precious faith. That's who he's writing to. And
in 2 Peter 3 verse 9, it says, The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. God in mercy is going to give
every single child of His, every one of them, A heart that cries,
I'm a sinner. I can't do anything for myself.
And my only hope is in the work and the gift and the goodness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's repentance unto salvation. That's the cry God gives to a
saved sinner. That right there is the evidence.
Now here's what I want to say to us this morning. Let's all
repent. Let's all say, I'm a sinner,
I can't do anything for myself, and my only hope is in the blood
of Christ. Let's all repent, and then let's
give God all the glory for it. All the glory for it. Let's acknowledge
and praise and honor Him alone as the doer of every bit of it. That command is God's goodness
to a sinner. Repent. May God bless us all
with the precious gift of repentance. 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.