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 read a verse of scripture
to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16 says,
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. For any man who has been called
to preach the gospel, this is an important verse of scripture
to him. A very important verse of scripture. Every time I come to this verse,
it causes me to ask myself some questions. Usually the first
one is, what is the gospel? What is the gospel? A man cannot
preach the gospel if he does not know the gospel. So what
is it? Am I preaching the gospel? That's
what I want to know. Am I preaching the gospel? Because the gospel is very specific. It's not a general idea of religion. And it's not something to play
around with either. If a man is going to stand up
and preach, he had better preach the gospel. Let me show you why
over in Galatians chapter 1. If you have your Bible, you can
turn with me to Galatians 1. Verse six, it says, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel, unto you, then
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that
you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men? Or God? Or do I seek to please
men? For if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. So there's only one true gospel.
There's only one. Men and women say, well, I believe
this and you believe that and we'll all be okay. We'll all
just meet up in the end. That's not so. That is not so. There is only one true gospel. And if a man does not stand up
and preach the gospel of Christ, the gospel that God has declared
in his word, if a man does not preach the one and only gospel,
God will put him in hell for it. Isn't that terrible? Let him
be accursed. Now I'll tell you what's so fearful
about this to me. A great majority of the people
who are in hell will be preachers. Men who did not stand up and
tell other men and women God's truth. Matthew 7 tells us that
and Matthew 15 tells us that. So every time I come to this
verse, I ask myself, what is the gospel? This is important.
This is important to me. What is the gospel? Am I preaching
the gospel? Now another question I ask myself
is, why do I do this? Why do I preach the gospel? The true answer is I believe
God called me to do it. I believe He put me in the ministry
of preaching His gospel. But from a personal point of
view, why do I have a heart to do nothing else for the rest
of my life if this is what God would have me to do? Why do I
have a heart to do nothing else but preach God's gospel? Why did I quit doing what I was
doing before and start doing this? And my own personal answer
is in Romans chapter 10. If you have your Bible, look
with me there at Romans chapter 10. Verse one says, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. Oh, Paul said, I pray for my
kinsmen after the flesh. I pray for the people of this
country, and I say the same thing. Why do I do this? It's because my heart's desire
and prayer to God for the people that I am preaching to, including
myself, is that we all might be saved Paul went on to say in verse
two, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to knowledge. The reason I preach the truth
of God's Word is because men and women have
no idea who God is. That's why. That's the honest
reason why. They have a zeal. They have an
interest. They have a sincerity. They have
a real burning drive. But it's not according to knowledge.
And what that means is, they are all going to go meet God,
expecting Him to be a certain way. But in reality, He is nothing
like that at all. nothing. I preach the truth because
men and women have no idea that God is holy. No idea. That is going to be
the shocking truth for every man and woman who has a zeal
of God but not according to knowledge. When they meet Him face to face
They are going to at that moment, they are going to know God is
holy. Oh, they're gonna find out God
is holy. Now, what does that mean? What
does it mean that God is holy? Well, turn with me over to Psalm
22. Psalm 22 verse one says, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Who is speaking right there? Who is saying that? That's the Son of God. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's the one who came to this
earth and took the sin of his people upon himself. And then
he went and stood before the same God that men and women today
are going to go stand before, same God. And with the sin that
he bore, God the Father looked at his own son and he said, forsaken. Forsaken. Away with him. And Jesus Christ the Lord cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so
far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring,
oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in
the night season, and am not silent. Verse three says, but. But I know why you have forsaken
me. I know why you will not help
me. I know why I cry and you hear
not. He said in verse three, it's
because thou art holy. Thou art holy. That means he
must do what is right. He must. And when sin comes before
him, it must be punished. That's what holy means. I preach
the one and only true gospel of God because men and women
have no idea who God really is. No idea. And I'll tell you another reason
why I preach the gospel. If you'll look with me back at
Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 verse one says, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. I preach the truth of God's word,
because men and women have no idea how sinful they really are. No idea. They're going around
trying to establish their own goodness before God, but they're
ignorant of God's standard that he requires. Totally ignorant. Back in Leviticus chapter 13. Leviticus 13 verse one says,
the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron saying, When a man shall
have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab or bright spot,
and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy,
then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one
of his sons the priest, and the priest shall look on the plague
in the skin of the flesh, and when the hair in the plague is
turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin
of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy. And the priest shall
look on him and pronounce him unclean. Unclean. If he has one little
spot, one little spot in his skin, he's unclean. One hair that has turned white.
He's unclean. Pronounce him to be a leper. Because of one little spot. Why
did God put that in his word? Why did he record that for us
to read? It's because that's how it is
with sin. That's how it is with sin. Paul told the Galatians,
if a man or woman does not fulfill every single law and commandment
in this book, he's cursed. If he obeyed all of them but
one, if he just missed one, he's cursed. Why? It's because our holy God said
so. That's why. It's because God
is holy. I've heard people make the statement,
there's a little bit of good in everybody. There's a little
bit of good in everybody, and even though that statement is
not true, even though that's not true,
Romans 3 verse 12 says, there is none that doeth good, no not
one. But people make that statement
and even though that statement is not true, and what I mean
by that is, even if it was true, what people do not realize is,
It only takes one freckle of sin to send a person to hell's
eternal fire. One freckle of sin. And they're
trying to argue their case before God. They're gonna go meet God
and argue their case before Him on a couple of good deeds that
they did in their lifetime. But I did this and I did that. Well, don't you have that recorded?
You know I did this. focusing on a couple of what
they consider to be good deeds, ignoring the mountains of sins
that they have committed. The mountains of sin. Our God
said if there's one little spot. But men are gonna go stand before
God with mountains of sins on their record. In Acts chapter
10, verse 37, It says, that word I say you
know which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
for God was with him. Now this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
the Lord Jesus Christ, everything he did in this life was good. Everything, all of it. That's all he could do. He was
good. No bad deeds, not like we have. No bad thoughts, not like we
have. no hate, no pride. There was no sin in him. And
all he did everywhere he went was heal the blind, and heal
the lame, and heal the deaf, and cleanse the lepers, and raise
the dead. And as soon as he took the sin
of his people on himself, God killed him. God killed him. Now if God killed
his own son, what will stop him from killing you and me? That is one vital question to
ask. If God killed his own good son,
what will stop him from killing you and me? That right there is why I preach
the gospel. I'll tell you, that is the reason
why I preach the gospel. I gladly preach the gospel because
men and women have no idea who Christ really is and what Christ
has really done. They know he died, everybody
knows he died, but they have no idea what that means. They
know He arose. And they have no idea what that
means. But if you'll turn back with me one more time to Romans
10. Verse one says, brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law, for righteousness to every one that believeth." If God killed
his own son, what will stop him from killing you and me? Well, let's flip that question
around. Let's just flip that question around and we'll get
our answer. What will stop him from killing
you and me? God killed his own son. I preach the gospel. because
men and women have no idea how merciful the Lord Jesus Christ
really is. He willingly, he willingly, happily,
for the joy set before him, He willingly took the sin of His
people upon Himself. And He did that knowing He would
have to suffer God's wrath for it. Why on this earth would He
do that? It's because He's merciful. It's
because He is merciful. We could never keep what God
has commanded in this book. Never. We could never obey him
perfectly as he demands. So Christ came and he kept that
law for us. And because God is holy, and
because we sinned against his law, we had to be punished. Which
the punishment was death. So Christ in mercy, he made our
sin his own. He made it his own. And he made
our punishment his own. And now Christ is the end. He is the end of the punishment. the punishment that we were to
receive for breaking that law, he took it and he ended it. He
is the end of the law. He is the end of the punishment
for breaking it. Did he do this for every soul
on earth? No, he did it to every soul that God gives faith to
believe. He satisfied that law. and he put away the punishment
of breaking it. And he did that for every soul that God gives
faith to believe on Christ. Now our text says back in 1 Corinthians
9, verse 16, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me
if I preach not the gospel. The gospel is the truth about
God. He's holy. Oh, he's holy. The gospel is the truth about
man. He's sinful. The gospel is the
truth about Christ. He is merciful. He is so merciful. The gospel is the truth about
salvation. And here's the truth about it.
It's good news. Oh, it's such good news. Such
good news. Somebody might hear that and
say, well, wait a minute now. Why is it good news? You just
told me it was not for everybody. Didn't you just say that? Only
who he chose to give that faith to? How can I find any assurance
in that? If he didn't die for everybody,
if he didn't choose everybody, how can I find any assurance
that he chose me? How can I find any assurance
that he died for me? We all know that I'm a sinner.
I know I'm a sinner. Everybody else knows I'm a sinner. Where is the good news for me? Well, I would be delighted to
show you if you'll turn with me over to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. It is true that Christ
did not come to show mercy on every soul that walks this earth. but I'll show you who he did
come to show mercy to. And if this describes you, you
are gonna find this to be the greatest news you've ever heard
in your life. 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 says, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save Sinners. Sinners. Of whom I am chief. How be it for this cause, I obtained
mercy. Mercy. Paul said, because I'm
a sinner, the greatest sinner of all, for that reason, I obtained
mercy. I obtained mercy. Here is the
good news of the gospel. Christ came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. He said, I came to seek and to
save that which was lost. Is that you? Is that you? Because I can tell you outside
of Christ himself, that's me. That's me. I'm lost. If Christ does not find me, I'm
a lost man. If Christ does not save me, I'm
a damned man. But my gospel is, my good news
is, The Lord Jesus Christ said, I did not come to call the righteous,
those who are righteous in their own eyes, those who ignorantly see themselves
as earning their own good works before God, earning their own
righteousness before God. He said, I did not come to call
them. I came to call sinners, those who know Outside of Christ, I have no
hope. I cannot please God. I cannot obey God. I'm a sinner from the crown of
my head to the sole of my foot. That is all that I am in this
flesh. I'm just a sinner. Oh, how sweet the gospel is when
he says, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call
sinners to repentance. That is wonderful news to me.
I preach the gospel because it's such good news to me. I preach the gospel because I
want to tell men and women how great things the Lord has done
for me. I was so undeserving. All I can say is why me? Why
me? And the only answer I have is
God is merciful. The grace of God to sinners is
such a merciful, loving, kind grace. And I'll tell you this, if you
are an out and out, no good, ruined, guilty sinner against
God, if that's you, if that's you, if I am actually speaking
to a sinner this morning, then the gospel The one and only gospel
is your gospel. The good news is your good news. The Lord Jesus Christ said, if
you're a sinner, then you come to me and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. And that's
the truth if I've ever told it. 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.