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 invite you to turn
with me this morning to Acts chapter 13 in your Bible. I've
titled this message, If God Calls a Man to Preach the Truth. if God calls a man to preach
the truth." Now, there is a sad truth in
the world right now, every day, and it's this. Men and women
miss Christ every day. Every day, men and women miss
Christ every day to their own damnation. Paul, who was an apostle, he
was an apostle and he had been for a while. This is what he
said. Oh, that I might know Him. That I might know Him. Do we
hear what he's saying? that I might know Him. Him. He didn't say that I might
know Calvinism. He didn't say that I might know
systematic theology. He said Him. Him. I don't want to miss Christ.
I don't want any of us to miss Christ. People miss Christ every day. Every day. They miss Christ everywhere. The heavens declare Him, but
they miss Him everywhere. But I tell you this, there's
one place in particular that people miss Christ more than
any other place on this earth. One place in particular. that
people miss Christ more than any other place on this earth.
They miss Christ in His own Word. Those who are caught up in religion
are in danger of missing Christ more than any person on this
earth. And the reason is because our Lord said, I came not to
call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Sinners. So those who are caught up in
religion are in danger of missing Christ
more so than any person on this earth. They're either so caught up in
church, everything church has to offer
for our children and for our singles and for our couples and
for our elderly, for our homeless, whoever. Men and women are either so caught
up in church that they never even open the Word of God. They
never even really take time to see what the Word of God says. I see so many people post things
on the Internet. They have their social network
sites and they'll post things on the Internet that they believe represent the Word of God. They
believe this is what God's Word says. And it's clear that they
don't ever open up God's Word. If they did, they would see what
they just posted is the exact opposite of what God has said.
The exact opposite. But they put it up there and
they're so proud of it and it makes everybody feel so good.
The only problem with it is that's not what God said. So the danger is, is men and
women either get so caught up in their religion, their social
religion, that they never even open up God's word. Or, here's
the other problem, they're so caught up in the doctrine, the
doctrine of the Christ, they never see the Christ of the doctrine.
I don't want to miss Christ. I don't want to miss Christ. I don't want you to miss Christ.
Look in Acts chapter 13 with me at verse 38. It says, Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Through this man. Through this
man. Did you know that a man can stand
up and preach on justification? He can stand up and preach on
justification. Give all the facts. Tell us what
Moses wrote about it. Tell us what God said about it.
Tell us all about it. A man can preach on justification
and not preach Christ the justifier. Do you know that? Not preach
Christ the justifier. It happens every day. It happens
every day. A man can stand up and preach
on redemption and never preach Christ the redeemer. A man can
stand up and preach on sanctification, holiness before God, and not
preach Christ our sanctifier. It happens every day. You can preach on justification,
sanctification, redemption, righteousness, and still miss Christ. I don't want to miss Christ.
I don't want us to miss Christ. Redemption is not a transaction. It's not just some transaction
on God's paper. Redemption is a person. I'm redeemed in this man. Christ Jesus the Lord, He is
my redemption. My Redeemer is my redemption. Justification, that's not a doctrine. It's a person. I am justified in this man, this
precious man. A man justified me. God does
not look at me and say, well, you got your mind straightened
out. I see you have everything in
order there in your mind, so I'm gonna just forget about your
sin. No, no. When he looks at me, he sees
Christ. He sees a bloody sacrifice. And he sees that I was put in
Christ and I was punished in Christ. And then he looks at
me and he says, for Christ's sake, you're justified. Justification is a person. The
only way to be justified before God is in Christ, that's it. Sanctification is not an attainment. Well, I'm gonna get some holiness
and then I'm gonna get some more holiness. It's not an attainment,
it's a person. I am sanctified fully, totally,
completely sanctified in this man. There is no higher sanctification
to attain than the sanctification that is in Christ. That's it.
He is my sanctification. Do you see the difference in
this? I pray I see the difference in this. But that's preaching
and hearing Christ. That's preaching the truth about
Christ. Christ is the subject, He's the
substance, He's the fullness of all these things. And God
has called some men to declare that to sinners. And He's called some men to this
work of preaching the truth. And that's what this text here
in Acts chapter 13 is telling us. Saul and Barnabas, these
two men, were called to the work of this declaration. Now I want
to show you some things throughout Acts chapter 13 here. Look at
verse 1 with me. It says, now there were in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas
and Simeon, and that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene,
and Manan, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and
Saul, as they ministered to the Lord. They ministered to the
Lord. All true ministering is unto
the Lord. You know that? It's all unto
the Lord. When God calls a man to do something, He does it unto
the Lord. And the reason that He does is
because He is overtaken by the fear that God is watching. A man who's going to stand up
and preach on God's behalf, he needs to remember God is watching. He's watching what I'm saying.
Whether or not I'm telling men and women the truth about His
Word, the truth about His Son, the truth of what He's written.
Paul said, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel, the
true gospel. We must tell sinners the truth. And in doing so, our Lord said,
inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, you've done it unto me." All true ministering is
unto the Lord. Verse 2 says, as they ministered
to the Lord and fasted. Fasted, that means denying self. That's what fasting is. It's
denying yourself. It goes so much deeper than not
eating food. It's a denial of self. Every
true believer will deny himself. And every man who's truly called
to declare God's truth will deny himself. He'll deny himself. Look at verse 25, it says, as
John fulfilled his course, he saith, whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose." Not worthy at all. The Lord said in Isaiah 40 that
John would be the front runner. He would go forth and prepare
the way of the Lord and he told him to go cry and he said, what
shall I cry? And the Lord said, you go cry
all flesh is grass. All flesh is grass, just worthless. It's going to fade, it's going
to be cut down, it's going to be burned up. You go tell them,
behold your God. Behold your God. And that's exactly
what John did. He said, I'm not worthy to tie
his shoes. I'm not he. A man who's called to declare
God's Word definitely will deny himself and he'll preach Christ,
he'll glorify Christ. Verse 2 says, as they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. A man who
is truly called to declare God's Word is called by God Almighty. He is called by God Almighty.
Men do not put men into God's ministry. A man cannot put another
man into God's ministry. Now a man can put another man
in the pulpit. He can do that. He can put a
man in the pulpit, but that does not mean that he's in God's ministry. Only God puts a man in His own
ministry. God the Holy Ghost. And this
is proof that God is three persons. One God, three persons. The person
of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost said, separate
me. Me is a person. He said, separate
me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I I is a person. I have called them. The Holy
Spirit of God does all the calling. And He told every man in the
room, this is who I've called. Verse 3, And when they had fasted
and prayed, when they had all denied themselves and called
on God, that's what men who are called of the Holy Ghost do.
They deny themselves and they call on God. Verse 3 says, When
they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them. And all that means is they acknowledged
them publicly. And verse 3 says, They sent them
away. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to
Cyprus, And when they were at Salamis, they preached the Word
of God. They preached the Word of God
in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John to their
minister. A man who is called by God's Holy Spirit, a man who's
called to preach the truth, will stand up in front of sinners,
and tell them what God has said. And that's all He will tell them. That's it. And He'll do it with
love and He'll do it with compassion. He'll do it with tenderness and
kindness and meekness. But He will not shy away from
God's truth. And God's Holy Spirit will reveal
to that man that Christ is the truth. He'll preach Christ. He won't preach what I'm doing
or what I need to be doing. He will preach what Christ has
done. That's a fact. That's how you
can tell whether or not a man is called of God or not, sent
of God or not. That's how you can tell whether
a man has God's message. If he's telling you what he or
you need to be doing or what he has done, he's not of God. A man of God will come in and
preach Christ. Everything he has finished, everything
he has accomplished, that's it. He called it in verse 12 right
here of this chapter, the doctrine of the Lord. That's how he ends
verse 12, the doctrine of the Lord. I believe, I agree with,
and I preach what men call the doctrines of grace. I do. That term is not in the Word
of God. That's a man-made term. But if someone would ask me,
are you a Calvinist? I would say yes. I wholeheartedly
agree with my brother John Calvin. That's what the Word of God says.
But the way that our message is worded in Scripture is this.
Let me show you this over in 2 John. Turn with me to 2 John
verse 9. It says, Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." The plural word doctrines is
in the Bible five times and every time it's talking about false
doctrines. Our message is THE DOCTRINE OF
CHRIST. There's only one. There is only
one. And I don't have a problem with
the term doctrines of grace. I don't. It's a good term. But
we recognize that John Calvin, just like John Baptist, both
those men are saying, don't stop at me, behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. They're just
trying to point men to Christ. Every bit of this is pointing
men to Christ. And a man that has been called
by God's Spirit will preach the doctrine of Christ. That means the Word of Christ. Who He is and what He has done. Every single man who is truly
called Now let me quickly show you Paul's message and let me
show you the result of preaching this message. Back over in Acts
chapter 13, look with me at verse 14. But when they departed from
Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the
law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them,
saying, Ye men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. If God has called a man to declare
his truth, that man will tell sinners to fear God. The God who is angry with the
wicked. The God who cannot clear the
guilty. The God we have all sinned against. Fear God. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Verse 16, Then Paul stood up,
and beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that
fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers." God chose our fathers. If God
calls a man to declare His truth, that man will tell sinners, God
did all the choosing God did all the choosing. Man
is absolute sin. And man must fear God. But God did some choosing. This
is where the good news starts. This is the gospel. Gospel means
good news. God did some choosing. We didn't
choose Him because we wouldn't. We would not choose Him. We couldn't. We were dead. in trespasses and
sins, but God did. He did some choosing. This was
not in our hands. It was not our decision. We had
no say in the matter, but thank God He did. God did all the choosing. Verse 17, the God of this people
of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they
dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm
brought He them out of it. God did the choosing, God did
the exalting, and God with His high arm did all the redeeming,
all the bringing out, all the delivering, Isaiah 52.10 says,
The Lord hath made bare His holy arm, the right hand of God, the
right arm of God. Jesus Christ Himself did all
the redeeming. How did He redeem those chosen
ones? How did He redeem them? Look
at verse 18, And about the time of forty years suffered He their
manners in the wilderness. He took upon Himself to suffer
their manners. You know what my manner is? It's
sin. People say, where's your manners?
I'll tell you where they are, in the gutter. They're all in
the gutter. I'm nothing but sin. Everything
this flesh right here does is sin. Everything I am is sin,
but my Redeemer, suffered my manners." Verse 19 says, and
when He had destroyed, conquered, gotten the victory, when He had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their
land to them by lot. He took an inheritance and gave
it to His people. He didn't ask them if they wanted
it. They just got it. They just received it. Verse
20 says, And after that he gave them judges. It goes on to say
Samuel the prophet. Verse 22 says, He raised up David
to be their king. To put it plainly, look at verse
28. And though they found no cause of death in him, he was
perfect. Though they found no cause of
death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher, but God raised him from the dead."
You know what that means? That means the work was successful. That means he really did put
away the sin of his people. That means God really is satisfied. Verse 38 says, Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things. from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses." God's law says, do this, do that. No man could be justified that
way. It's only through this man. only in His work. Verse 40 says,
Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in
the prophets. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder,
and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declared
it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might
be preached to them the next Sabbath. These Jews went out
of the synagogue, the religious self-righteous Pharisees, when
they were all gone out, the Gentiles came up and they said, Brother
Paul, would you mind coming back next Sunday and telling us the
exact same thing again? Verse 42 says, When the Jews
were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these
words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the
congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them
to continue in the grace of God. This thing is not by works. It's
by grace. It's by grace. But verse 44 says,
The next Sabbath day came, almost the whole city together to hear
the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing ye
put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turned to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad." You know, we're
Gentiles, me and you. These Gentiles heard this, they
were so glad. And they glorified the word of
the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believe. They were so glad, they said,
you mean this is to us? But did you hear what verse 48
says? When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life." Did you know that a sinner has to be ordained to believe
this? A man can stand up and tell the
truth, but the only way a sinner can believe it is if he is ordained
to believe it. This whole thing is of God. His preachers have to be ordained
by God to preach. His people have to be ordained
by God to hear it and believe it. God gets all the glory. All the glory, start to finish. And even though they suffered
some persecution, they were glad. And this chapter ends with verse
52. The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. If God's getting all the glory,
It's worth it. It's so worth it. May God cause
us to preach the truth and believe the truth for Christ's sake.
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.