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'd like to invite you to turn
with me to John chapter 14 this morning. I want us to read one
verse of Scripture. It's John 14 verse 15. Our Lord said, if you love me,
keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now I'm about to tell us something.
But before I do, I want us to know that this is the most important
thing we will ever hear in this lifetime. It does not matter what we've
heard before. It does not matter what we're
gonna hear after. This is the most important thing
our ears will ever hear in this lifetime. I'm going to set it up and then
I'm going to tell you what it is. Men and women who are in religion,
and when I say religion, I mean false religion. The scripture says over and over
again, the Jews religion, it always uses it in a bad way. False religion. By God's grace, I don't want
to be in religion. I want to be in Christ. The last place
I want to be is in religion. I want to be in Christ. But men
and women who are in religion believe, I'm okay, you're okay. I go to church, you go to church. Now we may not agree on everything
doctrinally, and you know the reason people
disagree is because they're not looking into the Word of God. If everybody would look into
the Word of God, we would all be in agreement. But they say
at least we can all agree to disagree. We may not agree on
every single thing doctrinally, but at least we can all agree
to disagree. So I'm okay, you're okay. We are not all okay. We are not all okay. And great
multitudes of people are going to meet God right now. Every
day, it happens all day, every day. And they're finding out
I was wrong. Oh, I was wrong. I was wrong on the fall. I was wrong about what happened
to man in the garden. I was wrong on it all. And then the judgment. Do you have any idea how many
people this is happening to right now? Right now. No matter what any
man tells you, starting with me, I put myself first. I don't care what any man tells
you, none of us can afford to be wrong. We just cannot afford
to be wrong. Now our Lord told those who were
in religion, this is what he said to them, you do err, your
error is this, you do err not knowing the scriptures. That's where you go wrong, that's
your error, not knowing the scriptures. Now here's what I want to tell
us that is the most important thing we will ever hear in this
lifetime. Where men and women go wrong
in religion, every denomination, it doesn't matter what denomination
it is, where men and women go wrong is they believe that their
obedience to God's law, their obeying God's law has something
to do with their salvation. Here's where men and women go
wrong. They believe that their obedience to God's law I hope
I'm being clear here. They believe that their obeying
God's law has something to do with their own salvation. It
does not. It does not. It absolutely does
not. Our obedience to God's law has
nothing to do with our salvation. Christ is our salvation. Christ is our salvation. My obeying God's holy law has
nothing to do with my salvation. Christ is all my salvation. The Lord put Jonah in the belly
of a whale. And after that whale vomited
Jonah out, after it was all said and done, Jonah said, salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. He didn't say salvation is of
the law. He didn't say that. Why did our Lord keep healing
all those people on the Sabbath day? So many, He healed so many
on the Sabbath day. Why did He do it on the Sabbath
day? Those Pharisees in religion, they said, you can't heal a man's
withered hand on the Sabbath day, it's against the law. They said, your disciples can't
pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath day, it's against the law. If you have your Bible open,
turn with me to Matthew 12, let's look at that together. Matthew
12 verse one says, at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day. Now this is God. This man Jesus who walked the
earth, that's God Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. That's God Almighty. That's the one who created the
heavens and the earth. That's the one who created man.
That's the one who orders all things. Don't you think he could
have ordered and controlled and purposed for every bit of this
to happen on Thursday? Absolutely he could. He did this
on purpose. He did it on purpose. He does
all things on purpose. Everything that he does, it's
on purpose. So it says in Matthew 12 verse
one, at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the
corn. And his disciples were in hungered and began to pluck
the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
he's about to expose some religious Pharisees. When the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is
not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, have
you not read? That's their error, that's where
they've gone wrong. They err not knowing the scriptures.
And he said to them, have you not read? what David did when
he was in hungered and they that were with him? How he entered
into the house of God and did eat the showbread which was not
lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him,
but only for the priest? Or have ye not read in the law
How that on the Sabbath days, the priest in the temple profaned
the Sabbath and are blameless. They work all day long on the
Sabbath. They're sacrificing, they're making showbread, they're
doing, doing, doing. He said they profaned the law
and he said they're blameless. Verse six, he said, but I say
unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. Who is he talking about? He's
talking about himself. In this place is one greater
than the temple. But if ye had known what this
meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not
have condemned the guiltless. He called him guiltless. For
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. You know where those Pharisees
went wrong? Here's where they went wrong. They thought obeying
that law, keeping that Sabbath was their salvation. That's what
they thought. They thought obeying that law
was their salvation. What they didn't realize is this,
Christ is our Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is our rest. We don't rest on a day of the
week. We rest on Christ. Exodus 20 is where the commandment
was given. Exodus 20 verse 8, it says, remember
the Sabbath. You know what that's saying?
Remember Christ. He himself said, search the scriptures,
all the scriptures. Every single one of them is testifying
of me. They're all telling you about
me. They're all talking about me. They're all pointing you
to me. Remember Christ. Here's the commandment. Remember Christ, that He is holy. He's perfect. He is pure. He is righteous. He is the fulfillment
of the law. So rest on Him. We rest on a
person, not a day. That day was given to point us
to a person. That's the whole reason, it was
to point us to a person. All right, now look right here
at Matthew 12, verse 10. And behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered. And they asked him saying, is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that they might accuse him?
They ask our Lord this question. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath
days that they might accuse him? And he said unto them, what man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep? And if
it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth and
it was restored whole like as the other. Stretch forth your
hand. You know what he was telling
that man? Be free. Be free. I'm the truth. And you
shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. You're
not in bondage anymore. You're not in bondage anymore.
Can you imagine that guy's happiness when he stretched his arm out?
Oh, I'm free at last. I've been in this bondage. My
arm, my hand has been withered in this bondage of sin. It's
been held captive, but now it's free. Praise God Almighty, I'm
free at last. Listen to the words of this song.
Here's a song that we'll find in our hymnal. It says, free
from the law, oh happy condition. happy condition. The Lord Jesus
hath bled, he bled, and there is remission. Cursed by the law
and bruised by the fall, but Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free. There's no condemnation. The Lord Jesus provides a perfect
salvation. Come unto me. Me, not the law,
me. Come unto me. Oh, hear his sweet
call. Come. And he saves us once for
all. Once for all, oh sinner, receive
it. Once for all, oh brother, believe
it. cling to the cross. Cling to
the Christ who hung on that cross. Don't cling to a block of wood,
you cling to the person who hung on it. Cling to the cross, the
burden will fall. That bondage will fall. That
bondage of trying to do, do, do something that I can't do,
it'll fall. Christ hath redeemed us. Do we all hear that? Christ hath
redeemed us once for all. My obedience to God's holy law
plays no role in my salvation. None whatsoever. Well then the question is asked,
why did he give it to us? If it has no bearing on my salvation,
if it plays no role in my salvation, why did God give us His law? The answer is over in Romans
chapter 3. Turn with me over there to Romans
chapter 3 and let's look at verse 19. It says, now we know that
what things soever the law saith, It saith to them who are under
the law. Every human being is born into
this world under the law. Every one of us. Every soul on
earth is born into this world under the law. We know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. That's why God sent his law. He sent it to expose the world's
guilt. He sent it to expose man's sin. If we didn't have God's law,
we would never know what sinners we are against God, we'd never
know. We would never know that we just don't stack up. We would
never know that we need mercy. We'd never know that. Never know
we need Christ, never. Verse 20, he said, therefore
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. Do you see that with me? By the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, who is the righteousness of God? That's
Christ. The righteousness of God without the law is manifested. God was manifest in the flesh.
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation. That means a bloody victim. God sent him to be a sacrifice
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness. that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Where's boasting then? Where's boasting? Well, we obey
the Sabbath. Really? Well, then I guess the
cross of Christ was made none effect. I guess he didn't accomplish
all that he came to fulfill. He came to fulfill his law. That
law, number one, it reveals to us our sin, but it reveals his
righteousness. We see he's the only one who
can keep it. So me trying to keep it now, I guess I believe
that he didn't fulfill it. Verse 26 right here says, to
declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in him."
Where's boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Believing is not a work. I've
never known a company to pay their employees for believing.
It's not a work. Verse 28 says, therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Sinners are not saved by obeying
God's law for two reasons. The first one is this, God said
so. That's enough, isn't it? We don't
even really need to see reason number two, that's enough. Sinners
are not saved by obeying God's law because God said so. But
here's the second reason. It's because it's impossible
for a sinner to obey God's law. We just read all have sinned
and it's impossible for a sinner to obey God's law. Galatians
4 verse 21 says, you that desire to be under the law, do you not
hear the law? God's law is not deed only, it's
thought. It's motive, motive in the heart. You might say, well, I've never
killed anybody. Our Lord himself said, have you ever gotten mad?
Have you ever gotten mad, ever gotten angry? Then you've broken
God's law, that's murder in the heart. To break it in one point is to
break all the law. I have a coffee mug. I like to
drink coffee. And I have a coffee mug that
I've had for years and years. I love that coffee mug. But it
has a little, little hairline crack in it. In one little spot
on the bottom side. And every time I put coffee in
that mug, One drop at a time, it leaks coffee. And I'll set
my mug down, and when I pick it up again, there's just coffee
all over the table. It's one drop at a time, it's
leaking coffee. It's a broken mug. It's a broken mug. I could say,
yeah, but the handle's in great condition. And all the other
sides of it, the bottom's fine, the lip around the top is fine,
the other three sides are fine. It's a broken mug. It's a broken
mug. Somebody could say, well, we
keep the Sabbath. We go to church on the Sabbath. Well, I hope
you didn't drive a car over there. You're not allowed to do that.
I hope you didn't eat anything that involves any preparation
in the meals. God wouldn't even allow the Israelites
to go out and pick up manna off the ground on the Sabbath. Why? to show us you don't mix law
and grace. You just don't do it. You don't
mix works and grace. Don't you add one thing to Christ's
finished work. Christ obeyed the law. Every dot of the I, every cross
of the T, it is finished. Salvation is a sinner being put
in Christ. That's what salvation is. It's
a sinner hiding in Christ. That's salvation. Christ is our
salvation. Christ is. Galatians 3 verse
10 says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Cursed is everyone who
doesn't continue in all things. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. That's evident. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. That's just evident. For the
just shall live by faith. And the law is not faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. You make that bed,
you sleep in it. Verse 13 says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us. That's how he did it. For it
is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ
put away the first. He put away salvation by the
law. The law that no sinner could
keep. He put away the first that he might establish the second.
Salvation by grace. Salvation in him. Salvation through
him. Salvation by his blood alone. Well, here's my last question
on this subject. It's in Romans chapter three,
verse 31. Paul writes, do we then make
void the law through faith? Just because we're saved by faith
in Christ and not by the deeds of the law, do we throw it out?
He said, God forbid, God forbid. Yeah, we establish the law. We love his law. Even though
we can't keep His law because we're sinners, it's still His
law. It's still what He demands, and
we love Him. We love Him. Growing up in my father's house
as a child, there were rules, just like I'm sure there are
rules in your house. One of the things that my father
demanded of me and my sisters was that we say, yes sir, no
sir. He wanted us to speak with respect. He demanded of us that
we be kind. He demanded that we share, share
what we have. Now let me ask you this question.
Which one of those commandments did I have to obey in order to
belong to Him? Which one did I have to obey
in order to be His, His child? None of them. Well, if you don't
say yes, sir, I'm not gonna give you my DNA. No, that's backwards. That's all backwards. We have
it all backwards. I had to obey those commandments
because I was His child. I would have friends over. He
didn't demand it from them. They were not His children. But
do you know, still to this day, I have children of my own now.
Still to this day, I want to say yes, sir, to Him. Why? Because He demands it of me?
No. It's because I love Him. I love
Him. He's been nothing but good to
me. He's done nothing but provide for me and help me and teach
me, and I love Him, and I respect Him, and I wanna be just like
Him. And that's what He asked of me, and I wanna do it. And
that's what our text is saying this morning. In John 14, verse
15, He said, if you love Me, keep My commandments. He didn't
say if you wanna be saved. Salvation's of the Lord. Christ
gets all the glory for that. But if you've seen what I've
done for you, and if that causes your heart to be so thankful,
if you love me, keep my commandments. Lord, because of Christ, we would
love to do nothing more. May our 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.