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 Psalm 107 this morning. I have one verse of scripture
I want to begin reading. And my prayer is that we have
entered into this with David. David is writing from his heart,
and I pray that we will, in our hearts, enter into the same thing.
Psalm 107, verse 20 says, he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their
destructions. Isn't that wonderful? He sent
his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Who, what, how, and why? That's
what we have right here. He sent His Word and healed them
and delivered them from their destructions. Now most everyone knows that
our health care is in a bad condition. The health care in this country
is in a bad way. It's very hard to even afford
insurance really. Hospitals are having to make
cutbacks, they're having to cut corners. Some of them are having to shut
down. But there's one hospital that
I have heard about, and this hospital has an unlimited
supply of resources, an unlimited supply. And because of that, the hospital
doesn't charge the patients anything. Nothing. Now they have to meet
certain requirements. The hospital won't just take
anybody. They have to meet certain criteria, but if they meet those
requirements, it does not cost them one dime. This hospital's free. And it's
huge, it's absolutely huge. This particular hospital that
I've heard about, it has more beds than every other hospital
in the world combined. More beds than every other hospital
combined. There's plenty of room. Plenty
of room. Unlimited resources, plenty of
room. There's only one physician there. Just one. And he's never lost
a patient. Not one sick person has ever
died in his hospital. Not one. Every one of them has
walked out healed, and healthy. You're listening to this right
now thinking, okay, I see where you're going. I see what you're
doing. I see what you're saying. I can
read between the lines. I thought you were telling me
the truth. I am. I am. Turn with me over to Mark
chapter two. Mark chapter 2 verse 14 says,
And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus, sitting
at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, Many
publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples,
for there were many. There were many. And they followed
Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw Him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples,
How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, they that are whole have no need of thee, physician. But they that are sick, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners, that's the requirement.
You gotta be a sinner That's the requirement to enter into
this hospital and have an operation performed by the physician. You've got to be a sinner. They that are whole have no need
of the physician, the one great physician. Turn with me over
to Luke chapter 6. Luke six, verse 17 says, and
he came down with them and stood in the plane and the company
of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all
Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon,
which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.
They all came to hear him and be healed of their diseases.
and they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were
healed. And the whole multitude sought
to touch Him, for there went virtue out of Him, and He healed
them all." He healed them all. Every sick person who was brought
to Him was healed, every single one. He did not turn away one
sick person. He healed them all. He healed
them all. That's the truth. Not one person
ever died in His presence. Not one person. And any person who was already
dead, a man or a woman would die and then they would call
for the Lord and He would come to that person. Any person who was already dead,
when He came to them, they got up. They got up. Jairus' daughter, she got up,
she arose. There was a young boy they were
carrying out in a coffin and it says, the Lord had compassion
on his mother and He said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he got up. Our Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. I'm telling us the truth. The
Great Physician, Jesus Christ, is the one that Psalm 107 is
talking about. He. That's who Psalm 107 is talking
about. He. Now go with me back over
to Psalm 107, verse 20 says, He, the Great Physician, The
only physician who has never lost a patient, He prescribes
the same thing every time. Same thing. What is it? Verse 20 says, He sent His Word. He sent His Word. It's the same
prescription for every patient. One physician and one prescription
can cure every sickness and disease there is. Well now wait a minute,
you're not talking about actual sickness and disease, not really.
You're not talking about physical sickness. Oh yes I am. Yes I am. He is able. He's able. Whatever you're afflicted
with, He is able. But here's the truth of the matter.
There's no real need in it. Whatever you and I are afflicted
with, He's able to heal us of that affliction. But there's
no real need in it. It is appointed unto man once
to die. Is that not what the Scripture
says? It is appointed unto man once to die. Our Lord is going
to use some means to carry that out. If He heals us of this particular
sickness, that's great. That's wonderful. But physical
death is still right around the corner. It's right around the
corner. People say all the time, I beat
cancer. No, you didn't. God in mercy
healed you of that. But physical death is still right
around the corner. All of our Lord's healings represent
that greater need. He healed for one reason only. It was to show us our greater
need. We have an eternal need. A spiritual need. For that need,
He sent His Word. Who is that? In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was made flesh. God's people were
a sick people, sick with sin, and only one prescription could
heal them. It was Jesus Christ. God sent
His Word. He sent His Word. All right,
now who was the Word sent to? Who are these patients that the
great physician came to? Well, look at Psalm 107, verse
2. Psalm 107, verse 2 says, Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He hath redeemed from
the hand of the enemy. He came to those who were held
captive by the enemy, bound by sin. That's who He came to. Those
who were bound by sin. Hold your place right here and
turn with me over to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 verse 1 says, The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound." He came
to set sinners free. That's what He came to do. He
came to set sinners He came to every soul that knows He's bound
to sin. Bound to sin. Look with me back
at Psalm 107. Verse 4 says, They wandered in
the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. They were lost. They were lost. That's who he came to, the lost. And I mean lost. Those that know
outside of Christ, I'm lost. Is that you? What hope do we
have outside of Christ? I'm just gonna be honest with
you here on the radio this morning. Outside of Christ, I am lost. I'm lost. Outside of Jesus Christ,
I'm a lost man. If I don't have Christ, I'm lost.
Lost. Right here in Psalm 107, verse
nine says, for he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth
the hungry soul with goodness. He came to those who see their
need. He came to those who see their
need. They have a need. They didn't see it before He
came. He came and revealed that need to them. But every soul
He came to knows, I have a need. Oh, I have a need. He came to
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They lack it,
but they need it. I don't have it, but I need it.
Outside of Christ, I don't have it, but I need it. Verse 10 says,
such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He came
to the blind, spiritually blind, such as sit in darkness. He came
to the dead. the spiritually dead, such as
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and
condemned the counsel of the Most High. He came to the rebel
against God." That's who he came to. The rebel against God. I'm going
to tell you, is me in my flesh. He came to the one whose flesh
says, I will not have that man reign over me. Well, we'll see about that. Thank
God we'll see about that. Verse 17 says, fools. That's who He came to. Fools. Look at Psalm 14 with me. Psalm 14 verse 1 says, The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no God. Oh man. The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Did you know that's the absolute
truth of the matter? That's the truth of this world.
Things have not changed. It was the way back when David
wrote this and it's that way today. There is none that doeth
good. The world thinks, well, there
has to be a little bit of good in everybody. No, there's not. If there's any good in a sinner,
it's Christ in the sinner. There's none good. There's none
good. Verse two right here in Psalm
14 says, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek
God. They are all gone aside. All means all. They are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. Fools. You know, you call a man a fool
and he's not going to like that at all. He will not like that
at all. He will be highly offended by
that, highly offended. But if God ever reveals the wisdom
of Christ to that man, If God ever reveals the wisdom
of Christ to that man, once the all-wise, all-knowing, great
physician comes to that man, he will immediately say, I'm
a fool. I'm a fool. Let God be true and
let me be a liar because I'm a fool. I'm a fool. Christ is my wisdom. He's all
my wisdom. Well, back in Psalm 107, verse
17 says, Fools, because of their transgression and because of
their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth. That means, hateth. Their soul
abhorreth all manner of meat. and they draw near unto the gates
of death." They naturally hate all manner of meat. The meat
that God Himself provides, heavenly manna. Those Israelites said,
we hate this light bread. Isn't that what they said? We
hate this light bread. Do you know what the Lord Jesus
Christ said? I am that bread. I'm that bread that came down
from heaven. They said, oh, we hate that bread.
Truly, truly sick people. Sick people. But I want to show
you something in John chapter 11. Turn with me over to John
chapter 11. This is talking about Lazarus.
Verse 3, Therefore his sisters sent unto him, sent unto our
Lord, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. He whom thou lovest is sick. In spite of all our awful, wicked
sickness, God commended His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's what Romans 5 says. It says, for when we were yet
without strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's hard to believe, isn't
it? That can only be believed by
the faith of Christ. God giving the free gift of faith
because that's exactly what happened. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. You and me, you and me, ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, Yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
The great physician came to us. And He took that sickness off
of us and He laid it on Himself. Here's the thing about our physician.
Every patient that he admits into his hospital, he bears their
sickness. He takes their sickness upon
himself. He wears their infirmity. And after they're relieved of
it, after He takes it off of them and lays it on Himself,
they know. They know. I was bound, but He
set me free. I know He did. I was lost, but
He found me. I was hungry, now I'm satisfied. I was blind. How do you know? How do you know you were blind?
I know because now I see. Do you think a blind man who
somehow miraculously was made to see, do you think he would
know he was blind? Oh, absolutely. How do you know?
Because I see now. I can see. I was dead and now
I live. I was a rebel. Now I want nothing
more than to obey His commandments. I love thy law. I'm a fool, but
He's my wisdom. If I have Him, I have all wisdom. I have it all. Man cannot live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. Our text says he sent his word
and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.
That's his result. The physician, his prescription
and his result every time. The great physician has healed
his people of every sickness except for two, I believe. I
believe they have two reoccurring sicknesses, and I'm not talking
about cancer or any other disease like that. I'm talking about
an inward, spiritual, heartfelt sickness. The great physician
has healed his people of every sickness except for two. Let
me show you what they are. Turn with me over to Song of
Solomon, chapter 5. Song of Solomon 5 verse 8 says,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
that you tell him that I am sick of love. Love sick. Lovesick. Do you remember being
about 12 or 13 or 14 years old, experiencing true lovesickness
for the first time in your life? What's the matter with you? Why
aren't you eating your dinner? It's because he's lovesick. Oh,
it hurts, doesn't it? In a good way. You can see a
man go from his lowest to his highest just by getting a word,
a call, a note, any type of conversation from the one he's lovesick over.
Well, he sent his word. It's the only thing that will
cure lovesickness. He sent his word and healed them. Oh, he does love me. He does. God's people are truly lovesick
for Him, and they lay hold to His Word tightly. They read it
and they read it and they read it. He loves me. And there's one other kind of
sickness I believe all of God's people still endure. Turn with
me over to Revelation 22. I was never in the military,
but I've heard stories of men and women who've had to go overseas
for an extended period. And they start thinking about
their family. They think about their wives, their husbands,
their children, their parents. And they start to become very
homesick. And those men and women have
said, the only thing that got me through was that letter. That
letter. Well, he sent his word. He sent
His Word. Revelation 22 verse 20 says,
He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Hang on to His Word. Keep reading
His Word. The longer God's people are in
this world, the more homesick they become. But James 5 verse
8 says, Be ye also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh. That will heal a man if he's
homesick. That will heal him. He sent his
word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. 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.