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. In the first verse of John chapter
14, our Lord said one of the sweetest sentences
in all of the Word of God. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. Our Lord said this because the
disciples were so down. They were so sad. He had just told them that one
of them was going to betray Him. They had just sat down at a supper
together, and He told them all, one of you is going to betray
Me. And that broke His disciples'
hearts. And at that table they saw him
personally become troubled in spirit. Him. Troubled. They watched a change
come over him. The one who was always at peace,
the one who was always content, always The one who, when they came to
Him and said, Lord, don't you care that we perish? A storm
is here. This ship is going down. The
one who came up front and said, Peace, be still. They saw Him become troubled
in spirit. He told them that He was leaving
and going to a place that they could not come. They didn't understand
this. But in their minds, they didn't
want to be separated from him. And they were so sad by this.
He told Peter directly, he said, tonight you are going to deny
me three times. Oh, no. And then right after he told
Peter that, he said, now let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled." That's the sweetest words that
a sinner could hear. It so preciously conveys His
true love and His true forgiveness and His true mercy to His people. Mercy to His people. That has always said to me that
He knows our frame. He remembers that we're dust. We're just dust. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. Why? Why did he say that? You believe in God, believe also
in me. The reason is because he is equal
with God. He is God. This man, Jesus Christ, a man
was troubled in spirit. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was
troubled in spirit. A man was lifted up. A man went to that cross in faith,
knowing that he was going to die, trusting that God was going
to raise him up. A man went to that cross in faith. A man was denied. A man felt
the grief of being despised and rejected. A man felt that. But
at the same time, at the same exact time, this man is God Almighty. God troubled himself in spirit. God was lifted up. 2 Corinthians
5 says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God was
denied. That was not just a man they
were denying, that was God. Most people would say, well,
that was the Son of God. Well, turn with me over to John
chapter 10. John 10 verse 30, our Lord said,
I and my Father are one. One. God is a Trinity. We know that
from Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. God said, let us make man
in our image. After our, God is three persons, three individual
persons, the Father of God, the Son of God, and the Spirit of
God. Our Lord said, you believe in
God, you believe in me. Those three persons are just
as much one as I am just as much a father as I am a son. Well, wait a minute now, which
one are you? A father or a son? Yes. Yes. Back a few chapters in John 5,
Our Lord said in verse 17, My father worketh hitherto, and
I work. Therefore the Jews sought the
Moor to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing
of Himself but what He seeth the Father do. For what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." Why? Why can the Son do nothing of
Himself but what He seeth the Father do? Why is that? Is it
because He is less? No, it's because they are one. They are one. They can only do
the same because they are one. Verse 20 says, for the father
loveth the son and showeth him all things that himself doeth.
And He will show him greater works than these, that you may
marble. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." The Father judgeth
no man, He's committed all judgment unto the Son. Well, I thought
that Christ was my advocate. He is. He's also the judge. Verse 22, the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent
him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Whoever
hears the Father and believes the Father is going to live.
Whoever hears the Son and believes the Son is going to live. Why? Because they're one. They are
one. Back in John chapter 14, look
at verse 7 with me. If you had known me, this is
what our Lord is saying, if you had known me, you should have
known my Father also. And from henceforth you know
Him and have seen Him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, have
I been so long time with you? And yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works'
sake." He said, you believe in God? Believe in me. I and my Father are one. In verse
two, he said, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. Now I and every other man and
woman on this earth, we all collectively have no idea what our Lord means
by this word mansions. We have no idea what it means. He said that his kingdom is a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
That's what he said, didn't he? He told us in Psalm 48 to walk
about Zion and go round about her, tell the towers thereof. That's what he said. But Peter
said, the Lord spoke through Peter, when he said that he knew
shortly he must put off his tabernacle, his body. This body houses my soul. It's where my soul lives. And
one of these days, I'm going to put off my tabernacle and
be conformed to the image of Christ. And that glorified body
is going to be a mansion compared to this tent that I'm living
in right now. But I have no idea if that's what our Lord means
at all. I do know this. When all of God's elect are finally
called home to glory, whether there are mansions or not, we're
not gonna care. We're just not going to care.
It's not going to matter one bit to us. The reason is because
our eyes are going to be fastened on the most beautiful face an
eye has ever seen. The face of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. We won't want to look at anything
else. Are there mansions? I don't know. I can't stop looking
at Him. What about the streets? Are they
made out of gold? Who cares? I can't stop looking
at Him. What our Lord is telling us in
this is there's plenty of room. That's what He's saying, there's
plenty of room. Isn't that good news? Plenty
of room for a sinner like you and me. Verse two, He said, in my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. Verse three, he said, and if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. Did he go? He said, if I go, did he go? Yes. Then he's coming again. We have
his word. He has given us his word. He
is coming again. He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also, and whither I go you
know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? How can we know the way? The way to the Father's house
Do you know the way? The way to glory. Do you know
the way? Do I know the way? The way to the prepared place. Do we know the way? Verse six,
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Knowing that He and the Father
are one, that sheds a lot of light on that verse of Scripture,
doesn't it? No one is going to bypass the
Son to get to the Father. If a sinner is going to make
it to the Father, it is only going to be by Him. That's it. Now what did our Lord mean when
He said, I am the way? What does he mean by that? And
I'll tell us all this. Right here, what he said right
here, this is the key to salvation. This is the key to salvation. If a sinner wonders what is salvation,
what is salvation all about? Here's the key right here. A
person is the way. A person is the way. A person is the way. Not a place. Church is not the way. Getting back into church is not
good enough. It's not a place. It's not a thing doing anything. It's not an idea. Theology is
not the way. A person is the way. If God would ever reveal that
to a sinner, and calls that sinner to truly believe it, truly believe
it, then salvation has come to that sinner. A person is the way. We preach a person. That's what
we preach, a person. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians
1.13, He said when he was back in religion, he persecuted the
church of God and he wasted it. That's when he was in religion. Religion is not the way. A man gets caught breaking the
law. And he gets thrown into prison. And then he feels sorry about
it because he got caught. So he feels guilty over it. and
he starts to get worried about his soul and he thinks, I need
to get religion. No, you don't. Don't do that. Religion is not the way. What you need is Christ. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. A person is the way. The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians,
for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Works are not the way. Works
are not the way. Oh, I need to clean up my act.
I just need to start living right. That would actually be a good
idea. I would strongly encourage that. I would encourage every
sinner I can to clean up his act and start living right. But
that will not bring you to God. It's not the way. It's just not the way. Over in
Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, our Lord said, Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you,
depart from me, you that work iniquity. When a man goes to
stand before the judgment throne of God, and God asks him, what
right do you have to enter in? If he says, oh, I've been in
church all my life, God will say, depart from me, I never
knew you. If he says, oh, I came to a higher
understanding of doctrine, higher than most every other man on
the planet, if he says that, God will say, depart from me,
I never knew you. If he says, I gave my heart to
you, I gave up the world for you, I denied myself for your
sake, if he says that, God will say, depart from me, I never
knew you. But if he says, I'm not here
on my own rights, I'm here on the rights of another,
the rights of a man who shed his blood for me. His name is
Jesus Christ. I'm pleading the Lord Jesus Christ. All of my hope is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and everything he accomplished for me. Any sinner
who says that will hear, welcome in thou good and faithful servant. Welcome in. Back in our text,
verse six, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way. I, I am the way. That's it. That's the key to
salvation. I am the way. And he said, I
am the way. I am the way. Even though most people say the
word Jesus, did you know that most people don't believe that
He is? They believe He was. They believe
He was on this earth 2,000 years ago. And He came to show us the
way to be an example to us. If we would follow in His footsteps,
we'll make it there. But Christ didn't say, I was.
Even though men and women believe that, He didn't say, I was. What
He said was, I am. I am. Call on Him today. Seek Him while He may be found
today. He said, if you don't believe
that I am, you'll die in your sins. Isn't that what He said?
Hebrews 11 6 says, He that cometh to God must believe that He is. Christ said, I am the way. And then what he was saying is,
I am the way. I am the way, not a way. Well, that's fine. You take that
route. We'll take this route. We'll meet you in the middle.
Nope. There's one way. There's one way. He said broad
is the way that leads to destruction. Straight is the gate. And narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life. And few there be that find it. Few there be that find life. Why? It's because if they don't come
to Him, if they don't find the way, they will never find the
truth and the life. Christ is all. He's all of those
things. If a sinner finds Christ, he's
found everything. If a sinner does not find Christ,
if he's found everything else, but he doesn't find Christ, he's
found nothing. If God has revealed Christ to
you, if God has revealed who He is, what He has done, what
He has finished for His people. If you are resting in that, if
you're resting in Him and looking straight to Him and completely
trusting in Him, not in your own works, not in your own decisions,
not in your own knowledge, not in your own ability, if you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, then let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe in Him. He said, in my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the way. Until next Sunday
morning, 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.