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 have a very serious message
to deliver to you this morning. It's a message that is so vital. It needs to be heard by every
man and woman on this earth. And my prayer is that the Lord
will let us clearly see the truth today. The message is there is one way. That's the message. There's one
way of salvation. There's only one way. In a day where men are being
told by most preachers that there is more than one way, the truth of God's Word is there's
one way. Now the question of this morning
is why can't men and women believe God's truth? Why can't this world see the
truth that God has written in his word? If the Lord will open the eyes
of a sinner to it, it's so clear. It's right there on the page. But sadly, religion is divided
into so many denominations, so many beliefs regarding salvation. One denomination says you have
to do this. Another denomination says, well,
you have to do that. A third denomination says they're
both wrong, you've got to do this. But do you know what the
truth of God's Word says? You know what God has written
down in His Word for us to read? Here's what God Almighty says.
You don't have to do any of that. It's already done. It's already done. That's the
truth regarding salvation. What that means is, for all of
these denominations that are differing on this, it means when
there's one truth, everybody else has to be wrong. People hear that and say, how
can that be? How can the world be wrong? How can the majority of the world
be wrong, all these people, because how many denominations are there?
And if there's one truth, then everybody else who is not in
agreement with that truth has to be wrong. And people will hear that and
say, how can that be? How can the world be wrong? Explain that to me. How can the
world be wrong? Well, look with me at Matthew
chapter seven. I strongly urge you to grab a
Bible this morning and open it with me to Matthew chapter seven
because this is a vital truth that needs to be seen and understood
and believed. And in Matthew chapter seven,
this is what God Almighty said in verse 13. He said, enter ye in at the straight
gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth
to destruction and many there be which go in thereat. He said enter in at the straight
gate. Straight means narrow. narrow. Enter ye in at the straight
gate, for broad is the way that leads to destruction." The broad way. This word tells us that there
is one way for salvation. And when the average man or woman
hears that, they respond by saying, that's pretty narrow-minded isn't
it? That's pretty narrow-minded.
No, it's not actually narrow-minded. It's the truth. I'm not saying
that. God is. There's one way. If a sinner desires to be saved,
spared, redeemed, there's one way. And it's in the precious
blood of the Lamb of God. He said, I am the way. I'm the way. The substitute for
sinners. The sacrifice for sin. One way. One way. Now if I were to ask a man directions
on how to get to Walmart, And he told me how to get there,
and it was a very long way to get there. And then another man
heard him and said, no, you don't want to go that way. You want
to go this way. It's a little bit shorter. And then a third man heard both
of them and said, no, no, no, that's crazy. Here's a straight
shot. Here's the shortest way of all. What all of those men would be
telling me is there's more than one way to get to Walmart. And that may be the case. But
we're not trying to get to Walmart. We're trying to get to a high,
holy, sovereign God. And His truth says there's one
way. But so many men are telling people
today, oh, there is more than one way. And if you want to go
this way, that's fine. And if you want to go that way,
that's fine. I'm here to tell us in love this
morning. I'm talking to myself. I'm preaching to me first. There's only one way. There's
only one way. According to God Almighty, the
truth that has not changed. There's
only one way. Look with me here in Matthew
7 at 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. What is the Father's will? He
said, This is my beloved Son, hear Him. That's what he said, hear him. Verse 22, he said, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. People are going to stand before
him and say, but Lord. We said Lord, Lord all of our
lives. We said Lord, Lord. We put our
hands up in the air and we swayed back and forth. And he's about to tell us in
verse 23, it's all sin. Isn't that amazing? If the Lord
would open our eyes to see what he's saying right here, he said
that's all sin. The pride in it, the self-righteousness
in it, it's all sin. But right here in verse 22, it
says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? You know what that means? They're
saying, we were preachers. Somebody might ask, is that person
over there, is that man over there saved? Oh yeah, he's saved,
he's a preacher. Of course he's saved, he's a
preacher. God says right here, it's all sin. It's all sin. One man made the
statement years and years ago, he said, I cannot preach, but
I sin. The Apostle Paul said, sin is
mixed with all I do. God said it's all sin. He said, depart from me ye that
work iniquity. Preaching won't get a man into
heaven. Being a preacher will not get
a man into heaven. Only the blood of Christ will. There are going to be a lot of
preachers in hell, and I say this sorrowfully. It pains me to announce that,
but it's the truth. It's the truth. There's going
to be a lot of preachers in hell, and the reason is because they
did not tell men and women about the one thing needful. They didn't
tell them that there's one way There's one way. Verse 22 right
here, our Lord said, 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? We cast devils out of other people,
literally. He said it's all sin. Verse 22,
they said, and in thy name done many wonderful works. We started charities. We built
houses for people. We brought clean water into villages
where people were dying from contamination. The Lord said
it's all sin. It's all sin. Verse 23, then will I profess
unto them I never knew you, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Iniquity means sin. Now look
at verse 13 with me one more time. Our Lord said, enter ye
in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in
thereat. When our Lord says many, He does
not mean more than a few. When it says Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, He said it's a number no man
can number. That's what He said. As the stars of the sky and the
sand of the seashore. When God says many, He means
many. Many. Verse 13, enter ye in at
the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way
that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there
at. Because straight is the gate. And I love that the word because
means or translates how. He said in verse 14, how straight
is the gate? and narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it." Do we see that in His
Word? Now again, I'm not saying this,
God is. I'm not making this up, God wrote
this. He said, how straight is the
gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there
be that find it. So he says in verse 15, beware
of false prophets. Oh, there's a bunch of them.
There's a bunch of them. How do you know a false prophet?
He is the man who's telling you there's more than one way. He's
a false prophet. There is one way. You have so
many men who will stand up and tell you, if you want to be saved,
you have to quit your drinking. That's not the way of salvation.
There's one way. You have men standing up telling
people that if you want to be saved, you're going to have to
live a cleaner life. I wish people would live a cleaner
life. I truly do. I would strongly encourage any
person who hears this, starting with me, let's all live a cleaner
life. But I want to be honest with
you and tell you that it's not going to save our souls. There
are people on this earth who live a cleaner life than I'll
ever dream of living. But if they do not bow to the
one way, then their soul will not be saved. God's Holy Word is full of harlots
and thieves and murderers that God saved. How can that be? Here's how. Jesus Christ came down and He
shed His own blood and He freed His people from all
the sin that had them held captive. All the sin that was judging
them and convicting them. He freed His people without them
adding one thing to His work or taking one thing from His
work. He did it alone. He did everything
that God required to pay the debt for the sin we occurred. He did everything God required
to satisfy His demands in His holy law. He did it all. And we didn't add anything to
it. We didn't take anything from it. The scripture says, Call
His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. Those
harlots didn't go back to harlotry and those murderers didn't go
back to murdering. But the fact of the matter is,
what we do or what we don't do has no bearing of our salvation. It's only in the blood of Jesus
Christ. There is one way. There's one
way. It's in the work and in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go with me over to John chapter
12. Verse 34 in John chapter 12 says,
the people answered him, we have heard out of the law that Christ
abideth forever, and how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted
up? Who is this Son of Man? Don't you wish more people would
ask this question? Who is this Son of Man? I'm going to tell you who He
is. He's the way. There's one way. He's the way. The one who was lifted up is
the way. Verse 35, then Jesus said unto
them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while you
have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Christ is the light. This Bible we hold, It's His
Word and Christ is the Word. This Bible is our light. To what? The truth. The way. He's saying walk in it while
you have the light. Believe it. Believe it. Walk in it while you have the
light. Verse 36, he said, while you
have light, believe in the light that you may be the children
of light. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. But though he had
done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
him. Now we started this. by asking
the question, why can't this world see the truth in God's
Word? Why can't men and women believe
the truth? Now let's understand the fact
that this world, the men and women of this world, didn't see
the truth in God's Christ. Why can't they see the truth
in His Word? It's telling that they couldn't see the truth in
God's Christ. And but for the grace of God,
neither would we, neither would I. Verse 37 says, But though
He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on Him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Now this is God's own report.
And how long has it been around now? But men and women don't
believe it. And when you just tell them what
it says, they get angry. And they reject it and they say,
I don't believe that. Why is that? Look at the end
of verse 38 with me. It says, to whom hath the arm
of the Lord. Who is the arm of the Lord? The
right arm, the right hand of God. Jesus Christ. To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed. That's why. Revealed, the truth
in God's word must be revealed to a sinner by God. There's a saying that has been
passed down over the years and it needs to be passed down for
many more years. Here it is. Wrong on the fall,
wrong on it all. If we don't know the truth of
what happened to mankind when Adam sinned against God in that
garden, then we will never know the truth of salvation and eternal
life. I'm in a body, I have a body,
but this body's not me. I'm a soul. You could cut off
all my limbs and I'd still be me. When man sinned against God,
his soul died. He became spiritually dead. That which is flesh is flesh.
That which is spirit is spirit. And you tell people that this
word says we're all born into this world blind and deaf and
dead and trespasses and sins. And they'll say, you're out of
your mind. I see your lips moving. I hear your words. I can see,
I can hear. But that's not what our God is
talking about. He said don't fear them that are able to kill
the body and that's all they can do. He said, I'll tell you
who you should fear. He was talking about himself.
He said, I'll tell you who you should fear. Fear him that is
able to cast both body and soul into hell. We have a soul problem. We have a soul sickness. People believe my body's fine.
Yeah, but our souls are sick. They're actually dead. Verse
39, Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah
said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart,
that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with
their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Why doesn't this world believe
God's truth? It's because outside of Christ they cannot believe
God's truth. They're spiritually dead. Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. If you
have spiritual eyes to see the truth in God's Word, and if I
do, If God has given me spiritual eyes, and if He has given us
spiritual ears to hear the truth in God's Word, and a spiritual
heart to believe the truth in God's Word, then those are presents
from Him. Presents from God to us. Verse 40, he said, he hath blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see
with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. Every sinner who God reveals
the truth to, every sinner who God gives eyes to see and ears
to hear and heart to believe, every single one of them, every
one of them, will say, God did this. He closed to verse 40 by saying
that I should heal them. Verse 41 says, These things said
Isaiah when he saw His glory and spake of Him. God did this. God did it all. God did it all. Our Lord is the giver of life. He is the giver of eyes to see,
ears to hear, heart to believe. He's the giver of every good
and perfect thing. And if we beg Him, He said, I'm
going to do these things for you, but you're going to ask
Me for them. And if we do beg Him for them, then it's He who
worked in us first. David said, when you said, seek
my face, that's when my heart said, thy face will I seek. And
if God does this for a sinner, all the glory goes to God for
it. All the praise goes to God for it. In verse 42 it says,
nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on
him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest
they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God. That's what's going on
in religion today. The praise of men more than the
praise of God. But if God ever opens eyes to
see all of the glory will go to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every bit of it. In the last verses of this text,
verse 49, our Lord said, I have not spoken of Myself, but the
Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should
say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." This Word of
God is life everlasting. This Word of God is life everlasting,
and men and women, they cannot believe this Word unless it's
given to them as a gift from God Almighty. Believing His Word
is life everlasting. You don't have to believe me
this morning, but we all do have to believe him. You don't have
to believe any man who tells you anything, but we all have
to believe the God man. So here is the message. Here
is the message. There's one way. There's one
way. He has recorded the one way of
salvation in this word. The one way is Jesus Christ and
His shed blood. The Apostle Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. He is the way. Look to Him. Trust Him. Believe on Him. If God has enabled
you to do so, And if God has enabled me to do so, then let's
believe on Him because He is the one and only way. Don't put
any stock in what you've done. Don't put any stock in what you
haven't done. Throw works out of the window. and you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, His works alone for salvation. You go stand before God Almighty,
go stand before the judgment throne pleading the works of
Christ alone and the blood of Christ alone because He truly
is the one and only way. 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.