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. The message this morning is going
to come from Isaiah chapter 55. This chapter is so precious to
believers. Every word in this particular
chapter is glorious, just like every word in the entire scripture
is glorious. But I want us to particularly
dwell on six precious words right in the middle of verse three. Our Lord said, hear and your
soul shall live. here and your soul shall live. Now, do you know who he's talking
to? He's talking to a dead man. To say, here and your soul shall
live. If he needs life, that means
he's dead. Well, how can he hear if he's
dead? How can a dead man hear? This gospel is for sinners. This gospel is for those who
are born dead in their trespasses and sins. And if the gospel call
is here, and if that call goes out to dead men, How can they
hear? They're dead. Well, our Lord has shown us how
over in Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel. Turn with me to Ezekiel
chapter 16. Ezekiel 16 and look at verse
1. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Cause Jerusalem, cause my people to know that they've sinned against
me. And we have, haven't we? If a man say that he doesn't
have sin, he is a liar. He makes God a liar. We've sinned
against God, haven't we? So sad to say, but we know our
abominations. He said, son of man calls Jerusalem
to know her abominations. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan, Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite.
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel
was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any
of these things unto thee. to have compassion upon thee. Know I. Know I pitied you. Know I had compassion on you.
But thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou was born. What a horrible condition. But the Lord God of heaven said,
you tell Jerusalem, this is every single one of you. This is our state as we come
into this world. We are born dead in trespasses
and sins. Cast out. No eye pitied us. None had compassion on us. But
verse six says, when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted
in thine own blood, That means trodden underfoot. Can you imagine
that? Trodden underfoot. When I passed
by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Live. Verse 8, He said, Now when I
passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. Why would God do any of this
for us? Why would He cause us to live? Why would He say that
to us? The answer is love. If God comes
to a sinner and says to his heart, if He quickens him and says, It's because God had love toward
that center, compassion toward that center. And he says right
here, that time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt
over thee and covered thy nakedness. That's what every single one
of us need. We're born dead, we're born naked in our filthy rags, our own works. and we need a new covering, that's
what we need. All of our covering is nothing
but sin. We need a new righteousness,
a new righteous robe. And he said, I spread my skirt
over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou became
as mine. And in verse 10, he said, I clothed
you, and I girded you, and I covered you. And I said, live. Live, that's what happened. He
did it. How does a dead man hear? How
does a dead man live? Well, with man, that's impossible.
A dead man cannot hear, and a dead man cannot live, but with God,
all things are possible. If God comes to a sinner and
says, live, that sinner is going to live. He's going to. Now turn with me over to Mark
chapter 7. Mark chapter 7 verse 31 says,
And again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came
unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseeched
him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and
touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed and said unto him, Ephatha, that is, be opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake
plain. And he charged them that they
should tell no man, but the more he charged them, so much the
more a great deal they published it, and were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf
to hear, in the dome to speak. He maketh. How is this possible? He did it. He did it. He has to do it. Here in your
soul shall live. Is that something that a sinner
gets the glory for? Absolutely not. Is that something
a sinner can do in response of his own accord? Absolutely not. It must be a work of God Almighty. Here in your soul shall live. Now back over in Isaiah 55, verse
three says, incline your ear and come unto me. Incline your
ear, not recline, like a recliner. Incline. Draw nigh to God. Incline your ear. Don't just
let this go in one ear and out the other. Not just every man
who hears this word goes forth. He's saying incline your ear.
This is not just every person who hears these words. Every
man who hears, I mean really hears, with the heart. Every
sinner who hears with the heart, with the inclined ear of his
heart. You know, our Lord said, not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven. He's not talking about the soul
that says, well, I got my brain around this. I got my mind around
it. Our Lord said, you shall seek
me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. With all your heart. Incline
your ear. Incline your heart. The ear of
this heart. Look back at chapter 54, verse
five says, for thy maker is thy husband. That maker's a husband. Incline
your heart because your maker is your husband. The text in
Isaiah 55 verse three says, incline your ear and come unto me. Come unto me. How often do we
need to be reminded to do that, to come to him? How often do
we need to be reminded to take all of our burdens to the Lord? He said, come unto me. God's sheep are the only ones
who do. The call goes forth, if any man
thirsts, let him come. If you need rest, come. But God's
sheep are the only ones who do. And the reason is because they're
the only ones that the Father is drawing. They're the only
ones who are drawn, but they do come. They do come to Christ. There was a harlot one time who
came crawling up to the Lord's feet, crying all over His feet. She started washing His feet
with her hair. Do you know what she did? She
came to Him. She was so sorry over her sins. Are you sorry over your sins?
Do you have grief and pain and suffering and guilt for your
sin? Don't come to religion. Don't
do that. Don't come to the law. Oh, for
sure, don't do that. Come to Christ. That woman, that poor woman,
She just came crawling, she just came begging. And she came straight
to His feet. She didn't feel worthy to come
to His feet. But that woman came to Him. And
oh, it went well for her. There was a leper one time, covered
in leprosy. So vile, so wretched. But he came worshiping, he came
begging. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. That man didn't come to a higher
understanding. He came to Christ. He came to
the Savior, he came to the man, the God-man. There was a blind man one time
who sat by the wayside crying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He wasn't sitting
there crying, I've decided to accept you. He cried, oh, have
mercy on me. Have mercy on me. There was a woman with an issue
of blood. She said, if I could just touch the hem of His garment,
I'll be made whole. She was not coming to His clothes.
She was not worshiping His clothes and glorifying His clothes. She
was coming to Him. She knew there's so much power
in Him, so much virtue in Him. If I could just touch His clothes,
I'd be made whole. He said, come to Me. Go to Him. Go to Him. Verse 3, He says,
Incline your ear and come unto Me. Here in your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. If I cause you to live, here's
what He's saying, if I cause you to live, And if I cause you
to incline your ear and hear, because you're dead, but if I
do it, if I do the work, then I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. Everlasting, everlasting, a promise, a covenant. And what
he means by that is, I've already made a covenant with you. An
everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies of David. I'll give to you the same mercies
I gave to David. Same covenant I gave David. What
is this covenant? What does this covenant say?
What are David's mercies? Well, turn with me over to Jeremiah
31. Jeremiah 31, and we'll see a
few of the promises that God made in his covenant. Jeremiah
31 verse 33 says, but this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel. Here it is. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and
write it in their hearts and will be their God and they
shall be my people. I'm gonna put my word in their
inward parts. I'm gonna write it on their heart.
On their heart, not just their mind, I'm gonna write it on their
heart. And they're gonna live on it. They're gonna love it. My word. They're gonna feed on
it. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This
word is life, isn't it? It's life. It's death to this
world. It's death to those who God has
not shown mercy to and given life to. But it's life to God's
sheep. He said, I'm going to be their
God. They're going to be my people. Is that not life? I will put it. I will write it. I'll do it. I will be their God. They shall be my people." That's
a sure mercy of David. And he said, I'm going to give
that mercy to you. And that's just one of them. Verse 34 says,
and, here's another one. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me." They'll all know me. Back over
in Isaiah 54 verse 13 says, All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
All be taught of the Lord. I cannot fathom the thought of
being with the Lord. Can you? Actually being with
God. The disciples 2,000 years ago,
they were allowed to actually walk with God. God. Could you imagine talking with
Him? Hearing Him talk to you? Asking Him questions? Hearing
His answers? The Apostle Paul said, oh, that
I might know Him. I just want to know Him. Did you know that if you know
the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have to know anything else? If
you know Christ, you don't have to know anything else. Just hear
Him. That's it. Just hear Him. Just
come to Him. He said, I'll give you the sure
mercies of David. Well, in Jeremiah 31, he said, I will be their
God, they shall be my people. Verse 34, they shall teach no
more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. This is the
covenant that I'll make. He said, you come to me and I'll
give you rest. I'll give you rest. You know,
when people hear about election, God's election, and Christ not
dying for everybody, The world's response is to say, that's not
fair. That's just not fair. Well, I'm
here to tell you this morning, it is not fair. It is not fair. There was no even trade that
took place there. He did all the giving, I did
all the taking. He took all the suffering, I
got to go free. My salvation cost Him everything. Everything. And it didn't cost
me a dime. It was totally free. It was not
fair. It was mercy. It was mercy. It was not fair
at all. It was grace. There was nothing
fair about it. He said, I'm gonna make a covenant
with you. I will forgive your iniquity and I will remember
your sin no more. This is a one-sided covenant. It's a covenant of mercy. The
sure mercy of David. Chapter 32, he's continuing this
covenant here in Jeremiah 32, verse 38 says, and they shall be my people and
I will be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way. One heart and one way. I'm gonna give them all the same
heart. What heart? Whose heart is it? It's the heart
of Christ. The way. The one way. In Ezekiel 11 verse 19 says,
and I will give them one heart. You know, our Lord said concerning
David, he said, he's a man after my own heart. He's a man after
the heart of Christ. I will give them one heart and
I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony
heart out of their flesh. That's a promise. That's a sure
mercy. I will get rid of that old stony
heart. I'll get rid of it. And I'll
give them a heart of flesh. That they may walk in my statutes
and keep my ordinances and do them. And they shall be my people
and I will be their God. That's a sure mercy. Back in
Jeremiah 32 verse 39 says, I will give them one heart and one way
that they may fear me. That they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them. Verse 40
says and. and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. I will not turn away from them
no matter what." That's his covenant. He said, you incline your ear
to this and your soul will live. I'm gonna make a covenant with
you, and my covenant is this, I will not turn away from you,
no matter what. You know, our Lord has already
seen the sin of His people. Romans 5 verse 8 says, God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. While we
were yet sinners. God has already seen our sin. But God has already dealt with
our sin in Christ. Christ the way. He put it away. It's over. It's done. Verse 40, he said,
I'll make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. I'll never stop bringing good
to them. You know, there's none good but
God. He said, I'm never going to leave them. He said, but I will put my fear
in their hearts. I'm going to put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. I'm never going to leave
them. They're never going to leave
me. I'm going to put fear in their hearts and they'll never
leave. What mercy! Oh, what mercy! The songwriter was so correct
when he said, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. Our Lord says right here, you're
not going to. You might be prone to it, but
you're not going to. That's my covenant with you.
The sure mercies of David. This is what David said. Back
in 2 Samuel 23, these were David's last words. Oh, David, he was
a man after God's own heart, but David was a man who lived
in sin. He was a sinner, but he was a
sinner who found mercy. And this is what he said, these
were his last words, he said, although my house be not so with
God. And you could say his family,
you could say those that lived in his house, you could say his
body, his tabernacle, the place where his soul dwelt. His body
experienced nothing but sin, so has mine, so has yours. All we've done is sin. So he said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my salvation
and all my desire. And it is, that's all our salvation. If our salvation depends on our
own works, we're goners. We're goners. Sin has brought us down. But
the only good news that we have, the only hope we have is that
God made a covenant with us in Christ. And this is all my salvation.
It's all my hope, it's all my desire. This covenant is ordered
and sure. Our Lord said, you hear that,
you let that sink down deep into your heart and your soul shall
live. 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.