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. If you would like to read along
in your Bible this morning, the text is going to come from Psalm
86. You can be turning with me to
Psalm 86. And while you turn, I want to tell you about a very
precious lady to me, a dear lady that I talked to a while back,
who is going through a very difficult illness, a very difficult sickness,
and she was not telling me on her own accord the things that
she is going through, I was asking her. Never have I heard this
dear lady complain, not one time. But I was asking her some of
her story, and as she told me some of the things that she's
been going through, I was so shocked to hear it. And I said
to her, I am so sorry that you have to deal with all of this. And her response to me was, oh,
it brings me closer to my Lord. That's what she said to me. It
brings me closer to my Lord. And I realized it does, doesn't
it? It does. Look here with me at
Psalm 86, verse 6 says, give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. I want us to look at the preciousness
of prayer. That's the subject this morning,
the preciousness of prayer. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. You know, we never really do
start praying. I mean truly, from the heart,
praying until we're in trouble. Our Lord has given us trouble. And our Lord has given us prayer. And the two go hand in hand. They go hand in hand. Prayer
is precious. So is trouble. Now I don't want trouble. I don't. I do not ask for trouble. But I know that God sends it.
And I know that it's precious when He does. The end of trouble
The end of a matter that's full of trouble, when you see the
Lord's hand in it, it is infinitely sweeter than had there been no
trouble at all. Trouble reveals our infirmity,
that's what it does. It reveals to us our weakness
and our helplessness. It proves to us that we are nothing. We're nothing. Without the gracious
hand of God on us, we're just nothing. The strength that we
have, our flesh wants to attribute that to our good health. That's what we attribute it to,
our good health, until God takes it away from us. And then we
start clinging to His strength, not our own. we start clinging to His strength.
He is my health and salvation. Sinners are going to leave this
world one of two ways. Now we're all sinners, all men
and women born into this world. We are born dead in our trespasses
and sins. And every one of us are going
to leave this world. We're not gonna be here forever. And all sinners are going to
leave this world one of two ways. We're either gonna leave it content
in our own ability, content in our own works, content, ready
to stand before God's judgment, ready to stand before His throne. We're either gonna leave that
way, and I can tell you that's a hard way to go. That's a hard
way to go. But we're either going to leave
that way or we're going to leave clinging to Jesus Christ for
dear life. Now which one is more precious? Which one is more precious? If
it takes trouble to make me do that, then trouble is a precious
thing. Very precious. Turn with me over
to James chapter 5. James chapter 5 and look at verse
13. It says, Is any among you afflicted? Going through trials, going through
trouble. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Let him pray. Let him call on God. Prayer and
trouble, they were made for each other. Our Lord said, seek. He said, ask. He said, knock. And do it with all your heart.
He said, you seek me, you'll find me when you seek with all
your heart. Not with lip service. with your
whole heart, every fiber of your being. When do we do that? How often is prayer just lip
service? When do we do that? The answer is when trouble comes.
It's when trouble comes. There is a purpose for every
trouble. Everything that God does is on
purpose. And there is a purpose for every
trouble. Every single trouble that comes
along, there's a purpose in it. And I'll tell you what that purpose
is. Precious prayer. Every time. Just like my dear
friend said, Oh, it brings me nearer to my God. closer to my
God, every single time, the purpose is prayer. His goodness, His
wisdom, His touch, His voice, His comfort is waiting for His
people at the end of every trial, every time. Every bit of that is waiting
for His people at the end of every trial. The trial and the
prayer is what brings us nearer to Him. With each one of them,
nearer to Him every time. Closer to Him. There's a song
that says, nearer, still nearer. I wanna be nearer. Nearer, my
God, to Thee. Draw me nearer. It's the trouble that makes us
pray more often. More often. It's the trouble
that makes us pray more earnestly. More earnestly. Now see if you
can find the book of Hosea. Back in the Old Testament, the
book of Hosea. It's just after Daniel. Hosea
chapter 5. This is our God speaking. Hosea 5 verse 15, He said, I
will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense
and seek my face. In their affliction, they will
seek me early. Did you hear what our Lord said?
He said, I'll go and return to my place till they acknowledge
their offense and seek my face. In their affliction, they'll
seek me early. The mercy and the grace and the
goodness of trouble is, it brings us back to our God in prayer. Trouble is made for prayer. And
true prayer to God is the ending glory of trouble. That's the
reason for trouble and that's the ending glory of trouble.
The ending purpose, the reason, the design. David finally said,
it is good for me that I have been afflicted. He finally said
that, didn't he? He finally praised God. He said,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted. It's good. Turn with
me over to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, the prayer
that is prayed from a God-sent trial. is what comforts a sinner
in his or her heart to believe, I really do belong to my Lord.
The prayer that is prayed from a God-sent trial is a comforting
prayer. And it tells the heart of a believer,
I truly do belong to my Lord. While this world and while this
flesh, and I do mean my own flesh, while this flesh cries, this
is what I want, This over here, this is what I want. I want health,
wealth, and happiness. I don't want this trial. And the flesh of a believer,
it really does cry that. Because we're all flesh. But
there's a spirit in there too. Something in there is crying
with sincerity, with honesty. Right here in verse 10, Matthew
6 verse 10 says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth
as it is in heaven. Thy will be done. Lord, thy will
be done. Do we desire trials? No, we sure
don't. Do we know and believe with all
of our heart that the God of all providence, the God who controls
all things, the God of heaven, He is the
one who sends the trials. Yes, we know that. Knowing that
it is His will, because they are here, it is His will. Would
we want to change or do anything that goes against His will? Absolutely
not. Thy will be done, not mine. Not
unto us, O Lord. Thy will be done. A true sinner
is comforted by that prayer. That has to be of God. You know
that? This flesh wants what this flesh wants. Only God's Spirit
wants the will of God. So if God has caused a sinner
to actually say that from the heart, with his whole heart,
that's a comforting prayer. That means the Spirit of God
is at work. And that means I belong to Him. If He has sent His Spirit
to me, and if He has put faith in me, and if He's caused me
to cry out unto Him, Thy will be done, then I belong to Him. If a sinner can truly mean it
in the soul, then that sinner can know that that trial is not
meaningless. Trials are never meaningless.
Prayer is never sweeter. It is never sweeter than when
it's in a God-sent trial. Go with me over to Psalm 27. Psalm chapter 27. When we find
ourselves in the middle of real trouble, real honest trouble,
those moments when it's not going away, And we realize that we
have no control, no control over this thing. You wake up in the
middle of the night and it's still there. When trouble absolutely
will not let up, prayer, true prayer to God Almighty is our
moment of relief from it. When it won't let up, when it
continues on, Our Lord has given us a little moment of relief
from it through prayer, through prayer to Him. Psalm 27 verse
5, David said, for in the time of trouble, He shall hide me
in His pavilion. In the secret of His tabernacle
shall He hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. It eases our heart to know that
we can pour our grief into the ear of the one who is able. You
know that? That's a comfort to a tried heart,
a tried soul. We can pour our grief. We know
He is the one who is in control. He is the only one who can do
anything about it. We take our burden to the Lord
and then we leave it there. We leave it right there. We cast
all our care upon Him, knowing that He careth for us. And it
eases our heart to know we can pour every bit of our grief into
the ear of the one who's able. And He hears us. He hears us
if we belong to Him, if we were chosen by God the Father, and
if we were given to God the Son. He hears us. He hears every one
of His children. They are His own. His elect. Well, back over in our text,
back in Psalm chapter 86, look at verse 1 with me. Psalm 86
1 says, Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me. for I'm poor and
needy." You know, a sinner who's in trouble, that's when he realizes
just how poor and just how needy he really is. I am poor and needy,
and he is high and lofty. If he's going to hear me, he's
going to have to bow down. I cannot come to him, he must
come to me. So bow down thine ear, O Lord,
hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy. If you have a margin in your
Bible, do you see next to the word holy, the reference says,
one whom thou favorest. Now I am holy in Christ, but
I'm only holy in Christ. In and of myself, there is nothing
holy in me. There's nothing clean, nothing
pure, nothing worthy to stand in the presence of God Almighty. but I'm one whom He favors in
Christ. So verse 2 says, Preserve my
soul, for I am holy. O thou my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. Save me, Lord, because I trust
in thee. You're my only hope. You are
absolutely my only hope. Verse 3, He said, Be merciful
unto me. Don't give me what I deserve,
Lord. I know what I deserve. I'm a sinner. And if I leave
this world without Christ, I'm going to leave this world dead
in sins. So be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto Thee daily. Daily. I'm in trouble daily. Are you? I need Christ daily. Don't you? Verse 4, He said,
Rejoice the soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. I put my all in thee. I put my all in you, Lord. That's the only thing that can
comfort me. That's the only thing that can
make me glad. The only thing that can rejoice
the soul of thy servant is that it's all in your hands. Verse
5, He said, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive. Is that not wonderful news? To
a soul that's in trouble, is that not wonderful news? Lord,
thou art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all
them that call upon thee. That's His promise, isn't it?
He is plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.
Lord, we're calling. Lord, we call. Save us, Lord. Help us, Lord. We come to Thee. We're in trouble. We're in sin,
and because of that, we're in trouble. So we call upon Thee. Verse 6, He said, Give ear, O
Lord, unto my prayer. This is my prayer. The prayer
of the poor and needy. Preserve me, save me, be merciful
unto me, and take everything that I am
into your own hands and keep me. Forgive me, Lord. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble I'll call upon Thee, for Thou wilt answer me. Thou wilt answer me. True prayer reminds us that He
will not leave us comfortless, not if we belong to Him. Not
if we belong to Him. He said, I will come to you.
I will. I will never, ever leave you. Never. Verse seven, in the day
of my trouble, I'll call upon thee, for thou will answer me. He will. Now does that mean He
will always take away the trial? We make our supplications to
Him. We pray to Him. In our trouble, we pray, we call
on Him. But does that mean He will always
take away the trial? No, it doesn't. The Apostle Paul
asked Him to remove a thorn in His flesh three times. And this
is what the Lord said to him. This is how the Lord answered
him. He said, My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient
for thee. And it was. And it is. His grace is sufficient for us. You know what grace is? Grace
is getting what we don't deserve. His grace is sufficient. These times of trouble and prayer,
they remind us of the fact that He laid down His life for us. You know what we call that? Grace. The good news of the gospel,
it's all by free grace. He gave Himself. For God so loved
this world, He gave His Son. And His Son gave Himself. The gift of Christ is called
grace. He laid down His life. And we're
going through some inconveniences. All of us do. Every day there
are inconveniences, but He died. Can we enter into that? He died.
He died and we don't have to if we belong to Him. He died
for His own, every one that the Father gave Him. So if we belong
to Him, we don't have to. That's glorious news, isn't it?
We know that even if what we're going through lays this body
down, if this body lays down in the grave because of this
trouble, because of this trial, because of this sickness, if
it lays this body down, Christ has already paid my debt. the
dead of sin, even if my temporary is in jeopardy, my eternal is
forever secure. Forever. This life is temporary
and eternity is forever. And even if my temporary is in
jeopardy, my eternity is secure. David said, he's made an everlasting
covenant with me, ordered in all things and secure. There's
a song that says, oh the unsearchable riches of Christ, who would not
gladly endure? Trials, afflictions, and crosses
on earth, riches like these to secure. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Wouldn't we say that's
sufficient? Wouldn't we say that's sufficient?
A sinless eternity with Christ, wouldn't we say that's sufficient? Seeing His love and seeing His
suffering, seeing His death, seeing His blood, That eases
my trouble. Does that ease yours? Does seeing
the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of the sin of His people, seeing
His substitution that appeased God Almighty, does that ease
your trouble? It eases mine. The preciousness
of prayer. It's the means that our God has
given us to deliver us from our trouble, that moment of trouble,
that moment of distress. He's given us prayer. And we
have His promise. We have His truth. We have His
faithfulness that we will never seek Him in vain. Never. Never. We have His Word on that. He
said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words, never. They shall not pass away. And here they are. Turn with
me over to Psalm 91, and let's read verses 14 to 16. Psalm 91,
14, he said, Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore
will I deliver Him. I will set Him on high, because
he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will
answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor
him. With long life will I satisfy
him and show him my salvation. I'll show Him my salvation. I'll
hear Him. I will hear Him. I will deliver
Him. He'll call upon me. I'll answer
Him. I will be with Him in trouble. Oh, the preciousness of prayer.
In the day of my trouble, Lord, I'll call upon Thee. for thou
wilt answer me." He'll answer me. If you from sin are longing to
be free, you look to the Lamb of God, you draw near to Him. If you're troubled over your
sin, if you are troubled over eternity, you draw nigh to the
Lord Jesus Christ and you pour out your soul to Him. You tell
Him of your trouble, tell Him of your sin, and then you leave
that burden in His hands. He will answer you. He will take
care of you. We all have His Word on it. 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.