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 invite you to turn with me
this morning to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 17. In this text, Paul, the apostle,
is moving from place to place. He's going from one place to
the next, preaching the gospel. And he came to Thessalonica.
And in Acts chapter 17, verse 2 says, And Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ's must
needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. And that
this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed and
consorted with Paul and Silas. And of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude. And of the chief women, not a
few, a great number. A great number of Greeks believed
But the Jews got mad. Verse six says, when they found
them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers
of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside
down are come hither also. They have turned our religious
world upside down. They have burst our religious
bubble. Verse 9 says, And when they had
taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were
so. I wish so desperately, my prayer
is that God would make more sinners as noble as the Bereans. I wish that men and women would
open up God's word and search the scriptures to see whether
these things are so. Am I telling you the truth? How do you know if I'm telling
you the truth? One man will say this, another
man will say that from God's word. One of them has to be lying. There's only one truth. Which
one is it? Is salvation by grace or is salvation
by works? Which one is it? There's only
two messages. How do we know which one is right?
How do we know what's true? We search the scriptures. Right here in Acts 17 verse 14
says, And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go
as it were to the sea, but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens. And
receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come
to him with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them
in Athens, his spirit was stirred, stirred in him when he saw the
city wholly given to idolatry. Don't you wish that last word
said Christ? Don't you wish it said the city
was wholly given to Christ? But it doesn't. It says idolatry. They were worshipers. They were
worshiping something just like people are right now. Verse 21
says, for all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent
their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some
new thing. They wanted some new thing. By God's mercy, I don't have
anything new to say. I don't have anything new for
us this morning. All I have is the truth. That's all I have. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free. If God will be
with us, we'll declare the truth this morning. Here it is. Look with me at John chapter
3. John 3 verse 36 says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him. Period. 1 John 5.12 says, He that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. Period. They kept looking for
some new thing. Many people are doing that today.
They're out searching for some new thing. But the Apostle Paul
said, I'm determined to know no thing, nothing, except for
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's the only thing that a sinner
needs to know and hear. That's it. Our Lord was the close friend
of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And he went to their house and
Martha was running around trying to get the table ready. And she said, Lord, we're going
to be eating soon and nobody's helping me. Mary is not helping
me. Mary was at the Lord's feet listening
to the Lord. And she said, Mary's not helping
me. And the Lord said, Martha. You're
running around in your religion trying to do, do, do. There is one thing needful and
that's to hear the truth of the word of God. He said, Mary has
chosen the good part. She's hearing the truth and it's
not going to be taken from her. Let's listen to the truth this
morning. I have the truth this morning.
There is a burden that has been pressed into me that men and
women are dying every day. They're dying every day thinking
that they're ready to go meet God. They're not. They are not. So let's listen
to the truth this morning. Go with me back to Acts chapter
17. Paul saw all of this error. He saw the lie they were living
in. Verse 22, then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and
said, you men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. too superstitious. The word superstitious
means religious. That's what the word means. He
told them you're just too religious. You have all your little idols
that you set up. This one's called I don't drink
and I don't smoke and I don't cuss and I don't chew. And I'm
looking to that for salvation. This one's called, as a child
I was baptized. This one's called, in my teenage
years I rededicated my life to Jesus and I did it again in my
20s and I'm looking to that for salvation. This one's called,
I never committed adultery. This one's called, I never committed
murder. Never been in trouble with the
law. This one's called, I just try to love people and be generous
and do right. and I'm looking to that for salvation. Over here is, I give my time
to charity. Over here, I feed the children.
Over here, I wear a cross around my neck. Over here, I have a
fish on my car. Paul says, if you're rubbing
any of those rabbits' feet, I'm sorry to tell you, you're just
too superstitious. You're just too religious. You're blinded by your own religion. Verse 23 says, for as I passed
by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription,
to the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him,
him. Declare I unto you. Now let me get to the point and
tell you what Paul is telling them and what he's telling us.
Come to Christ. Him. Come to Christ. The unknown God. They had no
idea who God was back then. Many people have no idea who
God is today. He's still the unknown God. Paul told all those religious
people, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him. Declare I unto
you. Not what, Him. Come to Christ. Verse 24 says,
God that made the world, that's Jesus Christ. and all things
therein. Jesus Christ did that. That's
what John chapter one says. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ. Verse 24 says, God that made
the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth. He didn't say, seeing that he
wants to be Lord. He wants to be your Lord, won't
you let him? Please make Jesus your Lord.
No, no. He didn't say, seeing that one
day he will be Lord. No, he said, seeing that he is. Seeing that he is. You had better. And I had better
come to Christ, both of us. We need to bow to Christ. Men talk about coming to the
doctrines of grace. They say things like, you know,
that's the point in my life when I came to the doctrines of grace. Don't do that. Don't come to the doctrines of
grace, come to Christ. Our Lord said, come unto me.
If you come to Christ and if I come to Christ, we're gonna
be coming to the right doctrine. Come to Christ. I had a man tell
me years ago, a man who attends nowhere now, he told me, I'm
a staunch Calvinist. I came to Calvinism at an early
age. Don't do that. Don't come to
Calvin. Come to Christ. If you come to Christ, you will
be convinced that you're totally depraved. You'll be convinced
of that. If you ever see the purity of
Christ and the holiness of Christ, you will be convinced, I am nothing
but sin. Totally, totally sinful. If you are brought to Christ,
you will be convinced that it has to be unconditional election. It has to be because I'm totally
depraved. I'm convinced there's nothing
in me that God could see as desirable. It has to be unconditional. I'm
nothing but sin. God can have nothing to do with
sin. It has to be unconditional election. If God reveals Christ
to you, the high King of heaven, Christ the Almighty God, you
will be convinced that He shall not fail. He shall not fail. And if men
and women are in hell right now, and they are, then you'll be convinced He did
not die for all men and women. Because if He did, He's a failure.
That's not the Christ of Scripture. It has to be particular redemption,
limited atonement. That means all the souls the
Father chose, that's who Christ redeemed. And none of them is
lost. This is not coming to Calvin,
this is coming to Christ, the Redeemer. If God brings you to
Christ, you are going to be convinced. I had no say in the matter. This grace was irresistible. Not only was I not agreeable,
I would have nothing to do with him. I am by nature enmity against
God, the enemy of God. I will not come that I might
have life. The reason is because I'm totally
depraved. Oh, this was irresistible. This
choosing, this redeeming, this calling of God, he did every
bit of that without me. And I could, thank God, I couldn't
resist it even though my flesh wanted to. Irresistible grace. And if God brings you to Christ,
you're going to be convinced that you have been brought to
the one person who is able to preserve your soul all the way
to glory. Come to Christ. Verse 24 says,
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands. Go with me over to 1 Kings chapter
8. 1 Kings 8, and look at verse 27
with me. This is Solomon's prayer. He said, but will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that
I have built it. How much less this house. People say we have got to get
back in church. We've got to just buckle down
and get back in church. That's all there is to it. And
what they mean is, we're gonna have to get in one of the buildings.
We're gonna just have to find the closest building and get
into it. Don't do that. Don't just go
to any building that says it's a church. The declaration of
the pure word of God is hard to find. Our Lord said, few there
be that find it. There are churches all over the
place who are not preaching the Word of God. Don't step foot
in them. Well, they can't be all bad.
They've got to have some of it right. I'm telling us the truth. I am telling us the truth this
morning. If they don't tell you come to
Christ and Christ alone, don't go there. If they don't tell
you it is finished, salvation is complete, complete in Christ
alone, don't go there. If they tell you you've got to
make a decision, now Jesus died on the cross, but now the decision's
yours, if they tell you that, if they tell you you have to
walk an aisle before you can be saved, come down front. You
have to get in a pool before you can be saved. If they add
anything to it is finished, stop going. Don't move a muscle and
come to Christ. Look to Christ in your heart. That's how we come to Christ,
in the heart. Look to him for every work. Let me show you why. Go with
me over to Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23 and look at
verse 13. It says, but woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees. Now the scribes were the people
who were in the business of copying the scripture and selling the
scripture. They were in the Bible business.
They knew this word, they copied it. And the Pharisees were their
religious leaders, the famous religious leaders, and we have
some of those. But God right here called them hypocrites because
they didn't point men to Christ. Look at this, Matthew 23, verse
13. He said, woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men, you're not telling them the truth. For you
neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering
to go in. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make
long prayer, therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea
and land to make one proselyte, that's convert. And when he is
made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. So Paul tells us don't get in
church. Don't come to religion. Come
to Jesus Christ. with the heart. This is a heart
thing. It's not a mind thing. Most people
go searching for the truth and they go searching with their
mind. Challenge my mind. Let my mind get wrapped around
all of this. When a sinner comes to Christ,
Christ will set his mind straight. But we don't come with the mind,
we come with the heart. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. This is a heart thing, not a mind thing. Go with me
back to Acts 17. Acts chapter 17 verse 24 says,
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands. Neither is worshipped with men's
hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things." The Lord Jesus Christ does not need
anything. I saw a billboard one time and
it was advertising an organization that promotes actors, models,
and talent for Christ. We're gonna promote ourselves
and try to become famous and rich, and we're gonna do that
for Christ. We're gonna take all the attention,
all the glory, and we're gonna do that for Christ. You gotta
do that for Jesus. Let's give something to Jesus.
He said in Psalm 50, everything is already mine. What are you
going to give me or do to help me out? The king said, every
beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beast of the field
are mine. If I were hungry, I would not
tell thee for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Verse
25 says, neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath in all
things. Everything we have to give was
given to us by him. We're only giving back in thanks,
that's all. We're not doing anything for
him. We're just saying thanks. We have our life because he gave
it to us. We have our breath because he
gives it to us. Let me show you what else he
gave to us. Right here in Acts 17, look at verse 26. And hath
made of one blood. He gave his own blood. There
is a fountain filled with blood, drawn straight from Emmanuel's
veins. And every sinner plunged beneath
that flood will lose all his guilty stains. One blood. the
precious blood of the Lamb. He shed that blood for a great
multitude of people, a chosen people out of every tribe and
nation and kindred and tongue. Verse 26 says, and hath made
of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and
the bounds of their habitation. He has hedged those people about. Verse 27, that they should seek
the Lord, if happily they might feel after Him and find Him,
though He be not far from every one of us. For in Him, in Him
we live and move and have our being. As certain also of your
own poets have said, for we are also His offspring. For as much
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven
by art and man's device. In the times of this ignorance,
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Everywhere to repent. He's saying
the times of this ignorance, this ignore-ance, ignoring this
truth through religion. Our God has been patient and
long-suffering, but Paul says now it's time to have a changed
mind. That's what the word repent means.
A changed mind commanded all men everywhere to repent. A changed
mind about who God is. Jesus Christ is the unknown God. A changed mind about what man
is. Man is nothing but sinful. He
can't make a decision. He can't do anything. He's nothing
but dead in his trespasses and sins. and a changed mind about
what salvation is. Salvation is in the blood of
Christ alone. It's a changed mind about Christ. What think ye of Christ? It's
time to come to Christ. Come to Christ alone. Verse 31
says, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. What
that means is, some are gonna be judged in him, in mercy. Some are gonna be judged by him.
So run to Christ. Bow the knee, beg for mercy. Our Lord said, him that cometh
to me, I'll in no wise cast out. Verse 32, and when they heard
of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said,
we will hear thee again of this matter. I think we'd like to
hear that again. That same thing, that one thing,
we would love to hear about Christ one more time. Verse 33, so Paul
departed from among them, howbeit certain men clave unto him, and
believed, among the which was Dionysius, and Areopagite, and
a woman named Damaris, and the others with them. They clave
and they believed. You know what that means? It
means they came to Christ. They came to Christ with the
heart, with the soul. They claimed and they believed.
Come to Christ. May God enable us to do that
this morning. 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.