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
to Luke chapter 19. And I want to begin this by telling
you a true story. A very dear friend of mine, a
man who is also a preacher of God's grace, a preacher of God's mercy. This particular man lost his
mother not too long ago. She passed away. And they had a funeral for her. And his extended family asked
him if he wanted to speak at her funeral. Now his family does not believe
the true and living God. It's sad to say. We all have family who we love
but they do not bow to and believe on the true Christ of Scripture
and it's a sad thought. But when this friend of mine,
when his father died a few years ago, after he spoke at his father's
funeral, his extended family hated the message that he preached,
absolutely hated it. And they hated the God that he
preached, the true God of Scripture. And they told him that he was
a false prophet. And they persecuted him for the
truth, for the truth's sake. And as difficult as that is,
what a blessing. What a blessing that is, as difficult
and as painful as that is. Our Lord himself said, blessed
are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." He
said, rejoice, for so persecuted they every prophet that came
before you. Rejoice over that persecution
for the truth as it is written in God's Word. Well, this friend
of mine, his relatives asked him if he wanted to speak at
his mother's funeral. And he said, yes, I do. But I
want you to know up front that I'm gonna preach the true and
living God. And they said, all right, you
can have 10 minutes. You can have 15 minutes at most.
He said, so I took 20. And he said, I said some things
about my mother, some loving and kind things about my mother.
And then he said, I told them as clearly as I could the truth
about who Christ really is and what He's done. And he said after the service,
they asked all the pallbearers to wait outside while they got
the casket ready. And he said when he went outside
that a cousin of his, who he hadn't seen in 50 years, followed
him out. And he told me that he just knew
he was about to get the chewing out of a lifetime, you know.
Another family member hating the message, the true message.
And he was preparing himself for that. And he said she walked
up to him and said, I don't know how to say this, but I'm lost. And I need what you just told
me about. And this is what my friend told
his own cousin. He said, if you know you're lost,
you are in the best place you could possibly be. He quoted
Luke 19 verse 10. He told her, for the Son of Man
is come to seek and to save That which was lost. That's why I
came. And if you know you're lost,
you're in the best possible place you can be. Now do you know what
that makes me want to be? When he told me every bit of
that true story, you know what that made me want to be? Lost. I want to be lost with her. Let
me show you why. Go with me over to Luke 15. Back
just a few pages to Luke 15. Verse 3 says, And He spake this
parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until
he find it? And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." Did we just understand what he
said? The man had a hundred sheep. One of them became lost. And what did the man do? He left
the 99 and went after that one lost sheep. And when he found
it, he beat the sheep. No, that's not what it says. He laid it on his shoulders.
and he carried it home rejoicing. And when they made it all the
way home, he called all of his friends and all of his neighbors
saying, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. Lord, make me lost. If I'm without Christ, show me
that I'm lost. Because if I ever become truly
lost, Christ will come find me. And He'll put me on His shoulders,
and He'll carry me home. Luke 15 verse 5 says, And when
he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing, And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. You
know what that verse is saying. You know what our Lord is saying
right there? He's saying, I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. If I'm going to be found, I've
got to be lost. Now here's the question that
I want to ask this morning. Here's the question for me this
morning. Am I lost? That's the question. Am I lost? And if I am, how lost am I? When Christ said, the Son of
Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost, did He mean
those who were just a little turned around for a minute? Oh, I'm just a little confused.
You give me just a minute though and we'll be fine. You ever been
lost in the woods? And you're a little turned around
at first and you think, well, I know where I am. I'll get it. I'll get it. Just bear with me.
Hang on. I'll get it. Is that what he's talking about? The word lost means ruined and
wasted. That's what the word means. What
does it mean to be spiritually lost? It means spiritually ruined
and wasted. Not slightly damaged, ruined. Not barely salvageable, Wasted. Wasted. Turn with me over to
Ephesians chapter 2. Christ said to Thomas, he told
him, I am the way, didn't he? That's what he said, I'm the
way. Ephesians 2 verse 12 says, that at that time you were without
Christ, without the way. That means lost. At that time
you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. Ruined and wasted on your own. Lost. Hopelessly lost. Is that me? Is that me? Is that you? In my flesh, in this world, on
my own, am I hopelessly lost? Without Christ, am I hopelessly
lost? Or is there something in the
back of my mind saying, now come on, you can do it. Keep going. You'll work your way there. If that's the case, I'm not lost. I'm not lost. Well, who is lost? Go with me
over to John 6. John 6 verse 44 says, no man
can come to me. No man, that means woman too.
No man, no woman can come to me. No man can come to the way. Why? He's lost. That's why, he's lost. He's ruined. He's wasted because of his sin. That's why. Isaiah wrote, all
we like sheep have gone astray. That's all we've done. All we
like sheep have gone astray. Outside of Christ, every soul
on this earth is completely lost. All we. No man can come. Here's the sad news for mankind.
He's lost and he has no idea. None whatsoever. People never
realize it at first. Never. They go on about their
daily walk, just continuing on with their business. They think
they're fine. They think they're in the way.
Turn over to Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two, look at verse
42. It says, and when he was 12 years
old, this is talking about our Lord. When he was 12 years old,
they went up to Jerusalem. after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. But they, supposing him to have
been in the company, went a day's journey and they sought Him among
their kinsfolk and acquaintance. They were traveling through their
journey, completely confident that Christ was with them. Ask
any person in religion, any man, any woman in any church, you
ask them, is Christ with you? And they'll say, absolutely,
absolutely. I'm confident." So were they. So was Joseph and Mary. But all
of a sudden, they realized. God in mercy all of a sudden
caused them to realize something's missing. Something's missing. Wait a minute. Is He here? Is He here? Is Christ here? The whole time they were assuming. The whole time they were assuming
He was there. And that whole time they were
getting farther and farther away from Him. the whole time. But as soon as God in mercy gave
them that realization, wait a minute, I'm separated from Him. I don't
believe He's here. Something's missing. Verse 45 in Luke 2 says, And
when they found Him not, They turned back again to Jerusalem,
seeking Him. And it came to pass that after
three days, they found Him. They found Him. Well, if God will ever reveal
to a sinner that he's lost, if God will ever reveal to a sinner
that he's lost in his pride, And he's lost in his own self.
And he's lost in his sin. If God will ever reveal to him
that doctrine won't show him the way. Doctrine cannot show
him the way. Doctrine doesn't lead a man to
Christ. Christ leads a man to doctrine.
Religion cannot show a man or a woman the way. If God will
ever reveal to me that in my flesh, without the mercy and
grace of Christ, I'm lost. If God ever reveals that to me,
what should I do? If God ever reveals that to me,
What should I do? That woman came up to my friend,
his cousin, she came up to my friend, and I'm sure she was
a very religious woman. He told me that his whole family
was extremely religious. But what she said was, I'm lost. And what she was asking was,
What she wanted to know was, what should I do? What should
I do? That Philippian jailer asked
Paul and Silas, men and brethren, what should we do? What must
I do to be saved? Well, there are three things
that a person should do if he or she realizes that he's lost.
Three things. Now we don't want to ever be
cute when we preach the gospel. We're not trying to be clever. You don't ever want to be those
things when you're telling men and women the truth. But I want
to tell you this so that you can clearly see that God has
written His law on the conscience of every man. And if man applies
this to physical things, How wise would we be to apply this
to spiritual things? Now, I found this on the internet.
Some of you already know this, but I found this on the internet.
I Googled on the internet, what should I do if I'm lost? And the US Parks website came
up. The United States Parks website
came up. And according to them, if you
ever become lost, you should do three things. Here's the first
one. If you ever become lost, number
one, signal for help. Help. Oh, I need help. Admit, I'm lost. Admit it to yourself. Admit it
to God. I don't care how old you are.
I don't care how young you are. I don't care how religious you
are. I don't care how sinful you are.
Every soul on this earth must admit with King David, I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. against Thee,
Thee only have I done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest
be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest."
Lord, I am a ruined, wasted, lost sinner. That's what I am. Turn with me
over to Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 176 says, I have
gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy commandments. That's the first thing to do.
Signal for help. Now here's the second thing to
do. According to the U.S. Parks website, if you realize
that you're lost, find shelter. They said the best place to be
is in a cave or an opening in the rocks. God told Moses, the only place
you can see me and live is in the cleft of the rock, didn't
That's where I'm gonna put you, and that's where you'll be safe.
That rock is Christ. David said, 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. That secret place in the time
of trouble is Christ. There's a song that says, a wonderful
Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul
in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and He covers me there with His hand. Cry out
for help. and seek shelter. Now here's
the third thing. If a person ever realizes he's
lost, according to the website, they said, stay put. Stay put. Don't move a muscle. Don't do anything. Just cry out for help, get in
the cleft of the rock, and stay there. Moses told the people,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Our Lord said, be
still and know that I'm God. Just wait on the Lord. Wait on
the Lord. My prayer is that God would reveal
to me, outside of Christ, I'm lost. My prayer is that God would
reveal to you that outside of Christ, you're lost. You're lost. Religion is such a vain thing.
It's such an empty thing. It's such a lying thing. It has
men and women believing that they're working their way to the promised land. It has
men and women believing they're working in the way, but they're
not. They're lost. They're lost. And you tell men and women they're
lost and they become offended. No, I'm not lost. You might be,
but I'm not lost. Little do they realize, if they're
not lost, they won't be found. I'm lost. Lord, make me lost. When I see myself, cause me to
see that I'm lost. Nothing in me can find a way.
I'm blind. I can't see the way. So I need Christ the way. What we all need to do is acknowledge, I'm lost. Seek help. I'm lost. What we all need to
do is find that cleft of the rock and get in it. Lord, put
me in Christ. And what we all need to do is
stay put. Stand still. Be still. Wait on the Lord. Call on Him
and then wait on Him. If you're lost, if God has revealed
to you that you are lost, I promise you, you're in the best place
you could possibly be. For the Son of Man is come. He came. He came for one reason only.
To seek. To seek out His sheep. To seek
out every soul that God gave Him. God His Father put in Him. The Son of God became a man.
The Son of Man has come. He has come. He will come again. Why? To seek and to save. And that's exactly what he did.
He paid the price to redeem his sheep, the sheep that had fallen
into that pit of sin. He paid the price that reached
way down and pulled them out. Every single one of them. The
Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Listen to me, if you're lost,
listen to me. He will find you. If you're lost,
He will bring you. If you're lost, He will present
you. And He will say to His Father,
None of them is lost. Of them which thou gavest me,
I have lost none. All the lost sheep are going
to be found in him. Is that not good news? Oh, Lord,
make us lost. Until next Sunday morning, may
our Lord bless His Word. 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.