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
in your Bibles to Psalm 121. As human beings, fallen creatures,
that's what we are, mortal flesh, There are things in this life
that happen to us, and things in this life that happen in us,
and things that happen because of us, that cause us to continually
look down, be cast down, and ashamed, and depressed. I feel it. I know you do too. Because all that this physical
eye can see is flesh, the things of this world. Everything that
I see brings me down. When I look at me, I'm not just
talking about the things that I see out in the world. I'm talking about, let's start
right here with me. The true me, the honest me, not
the facade that we put on for each other, the true and honest
me. When I look at me, I'm brought down. When I look at the troubles and
the sorrows that I have and the will that I have, that I know
by nature is contrary to God, Every time I get a glimpse of
that, I'm brought down. When I look at the sin that I
commit, can we get honest? Can we get honest right now and
acknowledge our sin? Can we do that? the sin I commit and the sin
you commit. We, we're in this thing together. When I look at that sin and the
guilt that I feel and the shame that I feel and the shame that I bring before
God, I'm cast down. I'm cast down. That publican walked into the
temple, the Lord gave a parable, and a publican, he walked into
the temple looking down. He would not so much as lift
his head up. He came in looking down, smiting
himself, saying, God, be merciful to me. When I see my flesh, and when
I see my sin, and when I see my ways, I have myself convinced
that my way is the right way, but it's not. It's not. When
I see my pride, when I really see it, when God really shows
it to me, when He really convicts me of it, I've got nowhere to
look but down. Every time I view me in this
flesh, I have to look down. But there is one place. There is one place. David said, There is one thing, one thing have I desired of the
Lord. And when I get a glimpse of this
one thing, you know what it causes me to
do? Look up. Finally, for a change, things
start to look up. Look at Psalm 121 verse 1 with
me. It says, I will lift up mine
eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. I will lift up mine eyes. By
God's mercy to me, I won't lift up my works. I can tell you that. I got nothing to show. When I
look at my works, I'm brought back down. I won't lift up the things I've
earned. You know what I've earned? Death,
hell, and destruction. I've sinned against God and the
wages of sin is death. That's what I've earned. I won't lift up my record of
my deeds. Oh, what a sorry record I have.
I'm not gonna lift that up. By God's mercy and grace to me,
I will lift up mine eyes. The eyes of faith that God has
given me. Nothing is more pleasant Nothing is more relieving, nothing
is more encouraging than looking up, being able to look up. Verse 1 says, I will lift up
mine eyes unto the hills. Which hill is he talking about? Is he talking about Mount Sinai? That mountain where God gave
the law to Moses and covered that place with fire? Is that the hill he's talking
about? Will I lift up mine eyes to the law? Is that where my help comes from?
No. No. Look across the page at Psalm
125. Verse 1 says, "...they that trust
in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed,
but abideth forever." By God's grace and by His mercy and by
His work, I will lift up mine eyes toward Mount Zion. That's where my help comes from. Why? What's there? Well, let me quote you a few
scriptures and we'll see why. God said in Isaiah 28 verse 16, Behold means look. Look up. Behold. I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone. Do you know who that stone is? What's on the top of Mount Zion?
Jesus Christ is up there. Christ, the chief cornerstone,
is there. A sure foundation is there. There's a song that says, how
firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord. is laid for your
faith in His excellent Word." Just look up. Look up. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. That's the answer. If you're down and if you're
depressed and if you don't know where to look, look to Christ. That's the answer. If you're
worried over your sin and if you're worried over eternal life,
if you're worried over your own salvation, look to Jesus Christ. Don't look to your doctrine. Don't look to your doctrine.
Don't look to your preacher. And don't look to yourself. Look
to Jesus Christ. Look and live. What's on top of Mount Zion?
Solomon built his temple up there. You know, this world, it latches
on to us and we latch on to it. Our flesh latches on to it and
we drag it around with us like a ball and chain. And it makes
us feel filthy. Filthy from just crawling through
the miry clay of this world. And then somebody says, let's
go to the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord, not just
church. Don't just go to church. Let's go worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, I was glad when they said
unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Where is it? Look up. It's on top of Mount
Zion. You look to Christ. You look
to Christ. You look to Christ and you're
going to find some help. How do you know that? How can
you say that? Here's how I can say it. It's
because in that temple up on Mount Zion is an altar. An altar that was made for sacrifice. A sacrifice that was given for
sin, sin, the sin that I am so full of and the sin that you
are so full of and the guilt that I'm enduring and you're
enduring and the shame that I'm enduring and you're enduring.
There's an altar up there and there's a sacrifice on that altar
for that sin. and for that guilt and for that
shame. And the Apostle John said in
Revelation 14 verse 1, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on Mount
Zion. Who is that lamb? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. You look to Christ
and Him crucified, and you're going to find some relief over
your guilt of sin. A lamb stood on Mount Zion. It says, and with Him all of
His redeemed were there. All of His redeemed. Redeemed
from the world. Redeemed from sin. Redeemed by
the blood of that Lamb. That sacrifice. Salvation is
there. Just look up. Don't look within. Don't look within. There's nothing
there but sin and death and wrong. You look to Jesus Christ. You look up and it'll lift you
up. What's on top of Mount Zion? The beautiful city of God is
there. God's people are there. Turn with me over to Psalm chapter
48. Psalm chapter 48 verse 1 says,
Great is the Lord, great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His
holiness. Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, On the sides of the north,
the city of the great king. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. On top of Mount Zion is the city
of God and her king dwells there. Who is the king of the city?
God. God dwells there with his people.
And who is God? Jesus Christ. He's there. He's there. And it says in verse
3, God is known in her palaces for a refuge. There's a refuge
there. Do you need a refuge from this
world and from sin and from self? Do you need a refuge? Do you
need a place you can run to and be safe? Well, there's a refuge
on Mount Zion. God is the refuge. And Jesus
Christ is God. Run to Him. Look to Him. Turn with me over to Psalm chapter
87. Psalm 87 verse 1 says, His foundation is in the holy mountains. The
Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of
Jacob. Do you know what that's saying
right there? When it says the Lord loveth the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob. What that's saying is
Jacob dwells there. Jacob is there. Who's Jacob? The sinner. The sinner is there. The trickster, the supplanter.
The one who is not worthy to be there. And the sons of Jacob,
sinners just like him, they're there too. Verse 3 says, glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. I will make mention of
Rahab. Rahab is there, the harlot, that sinner who loved the pleasures
of this world. God turned her from it and she's
there. Rahab. I love Rahab. I personally love Rahab. She's
one of my favorite people in the scripture. I thank God that
he mentioned her so much in this book. I thank God that he continually
brought up the name of Rahab. Every time I see that poor woman's
name, I think, Maybe there's some hope for me. Rahab is there. God had mercy
on Rahab. Maybe God will have mercy on
me. Every time I see her name, it causes me to look up. Every
time. Verse 4 right here in Psalm 87
says, I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that
know me. Behold, Philistia, and Tyre,
and Ethiopia, this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be
said, this and that man was born in her." Born in her. They're from here. One of us. They're not strangers. They're our family. They're our
kin. They were born here. Verse five
says, and of Zion it shall be said this, and that man was born
in her, and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord
shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was
born there. Selah. That word Selah means,
just stop and think about that a while. Pause right there for
a minute. Born here, this old filthy rotten
flesh is gonna be recorded if I belong to Him and if Christ
died for me and if God the Father chose me and if I'm redeemed
in Him, it's gonna be recorded that I'm from there. How? I'm in Him. And Christ is from
there. In Him, I'm from there. Isn't
that wonderful? Verse 7 says, as well the singers
as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs
are in thee. Doesn't that make you want to
look up? Isn't that some good news in a world full of bad news? Psalm 65 verse one says, praise
waiteth for thee, O God in Zion. Praise waiteth for thee. By God's
grace, if He allows me to be in His presence one of these
days, I'm going to get to praise God with all my might, without
the hindrances of sin. And I'm going to be amongst a
number of people that no man can number, all praising Him
with the same might. Praise waiteth for thee, O God,
in Zion. We will praise Thee We will praise
thee. We're trying as hard as we can
right now, but one day we're going to praise thee. Every soul that is there is going
to know why they're there. That's why they're going to praise. They're going to know what they
were in the flesh. They're going to know that. They're going to
know what they are now in Christ. They're going to know that. They're
going to know that all of the peace that they have with God
is because of the blood of that lamb, that sacrifice. And they're going to cry at the
top of their lungs, worthy is the lamb. We will praise thee. Oh, we will praise thee. They're
going to know that they have constant access to the mercy
seat because of that lamb. They're going to know their liberty.
Their liberty to visit with and commune with the Father and the
Son. They're going to get to walk
up to the throne boldly, without fear, speak with the Father and
the Son. And that's going to bring one
particular result, one very particular result. Turn with me over to
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 12
says, Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat,
and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and
of the herd. And their soul shall be as a
watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more. at all. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? As soon as we lose sight of that,
everything starts to look down. So David wrote in our text in
Psalm 121, he says, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from
whence cometh cometh. I'm so glad he didn't write whence
came my help, a one time past tense thing. No, he wrote whence
cometh my help right now. My help keeps coming and keeps
coming. The Lord has helped his people.
The Lord is helping his people and the Lord will help his people
all the days of their life. And if we belong to Him, if He
chose us, He's going to help us. He is going to help us. Verse 2 says, My help cometh
from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The Lord, He's the
one who's our help. He alone is our help. He alone
is our help. And it's Him alone because He
alone is able. He's the only one who can. Verse
2 says, He made the heaven and the earth. And if He can do that,
He's able to save to the uttermost because He made the uttermost. Verse 3 says, He will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. He's the chief cornerstone, the
sheer foundation. If he will not suffer it to happen,
we will not suffer it happening to us. We will not. A man named Charles Spurgeon
said this, he will not suffer thy foot to be moved. And if
he keeps our feet, then he's going to keep our head and our
hearts too. And we won't be moved. We won't
be. The end of verse three says,
he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord Jesus Christ as a man
was asleep in the bottom of that ship and his disciples came to
him and they said, carest thou not that we perish? Don't you
care that we're dying? Do you know why he was asleep? Here's why. It's because as a
man, as a perfect man, he believed God. In obedience to the Word, he
had perfect faith that God was wide awake. ordering, ruling,
controlling all things. And he had so much peace looking
to Him, he could sleep. He could sleep. He was no safer
on dry land, sunny and 70 degrees, than he was in the bottom of
a ship, tossed to and fro in a cold, windy storm. You know
that? Verse 4 says, Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither
slumber nor sleep. Verse 5 says, The Lord is thy
keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night." If something produces shade,
if a tree casts a shadow and if something sits in that shadow,
then the tree is taking the sun's beating for that person. The
tree is shielding that person. Well, the Lord is thy shade. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. With His stripes we are healed.
He wrapped His loving arms around each of His elect and He shielded
them from the fire of God's wrath. So verse 7 says, The Lord shall
preserve thee. from all evil. He shall preserve
thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth, even forevermore. Every soul whose help is the
Lord is kept, shielded, and preserved. So look up. Let's lift up our
eyes unto the hills and look up. and give Him thanks and give
Him praise and give Him glory and give Him honor. Until next
Sunday morning, may the 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.