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 this morning to the book of Amos chapter 8. Today's message is a vital message. It is a vital life and death
message. As we look through this Old Testament
together, we're going to see how God's chosen people, Israel,
how they continually disobeyed God. They continually disregarded
his commandments and they continually broke his law. Now we're also
going to see how this kind God continually sent a prophet to
them saying, thus saith the Lord. If you want to be saved from
your sins, then this is what the Lord has to say about it.
But here in Amos chapter eight, the Lord delivers the worst news
a sinner could possibly hear. the worst news. Listen to Amos
chapter 8 verses 11 to 14. The Lord said, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of the hearing
of the words of the Lord. and they shall wander from sea
to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins
and young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of
Samaria and say thy God O Dan liveth in the manner of Beersheba
liveth Even they shall fall and never rise up again. A famine of the words of the
Lord, a drought, a hunger, a starvation. Why is that such an awful thing?
Why would that be the worst thing ever? It's because Psalm 119
says, the entrance of thy words giveth light. Without his words,
we have no light. We're in darkness, spiritual
darkness. Without his words, we don't know
anything about the Spirit of God. Hebrews says, The Lord God
upholds all things by the Word of His power. It says in Hebrews
4 verse 12, the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It also says that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. The things we
see were not made from anything that was already here. Everything
was made, and everything is upheld by the words of God, including
you and me. Now listen to this. This is important.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Without the hearing
of the words of the Lord, we're going to die in our sins. That's
the truth. I'm telling you the truth this
morning. If the Lord chooses to no longer speak to me, I'm
going to die in my sins. The Lord said about a man named
Ephraim, he said, Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Oh man, the Lord is saying I'm
done with him. After the Lord preached a message
one time, His disciples came to Him and said, the Pharisees
were offended by what you just said. And our Lord told His disciples,
let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. Leave them alone. I have nothing
to say to them. No words for them. There's nothing
in this life that could be worse than that. You know that? There
is nothing in this life that could be worse than that. David wrote, take not thy Holy
Spirit from me, please Lord. Take not the revealer of the
words of the Lord from me. Jeremiah, who was called the
weeping prophet, the crying prophet, the lamenting prophet. He said
in Lamentations chapter two, how hath the Lord covered the
daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger and cast down from
heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel and remembered not
his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord hath swallowed
up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied, he hath
not pitied. He hath thrown down in his wrath
the strongholds of the daughters of Judah. He hath brought them
down to the ground. He hath polluted the kingdom
and the princes thereof. He hath cut off in his fierce
anger all the horn of Israel. He hath drawn back his right
hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like
a flaming fire which devoured round about. He hath bent his
bow like an enemy. He stood with his right hand
as an adversary and slew all that were pleasant to the eye
in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out his fury
like fire. the Lord was an enemy. He hath
swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces,
he hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter
of Judah mourning and lamentation." He went on to say, her gates
are sunk into the ground, he hath destroyed and broken her
bars, Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles. Now listen
to this. The law is no more. Her prophets
also find no vision from the Lord. Her prophets also find
no vision from the Lord. He's not talking to them. Now
let me ask you this question. Am I sitting here making up crazy
talk about Armageddon or did I just read the words of the
Lord? Turn with me over a few pages
past the book of Amos toward the New Testament to the book
of Micah. Turn to Micah chapter 3, verses 5 through 7 say this,
Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people
air, that bite with their teeth and cry peace, and he that putteth
not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Therefore,
night shall be unto you, that you shall not have a vision,
and it shall be dark unto you, that you shall not divine, And
the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be
dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed,
and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their
lips, for there is no answer of God." God is not talking to
them. They do not have the words of
the Lord. Doesn't that cause us to see
why John said, Beloved, believe not every spirit. That word spirit
means preacher. Believe not every preacher, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God. Well, back to our
text, Amos chapter 8, verse 12 says this. They shall wander from sea to
sea. And from the north, even to the
east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord
and shall not find it. They shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. What do you mean they shall not
find it? It's right here. I've got a Bible right here.
Well, let me ask you this. As these new translations of
the Bible continue to come out, translations of translations,
and as men continue to put their two cents in there on what they
think God means, do they still actually have the
words of the Lord in them? Let's think about that. Do they
still actually have what God said? And if they do, Are men
really standing up and preaching it? Are the people actually hearing
the words of the Lord? Are you hearing a man stand up
with God's word and declare to you what God said? Or are you
watching a man stand up with his notebook and he gets behind
the pulpit and he gives you a nice, wonderful lesson on morality? are the people actually hearing
the words of the Lord? Because if they're not, they're
gonna die in their sins. Verse 13 in our text says, in
that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. Verse 14 says, they that swear
by the sin of Samaria That sin was they started worshiping idols. They made a golden calf. They
thought they were worshiping God, but they weren't. They that
swear by the sin of Samaria and say, thy God O Dan liveth and
the manner of Beersheba liveth, they were all idol worshipers.
It says, even they shall fall and never rise up again. Now
I have two questions this morning, two questions for each one of
us this morning. How can I tell if I'm in a famine? And if I am, what must I do to
get out of this famine? What must I do to be fed? Well, first of all, What are
the words of the Lord? Or what is the word of the Lord? John 1.1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was God. Genesis 1.1 says, In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1-3 says, and God said, let there be light. The Word
spoke. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was God. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and God said. And in Genesis 3 verse
8, after Adam and Eve sinned, They heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The words
of the Lord is Jesus Christ. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The word of the Lord is Jesus
Christ. This famine is not a famine of
religion. It's not a famine of churches,
religious buildings, religious people, they're everywhere. It's
a famine of Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Now, how can
I tell if I'm in a famine? In a place of religion, what
are the signs that there's a famine of the words of the Lord? If
I'm sitting in a place of religion, What are the signs that there's
a famine of the words of the Lord? Here's the first one. Here's the first sign. Men preach. There's a lot of preaching. But
they preach without the power of the Holy Spirit of God. What do I mean by that? Well,
I'm not talking about an emotional movement. That's not what I'm
talking about at all. Men are good at stirring up emotions,
but that's all a man can stir up, emotions. When a man's voice
is the only voice that's heard, when it's heard in word only,
and when the Holy Spirit of Christ is not there, here's how you'll
know. There will be no conviction of
sin. That's how you'll know the Spirit
is not there. There will be no conviction of
sin. Now turn with me over to John
14. John 14 verse 16 says this, I
will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter, that's
the Holy Spirit of God, that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. the Comforter, the Spirit. The Lord said, I will send him
to you. Now listen to John 16 verses 7 to 14. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove, and that word means convince, the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because they believe not
on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see
me no more. of judgment because the prince
of this world is judge. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the
spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto
you." When the Holy Spirit of Christ
is not in a place, there will be no conviction of sin. There will be no true revelation
of Jesus Christ, who He really is. When you hear men and women
leave services and they say, oh, the Spirit was there, we
had the Spirit this morning, the Spirit was in that place,
He was not there. But when you hear men and women
leave services and they say, oh, Christ was with us, we saw
Christ today, I believe the Holy Spirit of God was there. Because
our Lord said, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine
and shall show it to you. He won't speak of himself. He's
going to speak of Christ. He's going to reveal who Jesus
Christ really is. And when he's not there, there
will be no new life given, no regeneration. There will be no
comfort over the sin he just exposed. There will be no spiritual
growth. Everything will pretty much just
be dead. It'll just be dead. The second
sign of famine. When religion is thriving. But
there's a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. When religion
just keeps growing and growing. But there's a famine of hearing
the words of the Lord. Here's what will happen. People
will come together on Sunday, but the Lord and His Word is
not with them. They really have no idea what
religion, what church, and what worship is all about. They think,
well, I just know I need to go to church. I just know I need
to be in church. They have no idea that it's all
about Christ. They have no idea that they need
to be in Christ. They need to come to Christ.
No idea. Our Lord, when he was 12 years
old, he was returning from Jerusalem with his parents. And it says
Mary and Joseph went a day's journey supposing him to be in
the company. When there's a famine, people
just suppose. They just suppose. Did you meet
with God today? Well, they had a steeple. Well, did God speak? And what
did he say? Straighten up and fly right.
It's better to be a good person than a bad person. You know,
that'd be like going to a doctor because you have cancer. Something's
wrong. And the doctor says, you have
cancer. And my prescription is straighten up and fly right.
Was that a real doctor? Was knowledge of medicine plentiful
there? Well, you know, he was in a doctor's
office. He had on a white coat. Doctor. What should I do about my cancer? You need to love it away. Love
is the answer. No! Well, why don't you join
the hospital basketball team? That'll fix it. No! Doctor, I
think there's a lack here. I think there's a famine here. Something's not right. When the
spirit of Christ is there, he reveals the words of the Lord
and the people walk away knowing we heard from God today. What did he say? He said, I have
an awful disease called sin. And then he told me the cure
for my disease. It's something called substitution. He said I could have it for free,
pro bono. I got wonderful news today. I had a good report. Good news. I heard the gospel
today. When there's a famine, of hearing
the words of the Lord. The word of God is read, but
there's no applying of that word to the heart. Those two on the
road to Emmaus, they didn't say, oh, weren't our minds astonished? No, they said, did not our hearts
burn within us? What was that, Byrne? It was
love. It was love for God, love for
Christ, love for His word. Somebody said, we've listened
to the preacher. Truth by him has been shown.
But we need the great teacher from the everlasting throne.
Application is the work of God alone. When there's a famine
of hearing the words of the Lord in a place, baptism and the Lord's
table and prayer, they're all observed, but they don't mean
anything to the person observing them. Religion says, don't you
want to be saved? Well, yeah. Yeah, I want to be
saved. Well, then you need to be baptized.
Okay. All right. I want to be baptized.
Let's do this. I want to. Well, what does that
baptism mean to you? Well, it means I'm saved. Well,
how do you know? Because I was baptized. If the word of the Lord is not
there, it's just a meaningless ceremony. That's all it is. True
baptism is something that happens to the heart. It's a work of
the Holy Spirit, and then that heart deeply desires to confess
it to others. When a place is in full drought,
when a person is in full drought, When the scriptures become a
source of controversy instead of comfort, when they become
a source of debate instead of instruction, when we're more
concerned with proving our doctrine than proving ourselves, in the
words of the Lord to ourselves, there's a famine. Now, if I'm
in a famine, how do I get out? Or if I fear this famine, how
do I keep from falling into it? Well, turn with me to Psalm 51. This psalm was written when Nathan
the prophet came to David after he'd gone into Bathsheba. And
David was in a drought. He was not convicted of being
with Bathsheba until Nathan came to him. The convicting words
of the Lord were not there. But they did come when Nathan
said, Thou art the man. Then David cried to God to pull
him out of this drought and God heard David. How do we know? God wrote it in his book. This
is the seeking sinner's guide, and it's the believing sinner's
comfort, okay? Four things brought David out
of his famine. He cried for mercy. Verse one,
he said, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions. He doesn't claim to be owed anything.
He doesn't claim to have earned anything, he just begs for mercy
because God is loving and kind. The second thing that brought
David out of his famine is he confessed his sin. Verse 3 says,
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. He was honest. He acknowledged
what he was and what he'd done. The third thing that brought
David out of his famine is he acknowledged the root of the
problem. Verse 5 says, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He wasn't
just sorry because he'd been caught. He was sorry for what
he was, not just what he'd done. He was sorry for what he was.
I am sin. The fourth thing that brought
David out of his drought was he saw his remedy. Verse seven, he said, purge me
with hyssop and I shall be clean. Hyssop was what they dipped in
the blood to sprinkle on the doorpost. And God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Do you know what that is? That is food to a hungry soul. That's the words of the Lord. That will end the famine. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord God 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.