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Perfect To Be Accepted

“And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.” | Leviticus 22: 21

The voice from the cross did not summon men to do, but to be satisfied with what was done, “It is finished.”

The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect thing which has ever been presented to God on man’s behalf.

“It shall be perfect to be accepted, there shall be no blemish therein.”

~ Pastor Scott Richardson

Click here to listen to the message “My Salvation Shall Be Forever” (38:18 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 18 January, 2023
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The Race That Is Set

”Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” | Hebrews 12: 1

Everything about the believer’s race is set by God.

Our Lord determined before the foundation of the world those whom he would put in this race when he chose his people in Christ. The love of God for his people is as eternal as God is. It existed before time; it shall exist when time is no more. The everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus gives the believer great cause for patiently running this race.

Our God set the precise moment he would cross our path with the gospel. He determined the pastor he would raise up, gave him the heart to trust Christ, and the unction to preach his word in truth and in spirit. In that hour of love he made Christ our Wisdom.

We beheld something of the righteous skill with which Christ Jesus honored and magnified God’s law on our behalf.

We beheld his faithfulness and graciousness in satisfying justice on our behalf. In the light of Christ we heard the law condemn our sins and our sins were more than we could bear. But the Spirit revealed in our hearts that all our sins have been forever put away by Christ’s one offering.

In love and power Christ was made our Perfection, our Completion, our Righteousness, our All. When we behold God’s all-powerful hand in all providence which brought us to Christ in spite of us, the believer finds great comfort in knowing that the God who provided and is our Righteousness will continue to be our Strength to run this race.

Our God set every hurdle on this course which we must run and declares plainly to us that we must suffer much tribulation in this race. Yet, the God who set the course also reveals in us that he is the God who supplies the grace. That is what he teaches us as he carries us through every dark vale.

Our God set the length of our course. He has appointed the hour our race will end. By his grace we will find the finish line to be the most glorious hour of all the hours of our lives for then we shall enter into the presence of Christ our Redeemer.

What a joy to know that our race ends where it began, in Christ our Lord.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “According to Promise” (41:21 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 26 October, 2008 | Previous post date: 25 December, 2022 | Ewing, New Jersey

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By The Blood

”Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” | Hebrews 10: 19-22

The word “boldness” means “liberty.”

”In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” (Ephesians 3: 12)

Under the old covenant the worshippers could never enter the holiest of holies because the way into the holiest of all — that way being, Christ Jesus the Lord – had not yet been made manifest while that first tabernacle was yet standing.

”Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:” (Hebrews 9: 6-8)

God’s law had to be satisfied on behalf of all God’s elect.

”Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34: 7)

The sins of those people given to Christ before the world had to be officially put away by Christ Jesus the Lord.

”For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9: 26)

Christ our High Priest had to enter into God’s presence with his own blood as our forerunner through the veil.

”And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” (Mark 15: 38)

”Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7: 27)

But now, brethren, the believer has liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

”By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10: 10)

”Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” (Hebrews 6: 19)

His blood is our right into God’s throne room of grace. ‘By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.’

”Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10: 19-22)

Christ’s blood is our access to our heavenly Father.

When you cry, “Abba, Father” it is Christ’s blood that guarantees your loving Father hears you.

Sinner’s saved by grace cannot say too much about the blood of Christ!

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “The Veil and The Golden Censer” (26:37 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 24 March, 2009 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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The Stump Next Door

The kings of the earth preferred a golden scepter.

”And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.” (Esther 5: 2)

The Prophet, Priest and King who would prevail over them did not come in the pomp and grandeaur that these did — but as rod – a tender plant.

Yet there was never a king like Christ.

He holds all the offices at once.

”And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” (Zechariah 6: 12-13)

So this word “rod” is used to show that the KING of kings is a KING of great contrast to those of every earthly king.

”If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.” (Hebrews 7: 11-13)

He needed none of man’s embellishments, man’s adornments, because he lacks nothing, Christ is the true Prophet, Priest and KING.

”For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.” (Hebrews 7: 14)

Jesus is King of kings and LORD of lords.

”And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,” (Hebrews 7: 15)

But this word “rod” conveys his humility as a man.

”Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.” (Hebrews 7: 16)

For the same reasaon He is said to come “out of the stem of Jesse – out of his roots.”

”For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” (Hebrews 7: 17)

This King is not even said to come out of the house of David.

”For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” (Hebrews 7: 18)

Because then the people might have envisioned king David who had risen to great stature and prominence in Israel during his days.

”For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” (Hebrews 7: 19)

Instead, the stem of Jesse — Jesse was David’s father – he lived and died in meekness and obscurity.

”And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?” (1 Samuel 18: 18)

Christ would come from a family which was cut down to the point that its existence was unrecognizable.

Therefore the Holy Spirit does not say this king will come from the house of David.

”For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53: 2)

One reason that the carnal, natural man will not bow to Christ our King is the same reason he was rejected when he walked this earth.

One, he appeared as nothing more than a man – the word here for Branch is “Netser.”

They knew if he was the king then Caesar was not king.

Until he makes us to behold him as he is — KING of kings and lord of lords – all you will see is a man, and you and I will not bow.

But he makes his people willing in the day of his power.

”And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” (Revelation 5: 5)

But notice, in other places he is not spoken of as a rod out of the stem of Jesse but a Righteous Branch and King unto David.

”Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)

In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious: In the day that the LORD chopped down and burned the field and took away all the stately, impressive, strength of the people; in that day did God shine in counsel with glory upon the earth; the Branch–the man, Christ Jesus, the servant of God, the Mediator between God and men came in his lowly state of humiliation on earth.

”And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” (Isaiah 11: 1)

But this branch grew and brought forth much fruit.

”In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” (Isaiah 4: 2)

And the fruit of the earth [shall] be excellent and comely: He is the fruit of the earth because he was born of woman – Christ is the firstfruit; the Branch — Christ Jesus – is covered in fruits of divine grace: righteousness, reconciliation, peace, pardon, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life.

He is excellent in his person, more than excellent than the angels; he obtained a more excellent ministry than Aaron and his sons; excellent in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; his people are branches in him receiving precious life and fruitfulness from him.

”He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” (Isaiah 27: 6)

Therefore He is the Vine — excellent and comely – for them that are escaped of Israel: Christ Jesus the Branch shall not be excellent and comely to all men, but to them who have seen his glory, have tasted that he is gracious and believe on him; these are the remnant according to the election of grace, the preserved of Israel, the chosen of God, and precious, who are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.

”Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” (Psalm 92: 13)

This Vine, this Branch spread and his kingdom increased in the Gentile world as well.

”To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61: 3)

The wealth and honor of this world are contemptible to our King Priest.

”And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.” (Psalm 80: 15)

His kingdom is not of this world.

”I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15: 1-5)

Earthly power and riches have nothing to do with the success of Christ the King, the Righteous Branch.

”I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” (Revelation 22: 16)

For each of us personally, when he has chopped you down like he did Israel, brought you to nothing but a stump, then within each sinner the Life springs up — the tender plant, the plant of humility, and by God’s grace; His rain and His sun, His snow and His watering – you grow in grace, in knowledge and understanding of Christ Jesus the Lord and become fruitful.

‘I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.’

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Where Is Your Treasure?” (27:48 minutes) https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/11909820591

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 22 March, 2009 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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The Morning Of Forever

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” | Isaiah 2: 1-4

The Lord Jesus Christ established and exalted his church by his life, death and resurrection.

From heaven through the church on earth he is now establishing and exalting his church above every hill of falsehood by calling out his people, teaching them, and causing them to walk in him alone by faith.

But there is one last work which he shall perform in establishing and exalting his house.

By the power of his grace working within his people in his church the Lord makes his people a peaceful people.

Swords and spears are poor gardening tools.

Therefore he makes his people instruments for husbandry.

Believers have ceased binding others with the law – not only because we can not obey it but because an obedience to the law can in no way cleanse the filth of our flesh so that we are holy, only Christ can.

Knowing that Christ has freely, fully, forever accomplished our warfare by reconciling us to God in righteouness and true holiness we no longer study how to war against God with the sword and spears of our works.

Instead, we preach Christ who has made us more than conquerors.

And though this is true of the believer in this life, we do not yet know the fullness of peace while we remain in this sinful flesh and sinful world.

Yet, in the end of these last days, after the Lord has called his saints from the four corners of this world, he shall then bring the remainder of the nations before him in judgment and shall rebuke many people for the hardness of their hearts and the sin that all men are.

But at last he shall establish his bride in a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells only righteousness; where there will fully be no war and need for instruments of war.

In that day he shall exalt his bride as the trophy of his victory by the work he performed from beginning to end.

She shall be established and exalted when he presents her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but holy and without blemish.

He established and exalted his church by his person and finished work, and by raising her in him to the right hand of God.

He is establishing and exalting his church above the hills of every false dominion through his church through the gospel he teaches in the heart.

He shall establish and exalt his bride one last time to be with him.

On that morning when forever begins, all those present shall have one and the same song, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

Amen.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “The Candlestick, The Table and The Showbread” (25:34 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 2 August, 2008 | Previous post date: 29 August, 2021 | Ewing, New Jersey

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There Shall Come Forth A Rod

The word means a KING shall come forth.

But the word “rod” teaches us so much more than if the Spirit had said a scepter or a king.

We just saw how the LORD cleared his vineyard, his garden, made bear the land because of the haughtiness and pride of the stouthearted rebels who refused to bow to him.

Then the KING of kings and LORD of lords is described as a “rod.”

Do you know what a king used to show his power and authority – a golden scepter.

Earthly kings liked a scepter because it made them appear to be more in authority and to have more power.

But why wasn’t the word “king” or “scepter’ used here, instead of the word “rod”?

Way back starting with Moses and Aaron, God chose for his prophet, and his priest to be recognized, not through the use of a scepter but a rod.

God commanded Moses to use only a rod – which was likely an unattractive piece of wood compared to Pharaoh’s golden scepter.

But such was the rod God chose to perform all the mighty signs of God’s power upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

It was of the earth and there was nothing necessarily attractive about the rod itself, but it was filled with the power of God.

We read “and Moses took the rod of God in his hand”

”And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.” (Exodus 4: 20)

Aaron cast his rod on the ground and it became a serpent.

”For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.” (Exodus 7: 12)

God commanded Moses to have Aaron smite the waters with that rod and he turned the waters in Egypt into blood.

He made lice in the earth and upon man when the rod smote the earth.

The rod was held up by Moses and the children of Israel prevailed against the Amalekites.

The LORD used this rod to show that he was with Moses his prophet.

Then when Korah and his men rejected Moses and Aaron, it was a rod that the LORD used to reveal who it was he had chosen as his High Priest.

Twelve rods – a rod for each tribe with their names on the rods was set out.

Aarons’ name was on the rod for the house of Levi.

”And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.” (Numbers 17: 4-6)

(All set forth by God by a rod–Aaron’s rod that budded and brought forth fruit–almonds.)

”And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod. And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.” (Numbers 17: 7-10)

It was by holding up the rod that the Red Sea parted and the children went over on dry ground.

”And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.” (Isaiah 10: 26)

The LORD just said through Isaiah that this is how he would destroy the enemies of his people.

The kings of the earth preferred a golden scepter.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “First Be Reconciled” (43:00 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 22 March, 2009 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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From Heaven Through His Church

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” | Isaiah 2: 1-3

The passage speaks of all nations flowing unto the Lord’s house.

We read that many people, not just his elect from among the Jews, shall go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

Also, note that it is the Lord who shall do the teaching; that he shall teach, not of man’s ways, but of his ways.

The prophet says that when he teaches his people they will walk, not in the path of the little obstinate-stiff-necked hills, but in the Lord’s paths.

All this is because the law and the word of the Lord are going forth out of Zion from the top of the mountains and out of his Jerusalem.

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” (Jeremiah 23: 1-8)

After our Lord established and exalted his church by his life, his sacrifice and his ascension, God the Father gave him all power in heaven and in earth to send forth the gospel from heaven through his church on earth that he might rule in the midst of his enemies.

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110: 1-4)

From his throne in the mountain of glory, Christ Jesus the Lord is now establishing his church by drawing his redeemed people from the north, the south, the east and the west; an elect people out of all nations.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)

From heavens Zion our victorious King Prophet is teaching his people through the local assemblies and pastors which he has established and raised up.

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” (Colossians 1: 21-23)

His people rejoice to hear of his way of electing grace, of establishing them complete in God’s presence in righteous judgment by his own wisdom, righteousness and holiness.

They delight in his way of regenerating his spiritually dead children when he comes in power and grace to each of them; his way of preserving them by the word of his power and of faithfully fulfilling his every promise.

“Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.” (Zechariah 8: 1-3)

As he draws them to his house one-by-one, it is not a grand spectacle or something even noticed by the world of religion who reject the gospel for another jesus.

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” (Micah 4: 1)

Yet, by the work that he alone is performing, his elect, hear his voice from heaven through his church on earth and they follow him.

“Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” (Micah 3: 9-12)

Christ has made the path free of all thorns of sin and stones of ignorance; they know he is the Way and therefore they walk in his path.

“Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 51: 25-26)

This is the second manner in which the Lord establishes and exalts his house above the insignificant hills of falsehood.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Faith’s Confidence” (17:15 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 1 August, 2008 | Previous post date: 28 August, 2021 | Ewing, New Jersey

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The Husbandman And His Fruitful Vine

”Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.” | Isaiah 10: 33, 34

The LORD created all things to glorify his name.

Husbandry is one such thing.

”And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” (Isaiah 11: 01)

The LORD’s church is compared to a garden of God’s planting.

”I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3: 6)

Often the metaphor of trees, of a fruitful field, is used to describe the Lord’s people, the church of God.

”Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.” (Isaiah 10: 33)

We see this metaphor of a garden, of trees, of the LORD planting and uprooting throughout the book of Isaiah.

Whenever the elect of God had become overrun with false prophets, the strangers from outside Israel had been allowed in – though Judah appeared to prosper materialistically the LORD said of his elect:

”And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1: 8-9)

By God’s grace, his garden is well-watered, ever-green.

On the other hand, false religion only appears green.

Idolaters worshipped under groves — under green trees where it was shady and attractive to the flesh – thus called “pleasant places.”

But God said they were dry because the grace of God was not there to water them.

Thus the LORD says that the false husbandmen — the maker of their falsehood shall be the spark and the people shall be the tow, or tinder – for the fire.

”Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.” (Isaiah 1: 27-31)

God hates a proud look.

Throughout Isaiah’s prophecy he spoke of those who refused to submit themselves to God’s way of salvation in a Substitute, in the Lamb of sacrifice which he provides, as being proud and lofty.

He describes them like they saw themselves – cedars of Lebannon and oaks of Bashan.

”Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (John 15: 2)

But the LORD promised to cut those trees down.

”The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,” (Isaiah 2: 11-13)

There is a song (Isaiah 5: 1-7) which again speaks of God and his vineyard: “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.”

”What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” (Isaiah 5: 4-6)

So when the LORD withheld the rain they found that they had nothing good in themselves wherein to produce fruit.

”Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 5: 24)

The LORD sent Isaiah to declare that he is burning off the garden, chopping down all the mighty oaks, taking the hedge down from around the vineyard, he is consuming the chaff, but as he does so he speaks of his sovereign, electing grace in saving a remnant.

”And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” (Isaiah 6: 9-13)

So how would the LORD our Husbandman burn off his vineyard and clear this forest of haughty, proud, lofty trees?

”And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.” (Ezekiel 34: 29)

He did a great deal by taking down the hedge and allowing the wild beasts to come in and eat it up.

”And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.” (Isaiah 10: 17-19)

But as for the mighty trees, the LORD used an ax to cut down the mighty cedars and the tall oaks in his garden — the ax as you remember was the king of Assyria because he turns the kings heart whitersoever he will – but then he cut down the forest of the king of Assyria as well:

”Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.” (Isaiah 10: 33-34)

Now concerning all the haughty, lofty, cedars of Lebanon as well as the mighty oaks of Bashan, both in Israel and Judah, all his land, the LORD says:

”But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” (Matthew 15: 13)

Get the picture of this land.

It is all cleared off, the chaff which grew up from the bad seed has been burned, the haughty, proud cedars of Lebannon, the mighty oaks of Bashan, the LORD cut it back, chopped it down to the roots, so that all that is left of the nation is a stem – a stump.

”For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” (Job 14: 7)

But remember He said there was a Holy Seed — Substance, Life – yet in this stump of a tree.

”And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” (Isaiah 11: 1)

The LORD promised: a plant of renown!

The LORD promised: No more hunger!

The LORD promised: No more shame!

That must be some beautiful plant!

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Salt of the Earth” (31:33 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 22 March, 2009 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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Go Forth Unto Him

”Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.” | Hebrews 13: 9-11

If you are will believe on Christ Jesus the Lord then you must leave behind all ceremony, legalistic, human works, worldliness, and every other falsehood, and identify ourselves as being one with Christ.

It will mean reproach from those who yet attempt to come to God some other way, but it is reproach worth bearing if we believe that Christ is all.

Atonement ‘at’ ‘tone’ ‘ment’ – God is holy.

God’s elect are sinners.

In order for God to accept a sinner, God must make that sinner holy.

Atonement makes a sinner, holy, so he can be at one with holy God.

God declared how atonement is made for a sinner.

A spotless, sinless, innocent sacrifice is made to be sin for that sinner.

Then the sacrifice dies in the place of that sinner.

Its blood — wherein is the life of the sacrifice – is offered to God upon the mercy seat in the holiest of holies.

Only the High Priest could enter the holiest of holies with the blood.

God prepared a body like ours for his Son.

He took upon him flesh and blood like those he came to save.

He was made under the law of God like those he came to save in order that he might show himself to be perfect in thought, word and deed.

He is the perfect, sinless, spotless, Lamb which God provided to take away the sin of his people.

He had to be perfect or he would not be fit to take our sin.

In order to pay the debt his people owed to the law’s justice, it was a must for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had never done any sin, to be made sin for us, to made a curse for us.

And it was a must that he suffer all the consequences of our sins until God’s justice was fully satisfied.

It meant Jesus had to suffer the fire of God’s holy law and wrath.

It had to be because God can not show you or me mercy unless his law is first honored and his justice first satisfied toward his people.

Do you see how holy God is?

He will by no means clear the guilty.

God is so holy that he sent his only begotten Son to bear the guilt of his people.

God is so holy that when sin was found on the Lamb he provided, he would not hold back his holy fury.

God is so holy that he will not accept his people until there sin be completely put away and they be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

That is why Christ was made a curse for his people

But we see in this, not only the suffering our Lord endured under the fire of God’s holy, unbending justice, but we see also the shame and reproach he endured by being made sin for us.

If you confess to this world that all your hope is — not in yourself – but in Christ Jesus your Lord you will be an offense to this world.

Glorying in the cross of Christ means renouncing any sanctifying, justifying work that you or I or any other man can perform.

Glorying in the cross of Christ is to confess that Christ sanctified me, made me holy and without blame by his one offering without the camp.

If you leave behind this self-serving, self-righteous, will-worshipping generation and go forth unto Christ without the camp, you shall bear his reproach.

And you will bear it most of all from this religious world.

Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate – in that shameful, reproachful place where the cursed leper was separated from the camp.

Remember: the reproach which Christ suffered was at the hands of religious men and women – religion excommunicated him, kicked him out of the camp, because they would not confess their sin and let go of their self-righteous deeds.

But if he makes you know that he was suffering for you then you will find that there is not anything which is too much to suffer for Christ!

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Christ Teaches Lydia the Gospel” (42:14 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 15 March, 2009 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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In The Last Days

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.” | Isaiah 2: 1

The Lord Jesus Christ alone must establish and exalt his house.

He has and he shall.

This is the word which came from the Lord God of covenant promise delivered by his messenger Isaiah.

Christ’s church, made up of the small remnant of his elect in that physical nation Israel as well as his elect from the four corners of the earth, shall be established and raised.

In the last days that the Mosaic system of worship existed the Son of God was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4: 4, 5)

Christ bought the remnant of his elect children who were natural descendants of Abraham out from the Mosaic law so that they now are free to approach God through Christ the Lamb rather than an earthly sacrifice by the law of commandments.

At the same time, for both his elect Gentiles and his remnant in national Israel, Christ judicially delivered them from sin and death earned by the first Adam in the garden.

By his holy person and his righteous obedience Christ established an everlasting righteousness which his people could never do for themselves.

Being made sin for us, he who knew no sin satisfied God’s justice, reconciled us to God and established us before God.

When he was exalted to God’s right hand in resurrection glory his church was exalted in him.

This is what the word “established” and “exalted” means.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “From the Country of Moab to the House of Bread” (40:53 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 31 July, 2008 | Previous post date: 25 August, 2021 | Ewing, New Jersey