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Our Righteousness Keeps Us Apart

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. | Matthew 13: 15

There is not a sin upon you that the blood of Christ cannot wash clean.

There is not an offense that the gracious God cannot forgive.

The great obstacle that lies between you and God is not your sin so much as your righteousness! It is true that our sins have separated us from our God, but it is our righteousness that keeps us apart.

There is a remedy for sin in the gospel, so our sin is no hindrance to our salvation in Christ. However, our righteousness will keep us from simply receiving God’s grace in Christ; and that will prevent our being saved.

If you have not trusted the Lord Jesus to save your soul by His blood and righteousness, it is because you yet have hope in your own righteousness: either a righteousness you have already performed or one that you hope to perform in the future. How subtle is self-righteousness!

God grant you and me grace to see it for what it is and forsake it in favor of Christ who is our righteousness.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “And He Shall Reign For Ever and Ever” (51:15 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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 18 May, 2012 | Previous post date: 4 August, 2021 | Danville, Kentucky

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The God Of Daniel Is Able

”And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” | John 17: 3-4

In all the heresies that have troubled the church over the last 2,000 years — there is, in truth, only one heresy – The Insufficiency of Christ.

No matter what form a heresy may take – free-willism, ceremonialism, legalism, moralism and so forth – the underlying issue is a lack of belief that Christ is the necessary and sufficient Savior for sinners.

We need Him, and He is all we need.

In a very real sense, many shall perish forever, not because they did not have enough, but because they had too much.

They believed that Christ was necessary for their salvation, but they prove they do not believe that Christ is sufficient for they act as though the salvation brought by Christ is waiting for them to do something that activates or supplements the work of Christ.

But the glory of the gospel of Christ is that its success rests entirely on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel of God requires nothing from us.

It comes to us as sinners, expecting nothing from us other than sin.

Even the faith by which we lay hold of Christ does not arise from our natural selves but is a gift from God, given to us without us asking for it, worked in us by the power of the Spirit of God as He imparts new spiritual life to us through the New Birth.

Everything in the gospel is designed so that “he who boasts, boasts in the Lord.”

The praise of heaven does not contain a single word about the works of man.

Rather, every syllable is toward the Son of God.

He did it; He did it all; He did it well!

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “The God of Daniel is Able” (49:46 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: 31 March, 2024 | Previous post date: n/a

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Two Questions: Two Religions

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” | Romans 10: 3-4

Sooner could the ocean prove too little for a small fish or the sky be too small for a swallow than the grace of God prove insufficient for one of God’s people.

Not all their weaknesses, failures or sins can use it up.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “Behold My Glorious Servant” (33:45 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: 11 July, 2021 | Previous post date: 13 March, 2022

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The Fear Of The LORD

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” | Psalm 111: 10

Once Job and his three friends had spoken, they were rebuked by Elihu and then by God, Himself.

The essence of Elihu’s and God’s response to all that had been said by Job and his three friends is this: God is the Maker and Sovereign Sustainer of all things.

Powers beyond your imagination are at His beck and call.

Who are you?

There is no fault in man that cannot be traced back to his lack of reverence or “the fear of the Lord.”

Paul concluded his prosecution of all mankind with, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In some, this lack of the fear of God results in outright atheism; in others, it results in a form of religion in which the works and/or will of men are the deciding factor in their eternal condition.

Some would say that the pride of man is the source of all sin and error, and they would be correct in saying that.

But we can go back even one more step, for the pride of man arises only in a heart that is devoid of the fear of the Lord.

No amount of intellectual, theological training can give a man the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the end of it.

Only God can teach the fear of God. And I believe that His classroom for all His lessons on this subject is the cross of Christ.

Wherever this lesson is God-taught, mouths are shut, hearts are subdued, wills are broken, knees are bowed, and repentance and faith flow freely. And the answer to, “Who are you?” is “I am nobody; Christ is all.”

~ Pastor Joseph Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “God and His People” (50:28 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 8 May, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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If You Love Me

”Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” | Matthew 27: 41, 42

Such is the blindness of natural man that when he attempts to speak of spiritual things, even the most intelligent among them become fools.

The intelligentsia of Jewish religion had long hated Christ.

They had often gone to where he was teaching to ply him with questions in an attempt to tricking Him into saying something they could use against Him.

In so doing they doubtless heard much of His teaching.

Yet, now they say, “Come down from the cross and we will believe you.”

Their taunt is utterly absurd.

If He comes down from the cross, they will have no reason to believe Him; He will have made Himself a liar.

Did He not say, “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” and, “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again”?

If He had come down from the cross, he would have proven Himself a liar and undermined any reason for anyone to believe Him.

But there is a more serious issue.

If Christ were to have come down from the cross, there would have been no value in believing Him. Faith would not have brought salvation.

Had Christ not fulfilled this death-work, believing Him would leave believers in their condemned state.

Their sins would not have been paid for, leaving them in a state of guilt, and God will by no means clear the guilty.

Anyone who does not see the cross-work of the Lord Jesus as the linchpin of the whole scheme of grace does not understand the scheme of grace.

The whole of it rests upon “Christ and Him crucified!”

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “If You Love Me” (51:32 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.

Hurricane Road Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 29 November, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a | Cattletsburg, Kentucky

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The Declaration Of Dependence

“In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” | Psalm 62: 7

Sooner could the ocean prove too little for a small fish or the sky be too small for a swallow than the grace of God prove insufficient for one of God’s people.

Not all their weaknesses, failures or sins can use it up.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “Confidence in God’s Gospel” (49:52 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: 11 July, 2021 | Previous post date: 21 August, 2021

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God Be Merciful To Me

”Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” | Luke 18: 10-13

Men do all they can to divorce themselves from their own sinfulness.

Some do like the Pharisee in the story referenced above and define sin by mere actions.

Having defined sin by certain actions, they avoid those actions and thus divorce themselves from their sin.

Seeing sin as a matter of what a man does, they seek a salvation that is a matter of what a man does.

To them, sin is a “practical” matter, that is, a matter of what a man practices; therefore, to them, salvation is also a practical matter.

In reaction to such a weak view of what sin is, some take a more theological approach to it and speak of sin in terms of original sin in both its imputed and imparted aspects.

They declare that the sin of Adam is imputed to us so that we are held responsible for the rebellion that took place in Eden.

They also hold that because of that rebellion, Adam passed on to his posterity a nature bent to sin.

Their theology is accurate, yet some have no further knowledge of their sin than a theological understanding of the origin and nature of it.

Thus they divorce themselves from any real responsibility for their sin: it is only a matter of the rules of the game.

Since their sin is, to them, a matter of theology, so is their salvation.

Since their condemnation came to them by a theological construct, they believe that their salvation comes to them by the construction of a proper theology of salvation.

The remedy for a proper theology of sin is a proper theology of salvation.

A theological savior is sufficient for theological sinners.

But I see this tax collector near the temple.

I hear no recitation of evils done, no theological definitions of who and what he was.

I see no evidence that he considers the deeds of others: He does not look back to Adam to find the source of his sin nor look around at others to note that he does not compare favorably with them.

He does not feel that he is a sinner because he is not as good as yonder praying Pharisee.

He simply knows that he is a sinner in need of mercy, and thus he calls on God for it.

Only two sights occupy his heart’s vision: he sees himself as the worthless wretch that he is and he sees with his heart the mercy seat upon which the blood of the sacrifice was poured in behalf of sinners.

He does not care for theological definitions of sin nor would he be satisfied with a theology of salvation.

To him, sin is a very personal thing, and thus the only remedy for it is a personal interest in the blood poured out on the mercy seat.

Real sinners need a real Savior. And thank God, there is one: Jesus Christ.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “The Lord Hath Put Away My Sin”

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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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 17 February, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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Christ Died For Us

”But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” | Romans 5: 8

I cannot say if these words are for you, for I do not know whether Christ died for you.

I know that everyone should sincerely hope that he is among those of whom it is written, “Christ died for us.”

And why is this?

Because, if Christ has not died for a person, then that person shall have to die for himself.

The wages of sin is death, and someone must receive those wages: if not Christ, then the man who has actually done the sinning.

Now then, who may rightly say, “Christ has died for me”?

The very Scripture quoted makes it plain, for a fuller version of it is, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.

So it is sinners that may claim the words, “Christ died of us”.

Maybe you think, “Then it must apply to me, for I confess that there are some sins in my past. I am not a perfect man, I suppose. I am a fairly decent individual, but, like all other men, I have sometimes failed in my attempts to be a good man.”

If that is your confession, then I fear that Christ has not died for you; for your confession of sin has much of a boast of righteousness in it.

You see, to you, your sins are only blots and blemishes on an otherwise good life.

But an even fuller reading of our text teaches us that Christ died for those who are neither righteous nor good, yet you think there is righteousness and good in you.

Maybe you have some hope in this, that even though your sins are many, they are not very big sins.

After all, you are neither a thief nor a murderer.

You have not bowed down to any stone or wooden idol.

If you boast in the smallness of your sins, then you have no warrant to claim that Christ has died for you.

Do you ask why? It is simple.

God is just, and He always makes the punishment fit the crime.

Your boast in the fewness or smallness of your sins is a boast that it would not take much of a savior nor any great act of salvation to rescue you from them.

But Christ died for those whose condition is so bad that nothing less than His death would remedy it.

He died for sinners whose sins deserve what Christ endured.

Can you look on the scene of the dying Savior and confess that you sins are so wicked that they deserve such punishment and that nothing less than His death could put your sin away?

Are you so bad that Christ must die in order for you to be saved?

Then I have great hope for you that you are among that blessed few who can rightly say, “Christ died for us.”

But there is yet one more test.

Maybe you are among those who lay in a bondage of legal guilt and have an understanding of the greatness of their sin but are blind to the greatness of Christ’s death.

Even though they believe Christ’s death is necessary to put away their sin, they have no confidence that it is sufficient to put away their sin.

They feel something more than Christ is needed.

They look for certain frames of mind or emotions.

They try to add their own works to his great work: morality, Sabbath keeping, church attendance and such.

Is that how you feel?

Then I fear you are in a very sad state, for Christ did not die for those who have no confidence in the power of His sacrifice to take away their sin.

Christ did not die for those who do not need Him.

Nor did He die for those who feel they need something more.

The death of the Lord Jesus is both necessary and sufficient for the removal of guilt.

You absolutely need Christ, and you need nothing more.

Do you honestly believe this?

If so, then Christ died for you.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “Strive to Enter by the Narrow Door”

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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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 11 February, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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Holy Ground

”Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” | Psalm 32: 11

I have been reading a history of the year 1776 in the American Colonies.

After the British had left Boston, George Washington expected they were heading for New York. Therefore, Washington moved a contingent of the Colonial Army there in order to defend the city. One gentleman, Lieutenant Isaac Bangs, sought as much information about the city as he could discover. In order to investigate the seedier side of New York City, Bangs went to a place called the Holy Ground.

It was a foul slum in which every debauchery imaginable could be indulged. It was called “The Holy Ground” because a great deal of it was owned by the local church. It was commented that, “If there was trouble after dark in New York, it was nearly always in the Holy Ground… Less than a week after the continental army moved into the city, all hell erupted in the Holy Ground.”

My first thought was, “Isn’t that the way it always is with things that man calls holy.”

I have yet to know of a church where “holiness” was the primary focus that such holiness did not just prove a thin veneer over all manner of evil. Let a church lay claim to a place and call it holy; it will not be long until the place will be known for great wickedness.

Once again it is proven that the things which are highly esteemed among men are an abomination to God.

The Bible calls some things holy.

God is Holy. “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with His glory.” He is set apart from all His creation as the one God over all.

Jesus Christ is Holy: “So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

“You are the Holy One of God.”

He is set apart from the rest of humanity as the only one essentially born of God and having a Divine nature and the one chosen of God to save His people.

And God’s church is Holy.

Her members are called “saints” which is from the same Greek word as “holy.”

The church, herself, has not designated herself to be holy: “Holy” is what God has called her.

She recognizes that the term “holy” does not describe some virtuous character about her but signifies that she has been chosen, redeemed and called by God; set apart from the reprobate, condemned and dead world. She has been set apart by God, to God and for God. She is no better than the rest of the world, just greatly privileged.

In these holy things, there is goodness, purity, and decency.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “Rejoice Ye Righteous”

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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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 7 January, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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The Trial And Proof Of Faith

”Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” | Psalm 51: 2-6

It is a blessing to experience those times when all seems well and faith comes easily, when it seems the very air is filled with the presence of the Lord.

Such times are a blessing, but they are no proof of true faith.

Faith is proven when it endures the HARD times.

When the heart is broken, the mind confused, and the body weak, then is faith put to the test and proven whether it be genuine.

When faith survives those times when there is NO FEELING to verify it, NO EVIDENCE to confirm it, and NO FLESHY ENERGY to sustain it, then and only then can we discover that we have that faith that is “the gift of God”, God’s gifts are “without repentance”, and this is as true of faith as any of His other gifts.
We know we have believed when we never repent of our faith, but believe in the very face of all that is opposed to faith.

This is the trial and proof of faith.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “Repentance and Faith”

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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: 8 April, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a