Being Justified Freely

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3: 24)

What does it mean to be justified?

I am sure that there have been many definitions given and I by no means can fully expound all that is involved in sinners being justified before God.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;” (1 Peter 1: 18)

However, I am sure that it means to be eternally pardoned from all sin by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” (Jude 24)

It means to be acquitted and vindicated of all charges before the holy justice of God.

“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:” (Colossians 1: 21-22)

It means to be made and regarded righteous in God’s sight.

How are sinners justified?

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” (Romans 8: 33)

By God as the source, “It is God that justifieth”.

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3: 24)

By grace as the spring and fountain, “Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”.

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5: 9)

By Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and blood atonement as the ground, “Being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him”.

“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4: 25)

By His resurrection as the proof and evidence, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Romans 5: 1)

By faith as the means to receive this salvation in Christ, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God”.

~ Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “The True Preacher & His Message” (36:49 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: 3 January, 2021 | Previous post date: 10 May, 2022

Adam, The First And The Second

”Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” | Romans 8: 34

We fell in the first Adam through no fault of our own, we rise in the second Adam through no merit of our own, so we rise in the same manner as we fell, only in a different person.

It is in the Free Grace of God that we are taken back into His favor.

I wish we could understand that just as we were condemned in Adam and came under the just sentence of death, if we believe in the Lord Jesus, we shall be cleansed from our many offenses, and God will look on us as perfectly just in Christ Jesus.

”And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8: 27)

We shall by faith have peace with God and there shall be good reason for peace, for everything which made God angry with us shall have been put away, and we will be able with confidence to say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

”What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8: 31)

Even if the devil was base enough to fabricate a charge against the believer, yet we could say, “It is God that justifieth who is He that condemneth?”

”He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8: 32)

Since Christ has died and risen again, and now sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us, what judgment have we to fear?

Glory to God for that free gift!

~ Pastor Scott Richardson

Click here to listen to the message “Consider These Things” (43:10 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: 9 October, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Cattletsburg, Kentucky

The Rock

”He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.” | Psalm 62: 6

Have you any other rock but Christ?

I do not ask you whether you have a feeling of enjoyment of it.

I know you will rejoice in Jesus when the Holy Spirit enables you.

But have you any other refuge?

Can you go out into eternity resting upon any other rock but the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have you any other righteousness but His?

Can you lean upon, desire, or want any other than Christ’s righteousness?

“No,” says the soul, “None but Christ! None but Christ!”

Bless your poor heart, then, you shall have it as sure as God has wrought the desire in your conscience and brought you to trust alone in Jesus for refuge, for righteousness, for salvation, by stripping you of all false props and dependencies.

Such a soul as this will trust in the Lord, overcome all opposition, and be more than a conqueror through Him that hath loved him.

~ John Warburton

Click here to listen to the message “God’s Grace & Peace Multiplied” (31:49 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 February, 2018 | Previous post date: 2 June, 2022

Lord, What Will You Have Me To Do?

“Lord, what will you have me to do?” | Acts 9: 6

This is Paul’s question on the road where he met the sovereign Christ.

It was not, ‘what do I think is best for me?’

Or ‘what will afford me the most pleasure and comfort?’

Or even ‘what do other people do?’

But “Lord, what will YOU have me to do?”

In every case enable me, by Thy grace, to do what is pleasing in Thy sight and that which will bring glory to Thy name.

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3: 6)

Where we get in trouble is putting our wills and ways before His!

It is not I but Christ, His gospel, His church, His kingdom, His glory, which must be considered.

When this is settled “I” will fall in the right place and though the way may not be easy; in the end it will be pleasant.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “God Created Man” (36:16 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: 30 June, 2021

Christ Is Precious To Those Who Believe

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them” | Luke 15: 1-2

While the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes withdrew from the Lord Jesus Christ and then harshly criticized Him, many publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him.

“Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” (Act 10: 33)

What a blessing from the Lord to have a willingness to draw near to Him and then to have ears to actually hear a word from Him. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6: 44)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5: 24)

His words are words of life.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1: 16)

His words are words of salvation.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged 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.” (Hebrews 4: 12)

The worst thing the Pharisees and scribes said of the Lord, “This man recieveth sinners, and eateth with them;” is the best thing any sinner could hear.

“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)

It is not sin that keeps a man from hearing the good news of the gospel of Christ, it is his presumed righteousness he is going about to establish by his religious deeds.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3: 19-20)

No man will ever come to Christ while he is resting in the deeds of the law for salvation. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2: 1)

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” (1 John 5: 1)

It is only by the almighty power of His sovereign grace that will effectually quicken us and make us alive in Christ that will cause us to draw near to Him, to hear Him and to believe Him. “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” (John 5: 21)

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (2 Timothy 1: 9)

This Man receives sinners!

What a miracle of amazing and sovereign grace.

~ Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “Christ Is Precious To Those Who Believe” (15:11 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: 26 June, 2021

Confessing And Professing Christ

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” | Romans 10: 13

Try to remember these words of Martin Luther as you live out your days in this religious world: “If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point where the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him! Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-front besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

Dear souls, though there is hardly any doctrine of Scripture that modern religion firmly stands for, yet the most basic and essential doctrines of God’s Word, they firmly and unitedly stand against.

Modern religion vehemently opposes the truth of God’s sovereign, almighty, saving grace.

They oppose the five points of what we call Calvinism – which is God-exalting, God-honoring, gospel truth.

They hate the Bible doctrines of man’s Total Depravity, God’s Unconditional Election of men unto salvation, the Limited Atonement of Jesus Christ, God’s Irresistible Grace, and the Preservation and Perseverance of God’s elect. (They especially hate the truth of Limited Atonement or Particular Redemption.)

Do not try to push these dear and precious truths of God upon anyone, but do not ever be embarrassed or ashamed to own these truths, though you stand all alone in a crowd of unbelievers.

John Calvin once said, “Even a dog will bark if his master’s vineyard is being overrun.”

Be zealous for the good opinion of God and care little for the good opinion of men.

I have been called a “cultist,” a “different kind of Baptist,” and even a “Jim Jones,” but none of these things move me away from owning God’s precious, eternal truths.

God’s Word is more than mere doctrine, even divine doctrine – in a sense it is our life!

Let us not be mere professors of Christ, but daily confess our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in both doctrine and practice.

~ Pastor Maurice Montgomery

Click here to listen to the message “Who Will Be Saved?” (44:37 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 24 June, 2021

The Just Shall Live By Faith

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” | Matthew 17: 20

The phrase the just shall live by faith is in the scriptures four times:

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2: 4)

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1: 17)

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3: 11)

“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10: 38)

The just shall live by faith must be important since it is in scripture four times, but what does it mean?

Three things immediately spring to mind.

First, the just shall live by faith means that a sinner is justified by the faithfulness OF Christ to obey the law as a man as the representative of His people and to make the sacrifice that puts away the sin of His people without any help from the sinner.

Second, the just shall live by faith means that a sinner is justified through faith IN Christ without any of our works contributing in any way.

A sinner is justified by relying on the Lord Jesus Christ to do all the work it takes to justify them.

Third, the just shall live by faith means that the justified ones live believing the Word of God.

The justified ones believe everything the Word of God says.

The justified ones believe every promise of God.

They do not try to live on what they think God might do.

They live relying upon what God says He WILL do in His Word.

~ Pastor Frank Tate

Click here to listen to the message “Don’t Despise Humble Beginnings” (32:25 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: 21 June, 2021

Unbelief And Its Consequences

“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” | Romans 1: 20-23

The carnal heart will always give itself the honor, glory, and praise… thinking that it is the source of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as man’s personal Savior.

It will foolishly comfort itself in self-righteous pride believing that soon heaven shall be its final home.

But a regenerated sinner will say with a broken but thankful heart, “Salvation is of the Lord and therefore I am what I am by the grace of God.”

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “When God Gives a Man Up” (60:23 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: 19 June, 2021

He Never Changes

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” | Hebrews 13: 8

I am so thankful that as I grow older and things change, inside and out, that there is One who never changes.

  1. His love never changes with time, for He loved me with an everlasting love that knows no change.
  2. His power never changes. He is just as able to keep me from falling today as when I first began.
  3. His Word never changes: “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23: 19) Has He not magnified His Word above His Name?
  4. His election of me shall never change. He will never cast off those whom He has chosen, for they will never do anything that He did not know about and has not already taken care of.
  5. The power of His blood shall never change. It still cleanses from all sin. No matter how deep the stain has gone, His blood washes it away.
  6. His Sacrifice will never change, it will never lose its effectiveness because it is always fresh in the midst of the Throne of God: “And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain…” (Revelation 5: 6)

We have a living sacrifice standing in the midst of the Throne of God.

When we rise out of our beds in the morning and go through our changes, just remember that there is One who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Rock Christ Jesus.

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “Particular Redemption” (38:29 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: 17 June, 2021

True Faith

“And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” | 2 Samuel 11: 26-27

True faith throbs in a man’s pulse, it looks out of his eyes, it lights up his countenance, it softens his touch, it mellows his voice, it bows his head, it bends his knee, it opens his hand, it soft-pedals his tongue, it breaks his heart, it orders his steps, and it gives him a hearing ear.

He lives for Christ; and, if necessary, he would die for Him.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “The Lord Has Put Away Your Sin” (57:52 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: Special | Previous post date: 14 June, 2021