The Righteousness of Faith

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” | Romans 10: 4

If all our works were perfect and we expected salvation thereby, we would still be living in total unbelief, because the end of every precept of God’s holy law is that we believe on his precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “The Righteousness of 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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 7 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

Whosoever Will, Take It Freely

”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 “Whosoever Will, Take It Freely”

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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: n/a

THE WORK OF GOD

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” | John 6: 28-29

Notice that they asked about the “works of God.”

The depraved sinner thinks God requires many and great “works” to be done on the part of the sinner.

The taller the works, the wider the works, the more demanding the works, and the sinner will go after them with both hands.

But when told that God is not looking to the sinner’s many wonderful works, but that this is “the work of God” — to believe on him whom he hath sent – the sinner finds that to believe on Christ, and part with his own self-righteousness, is entirely beyond his ability to perform.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “What Works Should We Do?”

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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: 7 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

If You Need This, This Is For You

”Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” | Isaiah 41: 10

Are there any evidences that a person can have of being physically alive?

Yes there are… Breathing lungs, a beating heart, and a thinking mind will all be present and active.

If any of those three are absent; if the lungs no longer breathe, the heart no longer beats, or the mind no longer thinks, then it cannot be said that the person shows the evidence of life. The same can be said concerning Spiritual life.

When Spiritual life is present, the quickening breath of God’s Holy Ghost will be in the soul; faith IN and ON Christ will be in the heart; and a right view of God, man, and salvation will be in the mind.

When a continual, fervent, immediate need for Christ is within a person – the breath of God’s Spirit is in the soul.

When Christ becomes a sinner’s only hope, and only desire; when a sinner stops looking to his own works for salvation, and starts looking to Christ’s work on the cross alone – true, saving faith is in the heart. And when a sinner throws out every word but God’s word, and says: “let God be true, and every man a liar” – repentance has come to the mind. When these things are present, God given life has come!

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “If You Need This, This Is For You”

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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: 9 February, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

The Jailer Who Was Freed

“But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” | Acts 16: 28-30

I recently heard a charlatan preacher say, “Give the Lord a handclap.”

If I could, I would tell that man, “God is not worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” (Acts 17: 25)

God doesn’t need our hand claps.

God doesn’t have any needs. But we certainly do!

How amazing it is that God gives to all life and breath, and all things? Our Lord said, “He (God) maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5: 45) But how much more astonishing is that for the believer, “God shall supply all your need (singular and spiritual) according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ is the one thing “needful,” for life eternal. (Luke 10: 42)

The Lord Jesus provides Himself as the only acceptable sacrifice for sin according to the riches of God’s glory, which is also found in Christ Jesus.

Is it any wonder that Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved?” (Acts 4: 12)

~ Pastor David L. Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “The Jailer Who Was Freed”

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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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 3 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

Grow In Grace

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To HIM be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” | 2 Peter 3:18

The apostle’s exhortation to us as God’s people who have been called by faith to believe on Christ is, “grow in grace.” When God‘s people “grow in grace,” they grow in the doctrine of grace.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” | Ephesians 2: 8-9

They grow in the object of grace – which is Christ Himself! “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

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” | 2 Timothy 2: 1

And when God‘s people “grow in grace,” they grow in the practice of grace.

Psalm 111: 4 says, “…the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” And all who “grow in grace” say, “As He is, I desire to be.” True growth in grace says with David, “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with THY likeness.” | Psalm 17: 15

The doctrine!

The object!

The practice!

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To HIM be glory both now and for ever. Amen. | 2 Peter 3: 17,18

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “Hear And Your Soul Shall Live”

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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: 25 October, 2020 | Previous post date: 13 February, 2021

Faith Is Essential, But Not Meritorious

“Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” | Hebrews 11:6

Faith in Christ is essential to salvation.

No man will ever be saved, accepted with God, apart from true faith in Christ. You must believe on Christ, or you will perish.

But do not ever think that your faith is meritorious with God.

Faith is the instrument by which we receive God’s blessings, but it is not the meritorious cause of those blessings.

The blood of Christ alone merits God’s favor toward us.

We are never said to be saved and justified because of faith, but through faith.
– Faith receives Christ, but it does not merit Christ.
– Faith receives salvation, but it does not merit salvation.
– Faith receives grace, but it does not merit grace.
– Faith receives justification, but it does not merit justification.
– Faith receives forgiveness and righteousness from God, but it does not merit anything from God.

Faith is essential. Without it you will never be saved. But faith is not meritorious.

Faith, too, is the gift of God’s grace.

~ Pastor Don Fortner

Click here to listen to the message “Where Is Your Evidence?”

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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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 3 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

Who Are These That Have Great Need?

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. | Matthew 9: 12

Who are these that have no need?

They are those who are said to be whole. Many times in the scriptures the word “whole” is used to show the believer’s completeness and perfect soundness in the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in Matthew chapter 9, verse 12, the word “whole” means, “to be able, or one who can do.”

Who are they that have “no need?”

Who are these that are said to be whole?

They are those that “are able” and “can do” something for themselves.

Those that be whole (or think themselves to be) need not a physician.

Who are these that have great need? They are those that are sick.

Like the man at the pool of Bethesda, we are lame and cannot walk. Like the poor woman who was bowed over, we can in no wise lift ourselves up. Like the unclean leper, sin is eating us away. Like the man with the withered hand, we cannot pick ourselves up by the bootstraps. Like the demoniac, we lived among the tombs of the dead. Like Lazarus, we were dead.

If I had a terminal disease that only one doctor had the cure for, I would give anything and everything to find and receive treatment from that specialist.

Dear reader, we have such a disease and it is called “sin.”

There is such a Great Physician and He found me.

His name is Jesus Christ and only He can save His people from their sin. (Matthew 1: 21)

When do we go to the doctor?

When we are sick.

May God be pleased to continue to show us our sickness and need of Christ, the Great Physician.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Need”

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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: 18 October, 2020 | Previous post date: 12 February, 2021

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” | John 6: 37-40

Before the World began God chose to save some men in eternal, electing love and predestinated them to be his sons by adoption.

God’s loving choice of his people was in Christ his son, whom he had appointed to be the Mediator, Substitute, and Representative of his people. Election was a sovereign and unconditional act of Divine grace. God did not choose his elect because he foresaw something good and meritorious in them. He chose his own elect simply because he will be gracious, and he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

God’s election of his people guarantees and secures their eternal salvation in Christ. All who were chosen by God in election and given to Christ shall be saved.

Not one of God’s elect shall ever perish. This is clearly the doctrine of the Bible.

All of God’s people rejoice in and give thanks to God for his electing love. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him: in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

The Bible doctrine of election simply says that all who are saved were chosen by God to be saved, because he loved them with an everlasting love in the very beginning, before the foundations of the earth were laid, “Salvation is of the Lord”.

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31: 3)
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.” (Psalm 65: 4)


“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15: 16)


“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” (Matthew 11: 25-26)
“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” (2 Thessalonians 2: 13)


“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 blessed gospel doctrine of Divine election, which so greatly rejoices the hearts of God’s people, is taught throughout the volume of inspiration.

~ Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “How Is Salvation Received?”

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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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 27 October, 2006 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

TOTAL DEPRAVITY

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” | Ephesians 2: 1-3

All men, by nature, since the sin and fall of our first father Adam are guilty and helpless sinners before God.

By God’s own arrangement Adam was the representative of all mankind before God, so that when Adam sinned, we all sinned in him. When Adam suffered the penalty of sin, death, we all died.

This is clearly the doctrine of Holy Scripture. “By one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5: 12)

The guilt of Adam’s sin was imputed to all men without exception. “By the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Romans 5: 18)

All men were in Adam as our representative before God. All men sinned in Adam. All men were condemned in Adam. All men are born in spiritual death.

We do not become sinners when we reach a certain age and commit certain evil deads.

We were all born sinners.

Being sons and daughters of Adam, we inherited our father’s nature – sin.

We are all born with a decided bais and tendency toward evil. Every member of the human race is born with a corrupt, sinful heart, which is capable of every evil thing, were it not restrained by the hand of God in providence.

This is what the Son of God says about the natural human heart, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15: 19) Because our hearts are evil, everything we do is marred by the pride and selfishness and evil of our hearts. We do not have the ability, the will, or the potential to do a single thing that is truly and perfectly good and righteous. “There is none righteous… There is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3: 10,12)

Because all men are spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins, all men are utterly helpless by nature. We do not have the ability to obey the law of God.

Salvation comes by believing on Christ, but dead sinners cannot believe.

The Bible doctrine of toal depravitly is just this: All men by nature are sinful, guilty, and helpless.

Unless God intervenes and does for man what man cannot do for himself, all men will perish. “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2: 9)

~ Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “Christ Died For The Ungodly”

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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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 27 October, 2006 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky