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Constrained By Love

”For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead” | 2 Corinthians 5: 14

Why do you folks read the Bible, pray for one another, attend worship services and support the preaching of the gospel so faithfully and generously?

Why do you help one another, comfort one another, and encourage one another?

Why do you share your blessings, work at the church, seek the well-being and happiness of others, and invite others to your homes and tables?

I CAN ANSWER FOR YOU!

All believers in the Lord Jesus are under the SWEETEST and STRONGEST constraint to do what they do; they are motivated by the LOVE OF CHRIST; His love for them and their love for Him! “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9: 11-12)

It is not fear of hell, desire for reward, nor concern for acceptance that excites us to duty, devotion, and works of faith, but Christ’s eternal love which led Him to redeem us by His life and death.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “The Humility of Preaching” (28:48 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: 25 February, 2024 | Previous post date: n/a

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Herein Is Love

”Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” | 1 John 4: 10

We rejoice to know that “God is love”.

Love is an attribute of God.

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love; And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4: 8, 16)

But that does not mean that God loves all men.

Any reasonable person, whose mind is not perverted by the influence of Arminian, free-will religion, must recognize that fact.

Did God love those multitudes whom he swept off the earth in the flood?

Did God love the degenerate Sodomites, upon whom he rained fire from heaven?

Did God love Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their followers whom he swallowed up into hell?

Anyone who imagines that God loved those multitudes might well pray to be forever hidden and excluded from the love of God!

But the Scriptures nowhere assert, or even imply, that God’s love is universal, that it extends to all men.

The Scriptures say, ”He loved us!”

And the “us” whom he loves are all believers, past, present, and future.

“He loved us,” who are chosen, redeemed, and called by his almighty grace.

John tells us four things about the love of God in this text.

  1. God loves sovereignly — “Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us.”

“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)

There is nothing that compels God to love any of his creatures. But in his infinite goodness, God says, “Jacob have I loved.”

Our God is infinite, immutable, and sovereign, and so is his love.

He loves whom he will, because he will, and he loves them eternally, “with an everlasting love”.

  1. God loves sinners — “He loved us.”

I preach fully, without reservation, unlimited love, unbounded mercy to the vilest of men. We have nothing in us worthy of consideration.

We deserve the utmost extremity of God’s wrath.

But “he loved us!” Who can express the infinite magnitude and fulness of those words?

  1. God loves sacrificially — He “sent his Son.”

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4: 9)

God gave his darling Son to suffer and die upon the cursed tree to save the multitudes of his elect whom he loved with an everlasting love.

  1. God loves savingly — God loved his elect before the world began.

But in order for us to be reconciled to God, justice had to be satisfied.

Therefore, our loving heavenly Father made his Son to be the sin-atoning, justice-satisfying “propitiation for our sins.”

Through the substitutionary death of Christ, all the sins of God’s elect were washed away. — “Herein is love!”

The love of God is more than a helpless passion.

It is his saving commitment and determination toward his elect.

~ Pastor Don Fortner

Click here to listen to the message “Who Is Elected” (56:24 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 4 February, 2007 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

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Because He Loves – We Love

”Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” | 2 Corinthians 9: 15

By the grace of God, I do believe that I love Christ.

I know that I don’t love Him like I should.

I know that I don’t love Him as I desire to.

Yet, I do know that I love Him.

The beloved disciple John tells us in our text a great truth that very few know. He tells us that “We love Him, (Christ) BECAUSE He first loved us!”

Salvation is of the Lord!

This is the theme of redemption throughout the Bible.

There is a reason that I love Christ, and it is BECAUSE He first loved me.

His love for His people is the cause of their love for Him.

He loves – we love.

That is the order of our salvation.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “God’s Unspeakable Gift”

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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: 20 May, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

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He Who Counts The Stars!

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” | Psalm 147: 3-5

He who counts the stars and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting His own children!

He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint He ever loved!

It is most important for us to learn, that the smallest trifles are as much arranged by the God of Providence, as the most startling events.

He who counts the stars — has also numbered the hairs of our heads.

Our lives and deaths are predestined — but so, also, are our sitting down and our rising up!

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10: 29-30)

~ Charles Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “HIS Mind, Will, Purpose & Work”

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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 April, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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God First Loved Us

“We love Him, because He first loved us.” | 1 John 4: 19

Because He first loved us, there are some things that we, God’s people, love about Him:

We love His sovereignty. We love the fact that He has the power, ability, and right to do as He pleases. We especially love that truth because He said, in Christ, it pleased Him to make us His people. “For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.” (1 Samuel 12: 22)

We love His election. We love who He elected to save. He said He chose to save sinners, and that is what we are. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1: 15)

We love His predestination. It is the means that He said He would use to conform us to the image of Christ, and that is our greatest desire and need. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8: 29)

We love His grace, because it is what gave Christ to us.

We love His mercy, because it is what gave Christ to the cross of our punishment. It is what shed His blood for the payment of our sin.

We love His redemption, because it is finished. We are washed clean, made pure, and accepted in Him.

We love His righteousness, because it has covered everything that we are in our flesh with His perfection.

We love His glory, because it magnifies Him.

We love His word, because it reveals Him.

We love His message, because it points us and calls us to Him.

We love His people, because there is no greater pleasure on earth than being with those who love Him and desire to worship and praise Him together.

The glorious gospel of Christ is in the fact that He loved us, even when there was nothing about us to love.

For that, we love Him.

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “The Problem Is Within”

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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 April, 2021 | Previous post date: 21 April, 2021

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Love’s Persuasion

”For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:” | 2 Corinthians 5: 14

All of mankind is driven by either of two undeniable inward powers or passions.

We are born into this world with a love for self, and a love for the things of the world, a love for every thing that will satisfy our fleshly appetite. Those who are born from above have a love for Christ and the things that are not of this world. The child of God has both, yet the latter one has preeminence and dominion and will ultimately prevail in the course of time and events. This insatiable desire and appetite directs the path of one’s life.

The scriptures term this “constraining love”. This love is twofold in respect to God’s love for his people and because of his love for them we love him with the love that he has given us. We have often heard “love” defined as “commitment”, “dedication”, “devotion” , “faithfulness”, and etc. These are not what love is, these are the evidence of existing love. Where these abide there is love. Where these do not exist there is no love. All men have love, but all men do not love Christ.

The object is non-existent in the hearts of those that know not Christ, and the evidence is clearly revealed. The Word of God declares that “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” (1 John 2: 15) and that “if any man love God, the same is known of him.“ (1 Corinthians 8:3) A profession of love for Christ without commitment, devotion, dedication and faithfulness to him and his work is like a dead body with only a name tag on it’s toe.

The constraining love of Christ does exactly that… it constrains us… it moves us… it persuades us… it compels us to come to Christ, loving him, worshipping him, desiring the things of God. My prayer is:

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3: 17-19)

~ Pastor Tommy Robbins

Click here to listen to the message “The Constraining Love of Christ”

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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: 12 October, 2007 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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Sick of Love

”Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” | 2 Timothy 3: 1-4

Love is a word that is one of the most abused words in the world no matter what language it is spoken in.

I for one am sick to death of the love of this world and its abuse. What kind of love is it that causes men and women to live together without marriage? God calls it fornication.

Then there is the love that causes a couple to stand before a preacher, enter into a covenant before God and men, promising to love, and cherish, till death do us part. In a few months or a few years the love dies or even turns to hate. I am sick of this kind of love.

What about mothers and fathers who have children and tell them how much they love them, then start using drugs and would rather give up their children than their drugs or alcohol. I am sick of this sad excuse for love aren’t you? A couple gets married, one of them meets someone else and brings their new lover in over their children, who abuses them, verbally or physically, and they allow it for fear of losing their lover. Oh how sick am I of this love.

The world now rejoices in men loving men and women loving women, when on its face it is perverted and unscriptural, it is against nature itself. Are you as sick of this kind of love as I am?

One thing all these “loves” I have mentioned have in common is a love of self… a love of pleasure.

But there is LOVE that makes my heart full and thankful. The love of God for His elect that was manifested in the Son of His love. I rejoice that He loved us with an everlasting love, and that He commended His love to us while we were yet sinners.

It was His love that made Him go willing to the cross and shed His blood to cleanse us from our sins. Bless His name His love never changes, it is as God Himself, immutable. Having loved us when we were unlovable He will love us and keep us from eternity to eternity.

~ Pastor Don Bell

Click here to listen to the message “Teach no other doctrine”

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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: 7 September, 2014 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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Dealing With Sin

“And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.” | Matthew 26: 75

How different from us does Christ deal with sin!

I would venture to say that Peter would never have been allowed to preach had we been in the Lord’s place. Or if he had, our confrontation with Peter would likely have made Peter unwilling to preach.

There is no question that this confrontation with Peter was because of Peter’s denial. But it is interesting to note that the Lord never once mentioned Peter’s denial. He did not ask Peter to rehearse his crime. Neither did the Lord require Peter to resolve to do better. Peter’s resolve had not helped him before and it would not likely help him later. Nor do we find our Lord laying out a plan of action for Peter so that he will not fail in the future.

Our Lord went straight to the heart of it with a simple question, “Peter, do you love me?”

With that question asked three times, our Lord forgave Peter’s sin, cleared his conscience, fit him for service and revealed to us the strongest resistance to sin.

I would be willing to bet that every time after that when Peter was tempted to deny the Lord for fear, he remembered the Master’s question, “Peter do you love me.”

No whip of law or fear of punishment, just simple love.

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “Peter Denies Knowing Christ”

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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: 4 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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Eternally Beloved of the Lord

“We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation” | 2 Thessalonians 2: 13

If you are “beloved of the Lord,” you always were “beloved of the Lord.”

He did not begin to love you when you repented of sin and believed on Christ. God saw you in Christ in His eternal covenant and loved you then. That love for those “beloved of the Lord” was shown two thousand years ago when it pleased Him to bruise His Son for you.

Christ redeemed you not only before you were aware of His grace, but before you were born.

There was nothing in you to merit His eternal, infinite, and unchangeable love.

On the contrary, you were His enemies, profaned His name, and even despised His mercy after you heard about it.

“HEREIN IS LOVE, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Evidences of Grace”

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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: 20 June, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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He First Loved Us

“We love Him, because He first loved us.” | 1 John 4: 19

Because He first loved us, there are some things that we, God’s people, love about Him: We love His sovereignty. We love the fact that He has the power, ability, and right to do as He pleases. We especially love that truth because He said, in Christ, it pleased Him to make us His people. (1 Samuel 12: 22)

We love His election. We love who He elected to save. He said He chose to save sinners, and that is what we are. (1 Timothy 1: 15) We love His predestination. It is the means that He said He would use to conform us to the image of Christ, and that is our greatest desire and need. (Romans 8: 29)

We love His grace, because it is what gave Christ to us.

We love His mercy, because it is what gave Christ to the cross of our punishment. It is what shed His blood for the payment of our sin.

We love His redemption, because it is finished. We are washed clean, made pure, and accepted in Him.

We love His righteousness, because it has covered everything that we are in our flesh with His perfection.

We love His glory, because it magnifies Him.

We love His word, because it reveals Him.

We love His message, because it points us and calls us to Him.

We love His people, because there is no greater pleasure on earth than being with those who love Him and desire to worship and praise Him together.

The glorious gospel of Christ is in the fact that He loved us, even when there was nothing about us to love. For that, we love Him.

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “Therefore Wait Ye Upon Me”

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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 April, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a