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We Have An Advocate

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” | 1 John 2: 1-2

This scripture recognizes our frail, sinful human nature.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7: 24-25)

A believer does not love sin, does not excuse or justify sin, but grieves over sin and desires to be without sin.

Yet he owns and confesses his sin!

“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.” (Psalm 51:4)

As Spurgeon once said, “Sin is my name, sin is my nature, and to deny is to deny the Word, deceive myself and call God a liar. My old nature is such that I will sin until I die, for sin pollutes the best things I do.”

This scripture encourages the believer to trust and hope in the mercy of God AT ALL TIMES!

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3: 5)

It does not say, “If any man is holy, prayerful, and almost faithful, he has an advocate;” but IF ANY MAN SINS, he has an ADVOCATE with the Father.

It does not say, “IF any man sins he forfeits his right to Christ’s advocacy.”

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3: 9-11)

Grace that can be forfeited because of human failure is not GRACE at all.

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1: 2-5)

Mercy that is conditioned upon the merit of the creature is not mercy at all.

“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. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1: 16-17)

If my title to glory rests upon my works, either BEFORE OR AFTER conversion, it is a total failure.

This scripture declares that at all times, under all conditions, Jesus Christ is our righteousness, our sanctification, our advocate and our redemption.

So when I sin, when I consider my past or present, and come creeping to my closet with a guilty conscience and an aching heart, I can rejoice in the mercy of my Father; for I have an ADVOCATE, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS!

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

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: 13 July, 2025 | Previous post date: n/a

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The Guilt Of Past Sin

“Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.” | 1 Peter 2: 17

Do you remember when God was pleased to awaken you from your long sleep, when you looked within and saw that you were all defiled, and full of pollution, and all manner of evil?

Do you recollect how the thoughts pierced you like poisoned arrows… “God requireth that which is pure”; “For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment”? Do you recollect how it seemed as though hell flared up right before you where you stood, and it seemed as though there were a step only betwixt you and death! The terrors of the Lord got hold upon you, and the very marrow of your bones seemed to freeze as you thought upon an angry God, and of how you, in your sins, without any preparation, could meet him! Oh! it is not so long ago with some of us but what we recollect being startled in our sleep under a sense of sin; and all day long the common joys of men were no joys to us, and though before we had been sprightly and cheerful like others, yet our mirth was now turned into mourning, and all our laughter into lamentation!

Perhaps some of you are passing through this state of mind now. You are conscious now of your old sins: the sins of your youth are coming up before your remembrance. Now, if so, listen to what David says, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Beloved! if you would ever get rid of the fear of your past sins, remember that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to suffer for the sins of all who trust Him. All the sins of all His people were reckoned as upon Him, and all that they should have suffered on account of those sins Jesus Christ suffered in their stead. The mighty debt, too huge for us to calculate, was all laid upon Him, and he paid it to the last farthing. He was sued and summoned at the court of the eternal justice, for the sins of His people were reckoned as upon Him, and all that they should have rendered with hands and feet, and brow and side, He discharged: the whole tremendous debt that was due to God, the debt caused by the sins of all His people were paid by Him.

Now, it is a blessed thing when sin burdens us to fly away to Christ, and stand in spirit beneath the cross, and feel that under that crimson canopy no flash of divine penalty shall ever fall upon us. “Smite me! Great God! Thou canst not, for hast thou not smitten the redeeming Christ on my account! Is it not recorded that for those who trust Him, thy Son is both surety and substitute! How, then, canst thou first sue the Substitute, and then afterwards sue the person, for whom the Substitute stood?” Faith thus clings to the cross, and feels, nay! knows, that all is safe. I would God that some of you who are lamenting over the burden of your sins, and are pressed down by it, would look to the Son of God, pouring out His life, and would trust Him, for then your sins would be gone in a moment. Only look on Jesus, and though you had committed all the sins that are committable by mortal man, yet Jesus Christ can and shall put them all away. If every form of iniquity. were heaped upon you, till you were dyed through and through with it, like the scarlet that has been lying long a-soak in the dye, yet if the crimson blood of Jesus come into contact with your crimson sins, and they: — “Shall vanish all away, Though foul as hell before; Shall be dissolved beneath the sea, And shall be found no more.” Now, I know it is very easy when we do not feel our sins to trust in Christ, but the business of faith is to trust in Christ when you do feel your sins. Brethren, it would be cheap faith to take Christ as the saints’ Savior, but it is the faith of God’s elect to take Him as the sinner’s Savior.

When I can see marks of grace in myself, to trust Christ is easy; but when I see no marks of anything good, but every mark of everything that is evil, and then come and cast myself upon Him, and believe that He can save me, even me, and rest myself upon Him—this is the faith which honors Christ and which will save us. May you have it, and such time as you are afraid of sin, may you trust in Christ.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “As Strangers and Pilgrims”

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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: 5 September, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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The Good Life

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. | Psalm 91: 1-3

Click here to listen to the message “The Good Life”

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 15 August, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

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I TRUST HIM

“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.” | Acts 17: 6-7

It is not my hold of Christ that saves, but His hold of me.

It is not my promise to Him which keeps me, but His promise to me.

It is not my works which make me righteous before God, but His perfect life and obedience.

My best is but filthy rags. I trust Him on the strength and authority of His Word.

He died for those who believe; Lord, I believe! He promised to save all who trust Him! He said, “All that my Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” I came to Him, I am coming to Him, and by God’s grace, I shall continue to come.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “This Jesus Whom I Preach Is 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 4 December, 2020 | Previous post date: 6 January, 2021

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Six Things Believers Will Do

“O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.” | Psalm 79: 8-9

1). Believers so trust Christ as to renounce every other ground of confidence. (Philippians 3: 7-9)

2). Believers glory only in the righteousness of Christ and count their own to be filthy rags. (Isaiah 64: 6)

3). Believers rejoice in the cross of substitution, glorying in nothing else. (Galatians 6: 14)

4).Believers love the Lord Jesus supremely and will so order their lives as to avoid commitments and associations which hinder fellowship with Him. (Luke 14: 26-27)

5). Believers will continue in the faith, for true believers never quit. (1 John 2:19)

6). Believers obey the Lord’s commandments, not in order to gain His favor but because they love Him and dwell in His favor. (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15)

~ Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Who Is God?”

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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: 2 May, 2021 | Previous post date: 1987 | Pikeville, Kentucky

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Trust

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus”

TRUST is a wonderful thing, and SWEET is a good word to describe it.

Whether between husband and wife, parents and children, friends, or whomever…..trust is sweet!

The word implies faith, confidence, and reliance, but that is not all.

There is also a wonderful rest and repose in trust; a freedom from doubts, suspicions, anxieties, and fearful apprehensions.

Trust is calm, peaceful and assured. “Tis so sweet” when guilty sinners come to “trust in Jesus.”

~ Pastor Maurice Montgomery

Click here to listen to the message “Waiting For 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 3 May, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

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When Water is Best

It is in the desert where water tastes the sweetest; when the lips are parched, the mouth dry, and the throat like cotton.

It is then that every drop is precious and none is wasted.

When it seems life hangs on no more than a drop it’s then that a man will part with his fortune for some water to quench his thirst. And, likewise, it is in the grip of trial where the Water of life tastes best.

When the soul is dry from many a windy day. When the muscle of the human spirit is strained past another try and despair threatens to snuff away the last ray of hope. Oh, how precious then are the words of the Saviour!

It is then that no excuse is given for absence when He speaks; the weary mind will give its last thought just to hear one more sweet syllable from the Saviour’s lips. Not a single word falls unheeded into space. The thirsty soul will leave every other pursuit just to lay hold upon but a sip of this life-giving Water. Would it not do us all well to know a little more of that desert where men count precious the words of Christ?

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Ye Have Not Because Ye Ask Not”

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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: 7 February, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a