"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

Every peaceful conscience is not a good one, nor is every uneasy conscience an evil one.  The conscience of some is quiet because it is insensible. ...  On the other hand, a tender conscience is liable to err through lack of sufficient light, and needlessly write better things against itself, which is a “weak conscience” (I Corinthians 8:12.) -preacher Arthur Pink , Exposition of Hebrews , p.1252

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." -Titus 3:5 [KJV] “Shew us a miracle, and we will believe You are inspired,” say carnal men. We can, but they have no eyes to see it. Blessed be God, miracles are not ceased. The Lord works miracles of grace daily. Every regenerate sinner is a miracle of God the Father’s mercy, of God the Son’s grace, and of God the Holy Spirit’s power. His humble language proclaims it.  I stand forth and declare, that I was a vile sinner, condemned by the law of God, and justly deserving the damnation of hell; yet full of the pride of my own works, and confident of salvation by my own righteousness; but God, by an act of sovereign mercy, has saved me from the power of sin, and a vain confident hope of my own righteousness. “Not by works which we have done.”  Our works are out of the question. For all boasting is excluded. Yet the notion of absolute mercy in God to any sinner, without res...

"Thou art my hiding place” -Psalm 32:7 [KJV] Yes, dearest Jesus, Thou art indeed my hiding place. In every point of view, I desire grace so to behold Thee. Surely, from everlasting, in Thee, and Thy person and righteousness, were all Thy redeemed hid in the councils of peace and salvation.  And is not every individual hid in Thee also, Oh Thou glorious head of Thy church; while in a state of unrenewed nature, to be secured from death and the grave, and from the unpardonable sin; and as one of the apostles terms it, "preserved in Christ Jesus, and called."   And when called, and quickened by grace, what, but from having our lives hid with Christ in God, could keep alive the incorruptible seed, or preserve unextinguished the immortal spark?  Whence is it, my soul, that the smoking flax, which Satan and thine own remaining indwelling lusts strive to blow out, is not quenched; or the bruised reed, which appears so continually falling, is not broken—but because Je...

"He shall see of the TRAVAIL of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My  righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities."   -Isaiah 53:11 [KJV] If one could be saved some other way than by Christ's effectual travail, then Christ's travail would be in vain. It is either 100% His obedience unto death and nothing else added by the sinner, or it is conditioned on the contributions the sinner is doing to gain acceptance, which implies Christ's obedient travail unto death is not sufficient.   A message that does NOT clearly display the Person and work of Christ being absolutely effectual, making the only difference for whom He died to establish a perfect righteousness for His people, can only be shown as a miserable failure and false christ who is no savior at all.   Your travail, work, effort, righteousness, holiness, godliness, in meriting, gaining, and earning anything towards acceptance is self-righteous, prideful, dead works ...

It is true that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL be saved”   (Romans 10:13) . It is also true that any who come to Christ for salvation, He will not  turn away (John 6:37b) . They SHALL be saved. It is also true that all whom the Father gave to Him SHALL come to Him for salvation (John 6:37a) . And it is also true that if left to ourselves to choose to come to Him, in our fallen, sinful human nature, none of us would choose to come to Christ. We would continue in our sins. For any of us to come to Christ for salvation, we must be born again by the Spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:3-7) , and we must be drawn powerfully and irresistibly by the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the Gospel (John 6:44-45) . -copied  

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”   -Proverbs 16:18-19 [KJV] There is no prouder person than one who seeks salvation by his own works and rejects salvation by God’s free grace in Christ Jesus. Unless God intervenes and brings him down, such a person is headed for a great fall. Rightly does God say in Obadiah, “the pride of your own heart has deceived you.” I never cease to be amazed at the ability of fallen sinners to justify themselves in all they do! With great care and skill, they follow the most absurd reasoning, reasoning contrary to the scriptures, and defend what they do. And even if they do not convince anyone else, they convince themselves, and that is enough for them! The most deceived person is the self-deceived person . The pride of man’s heart begets this deception, maintains it and brings forth its destructive end. Only God can abase an...

"...and made us sit together in h eavenly places in Christ Jesus." -Ephesians 2:6 [KJV] Jesus did not tarry upon the earth after His resurrection; He ascended up where He was before, and took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But when He ascended up on high, all the election of grace ascended with Him. He did not leave His members behind upon earth, but He took them all virtually into heaven. And this is a pledge that they will one day be with Him in the realms of eternal bliss, because they have already ascended with Him, as the members of His mystical body.  This, in experimental manifestation, is the lifting up of the affections, the raising up of the soul to sit together with Christ in heavenly places. Sin, death, hell, and Satan, with all the misery and wretchedness we have brought upon ourselves—to have them all under our feet, as Christ now reigns, having put all enemies under His feet—to enjoy this, is to sit with Christ in heavenly places...