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

The Question: What can a man dead in sins do before God apart from a prior work of God in Him? ‘I remember the day in seminary when my professor asked this question, ‘What can a dead man do?’ And with that one question it was like a rock was thrown into a large glass window, and that one rock shattered my entire world view in my understanding of human nature.     I was sitting on the front row, and I kept waiting for one of my classmates to answer this professor, what can a dead man do, and the answer came from the back row, ‘Stink.’ That is all that a dead man can do.  A dead man has no capacity whatsoever to respond.’     -preacher Steven Lawson, excerpt from ‘Total Depravity and the Clarity of Evangelism’

"When the chief Shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not away." -I Peter 5:4 [KJV] St. Peter speaks with the utmost confidence of the appearing of Christ, and of His members being crowned in glory. Yes, he knew better than to make his Lord a liar. For if any one of them should perish in their sins, and by the force and fraud of Satan be dragged down to hell, then they would lose their crown of glory. But how then would the goodness of their Shepherd appear, if he suffered this?  St. Peter never received, nor ever taught such absurd, unscriptural doctrine. He too well knew the unchangeable love of the chief Shepherd. He knew Christ could not be glorified, nor would His heavenly Father be satisfied, without each and every one, of His chosen, redeemed, justified, believing members, crowned in glory. He says, “I am the good Shepherd: I know My sheep, I give My life for My sheep” (John 10:11.) If but one of them was missing, He would ...

"Christ the wisdom of God." -I Corinthians 1:24 [KJV] Think, my soul, what wisdom is contained in that one word, and that one person, Christ . An whole eternity will not be sufficient to read over the immense volume. Wisdom in planning, wisdom in executing, wisdom in completing the great salvation. And what a world of wisdom, in the two natures united in one person-the God-man, the Glory-man, the Wisdom-man, Christ Jesus!  And Oh what wisdom, in making sin, which strikes at God's sovereignty, the very means of manifesting God's power and love. Such is the wisdom of God in Christ, that sin, which in its nature becomes productive of the greatest dishonour to God, should be rendered subservient to produce the greatest glory. My soul, ponder these things; then ask thyself, is there not a wisdom in this vast subject, as far as it concerns thee, yet more wonderful than all? Yes, for surely the greatest of all mysteries in this wonderful volume, to thy view, i...

"For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called." -Isaiah 54:5 [KJV] As in the marriage union man and wife become one flesh, and, God having joined them together, no man may put them asunder, so when the Lord Jesus Christ, in "the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure , "  betrothed the Church unto Himself, they became before the face of heaven one in indissoluble ties. As He undertook in  "the fulness of time" to be  "made of a woman,"  she became one with Him in body by virtue of a common nature; and becomes one with Him in spirit when, as each individual member comes forth into a time state, the blessed Spirit unites it to him by regenerating grace. Such is the testimony of the word of truth. "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones;" "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit....