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

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (06-08MAR20) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ 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.” - ROMANS 1:16 [KJV] I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, of mercy to the guilty through Christ, nor of salvation by substitution. Though it may be foolishness to the natural man and a stumbling block to the religious, I am not ashamed to believe it, love it, and preach it. Some in religion reveal that they cannot bear the reproach or offense of the gospel; for, while they may own it in private, they will not preach it in public. Some seek to cover the offense of the cross with words of man...

"Thou hast delivered my soul from death."     -P SALM 56:13 [KJV] You may have been delivered from death, as much as David was, but not so fully in the assurance of the deliverance. God may have quickened your soul into life divine; H e may have communicated H is grace to your heart, and yet you have many doubts and fears whether it be a real work of grace upon your soul. It is not every child of God who has been delivered from death by regenerating grace who can use the words with the confidence expressed here: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death." But I will shew you when he can. When God is pleased to bless him with a sense of H is pardoning love; when Jesus is revealed to his heart, and manifested with power to his soul; when the blood of sprinkling is applied to purge his conscience from guilt, filth, and dead works, to serve the living God; when the Spirit of adoption is given, and he is enabled to cry, "Abba, Father;"...

The gospel of Christ reveals the righteousness of God [ROMANS 3:25-26 ] . If we would seek salvation or life with God, His righteousness must first be found; for God is holy, just, and righteous; and in order to be loved by God, accepted by God, and justified before God, we must become righteous not by our righteousness which are filthy rags [ISAIAH 64:6 ] but by His righteousness [MATTHEW 5:20; R OMANS 10:14 ] . We cannot obtain salvation anywhere but through the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed [ROMANS 5:19; II C ORINTHIANS 5:21 ] . This righteousness is not known or understood by the light of nature but must be revealed [ I C ORINTHIANS 2:9-10 ] , "Revealed from faith to faith." Righteousness is secured by Christ and received by faith. "From faith to faith" means from one degree of faith to another. Faith like any other grace grows . As we grow in faith, we have a clearer view of Gods righteous...

“ Although I am a sinner, yet I despair not, for Christ Who is my Redeemer and my Righteousness liveth. In Him I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, and no fear of judgment; for in Him there is no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching this present life, but I have a righteousness of God which is above this life, Who is Christ my Lord ­ IN HIM I REJOICE!”   - Gospel report by preacher Martin Luther (1483-1546 A.D.)

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." -R EVELATION 2:29 [KJV] These words extend the message beyond the church to which they were spoken, and address themselves to every one to whom the word comes, and to whom an ear is given to hear and receive it. Thus each message sent to the churches becomes a message sent personally to us. If we have a spiritually circumcised ear, if we are willing to listen to the voice of the Lord, He speaks to us in every message as personally and as distinctly as He spoke to each individual church. It is indeed an unspeakable blessing to have this ear given to us that we may receive in humility, simplicity, and godly sincerity what the Lord speaks in the word of His grace.  It is by His word that He knocks at the door of our hearts; and what a blessing He has pronounced on the man who hears His voice and opens the door when he hears the knock, like a fond and affectionate wife when she hears the ...

“ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” -J EREMIAH 17:9 [KJV]   Listening this week via the radio to a Knoxville pastor, he said, “I love Jesus Christ with all my heart”. Only the arrogance of free-will religion would lead a man to say such a foolish thing. At funerals, ministers say of the departed, “they had a good heart”. No, that was their worst part! Preachers tell the masses “open your heart to Jesus”. As one preacher said, “why would He want to be in that mess?” The prophet Jeremiah wasn’t a psychologist, psychiatrist, or even a counselor but he understood man enough to know the condition of the human heart. It was the state of man’s heart that led to the world-wide flood. “ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually ” [GENESIS 6:5 ] . King Solomon, the “preacher” in Ecclesiastes said this, “ This is an evil among...

Grounded in the Gospel! D.G. Miles McKee Calvary assures us that the wrath which should have justly consumed us has fallen upon our Substitute (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Faith in Christ alone, therefore, rescues us from the bondage of having to perform to gain God’s acceptance and welcome. In Christ alone, faith sees and embraces the Father’s smile. Though faith is not our righteousness, it fastens us to the righteousness of Christ and sees, as the old-time preacher, Solomon Stoddard, saw that it is now safe for us to appear in heaven. Indeed, the only safe way to heaven is FAITH IN CHRIST. Faith grasps that our acceptance before God is in Christ alone and not in our faith. Faith in faith saves no one. Genuine, gospel faith knows this! Indeed, real faith grasps that our eternal standing in the ages to come depends, not upon anything in us, but upon the unchanging righteousness of Christ alone outside of us. When we are not grounded in the gospel, we quickly make the mistake of l...