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

The Christ of all the ages sits sovereign on the throne, To rule in earth and heaven, By His own hand alone. He holds the righteous scepter, The One who purged our sins; From death and hell now risen, His kingdom never ends. The Christ of all the ages, Both God and Mary's Son; The everlasting Father, He reigns the mighty One. To give both grace and glory to those for whom He died. The blood-bought ones He purchased, can never be denied. The Christ of all the ages, our ever-living Priest, Who maketh intercession to give us daily peace. And in His throne of glory, we find a throne of grace. He calls us to come boldly into the holy place. The Christ of all the ages through sorrows and through pains my hope, my joy, and my comfort, at all times He remains. The One who never changes, As God and Man who came; My righteousness forever and every day the same! Words by Gary Shepard , 76.76 Double Tune: The Church's One Foundation =================...

A robe or garment is often used in Scripture to portray righteousness. "He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" ( Isa iah 61:10 ). "And to her (the church) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: the fine linen is the righteousness of saints" ( Revelation 19:8 ). When Adam and Eve sinned and "knew they were naked" ( Gen esis 3:7 ), they tried to cover their shame by making fig-leaf aprons. Their actions pictured man’s vain attempts to establish a righteousness for himself, but righteousness can only be established by the Lord , otherwise the sinner will remain "naked." Nakedness sets forth man’s unrighteousness and his exposure to wrath. The Laodiceans were "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked," and were told they needed "white raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear" ( Rev elation 3:17-18 ). Thankfully, the Lord came to the rescue of our fallen...

"Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless" -Matthew 22:12 [KJV] He had a garment, but not a wedding garment - one of his own providing; like those who have a righteousness of their own, of whom the Lord elsewhere speaks: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the L ORD , that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin" ( Isa iah 30:1 ). Precious Lord Jesus, clothe me with the wedding garment of Thy righteousness; and feed me with the rich food of Thy body and blood; yea, Lord, be Thou my covering, my joy, my all; that when at Thy church, at Thy table, at Thine house of prayer below and at Thine kingdom of glory above, the King cometh in to see His guests, my soul may cry out, in Thine own blessed words and with a joy unspeakable and full of glory: "I will greatly rejoice in the L ORD , my soul shall be joyful ...

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." -I John 5:20 [KJV] Beware of the intellectual preacher who is always splitting hairs and pronouncing woe upon all who are not as smart as them. God gives His people an understanding that they may know a Person. Read the text again. Not that they might know some complicated man-deduced system of doctrine. You do not need to be smart to know God. Thank God for that. Even the little children were encouraged by Him to come and trust Him. The thief didn't have much time to take a stance on this theological issue or the other. His soul hung upon knowing the identity of the One Who hung on Calvary's middle cross. The blind man in John 9 could not answer the questions posed him by the religion of the day, but he trusted the Son of God and bowed...

Assurance of salvation and a saving interest in our Lord Jesus is not a feeling cultivated by thinking good thoughts and doing good deeds. Paul calls it "full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22). It has to do with faith, with believing God! Assurance is born of confidence in the Father as our covenant God; "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). Assurance is born of confidence in the Son as our just God and Saviour; "By His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Assurance is born of confidence in His promises; Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, “He was able also to perform" (Romans 4:21). So your assurance of redemption is not enhanced by the more you work, but by the more you trust and rest in Him. "Let us labor therefore to enter into THAT REST" (Hebrews 4:11). - Gospel report by preacher Henry Mahan

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (28-30DEC18) 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 their sins and from Hell: “ Wherefore David blessed the L ORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be Thou, L ORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O L ORD , is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O L ORD , and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.” - I Chronicles 29:10-12 [KJV] To declare the sovereignty of God, is to simply proclai...

“ Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. ...I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts: and I will declare Thy greatness.” -145 th Psalm When I consider the absolute independency of God and the necessary total dependence of all created things on Him, their first cause, I cannot help standing astonished at the pride of impotent, degenerate man. He is so prone to consider himself as a being possessed of sovereign freedom and invested with a power of self-salvation, able, he imagines, to counteract the designs even of infinite wisdom and to defeat the agency of Omnipotence itself. “ Ye shall be as gods,” said the tempter to Eve (Genesis 3:5); and “ye are as gods” says the same tempter to her apostate sons. One would be apt to think that a suggestion so obviously false and flattering, a suggestion the very opposite of what we feel to be our...

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" -II Corinthians 5:7 [KJV] The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil be felt. It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord. There is something filial in this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond both the one and the other—equally remote from the rashness of presumption, and from the horror of despair. There is a mingling of holy affection connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favours, insuring favours to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is . There is a looking to, and relying upon the Lord, beca...

“ And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.” -John 10:4 [KJV] In the countries of the east, the shepherd goes before the sheep and they follow him. When he says, “Let us go to the well,” they follow him. When he says, “Let us go down into that dark valley,” they go after him. So it is with Christ. Christ never called a sheep to go where He never went Himself. He has borne all that He calls His sheep to bear. Christ went in a lower level of sorrow than you will be called to go. Do not be alarmed then when you are called to suffer, you will not be called to go where He has not gone. Do not be afraid to put down your tender feet where He put down His. And it is still true that He goes before you. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall th...

"...Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that He Himself also is compassed with infirmity" -Hebrews 5:2 [ KJ V] Thanks be unto God for our compassionate and faithful High Priest, Jesus Christ ( Heb rews 2:17 ) . Our blessed Saviour knows our frame; He knows that we are but sinful dust ( Psalm 103:13-14 ) . But in spite of all that we are ( Psalm 39:5 ) and all that we have done ( Rom ans 3:23 ) the Lord is longsuffering and compassionate toward His children ( II Peter 3:9 ) . So much that He loves the unlovely ( Rom ans 5:8 ) , so much that Christ justifies the ungodly ( Rom ans 4:5 ) , so much that the Redeemer died to save sinners ( Rom ans 5:6 ) . We read that His compassions fail not and are new every morning ( Lam entations 3:22 ) . We read when He saw a multitude of sinners as sheep that were scattered having no shepherd, He was moved with compassion ( Matt hew 9:36 ) . What a blessed Shepherd ...

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:1 [KJV] The freedom of the believer is just what it is declared to be - entire exemption from condemnation. From all which that word of significant and solemn import implies, he is, by his relation to Christ, delivered. Sin does not condemn him, the law does not condemn him, the curse does not condemn him, hell does not condemn him, God does not condemn him. He is under no power from these, beneath whose accumulated and tremendous woe all others wither. A brief and simple argument will, perhaps, be sufficient to establish this fact. The pardon of sin necessarily includes the negation of its condemnatory power. There being no sin legally alleged, there can be no condemnation justly pronounced. Now, by the sacrifice of Christ all the sins of the Church are entirely put away. He, the sinless Lamb of God, took them up and bore them away into a land of oblivion, where e...

“ Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” -Isaiah 2:22 [KJV] “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS” -The Master, Christ JESUS “The LORD our righteousness” as per Matthew 6:33a I had a professor in Bible college who likened salvation to a door. He said that salvation was all of grace, the work of God, but it hinges or turns upon the will of man. Contrast his heretical thoughts with the words of Augustus Toplady, author of Rock of Ages . “ God’s everlasting love , His decree of election , and the eternal covenant of redemption are the three hinges on which the door of man’s salvation turns. When man fell from God, infinite justice put a lock upon the door: a lock which nothing but the golden key of Christ’s blood and righteousness can open. The Holy Ghost (if I may venture to use so familiar a comparison) is, as it were, the omniscient Keeper of the door, and He l...

“ And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” - Isaiah 35:10 [KJV] I hope the reader will indulge me with one short observation on the subject of Jesus giving Himself a ransom for His people. Never in all the annals of mankind was there ever heard of such unparalleled love. Suppose some generous prince, out of compassion to any of his captive subjects, were to abridge his pleasures, and give large sums of money to bring them out of captivity- - how would the deed be applauded, and his name be idolized to all generations! But supposing this generous prince was to give himself for them, and exchange their persons in slavery by voluntarily surrendering up himself to such a state- - what would be said of this? And yet the Lord Jesus hath done this, and infinitely more, not for friends, but enemies; not for those who loved ...

“ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the L ORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. Save, L ORD : let the King hear us when we call.” -Psalm 20:7-9 [KJV] You may easily perceive how mightily people are mistaken, and, therefore, no marvel they live so uncomfortably; that they are in fear of death, and thereby in bondage all their life long, while they run for the refreshment of their spirits, to their own righteousness, to the plea of their own works, and will have their hearts eased upon that they themselves do; whereas, nothing gets a gracious discharge from their Father, but only Christ, and His righteousness. Therefore, beloved, however it may, with some, be a harsh thing, to take men off from their own righteousness, in respect of speaking comfort unto them, and to lead them to the righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel, as that from which they may draw all their comfo...

It has been suggested by many that if we preach salvation as a sovereign gift of God, it will cause men to sit still and fold their arms. I t will not ! But if men did so, we could not help their case by giving them error. Our calling is not to prove to you the reasonableness of any truth. God's Word is true whether men believe it or not! Our business is not to defend any truth from its consequences. As preachers of the Lord, we are to assert the truth because it is God's W ord; then if our hearers do not like it, they must settle the quarrel with their Master. We are messengers; Christ is our message! The Lord has to reveal and apply the message. He must make the unwilling willing, to make the ungodly godly, and bring the rebel to the feet of Christ or else salvation will not be accomplished. - Gospel report by preacher Henry Mahan

Unfaithfulness is one of the most outstanding sins of these evil days. In the business world, a man's word is, with exceedingly rare exceptions, no longer his bond. In the social world, marital infidelity abounds on every hand, the sacred bonds of wedlock being broken with as little regard as the discarding of an old garment. In the ecclesiastical realm, thousands who have solemnly covenanted to preach the truth make no scruple to attack and deny it. Nor can reader or writer claim complete immunity from this fearful sin: in how many ways have we been unfaithful to Christ, and to the light and privileges which God has entrusted to us! How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold One who is faithful, faithful in all things, faithful at all times. 'Know therefore that the L ORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God' . This quality is essential to His being, without it He would not be God. For God to be unf...

"My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.  I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only." -Psalm 71:15-16 [KJV] "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering. But if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how SUDDEN A CATASTROPHE may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." -Daniel Webster, American statesman (1782 - 1852 A.D.) “ The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everyone has decided not to see.” -Ayn Rand "A formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession...their ignorance.” -Hendrick Willem von Loon “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.” -Aristotle “ It is better to trust in the LORD...

"The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted" (Psalm 18:46). Salvation means the entirety of that work of Jehovah whereby sinners are delivered from sin and all of its effects and raised to the heights of everlasting glory through the blood and righteousness of Christ. Here is the message of scripture: "Salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). 1. God purposed salvation. "...Chosen unto salvation before the foundation of the world" (2 Thessalonians 2:13). 2. God provided salvation. "...God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:8). 3. God possesses salvation, it is His to give. "Shew us Thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us Thy salvation" (Psalm 85:7). 4. God has the prerogative to grant salvation to whom He will. "...I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious" (Exodus 33:17). 5. God proclaims salvation. "Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed un...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (21-23DEC18) 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 their sins and from Hell: "No man is able to pluck them  out of My Father’s hand" -John 10:29 [KJV]   Think, my soul, how eternally safe and secure must the church of Jesus be, thus kept by the mighty power of God, through faith, unto salvation! What shall unclasp the hands of Jehovah? Who shall wrest the weakest, the humblest, the poorest of Christ’s little ones from the holding of His omnipotency? Why then art thou, my soul, so frequently exercised with fears, and doubts, and misgivings? It is the Lord’s love that is the foundation of thy assurance, and not the strength of thy graces! His own free mercy, and not thy merit were the first causes...

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." -Galatians 5:1 [KJV] The Apostle Paul encourages and inspires every believer to "stand fast," defend at all cost the precious freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus (John 8:32). Through His perfect blood atonement (Heb. 9:12), His provided righteousness imputed (Rom. 4:6), every believer has been set free; free from the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:13), free from spiritual death (Eph. 2:1) and free from the condemnation of sin (Rom. 8:1). Not only are we instructed to "stand fast," defend and hold to the ground of salvation by free grace in Christ Jesus at all cost, but we are also encouraged NOT to be entangled with the "yoke of bondage" (Gal. 2:16). Don't be entangled, hampered or ensnared again with the bondage of works and law to obtain the favor and blessings of God, for in Christ we have the favor a...