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

"And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not" -Jeremiah 45:5 [KJV] These are personal words of encouragement from Jeremiah to his scribal friend, Baruch. We all need encouraging from others, especially in a situation like Baruch's, when he was suffering mental anguish from being associated with the prophet Jeremiah. So, as Jehovah's messenger, Jeremiah assures Baruch that he will be spared from the coming judgment on the land, and that there is no need to "seek great things" for himself, the Lord favoring him in sovereign mercy. I often think of this text when I consider my "low" position in life. That is, if I begin to question why I am not cast among the so-called "great ones" of earth (whether politicians, businessmen, popular preachers, etc.), I am here reminded, "Seek them not." That settles it, for I know it is wrong to seek to be "great" in this world. Only our God an...

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" -Psalm 85:10 [KJV] This matter of our salvation is so wisely structured that God can show mercy upon poor sinners without compromising the righteous demands of His justice. In the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, mercy and truth are so met together, and righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that it is now not only an act of lovingkindness and tender mercy for God to pardon our sins and receive us, but it is an act of strictest justice. God has accepted the righteous obedience of Christ Who made full satisfaction to divine justice on the behalf of all His fallen sheep. -Gospel report by preacher Jim Byrd

“ For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” -Philippians 2:13 [KJV]   When God has worked in a man "to will," and not only worked in him "to will," but also worked in him "to do;" when He has made him willing to flee from the wrath to come; willing to be saved by the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of Jesus; willing to be saved by sovereign grace as a sinner undone without hope, and glad to be saved in whatever way God is pleased to save him; willing to pass through the fire, to undergo affliction, and to walk in the strait and narrow path, willing to take up the cross and follow Jesus, willing to bear all the troubles which may come upon him, and all the slanders which may be heaped upon his name; when God has made him willing to be nothing, and to have nothing but as God makes him the one, and gives him the other:and besides working in him "to will," has worked in him "to do,...