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

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9 [KJV] Salvation ­beginning to end­ is by God's grace. God elected a people unto salvation by grace, the very opposite of works (Rom. 11: 5-6) . It was grace that abounded over sin and reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5: 20-21) . The stewardship of every God-sent preacher is a "dispensation of the grace of God" (Eph. 3: 2-8) . The gospel we preach is "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20: 24) . We are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3: 24) . We are called by God's grace (Gal. 1: 15) . It is "grace wherein we stand" (Rom. 5: 2) . Believers are what we are by the grace of God (I Cor. 15: 10) . So what is grace? Let me have your undivided attention. Gr...

“ For of H im, and through H im, and to H im, are all things: to W hom be glory for ever. Amen. ” -Rom ans 11:36 [KJV] Here is a glorious and comforting truth to the believer, who is resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, all things are of God. This truth echoes throughout the pages of inspired scripture (Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 5:18) and declares that God is God, beside Him there is no other (Isa. 45:22) . The Apostle clearly states that, “All things are of Him,” God is the first cause and last end of all things (Isa. 45:7) . He also says that, “All things through Him,” God in time executes His wise decrees to His own will and pleasure (Isa. 46: 9-12) . Further he says that, “All things are to Him,” our sovereign God is working all things to an eternal end that will glorify Himself. We can apply this threefold rule to many things, such as creation and providence, but lets us consider them in salvation. 1). ALL THINGS IN SALVATION ARE OF GOD! Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9...

  God is WHO HE IS and WHO HE SAYS HE IS; therefore, a knowledge of God must come from Him by divine revelation. Any true knowledge of the Lord God must be revealed to us by the Spirit of God, or we will perish in ignorance, worshiping the idols of our imagination, calling them God. God is pleased to reveal Himself in two ways: through HIS WORD and through HIS SON. “God spoke to the fathers by the prophets and hath spoken to us by His Son” (Heb rews 1:1-2) . If you would know the true and living God, trust not your dreams, your visions, your thoughts, or your traditions; but, look to HIS WORD and to HIS SON. “ I and M y Father are one... he that hath seen M e hath seen the Father” (John 10:30, 14:9) . Any thoughts or ideas of God which are contrary to the Word of God and the person of Jesus Christ are false and full of idolatry! -Gospel report by preacher Henry Mahan, c. 1984 A.D.

“ For H e knoweth our frame; H e remembereth that we are dust.” -Psalm 103:14 [KJV] I fear to even think about all the times that I have forgotten God. In the busyness of a day, in the laughter of a season of recreation, in the midst of distractions of family life, so often and in so many situations, hours without a thought concerning God. Hours without a thought of thanksgiving to Him for His goodness to me. Even long extended periods of time without any praise to Christ for His sacrifice and salvation. Oh what ungrateful wretches we are when left to ourselves! We're like the butler who remembered not Joseph. But God be thanked, He is not like us. He remembers! He remembers His elect in Christ. How wonderful that He remembers that we are just dust! He remembers His covenant, His pledge of grace to us. “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember H is holy covenant” (Luke 1:72) . He remembers poor sinners like us and remembers that Christ has died...

What did Jesus come to do? Was it anything for you? God does tell us in His Word, Tell me sinner have you heard? Jesus came to live and die, Came to save and not to try. Sinners chosen long ago, By the Father, grace bestowed. Thus the faithful saying goes, Died for them and then arose. Now He sits and reigns alone, Interceding from His throne. Jesus came and thus He did, For the chief of sinners shed His own sinless saving blood, Washed them clean beneath that flood. Come to Jesus, sinners now, There before Him lowly bow. He whose life He freely gave, Reigns the Mighty One to save! Gary Shepard  77.77 Holy Bible, Book Divine

"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." -John 6:67-69 [KJV] As it was with Peter and the rest of the disciples, so it is with all sensible sinners and true believers who see there is no other to go to for life and salvation, but Christ ; not to the law of Moses, which accuses, curses, and condemns, and by which there is neither life nor righteousness; nor to any creature, or creature performance, for there is a curse on him that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm; nor to their own righteousness, which is impure and imperfect, and cannot justify before God nor answer for them in a time to come; nor to their tears of repentance, which will not satisfy the law, atone for sins, or wash them away; nor to carnal descent, birth privileges, a religious education, sobriety,...

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: a nd I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand." -John 10:27-29 [KJV] There is no stronger passage to be found in the word of God guaranteeing the absolute security of every child of God. They are His sheep, they follow Him, they have eternal life, they are in the hand of Christ, the Father gave them to Christ (John 6:37; John 17:2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 24) , and they are in the Father’s hand. The sheep of Christ have a double security; they are in the hand of Christ, and they are in the hand of the Father. To suggest that any of His sheep could be finally lost is to blaspheme the Lord God Himself. - Gospel report by preacher Henry Mahan

"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." -Isaiah 43:1 [KJV] In Isaiah 43 the Lord makes this grand and encouraging statement to His people "Fear Not." Now why has our God instructed His people not to fear? Because we as frail and sinful creatures of the dust are so prone to fear. We have plenty of reason to fear left to ourselves. We are utterly sinful and God with whom we have to do is infinitely HOLY. From this scripture we can find several comforting reasons why God has told believers not to fear. 1. We are God's creation and formation! "Thus saith the LORD that created thee." The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is His creation. He chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world to be His bride ( II Thes salonians 2:13) . Everything the believer has before God is by His sovereign...

  It is impossible to preach... 1. That a man is both totally and partially depraved, 2. That election is both unconditional and conditional, 3. That regenerating grace is both irresistible and resistible, 4. That redemption is both limited and unlimited, 5. That perseverance is both certain and uncertain. Nor can there be a modification of one by the other; it is impossible to blend the two. History records such efforts in the past; but despite the efforts, sovereign grace and free-willism will not mix, nor can they walk together in peace, nor can those holding either system force the other to their view. - Gospel report by preacher Rolfe Barnard (1904 – 1969 A.D.) “ So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Romans 9:16) . Jesus said, “No man can come unto M e, except it were given unto him of M y Father” (John 6:65) . “ All that the Father giveth M e s...

Universal redemption is the belief that Christ laid down His life and paid the sin debt of all mankind making salvation a possibility for everyone, but an accomplishment for no one. According to this Christ-dishonoring theory, His blood is sufficient to save all, but efficient to save only those who believe. The success of the redeeming work of the Son of God is therefore dependent upon the willingness of man to receive the gift of salvation. Never was there a greater lie concocted by Satan than this heresy and yet the natural man readily embraces this foolish, nonsensical, anti-Scriptural drivel. Universal redemption makes man his own savior . It says that Christ died equally for all men, and the reason some perish while others are saved is because the saved chose to avail themselves of the benefits of His death while the others did not. This would make the will of man, not the death of Christ, the deciding factor in salvation, which is contrary to Scripture. Universal re...

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, H e also H imself likewise took part of the same; that through death H e might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." -Hebrews 2:14 [KJV] By His sufferings, bloodshedding, and death our gracious Lord not only made a complete atonement for sin, fulfilled every demand of the law, washed His people from all their iniquities in the fountain of His precious blood, and wrought out and brought in a perfect and everlasting righteousness for their justification, but "through death destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." It was by the death of the cross that the gracious Lord "spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." It is a point little considered, though one of much importance, that the Lord Jesus had, as if personally, to grapple with and overcome the prince of the power of the air, to...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands ( 22-24FEB 19) 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: We fell in the first Adam through no fault of our own, we rise in the second Adam through no merit of our own, so we rise in the same manner as we fell, only in a different person. It is by the Free Grace of God that we are taken back into His favor. I wish we could understand that just as we were condemned in Adam and came under the just sentence of death, if we believe in the Lord Jesus, we shall be cleansed from our many offenses, and God will look on us as perfectly just in Christ Jesus. We shall by faith have peace with God and there shall be good reason for peace, for everything which made God angry with us shall have been put away, and we...

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, H e shall testify of M e." -John 15:26 [KJV] The special work and office of the Holy Ghost is to testify of Jesus, to glorify Him, to take of the things that are His, and to shew them to the soul; and therefore without these teachings and testimonies of the Holy Ghost we have no true, no saving knowledge of Him, no living faith in Him, no sweet communion with Him, no tender and affectionate love toward Him. And are not these the marks which peculiarly distinguish the living family of God from the dead in sin and the dead in profession? A bare knowledge of the letter of truth can communicate no such gracious affections as warm, soften, melt, and animate the soul of a child of God, under the felt power and influence of the Holy Ghost; can create no such faith as gives him manifest union with Jesus; can inspire no such hope as ca...

“ Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”   -Matthew 11:28 [KJV] What did our Lord here signify, when He bade all the weary and heavy laden to come unto Him? It is quite evident that coming to Christ is something more than a physical act. Coming to Christ in the sense He here invited, is a going out of the soul after Him, a desire for Him, a seeking after Him, a personal embracing of and trusting in Him. It is the heart turning from the love of sin to the love of holiness; from self to the Savior! A saving coming to Christ denotes a turning our backs upon the world and turning our hearts unto Him as our only Hope and Portion. It is the abandoning of every idol and the surrendering of ourselves to His Lordship. It is the repudiation of our own righteousness and every dependency, and the heart going out to Him in loving submission and trustful confidence. It is the entire going out of self with all its resolutions and perfo...

The Day is at Hand, Part II D.G. Miles McKee   We, as God's people, are deeply interested in the day when the Lord returns. It will be the day of our full redemption.  I´m looking forward to that.   It will be the day of complete deliverance from sin and all its awful consequences.   I´m looking forward to that.    When Jesus comes back, He will unveil our perfection in Him, and we will never sin again.    I´m looking forward to that.  That day will be the day of resurrection. Our Lord spoke of it when He said, "This is the Father´s will who has sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day" (John 6:39-40, 44, 54) .   Martha knew of this day. She said of her brother, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the la...

When a person stands before a mirror, he sees three things--the mirror, himself, and other things which are in the room. When I sincerely look by faith into the scriptures, I see many things, but primarily three things. (1) I see the LORD JESUS CHRIST, for He verily is the WORD OF GOD. It is of Him, from Him, and to His glory that it is written. "To Him give all the prophets witness." (2) I see MYSELF as I truly am, for the word reveals the true nature and need of this son of Adam. "Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner! Let Thy blood atone for me on the mercy-seat." (3) I see OTHER PEOPLE and my RELATIONSHIP and my RESPONSIBILITY to them! The image of myself reflected in a mirror is larger than others in the room, but NOT SO WITH THE SCRIPTURES. "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many...

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."     - II Corinthians 3:17 [KJV] The gospel is "the perfect law of liberty," therefore the very perfection of liberty, and thus thoroughly and entirely free from the least taint of bondage, the slightest tincture of servitude. It is this perfect freedom which distinguishes it from the law which "worketh wrath" and "gendereth to bondage." It is, therefore, a freedom from sin; from its guilt, as having "the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience;" from its filth, by "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" from its love, through "the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost;" from its dominion, as "not being under the law but under grace;" and from its practice, by becoming "servants to God,” so as to have our “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." How, then, can this pure, holy, a...

"I will cry unto God most high; unto God  that performeth all things for me." -Psalm 57:2 [KJV] Our Saviour performed all things for us. Our sin has been all put away. The righteousness with which we are clothed is complete. All that God's infinite justice can demand of us has been performed for us by our Substitute. Our warfare is accomplished. Our sin is pardoned. There is not one thing for us to do to complete the work of Christ. This word performeth means perfecteth . "I will cry unto God most high, unto God who perfecteth all things concerning me." David is confident that what God has said will come to pass. He is so sure of God's purpose, that while he is fleeing for his life, he praises and blesses God that He is perfecting that which concerns him, and leading him by a sure path to the throne. The Lord God of Heaven is working every detail for our good and for His glory. No wonder he could say, "I will cry unto God most high; un...

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy ways." -Psalm 119:71 [KJV] God's ways and God's Word are best learned by experience and in time of trouble. When our Lord is pleased to lay His hand heavily upon us, we do not soon forget the lessons learned. When the Lord singles out a believer or a church for special affliction and adversity, it is not for punishment, nor lack of love for them; it is for eternal blessings and because He does love them. "Whom the Lord loveth" He chastens, corrects and teaches! When Job sat before his friends, who was afflicted? THE ONE GOD LOVED! When Paul stood before k ing Agrippa, who wore the chains? THE ONE GOD LOVED! Humanly speaking, which path of life would you prefer to live on earth, that of Esau or Jacob? Esau had the life of prosperity and ease; Jacob was full of trouble and conflict, BUT GOD LOVED JACOB! Thank God He has loved us in Christ and is pleased to teach us H...

“ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:3-4 [KJV] ========================= There was not a speck of sin on the conscience, nor a principle of sin in the nature of His people for which Christ was not judged on the cross; and they are now looked upon as having died with Christ, lain in the grave with Christ, been raised with Christ, perfectly accepted in Him - their sins, their iniquities, their transgressions, their enmity, their uncircumcision, having been entirely put away by the cross. The sentence of death has been written on the flesh; but the believer is in possession of a new life, in union with his risen Head in glory. What rest -perfect rest- for the heart and conscience is here! What full relief for the ...

There are just two kinds of people in this world; those who justify themselves before God and those who are justified by God in Christ. Those who justify themselves are always condemned before God. Those who condemn themselves are always justified before the Lord by His grace ( Rom ans 3:24 & Titus 3:7 ) . In Luke 18 the Pharisee justified himself and was condemned. The publican condemned himself and was justified ( Luke 18:13-14 ) . Which one are you? Grace is for the guilty! “And H e said unto them ( the Pharisees ) , Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” ( Luke 16:15 ) . The Lord Jesus had the sharpest rebukes and the strongest warnings to those who went about to seek salvation by the deeds of the law. He never had a kind word of mercy or a word of grace to those Pharisees who stood on the ground of their merit and self-righteousness. He ...