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

"He that believeth in M e, though he were dead, yet shall he live." -J OHN 11:25 [KJV]   How can any one who is dead believe? He can, or our Lord would not have said so. I will shew you how. He is a living man as quickened into life by the power of the Spirit of God, and yet he is dead. This is the deep mystery, that though he is dead in law, dead in conscience, dead in helplessness, yet God the Holy Ghost has breathed into him and deposited in him a seed of living faith. By this faith he cries, by this faith he sighs, and by this faith he hungers and thirsts after righteousness; yea, more, by this faith he looks unto and believes in the Son of God. He scarcely knows that he has faith. His faith is so weak and so small in his own estimation, that he dare not say he has faith; and yet he has all the fruits of faith, all the marks of faith, and all the evidences of faith. Take as a parallel case Jonah in the whale's belly. Had he faith or had he not

“ Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; W ho for the joy that was set before H im endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - HEBREWS 12:2 [KJV] The Lord Jesus Christ is “the Author and Finisher of our faith.” The faith of God’s elect begins with Christ giving us faith in Him by His sovereign will [EPHESIANS 2:8-9; T ITUS 1:1 ] . This faith, that is the gift of God, which is a definite and sure faith, looks back to the Giver, Author and Finisher of faith, Christ Himself, He is the only object of saving faith. This faith of God’s elect, is also called, “precious faith” [II PETER 1:1 ] ; because it is given to us as a purchased gift of the precious blood of Christ [I PETER 1:18-20 ] . This special and saving faith is given sovereignly and exclusively to the church of Christ alone. His sheep hear His voice, His call, they fall in love with Him and follow Him fully to the end of the

"And H e is the head of the body, the church." - COLOSSIANS 1:18 [KJV] That the Lord Jesus Christ should have a people, in whom he should be eternally glorified, was the original promise made by the Father to the Son. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Psalm 2:8). This was "the joy that was set before him, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame." This was "the purchased possession," "the travail of his soul," and the reward of his humiliation and sufferings (Phil. 2:9, 10). This people form the members of his mystical body, all of which were written in his book, the book of life, when as yet, as regards their actual existence, there was none of them (Psalm 139:16). All these were given to him in eternity, when he was constituted their covenant Head in the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.