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

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." -R OMANS 6:11 [KJV] How many poor souls are struggling against the power of sin, and yet never get any victory over it! How many are daily led captive by the lusts of the flesh, the love of the world, and the pride of life, and never get any victory over them! How many fight and grapple with tears, vows, and strong resolutions against the besetting sins of temper, levity, or covetousness, who are still entangled and overcome by them again and again! Now, why is this? Because they know not the secret of spiritual strength against, and spiritual victory over them. It is only by virtue of a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ, drinking into His sufferings and death, and receiving out of His fulness, that we can gain any victory over the world, sin, death, or hell. Let me bring this down a little to your own experience. Say your soul has been, on one

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." -H EBREWS 10:22 [KJV] 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." 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." Assurance is born of CONFIDENCE IN THE SON as our just God and Saviour; "By His stripes we are healed." Assurance is born of CONFIDENCE IN HIS PROMISES; "Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform." 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 (1926–2019 A.D.)