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

Before any sinner can or will come to Christ, he must be born again. Faith is the result, not the cause of the new birth. That faith by which we receive God's salvation in Christ is the gift of God. "Salvation is of the L ORD , " in its entirety! It is not of works at any time in a believer's life, God will never be brought into debt by the works of any man, He will never owe a blessing, ALL IS OF GRACE. Faith in Christ is as much the gift and work of God's free grace as election, redemption, and regeneration. If you believe, it is because God has given you faith [PHILIPPIANS 1:29 ] . You "believe according to the working of His mighty power" [EPHESIANS 1:19 ] . Faith is not the work of the sinner's imaginary "free will." Faith is the gift of God's sovereign grace, the result of God's operation upon the heart. "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."...

"... u ntil the redemption of the purchased possession." - EPHESIANS 1:14 [KJV] The Church has been redeemed by price, but is not as yet fully redeemed by power. Christ has bought with His precious blood both the souls and bodies of His people, but He has not yet redeemed them openly. This redemption is still future, and will not be accomplished till the glorious resurrection morn, when the bodies of the dead saints will be raised, and the bodies of the living saints changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. This, therefore, is "the redemption of the purchased possession;" and this being future we have to wait for it, as the Apostle speaks, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" [ROMANS 8:25 ] . Our body is not yet redeemed from its native corruption. But, in the resurrection morn, when the dead will be raised incorruptible, then the redemption of the body will be complete...

These are the last words of James Guthrie, Scottish preacher, spoken from the scaffold where he was beheaded for preaching the gospel on the first day of June, 1661 A.D. In the face of death the LORD granted this fellow bold utterance to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for a full hour to the large crowd that had gathered: "I am come here to lay down my life this day, and I bless God, I die not as a fool; not that I have anything wherein to glory in myself. I acknowledge that I am a sinner, yea, one of the greatest and vilest that has owned a profession of religion, and one of the most unworthy that has preached the Gospel. My corruptions have been strong and many, and have made me a sinner in all things, yea, even in following my duty. And therefore righteousness have I none of my own. All is vile, but I do believe "that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, whereof I am chief." Through faith in His righteousness and blood have I obta...