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

"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." - I Peter 1:24, 25 [KJV] All flesh, and everything that springs from the flesh, and is connected with the flesh, is as grass, which, for a time, looks green and flourishing, but touched with the mower's scythe, or scorched by the midday sun, soon withers and fades away. Such is all flesh, without exception, from the highest to the lowest. As in nature, some grass grows thicker and longer than other, and makes, for a while, a brighter show, yet the scythe makes no distinction between the light crop and the heavy, so the scythe of death mows down with equal sweep the rich and the poor, and lays in one common grave all the children of men.   You have seen sometimes in the early spring the grass in flower, and you have noticed those li...

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." -Ecclesiastes 7:8 [KJV] Thus saith the wise man, and it is often true in natural things, but invariably so in divine. Rarely at first can we foresee what will be the issue of any matter which we take in hand. We may begin it with much hope, and find in the end those hopes sadly disappointed. We may begin it with much fear, and find from the event those fears utterly groundless. Whatever we take in hand it is very rare that our expectations are fully carried out, for we have again and again to learn that "man's heart deviseth his way, but the L ORD directeth his steps," and that there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that and that only, shall stand.   But so far as we are amongst the family of God, and as such are under especial guidance and divine teaching and leading, whether our first expectations are accomplished or not, the end stamps wisdom and good...

  The Gospel Truth About Faith (Part 2) D. G. Miles McKee Faith is dynamic and continues to grow as it is bathed in the gospel. Romans 10:16 says, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah sa ith , Lord, who ha th believed our report?  So then faith come th by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”     Notice how the “WORD of GOD” and the “GOSPEL” are equated in this passage. They are one and the same!  Faith will grow, therefore, as the gospel is expounded!  The preaching of the good news of the person, work and offices of Christ always brings and generates faith. Therefore, we must get away from the notion that the message of Christ is exclusively for evangelistic meetings!  The gospel is every bit as much for the believer as it is for the lost! What a wonderful gift of God faith really is!  It enables us to take hold of the ‘so great salvation’ that has already been accomplished in Christ Jesus.  When faith co...

       The glorious good news of the Gospel is that, "It is finished." Justice has been satisfied, righteousness has been established. The believer rests exclusively in a finished work. On the other hand, the religious moralist strives daily under a crushing weight of duties and expectations, looking to a future judgment on his performance, where he may, or may not, be rewarded. For the believer, this judgment occurred at the cross, and there is no possibility of future condemnation. The believer is counted by God to be the very righteousness of God in Christ [II Cor inthians 5:21 ] . Therefore, the believer is a joint-heir with Christ and shall inherit all things [ Rom ans 8:17,32 ] . “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth” [ Rom ans 8:33 ] . I would encourage you to take the time to read all of Romans ch. 8 and prayerfully consider these glorious truths.    — preacher Kenny Dyess

O Thou Son of the Blessed! Grace stripped Thee of Thy glory. Grace brought Thee down from heaven. Grace made Thee bear such burdens of sin; such burdens of curse as are unspeakable. Grace was in Thy heart. Grace came bubbling up from Thy bleeding side. Grace was in Thy tears. Grace was in Thy prayers. Grace streamed from Thy thorn-crowned brow! Grace came forth with the nails that pierced Thee, with the thorns that pricked Thee! Oh, here are unsearchable riches of grace! Grace to make sinners happy! Grace to make angels wonder! Grace to make devils astonished! -preacher John Bunyan (1628–1688 A.D.)

    "I AM the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in M e, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without M e ye can do nothing." -John 15:5  [KJV] The great secret in religion—that secret which is only with those who fear the Lord and to whom He shews His covenant—is first to get sensible union with the Lord, and then to maintain it. But this union cannot be got except by some manifestation of His Person and work to our heart, joining us to Him as by one Spirit. This is the espousal of the soul, whereby it is espoused to one husband as a chaste virgin to Christ. From this espousal comes fellowship, or communion with Christ; and from this communion flows all fruitfulness, for it is not a barren marriage.   But this union and communion cannot be maintained except by abiding in Christ; and this can only be by His abiding in us. "Abide in M e, and I in you." But how do we abide in Him? Mainly by faith, hope, and love, for these are the three...

From whence this fear and unbelief? Hath not the Father put to grief His spotless Son for me? And will the righteous Judge of men Condemn me for that debt of sin Which, Lord, was charged on Thee? Complete atonement Thou hast made, And to the utmost farthing paid Whate’er Thy people owed; How then can wrath on me take place If sheltered in Thy righteousness, And sprinkled with Thy blood? If Thou hast my discharge procured, And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine, Payment God cannot twice demand First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine. Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest! The merits of thy great High Priest Have bought thy liberty; Trust in His efficacious blood, Nor fear thy banishment from God, Since Jesus died for thee! -preacher Augustus Toplady (1740-1778 A.D.)

     "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on H im, but also to suffer for H is sake." -Philippians 1:29 [KJV] After the Lord, by His special work on the conscience, has called us to repentance and confession of sin, as well as to faith in Jesus; after He has called us to godly sorrow; to live according to the precepts of the gospel; and to walk in the ordinances of His Church; He then calls us to suffer for and with Christ. But we cannot "suffer according to the will of God," that is, in a gospel sense and from gospel motives, till the Lord enables us in some measure to look to Him. The same Spirit, who calls the believer to walk in a path of suffering, strengthens and enables him to do so.   To suffer aright, we must walk in the steps of the great Captain of our salvation, who "though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which H e suffered." The Father in this sense spared not His only-begotten Son, but led Hi...

  "For we walk by faith, not by sight."   - II Corinthians 5:7  [KJV] The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil be felt. It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord. There is something filial in this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond both the one and the other—equally remote from the rashness of presumption, and from the horror of despair. There is a mingling of holy affection connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favours, insuring favours to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is. There is a looking to, and relying upon the Lord, because we have ...

   "The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich today and poor tomorrow; he may be sickly today and well tomorrow; he may be in happiness today and tomorrow be in distress; but THERE IS NO CHANGE WITH REGARD TO HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.  If He loved me yesterday, He loves me today. I am neither better nor worse in God than I ever was. Let prospects be blighted, let hopes be blasted, let joy be withered, let mildews destroy everything; I HAVE LOST NOTHING OF WHAT I HAVE IN GOD!" -copied

"The L ORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." -Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] What a mighty God we have to deal with! And what would suit our case but a mighty God? Have we not mighty sins? Have we not mighty trials? Have we not mighty temptations? Have we not mighty foes and mighty fears? And who is to deliver us from all this mighty host except the mighty God? It is not a little God (if I may use the expression) that will do for God's people. They need a mighty God because they are in circumstances where none but a mighty God can interfere in their behalf.   Why, if you did not know feelingly and experimentally your mighty sins, your mighty trials, your mighty temptations, and your mighty fears, you would not want a mighty God. This sense of our weakness and His power, of our misery and His mercy, of our ruin and His recovery, of the aboundings of our sin and the superaboundings of His grace—a feeling sense, I say, of these opposite yet harmonious things brings us to ...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands( 25-27 DEC20) 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: GRACE AND MERCY! It is by the grace of God that any sinner has been everlastingly loved in Christ, chosen in Christ, redeemed by Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It is by the mercy of God, for Christ’s sake, that we are forgiven for the sins that we daily commit while struggling in this present evil world -copied

"Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh." - I Timothy 3:16 [KJV] A mystery indeed it is, a great, a deep, an unfathomable mystery; for who can rightly understand how the divine Word, the eternal Son of God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us? "Who shall declare H is generation?" (Isa iah 53:8;) either that eternal generation whereby He is the only-begotten Son of God, or the generation of His sacred humanity in the womb of the Virgin, when the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her? These are the things "which the angels desire to look into;" which they cannot understand, but reverently adore. And well may we imitate their adoring admiration, not attempting to understand, but believe, love, and revere; for well has it been said, "Where reason fails, with all her powers, There faith believes, and love adores."  Nor, if rightly taught and spiritually led, shall we find this a barr...

     “ Commit thy way unto the L ORD ; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” -Psalm 37:5 [KJV] Some of you are having great trouble and are walking a rough way. It may seem to you right now that these sorrows are more than you can bear. Indeed, they ARE more than you can bear; but you do not have to bear them alone. David said, “Commit thy way unto the L ORD ” , and Peter wrote, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7) . You have committed your soul to Him; then you can surely trust Him with your home, children, and business. These things are far inferior to your immortal soul. He has promised us troubles in this world, but not without HIS SUFFICIENT GRACE to carry us through them. -preacher Henry Mahan http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=mahan

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn T hy statutes." -Psalm 119:71 [KJV] We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires, and only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness. But to be brought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world by affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable, to be brought to feel our need of Christ, and that without an interest in His precious blood our soul must be for ever lost—how much better it is really and truly, to be laid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God's mercy, than to be left to our own carnality and thoughtlessness.   Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so when we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the Lord afflicts it is in good earnest; He means to make us feel. Strong measures are required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless it were full of grie...

“ My times a re in Thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant: save me for Thy mercies' sake.” -Psalm 31:15-16 [KJV] Firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God's divine providence. Whether God appoints for me health or sickness, peace or trouble, comforts or crosses, life or death, may His holy will be done! It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me. In everything I have to do, my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for righteousness and strength. If this should prove a year of affliction and sorrow, I will seek all my comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace; for I cannot be condemned as long as I am in Him. God w...

"And H e that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because H e maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." -Romans 8:27 [KJV] God's will must ever stand, it is as unchanging and as unchangeable as God Himself. Our wills are ever fluctuating; God's will fluctuates not. And as that will must ever live and rule, it will be our highest wisdom and richest mercy to submit to, and be conformed unto it. Now the will of God to you who desire to fear His name is not your destruction, but your salvation; your profit now, your happiness hereafter; your present grace, and eternal glory. And the Spirit is making intercession for you according to the will of God; for is it not your earnest desire and prayer that your soul should be saved and blessed, that you should serve God and live to His glory, and when you die be with Him for ever?   Lie, then, at His feet. Be the clay, and let Him be your heavenly Potter. Think not of saving y...

“ We do not find rest, hope, nor comfort in our faith but in Christ.” If you will give careful thought to that statement, it will be of great help to you. Faith is not a foundation, a refuge, nor a source of help. Faith is a means, a look, an empty hand. I T IS CHRIST WHO IS OUR REFUGE , Who protects from every storm. He is our rock on which we build. He is our source of every mercy and our only plea. My faith may be weak or weaker, but He cannot fail. If all my debts have been paid by my Surety, I don’t have to be ashamed to come before God. The praise and credit goes not to my boldness and faith but to my gracious Benefactor! I am not debt-free because I believe (though I do, and that faith united me to Him) BUT BECAUSE HE SET ME FREE AND PAID MY DEBT. Christ is our confidence and our assurance. The moment I seek a reason for hope in anything I do, even in the blessed grace of faith, I forfeit any possibility of peace. “Blessed is that man that maketh the L ORD his trust” (P...

The sacrifice of Christ unites all the attributes of God together for a believer’s interest. The flames of justice focus on Christ so that the streams of mercy might flow down to us. Rivers of mercy do not quench the flames of justice nor the flames of justice suck up the rivers of mercy. As the sacrificing of Christ is a vengeance against sin, it is an act of justice; as it is the means of remission of sins, it is an act of mercy. Both justice and mercy join hands to lift the fallen creature up. God is just in being merciful and merciful in being just so we well may cry aloud with the Psalmist, “ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous” (Psalm 116:5) . Justice struck Christ, the sacrifice, that the streams of mercy might be fully released to sinners. Compassion helped justice to a satisfaction more honorable than could have been had from creatures for it was fully satisfied in punishing Christ for our sins; and justice helped mercy to a fuller and more illustrious exercise of itself th...

"In W hom, though now ye see H im not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." - I Peter 1:8 [KJV] Here we have linked together faith, love, joy, and glory. The word translated "rejoice" means a high degree of joy, and signifies literally, to leap with joy. Spiritual joy, holy joy, is therefore distinguished from earthly joy, natural joy, not only in nature, but in degree. Natural joy can never rise very high, nor last very long. It is of the earth, earthy, and therefore can never rise high nor long endure. It is always marred by some check, damp or disappointment; and, as in the bitterest cup of the righteous "There's some thing secret sweetens all," so in the sweetest cup of the ungodly there is something secret embitters all. All their mirth is madness; for even "in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness." God frowns upon all the worldling's pleasure, conscience condemns i...

We cannot keep our eye too exclusively or too intently fixed upon Jesus. All salvation is in Him. All salvation proceeds from Him. All salvation leads to Him. And for the assurance and comfort of our salvation we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him. Christ must be all! Christ the beginning ­ Christ the center ­ Christ the end. Oh, sweet truth to you who are sensible of your poverty, vileness, and insufficiency, and of the ten thousand flaws and failures of which, perhaps, no one is cognizant but God and your own soul! Oh, to turn and rest in Christ ­ a full Christ ­ a loving Christ ­ a tender Christ, whose heart's love never chills, from whose eyes dart no reproof, from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation! Christ must be all! -preacher Octavius Winslow (1808-1878 A.D.)

"Whom having not seen, ye love."   - I Peter 1:8  [KJV] How this speaks to our hearts; and cannot some, if not many of us say too, "Whom having not seen, we love?" Do we not love Him, dear readers? Is not His name precious to us as the ointment poured forth? But we have not seen Him. No, not by the eye of sense and nature; but we have seen Him by the eye of faith; for He has manifested Himself to us, or to some of us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is, then, by faith that we see Jesus. We read of Moses that, "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing H im who is invisible." So by faith we see Jesus who is invisible; for as faith is "the substance of things hoped for," so is it "the evidence of things not seen." Thus we see that it is by Jesus coming to the soul and manifesting Himself unto it that we see Him. ...

  Now I have found the ground wherein My anchor, hope, shall firm remain, The wounds of Jesus, for my sin Are born away in the Lamb slain; Whose mercy shall unshaken stay, When heaven and earth are fled away. [O grace, thou bottomless abyss, My sins are swallowed up in thee! Covered is my unrighteousness; From condemnation I am free. For Jesus’ blood, through earth and skies, Mercy, eternal mercy, cries.] Jesus, I know, has died for me; Here is my hope, my joy, my rest; Hither, when hell assails, I flee; I look into my Savior’s breast. Away, sad doubt and anxious fear; Mercy and love are written there. Fixed on this ground will I remain, Though my heart fail and flesh decay; This anchor shall my soul sustain, When earth’s foundations melt away. Mercy’s full power I then shall prove, Loved with an everlasting love. Tune: "Faith of Our Fathers"

"And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."   -Hosea 2:15  [KJV] Now the "valley of Achor" signifies the "valley of trouble." It was the valley in which Achan was stoned. And why stoned? Because he had taken the accursed thing; because his eye had been captivated by the Babylonish garment and golden wedge, and he had buried them in the tent. This may throw a light on what the "valley of Achor" is spiritually. Perhaps you have been guilty of Achan's sin; you have been taking the accursed thing; have been too deeply connected with the world; have done things which God's displeasure is against. Let conscience speak in the bosom of each. The consequence has been, that you have got into the "valley of Achor!" Trouble, sorrow, and confusion are your lot, and you do not ...

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."   - Proverbs  18:10 [KJV]

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." - I Corinthians 2:5 [KJV] It is true that real grace can suffer neither loss nor diminution, but its manifestations and its actings may. Who that possesses faith is not conscious that it ebbs and flows, rises and sinks, is strong and weak, and varies from day to day and from hour to hour? Thus when a sharp trial comes, its immediate effect is to depress faith. It falls upon it like a weight, and bends it down to the ground. Faith may be compared to the quicksilver in a weather-glass, or in a thermometer. The quantity of mercury in the bulb never varies; but it rises or falls in the tube, according to the weight of the air, or the heat of the day. Thus faith, though it abides in the heart without loss or diminution, yet rises or sinks in the feelings, as the weather is fair or foul, or as the sun shews or hides himself.   Did Job's faith, for instance, mount equally high when "...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands( 18-20 DEC20) 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: The more convinced we are of our utter helplessness before God, the more dearly we will prize and appreciate His free and sovereign grace given us in Christ Jesus. Let others boast of their supposed free will, their decision, and their choice; let them brag about "letting Jesus save them". But as for this sinner (and every sinner saved by God's almighty and amazing grace) I know I was dead in sin, but God raised me from a spiritual grave. I was blind but He gave me sight to see Him as the only Savior of sinners; I was lost but the kind Shepherd found me; I was filthy but He washed me in His sin-atoning blood; I was naked but He wrapped me in His pure and...

"That I may be found in Him." -Philippians 3:9 [KJV]   The apostle knew a time was coming when God would search Jerusalem as with candles. He knew a day was hastening on when the secrets of all hearts would be revealed. He knew an hour was approaching when the eyes of the Lord would try, and the eyelids of the righteous judge would weigh the words and actions of men. And he knew in his own soul's experience, that all who, in that awful day, were not found in Christ, would be consigned to the eternal pit of woe. He knew that when the judge took His seat upon the great white throne, and heaven and earth fled away from His presence, no one could stand before His look of infinite justice and eternal purity, but those who had a vital standing in the Son of God.    And therefore, looking to that awful time, and the solemnities of that day of judgment, that day of wonders, this was the desire of his soul—and towards that he pressed forward, as an active runner press...

  The Pharisees were very offended that some rag tag fishermen would follow Jesus and teach contrary to what they taught. They said to Christ, "Why do Thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?" (Matthew 15:2) A tradition is something that is passed down from generation to generation and with the Pharisees it was the oral law. It was not the scriptures but what they and those like them that preceded them, said about the scriptures and the rules they added to them. They could not defend their teachings from the scriptures alone so they accused the disciples of teaching contrary to "the traditions." Our merciful God spoke audibly from heaven on one occasion some very important words. "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him..." The Word of God supersedes all the teachings of men, especially what they teach about the Word! Christ said to these Pharisees, "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition" ...

  "Ho, every one that thirsteth , come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." -Isaiah 55:1 [KJV] How many a poor sensible sinner has, upon the strength of these words, looked unto Jesus and been lightened (Psalm 34:5) , come to H im and met with a kind reception. By the power which attends such invitations the heart is opened, as was the heart of Lydia, to attend unto the things spoken in the gospel. It is not put away as too holy for a poor polluted sinner to touch, nor is the Lord Jesus viewed as an angry judge; but in these invitations H is clemency, tenderness, and compassion are seen and felt, and beams and rays of H is mercy and grace both enlighten the understanding and soften and melt the heart. Thence spring confession of sin, self-loathing, renunciation of one's own righteousness, earnest desires and breathings after the Lord, and an embracing of the love of the truth s...

“ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father . Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” –Galatians 4:4-7 [KJV] Christ Jesus came into the world, NOT TO TRY to redeem His people, but to redeem them as adopted children of God. By His death, He established the one ground upon which His people, sinners saved by grace, can and do approach God as “Abba, Father." -copied