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

"What think ye, that H e will not come to the feast?" -John 11:56 [KJV]       Is this thy inquiry, my soul, when at any time thou art seeking Jesus in His word, in His ordinances, at His table? Will He not come? Will Jesus not be there? Think how, He hath dealt in times past. Did not Jesus rejoice when the hour arrived for coming into the world for salvation? Doth He not rejoice, when coming to the heart of the poor sinner for conversion? and will He not come with joy in all the renewed visits of His love? Besides, doth not Jesus know that it is a time of need to thee? And hath He not opened a way to the throne of grace, on purpose that His poor helpless children might come boldly to a throne of grace to obtain help, and find grace in every time of need? Oh then, mark it down as a sure thing, thy Jesus will be there. He spreads the feast, and He will be present, He waits to be gracious; waits to be kind to thee. Love is in His heart, and salvation in His hands. Hasten ...

"That in the ages to come H e might shew the exceeding riches of H is grace, in H is kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." -Ephesians 2:7 [KJV] Pause, my soul, and gather in all the powers of arithmetic, and try if thou art able to count what the exceeding riches of God's grace amount to. Think how great, how free, how sovereign, how inexhaustible, how everlasting! All that a poor sinner hath in time, all that we can enjoy to all eternity, all is of grace . And what a title hath thy God chosen to be known by among His people, when, to make Himself known more fully in Jesus, He styles himself "the God of all grace!" All grace? Yes, all grace , and all sorts and degrees of grace: pardoning grace, renewing grace, quickening grace, strengthening grace, comforting grace; in short, all grace. And is all this treasured up in Jesus? Oh then, my soul, see that Jesus be thine, and all is thine. And mark this down as a sure unerring rule-as grace hath no source but...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (2 9-31 JAN21) 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 comfort of a believer's heart lies not in a mere "feeling" that "everything will be all right." It lies in the Spirit of God's application of truth to our hearts and minds. It is comfort based on the promises of God who cannot lie, die, change or fail in any way. Oh, it does produce wonderful feelings. But these feelings are the product of the assurance of faith, faith based upon that which is given us by God's grace through the merits of Christ's righteous blood. -preacher Gary Shepard

SALVATION is as free as a look. Christ says, "Look unto Me and be ye saved " (Isaiah 45:22) ! Without performance! Without payment! Without preparation! LOOK TO CHRIST AND LIVE! "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else " (Isaiah 45:22) .  " And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day " (John 6:40) . -preacher Scott Richardson https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&currsection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Scott_Richardson

"... a s having nothing, and yet possessing all things ." - II Corinthians 6:10 [KJV] My soul, hast thou learnt this holy science? There are three blessed lessons the Holy Ghost teacheth on this ground. As, first, the believer is thoroughly emptied of himself. Art thou thus taught of God? Hast thou been led to see, to feel, to know, to be convinced that, after all thine attainments, after all thy long standing in the school of Jesus, thou hast nothing, canst do nothing, art worse than nothing, and, literally, hast no more in thyself now to recommend thee to Jesus, than the first moment thou didst hear of His name? This is to have nothing; this is to be poor in spirit. Secondly , dost thou possess all things in Jesus? Yes, if so be thou art living out of thyself wholly upon Him; and how is this known? Nothing more evident. When a sense of my emptiness endears to me His fulness; my poverty, His riches; my weakness, His strength; my sins, His righteousness; my ...

"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for  necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." - I Cor inthians 9:16 [KJV] The most humbling and challenging thing I face, the great concern of my heart is that my generation experience a return to the preaching of the gospel of God's glory. We are plagued today with a gospel of works, a religion of form and ceremony, a zeal for God but not according to knowledge (Rom ans 10:2). I pray for a return to the message God was pleased to use in other days to awaken sinners to their need for mercy; that message that reveals the redemptive glory of God in Christ; that message that humbles the proud Pharisee and gives hope to the chief of sinners. If God is pleased to restore that message men will once again sense the awesome Holy presence of the Living God. Gone will be the voice of the proud sinner who inwardly debates whether he will "accept Jesus" or reject Him. Gone...

"He shall glorify M e; for H e shall receive of M ine, and shall shew it unto you." -John 16:14 [KJV] Some precious souls are at a loss to apprehend how the Holy Ghost makes application of Jesus and His benefits to His people. Hence they ask, how am I to know that the righteousness of Jesus, and the blood of Jesus, are applied to me. But be not thou, my soul, ignorant of so important a matter, on the clear apprehension of which thy daily comfort depends. Attend, my soul, to what thy Jesus saith in those precious words; and, under the blessed Spirit's teaching, the matter will appear abundantly plain. He shall glorify Me, saith Jesus. And doth not the Holy Ghost do this in every believer's view, when He gives the soul to see that all that vast extent of redemption-blessings which the Father treasured up in His dear Son for poor sinners, flow immediately from Jesus? And observe, the Holy Ghost doth not at first shew the sinner that all result from the everlasting lov...

"And they said one to another, D id not our heart burn within us, while H e talked with us by the way, and while H e opened to us the scriptures ?" -Luke 24:32 [KJV]   Ought not the disciples of Jesus to do now, as the disciples of Jesus did then? What but of Jesus should we speak of by the way? Methinks the Lord's people, and especially when coming from the Lord's house, should be distinguished from the frothy conversation of mere carnal worshippers. I would, by talking of Jesus, invite Him to mingle with us, and open to our understandings the scriptures. I would therefore sometimes ask one and another, when returning from the house or the table of the Lord, how went the matter with your soul to-day? I pray you tell me; was the King at court? Did He receive petitions? Did He answer prayers? Were you refreshed? were any healed? any comforted? any made joyful in His house of prayer? Surely we might hope, by such edifying inquiries, each would help his fellow. And he...

  "And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures ?"  -Luke 24:32 [KJV]   Ought not the disciples of Jesus to do now, as the disciples of Jesus did then? What but of Jesus should we speak of by the way? Methinks the Lord's people, and especially when coming from the Lord's house, should be distinguished from the frothy conversation of mere carnal worshippers. I would, by talking of Jesus, invite him to mingle with us, and open to our understandings the scriptures. I would therefore sometimes ask one and another, when returning from the house or the table of the Lord, how went the matter with your soul to-day? I pray you tell me; was the King at court? Did he receive petitions? Did he answer prayers? Were you refreshed? were any healed? any comforted? any made joyful in his house of prayer?  Surely we might hope, by such edifying inquiries, each would help his fellow. And he ...

  "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness." -Proverbs 11:4-6 [KJV] "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the LORD have I righteousness and strength ." -Isaiah 45:22-24a [KJV]

" It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because H is compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is T hy faithfulness.” -Lamentations 3:22-23 [KJV] Each Christian may find in his own case, some peculiar token of God's providential kindness to him. It is in the details of each man's personal history that we find the most touching manifestations of God's providential care. None of us can refuse to acknowledge that we have been the objects of a watchfulness which has  never slumbered, and of a benevolence which has never been weary in doing us good. Were we to attempt an enumeration of all the . . .  blessings which we have received at God's hand, deliverance's which He has wrought out for us, snares from which He has preserved us, manifestations of His long-suffering patience, and tender mercy, of which we ourselves have been the objects — were we to begin with the years of infancy and helplessness, and to trace our progress thr...

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that C HRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS ...” - I Timothy 1:15 [KJV] Hearken, my soul, to the proclamation from heaven! Is this the faithful saying of a faithful God? Surely, then, thou mayest well regard it, for it is for thy life. And if it be worthy of all acceptation, it must be eminently so of thine; for thou hast been a transgressor from the womb. But did Jesus indeed come to save sinners? Yes, so the proclamation runs. Sinners, enemies to God. Jesus, it is said, "received gifts for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them;" and with that tenderness which distinguished His character, He said Himself, that He "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Well, then, my soul, upon this warrant of the faithful word of a faithful God, wilt thou not so fully rely as to believe unto salvation? If any inquiries arise contrary to this belief, let this be t...

"And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the L ORD , and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the L ORD said unto Satan, The L ORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the L ORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ?" -Zechariah 3:1,2 [KJV] Who shall say, how many such transactions as these are continually going on, for and against the people of God, in the court of heaven, while we upon earth are unconscious either of our misery or mercy? The Holy Ghost was graciously pleased to have this made known to the church. And John was again directed to tell the church, that a song in heaven was sung at the expulsion of the devil from heaven, because the accuser of the brethren was cast down. My soul, doth he that first tempts thee, then become thine accuser? Is he carrying on this practice day and night before God? And while Satan is thine accuser, is Jesus thine advocate? Oh precious, precious Lor...

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 5:21 [KJV] Pause, my soul, and put forth thy fullest thoughts in the contemplation of those two united sources of thy felicity, marked in this verse: the Father's eternal purpose, in the reign of grace; and the everlasting efficacy and infinite value of thy Jesus's righteousness, to eternal life. None but God Himself can know the fulness and extent of either. I am persuaded, that angels of light can never entertain adequate conceptions of either. The eternal purpose of God hath bounded the reign of sin; it is but unto death. But those purposes give a further extent to the redemption from death and sin, by Jesus; for the glory of Christ's person, and the worth of His salvation, possess in both a vast overplus, a redundancy of merit, which brings the redeemed into favour and acceptance in Jesus, and with such a title to everla...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (22-24JAN21) 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: SUBSTITUTION! Men do not know that God has provided a Righteousness for all believers. For every soul born of Adam WHO WILL believe in Christ, there is a perfect righteousness - not ours, but God's. God came here in human form, not bound to be obedient, but being found in fashion as a man, He became obedient - obedient unto His own Law and fulfilled every jot and tittle of it.  He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and His obedience is our obedience if we believe. God looks at us as if we had done what His Son had done. To that Righteousness is the eye of the believer ever to be directed, on that Righteousness must he rest, on tha...

"... t hey shall cry unto the L ORD because of the oppressors, and H e shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and H e shall deliver them ." -Isaiah 19:20 [KJV] Mark, my soul, the sweet encouragement contained in these words. Here is a cry, and it is the cry of the soul; for it is directed unto the Lord. There is (as Elihu tells us) a cry of nature under oppression; but as this is not to God, it is evident that it never came from God; for he tells us, that none of them saith, "Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?" Job 35:10 . But when the Holy Ghost convinceth of sin, and puts a cry in the heart by reason of it, He convinceth also of the righteousness of Jesus. Hence the difference of those cries is as wide as the east is from the west.  Mark, therefore, my soul, this distinguishing feature of grace, and see whether thy cries are praying cries, and not complaining ones.  And now observe what follows. When poor sinners thus cry unto the Lor...

Friends and neighbors, flee to Christ JESUS today, "The LORD our righteousness!" "The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion."   -Psalm 111:2-4 [KJV] "Salvation is of the LORD."   -Jonah 2:9c [KJV]

" When the Holy God and a ruined sinner meet on a blood-splattered platform, all is settled once and for all, settled in such a way as to perfectly honor and glorify God and eternally save the sinner. The only proper meeting place between God and man is the point where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could that take place? Only in the cross. There it is that mercy and truth are met together, and there the believing sinner finds peace for the heart and conscience." -preacher Scott Richardson https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&currsection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Scott_Richardson

"What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?" -Esther 6:6 [KJV] Nay, my soul, ask thine own heart what shall be done to the God-man whom Jehovah the King of kings, delighteth to honour? Oh, for the view of what John saw, and to hear what John heard, when he beheld the heaven opened, and heard the innumerable multitude chanting salvation to God and the Lamb! Lord, I would say, " L et every knee bow before H im, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." And Oh, most gracious Father! dost Thou take delight that Jesus should be honoured? Is it Thine honour when Jesus is honoured; Thy glory when Jesus is glorified? Oh, what wonderful encouragement is this to the faith and belief of a poor sinner! that I not only praise my adorable Redeemer when I come to Him for all things, and trust Him for all things; but when also my poverty and emptiness afford occasion to Him to get glory by me, in giving to me ...

The Power to Save by D.G. Miles McKee ‘ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe th ’ -Romans 1:16 [KJV]   We must be clear what the Bible is saying here. It is not saying that the gospel leads to power. It is saying that the gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation. This is essential to grasp if we want to see the power of God in our churches and ministries. Usually, today, the gospel is treated as an ‘initial entry doctrine’. In other words, the gospel is good only for those who are not saved. The gospel, we are erroneously told, is merely to get lost sinners saved; but once we are saved, we need to move on into the ‘deep things’ of God. In the minds of many, the gospel is merely a beginning.  But Paul says in the previous verse: ‘So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also’ (Romans 1:15). To which ‘YOU’ is he referring?  To which ‘YOU’ ...

" Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, D estroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for M y servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all .” -Isaiah 65:8 [KJV] It is blessed to trace our mercies to the fountain head, and to find them all folded up from everlasting in Jesus. What was it that preserved our whole nature when blasted and withered by the fall? Was it not because Jesus, the promised seed, was in it? And what is it that preserves every individual among the children of God during the dark season of their unregeneracy, but the same precious cause? He that looks on (and who is this but Christ Himself?) amidst all our perishing circumstances, by His powerful and all-prevailing intercession, commands the destroyer not to touch His people; for though in themselves loathsome, yet in Jesus they are fair and lovely. My soul, learn hence thy security. The whole cause for which thou wert preserved until called, and, when ca...

"Therefore doth M y Father love M e, because I lay down M y life, that I might take it again." -John 10:17  [KJV]   Mark, my soul, the precious cause which thy Jesus here assigns for the love of His Father. God the Father not only loves God the Son, as God, one with Him in nature and in all divine perfections; but He loves Him peculiarly because He voluntarily undertook and accomplished by His death the salvation of His people. Now then, my soul, make these two sweet improvements from what Jesus hath here said. First, think what must have been, and now is, the love of thy God and Father to thee and every poor sinner, when He truly loves his dear Son because he became the Saviour of poor sinners. And, secondly, think what love Jesus hath shewn to poor sinners in thus manifesting His mercy in such a way, and how dear they must be to the heart of Jesus, which have made Him dear in the sight of God. My soul, never lose sight of this argument, when thou goest to the mercyseat. ...

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." -Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes." -Psalm 118:8-9 "Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9c "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." -John 5:24 [KJV] ---Jesus Christ the LORD, sent by the Father to effectually & fully SAVE poor, needy, wretched sinners by His own sovereign free grace and by His perfect righteousness charged to our accounts!

"My B eloved... standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the windows, shewing H imself through the lattice." -Song of Solomon 2:9 [KJV] It might be truly said, that it was behind the wall of our nature the Lord Jesus stood, when, by taking a body of flesh, He veiled the glories of His Godhead, during the days of His humanity. And may it not be as truly said, that it is still, as from behind a wall, all the gracious discoveries He now makes of Himself are manifested to His people? For what from the dullness of our perception, the unbelief, and the sins and infirmities of our nature, the most we see of our Jesus is but as through a glass darkly. But yet, my soul, how sweet are even these visits of His love, when we can get though but a glimpse of the King in His beauty, through the windows of ordinances, or the lattices of His blessed word. Oh, precious Jesus! let Thy visits be frequent, increasingly lovely, and increasingly glorious, that the souls of Thy people may in...

"And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people : for the thing was done suddenly ." - II Chronicles 29:36 [KJV] Sweet thought, ever to keep in view, that it is the Lord that prepares the heart, and gives answers to the tongue. And Oh! how sudden, how unexpected, how unlooked-for, sometimes, are the visits of His grace! "Or ever I was aware (saith the church) my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadab." Is my heart cold, my, mind barren, my frame lifeless? Do thou, then, dearest Lord, make me to rejoice, in warming my frozen affection, making fruitful my poor estate, and putting new life into my soul. All I want is a frame of mind best suited to Thy glory. And what is that? Truly, that when I have nothing, feel nothing, can do nothing, am worse than nothing, that then, even then, I may be rich in Thee amidst all my own bankruptcy. This, dear Lord, is what I covet. And if Thou withholdest all frames which might melt, or warm, or...

  "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king: HE WILL SAVE US." -Isaiah 33:22 In 1773 a sermon was preached by Charles Turner from Romans, XIII. 4, in which he meets the objections that ministers should not meddle in politics, and while he concedes its force in mere local matters, he boldly asserts that it is their duty to interfere where the liberties of the land are assailed, not only for the sake of their own posterity as well as that of others, but because, "...When the civil rights of a country receive a shock, it may justly render the ministers of God deeply thoughtful for the safety of sacred privileges - for religious liberty is so blended with civil, that if one falls it is not to be expected that the other will continue." "If they (government authorities) command anything against Him (God), let it go un-esteemed. And here let us not be concerned about all the dignity which the magistrates possess." -John Calvin (...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands ( 15-17 JAN21) 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: BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY “ Being justified freely by H is grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). What does it mean to be justified? I am sure that there have been many  definitions given and I by no means can fully expound all that is involved in sinners being justified before God. However, I am sure that it means to be eternally pardoned from all sin by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1  Peter 1:18). It means to be acquitted and vindicated of all charges before the holy justice of God (Jude 24). It means to be made and regarded righteous in God’s sight (Col ossians 1:21-22). How are sinners justified? By God as ...

"I was brought low, and H e helped me.” -Psalm 116:6 [KJV] It is blessed sometimes that the streams of creature comforts should be dry, in order to compel us to go to the fountain head. When the fig-tree doth not blossom and the field yields no meat, then a covenant God is precious to fly to. My soul, say, was not that assault of Satan sanctified, when it brought Jesus thereby to thy rescue? Was not that cross sweetly timed, when it tended to wean thee from the world? And wouldest thou have been without that sickness, when Jesus sat up by thee, soothed thee in thy languor, and made all thy bed in thy sickness? Well was it for me that I was brought low, or I should never have known, in a thousand instances, the help of my God. Oh then, my soul, like Paul, learn to glory in thy infirmities, that the power of Jesus may rest upon thee.  -preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.) January 15 th , FOR THE POOR MAN’S MORNING PORTION

Pharaoh, David, and Judas all confessed, “I have sinned.” Yet the confessions of Pharaoh and Judas brought them no saving benefit while David’s confession met with the response, “The Lord has forgiven your sin.” Why is that?  What was lacking in the repentance of Pharaoh and Judas that made it  ineffective? Some say that Pharaoh was not sincere, and that Judas was concerned only with being caught and his life ruined. But the real contrast between the repentance of Pharaoh and Judas and that of David is that neither Pharaoh’s  nor Judas’ repentance never moved them to seek God’s mercy in Christ for their sin. But David did seek God’s mercy, as it is written, “Have mercy on me O God!” (Psalm 51.1) All repentance that brings a sinner TO PLEAD GOD’S MERCY IN CHRIST is saving repentance no matter what other deficiencies it may have. Any repentance that does not bring a sinner to trust in God’s mercy in Christ is a repentan...