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

"But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." -Ephesians 2:13 [KJV]   Of all the vast alterations made upon our nature by grace, that which is from death to life seems to be the greatest. I do not think the change would be as great, if Jesus were to make a child of God, after his conversion, at once an  archangel, as when, by His blessed Spirit He quickens the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and brings him into grace. My soul, contemplate the sweet thought this morning, that it may lead thee, with thy hymn of praise, to all precious Jesus! First then, my soul, think where you then stood, before this vast act of grace had quickened you. You stood on the very confines of hell— unawakened, unregenerate, uncalled, without God, and without Christ. Supposing the Lord had not saved you; supposing a sickness unto death had, by His command, taken you; supposing that any one cause had been commissioned to sign your death-warrant...

" God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). David wrote "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1), but the glories of redemption vastly outshine the magnificence of creation. All of the infinite perfections of God are harmoniously featured in the substitutionary death of Christ. At the cross we behold God’s determinate purpose, His everlasting love and His inflexible justice working together to bring about the salvation of unworthy sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace. -preacher Jim Byrd https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=13thstbaptist