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

  ‘Tis not that I did choose Thee for Lord that could not be This heart would still refuse Thee Had’st Thou not chosen me Thou from the sin that stained me hast cleansed and set me free Of old Thou hast ordained me that I should live to Thee.   Your love had no beginning, no cause in me was found That you should choose to save me, a sinner strongly bound But grace not earned or sought for was purposed for my soul For me, salvation wrought; for Christ paid the dreadful toll.   ‘Twas sovereign mercy called me and taught my opening mind The world had else enthralled me to heav’nly glories blind My heart owns none before Thee for Thy rich grace I thirst This knowing if I loved Thee, Thou must have loved me first.  

"Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things, proudly and contemptuously against the righteous." -Psalm 31:18 [KJV] The language of natural reason is, If I am righteous, God will love me: the language of faith is, Though I am a sinner, yet God loves me; and, because He loves me, therefore He makes me righteous. How? The pen of inspiration answers: David, describing the character of a sinner, renewed by grace, and made meet to dwell with God, saith, “He shall receive righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:5.)   Here we see plainly, that righteousness is a gift; that it is received, not worked out by the sinner; that it is given by the God of our salvation. It is the glorious robe, our elder brother, Jesus, wrought out for us; our heavenly Father imputes to us, and puts upon us. God the Holy Spirit enables us, by faith, to receive it, rejoice in it, and boast of it. For, we see ourselves made infinitely and everlastingly rig...