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

  "How can we who are sinners have any assurance of salvation? It is by looking to and trusting in our sinless Savior and Lord Who stood in our place and gave Himself a ransom, dying on the cross for all whom the Father had given Him in covenant grace before the world began. To look elsewhere and find assurance is nothing more than self- righteousness." —unknown preacher of righteousness

“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” -Romans 8:10 [KJV] Christ’s righteousness imputed is not only the ground of our justification before God, it is the source and power of our regeneration and conversion (new birth) by the Holy Spirit. Christ resides within His people by His Spirit and His Word, and this is only possible because they are justified legally before God by His grace “through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord”   (Romans 5:21) . This is how the justified “live by faith”   (Romans 1:17) , i.e. looking to, trusting in, and depending upon Christ, “the Author and Finisher of our faith”   (Hebrews 12:2) .    —preacher Bill Parker

" Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" -John 20:15 [KJV] Profession of Christ, without affection to Him, leaves the heart in dead formality. What is religion without the affections? What the highest pretension, the greatest depth of knowledge, without love to our dear Saviour? Here poor Mary discovers her affection to her Lord, by weeping for, and seeking after His crucified body. The fire of love in the heart carries out the soul beyond itself.  Tell me, Sir, says she to Jesus (supposing Him to be the gardener) where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Poor weak being, her affections went beyond her strength. But to her inexpressible joy and comfort, Jesus manifested Himself to her. This was written for our instruction. Come ye weeping, seeking souls, learn a lesson of encouragement and comfort to-night, from your sister’s conduct, and your Lord’s dealings with her.  Observe, (1st.) Christ’s beloved disciples have their weeping and their seeking seas...