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

The sovereignty of God is absolute   To acknowledge this truth is at once to acknowledge that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass; that nothing else can come to pass; that predestination is a fact; that God does rule in the kingdoms of men; that all human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed; that salvation is by God’s grace and His grace alone; and that no part of man’s salvation is of himself either in origin or execution.  Where men get the idea that man’s will is the all-determining factor or moving cause of his salvation is hard to see. Certainly, they do not get it from the bible." -preacher Scott Richardson On-line Audio Gospel Sermons here, friends: https://www.sermonaudio.com/speakers/13611/  

"Ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." - Ephesians 4:30 [KJV] Who are thus sealed? every believer in Christ. This was shewed in the last meditation. This sealing, here and elsewhere, is spoken of as a thing done. Ye are , ye were , God hath  sealed us (II Corinthians 1:22.) If all believers are not sealed, it is absurd to exhort them: “grieve not the Spirit, whereby ye are sealed.”  Know, believer, that this is your inestimable privilege. Rejoice in it. Give the Lord the glory of it. O may the Spirit, the Sealer, help us to make some improvement of it.  (1st.) Are all believers sealed unto the day of redemption? then is their state safe, and their salvation sure. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His” (II Timothy 2:19.) They shall be Mine, saith the LORD, when I make up My jewels , etc. (Malachi 3:17.) It is horrid blasphemy to assert any soul may go to hell, whom the Spirit has sealed with the broad...

"A pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda." -John 5:2 [KJV] Go down, my soul this evening, to the pool and cloisters of Bethesda, as the prophet was commanded to go down to the potter's house. Peradventure thy Lord may do by thee as He graciously did by him; cause thee to hear His words. The pool of Bethesda was the place or house of mercy. It was so to the bodies of those whom the Lord healed there. It becomes so now to the souls of those who behold Jesus in the representation. In the cloisters around the pool, lay a great multitude of sick, waiting for a cure. Ponder over the miseries of our fallen nature. It is always profitable to note distinguishing blessings. Are hospitals numerous, frequently filled, numbers sick, numbers dying, numbers dead? Am I in health? And will not the voice of praise go forth to the bountiful Author in a consciousness of the distinguishing mercy? The waters of this pool were blessed with a miraculous quality. One ...

"I cried unto Thee; save me, and I shall keep Thy testimonies."   -Psalm 119:146 [KJV]   If you know anything for yourself inwardly and experimentally of the evils of your heart, the power of sin, the strength of temptation, the subtlety of your unwearied foe, and that daily conflict betwixt nature and grace, the flesh and the spirit, which is the peculiar mark of the living family of heaven, you will find and feel your need of salvation as a daily reality. Think not that the only salvation to be felt and known is salvation past—salvation accomplished by the blood-shedding and death of the Son of God. There is salvation present— an inward, experimental, and continual salvation communicated out of the fulness of Christ as a risen Mediator.   Don't you want to be daily and almost hourly saved? But from what? Why, from everything in you that fights against the will and word of God. Sin is not dead in you. If you are reconciled and brought near to God; if you hav...