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

Particular Redemption, Limited Atonement, Definite Atonement & Effectual Atonement  These are all words used to describe the atoning work of Christ on the cross.  He died for a particular people.  His intention to save was limited to the elect.  His atonement was with a definite purpose for a definite people.  His atonement was effectual.  All for whom He died must be saved.  These terms are all well and good in their place, but a better word is plain old SUBSTITUTION.   All of these terms point to a real, substitutionary death on the cross.  SUBSTITUTION IS THE GOSPEL.    To deny, water down, or omit in our preaching the particular, limited, definite, effectual death of Christ on the cross ( substitution ) is to deny, water down, or omit the Gospel of Christ.  The meaning of substitution is so simple that adjectives are not even needed to describe it. -unknown preacher of righteousness

"Where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them."   -Matthew 18:20 [KJV] Our hopes and comforts rise or fall, according to our conceptions and belief of what Christ is in Himself, and what He is to us. Attend to this. You will find this true in your experience. Therefore it is of no small moment, whether you believe Christ to be God over all, or only a mere man. Yea, it is of the utmost importance: it enters into the very life, peace, and joy of your soul. Our Lord here puts this beyond a doubt. None but God is, at one and the same time, in more places than one. But Christ declares, “Wherever My disciples are gathered together in My name, there am I.”  Therefore Christ is the omnipresent God. This is the joy of our faith; this, the glory of our souls. Now, it should be our grand concern to bring this into experience and practice. (1st.) Remember  “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” ...

"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind, and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together, a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born."   -Jeremiah 31:8-9 [KJV] It is blessed at all times to be refreshed with God's promises concerning the latter-day glory; but more especially at a time when things are most unpromising. The present hour is eminently so. Therefore, my soul, see what a cluster of mercies are folded up on this one branch of them; and let thine evening meditations be sweet of Jesus and His sure work, in whom, "All the promises are yea and amen, to the glory of God the Father, by us." Observe, in this ble...

"As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing."   -II Corinthians 6:10 [KJV]   Though the Christian in himself is sorrowful, and has reason to be so all the day long, yet so far as he has any views by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, any good hope through grace, or any manifestation of His Person, work, blood, and love, he may be always rejoicing. Nay, his very sorrow opens up a way for joy. There is no room in a worldly heart for spiritual joy, for the Lord gives joy in sorrow. When the heart is sunk in gloom and fear, and doubt and distress take possession of the mind, when family afflictions, or painful bereavements, or trying circumstances fill the heart with grief and dismay, that is the very time for the Lord to pour joy into the soul. As afflictions abound, so do consolations. Sorrow and joy are linked together as night and day, as sun and moon, as heaven and earth. Without sorrow there can be no joy, for joy is its counterpoise. If you had everything your heart c...