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

Does the LORD God allow events, good or bad, to happen with His permissive will…or is He the first cause of every event, good or bad, according to His eternal purpose and will?  And just to be clear, we may experience the events as good or bad, but in reality, they are all good, for our God is good, and can only do good!   And as always, we must go to Scripture for the truth concerning any matter, and not to our own thoughts, ideas, or opinions – “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4) .  The following verses plainly and clearly declare that our Sovereign God is the first cause of all events in this world and the universe, heaven and hell included. “Then will I cause to cease….”   –Jeremiah 7:34 “I also will do this unto…and cause sorrow of heart…” -Leviticus 26:16 “He will cause him to come near unto him…” –Numbers 16:5 “The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten…” –Deuteronomy 28:25 “The King hearkened not unto the people  for ...

How little we understand of God’s dealings with us!  If we suffer the slightest set-back in this world’s goods or pleasures, we take it as a sign of God’s judgment and disfavor.  If we prosper in this world, we believe that it is evidence of God’s pleasure with us. But, it is likely the opposite.   When God would visit a man with judgment aimed at his destruction, He withholds not the worldly goods, but the spiritual ones; and the one He truly loves is often deprived of worldly goods so that he will more readily seek spiritual goods . Which would you rather suffer, blindness of eyes or blindness of heart? Which would you rather have, riches in gold or riches in grace?  Then, let each of us learn to not judge God’s ETERNAL dealings with us by His TEMPORAL dealings with us. I know that this is hard to do; but it is the essence of living faith to judge, not by what is seen, but by what is not seen, to live by faith in God’s promises, not by sight. ...

I received your letter, and think you overlook our ever adorable Jesus, in setting any value upon a poor, dirty worm such as myself. If His grace raised this poor, dirty worm from a dunghill and set it upon a throne with His princes, who shall have the glory—the worm or Jesus? Shall any of His due praise be given to the worm? God forbid!  As vile and base as I am—yet He lets me approach Him and converse with Him freely. He condescends to admit me into fellowship with Him; and He opens His treasures, and says, "All these are yours. I bought them for you with the price of My blood, but I give them to you as a free gift!" -preacher Wm. Romaine

Sin is a noun. It is what I am. Sin is a verb. It is what I do. Sin is an adjective. It describes me. Sin is an adverb. It describes what I do. Thank God for the promise of the Gospel, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” ( Matthew 1:21 .) Before we can worship God in peace of conscience and liberty of heart, we must know, upon authority of God’s Word and by the power of God’s Spirit, that the entire question of sin has been forever settled by the blood of a divine sin offering. All of God’s claims and all our necessities as ruined, guilty sinners have been forever answered. This gives us peace; and in the enjoyment of that peace, we worship God. We have a perfect Sacrifice, and a perfect conscience.  -preacher Scott Richardson Gospel sermons here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/speakers/13611/sermons  

Come, sound His praise abroad, And hymns of glory sing; Jehovah is the sovereign God, The universal King.   He formed the deeps unknown; He gave the seas their bound; The watery worlds are all His own, And all the solid ground.   Come, worship at His throne; Come, bow before the Lord; We are His work, and not our own; He formed us by His Word.   Today attend His voice, Nor dare refuse His Word; Come like the people of His choice, And own our gracious God.   -Hymn: "I Love Thy Kingdom"   ------------------------ Every religion, except one, puts upon you doing something in order to recommend yourself to God . It is only the religion of Christ (which runs counter to all the rest by affirming that we are saved and called with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the Father's own purpose and grace) which was not sold out to us on certain conditions to be fulfilled by ourselves, but was given us in Christ before the world bega...

“Moreover Whom He Did Predestinate, them He also Called…”   -Romans 8:30 [KJV] Election is the foundation-cause of our effectual calling. It is not because some are more worthy to partake of the heavenly calling than others, for we were 'all in our blood' (Ezekiel 16:6) . What worthiness is in us? What worthiness was there in Mary Magdelene, out of whom seven devils were cast? What worthiness was in the Corinthians, when God began to call them by the gospel? They were fornicators, effeminate, idolaters.  'Such were some of you, but you are washed'. Before being effectually called by God, we were not only without strength, but His 'enemies' (Colossians 1:21) . So the foundation of our effectual calling is election.  -preacher Thomas Watson (1620-1686 A.D. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began....

Oh, there is more real value in one ray of the Spirit's light, beaming in upon a man's soul, than in all the teaching which books can ever impart! What tongue is sufficiently gifted to describe how precious is the gift of the Holy Spirit? How precious is His indwelling; an ever ascending, heaven panting, God thirsting, Christ desiring Spirit! How precious are all the revelations He makes of Christ!  How precious are.... the consolations He brings, the promises He seals, the teachings He imparts; all the emotions He awakens, the holy breathings He inspires, and the affections He creates. How precious are those graces in the soul of which He is the Author; the faith that leads to a precious Savior, the love that rises to a gracious God, and the holy affections which flow forth to all the saints!   -preacher Octavius Winslow (1808-1878 A.D.)

"Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes."   -Psalm 26:3 [KJV] This causes a peaceful conscience, a happy heart, and a holy life. What is meant by loving kindness? it is love expressed by action: the affection of the heart, manifested by acts of kindness. Thus the Lord speaks of His church in general, and of every individual member of it in particular, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”  What then? This love manifests itself in time thus, “Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee”   (Jeremiah 31:3.) “I will betroth thee unto Me for ever in loving kindness”   (Hosea 2:19.) Being thus betrothed and drawn to the Lord, our souls have a sight and sense of His loving kindness. What is meant by its being “before our eyes?”  Its engaging the attention of our mind, captivating the affection of our heart, seeing our interest in it, feeling the refreshments of it, and rejoicing on account of it; knowing there is no separation from...

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lift up his eyes, and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him, with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He said, Nay, but as Captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship. "   -Joshua 5:13-14 [KJV] Behold, my soul, what a most blessed portion here is, for thee to feast upon, in almost endless thought. Who could this be, that appeared to Joshua, but the Lord Jesus Christ? Who ever called himself the Captain of the Lord's host; but He whom the Holy Ghost hath called, "the Captain of our salvation?"   (Hebrews 2:10) . Is He not the same who appeared to Adam in the garden, to Abraham in his tent, to Jacob at Bethel, to Moses at the bush? And though He diversified His form, upon these and several other occasions; yet all were only intended t...

"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world."   -Ephesians 2:12 [KJV] The apostle here tells the Ephesians that in their natural state, before divinely quickened and made alive unto God, they were "without Christ , " that is, without manifest union and communion with Him. Though in the purposes of God, and by their eternal election in Christ, they were members of His mystical body, they had not been baptized into Christ by the Spirit so as to be made living members of His spiritual body, the Church (I Corinthians 12:13) , and therefore had not "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27) . And as they were, such were we. We were " without Christ "  in our Gentile days. He had no place in our thoughts. We knew nothing of His Person and work, blood and righteousness, beauty and blessedness, grace and glory. He was ...