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

Precious Savior, Friend of sinners, We, as such, to Thee draw near; Let Thy Spirit dwell within us With that love that casts out fear; Matchless Saviour, let us know Thee, As the LORD our Righteousness; Cause our hearts to cleave unto Thee, Come, and with Thy presence bless.   Open now Thy precious treasure, Let Thy word here freely flow; Give to us a gracious measure, ‘Tis Thyself we long to know; Come and claim us as Thy portion, Let us all find rest in Thee; Leave us not to empty notions, We would find our hope in Thee! -Hymn,  "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" ------------------------   The preaching of the Gospel, the prayers, service, and obedience of the saints, are all God-given, Holy-Spirit wrought means for the accomplishment of God’s sovereign, predestinated purpose. We walk in the light we have been given, and we trust Christ and His righteousness alone for our whole salvation. We follow His commandments as He speaks to us by His Word and as He drives and motiv...

True repentance is not merely pressed, squeezed, or extorted by the workings and violent struggles of guilt and wrath, fear and torment; but it flows out under the sin-pardoning operations of the Spirit of love, accompanied with the blood of atonement, attended with a believing view of Christ, and of interest in Him, and of God’s appearing well-pleased and reconciled in Jesus, shining upon us in His blessed face, accepting us in the Beloved, and blessing us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Him .    –preacher William Huntington (1745-1813 A.D.)

“Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.” -Psalm 119:88 [KJV]   As justified sinners, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and clothed in His righteousness imputed, and in consideration of all our remaining sins and weaknesses, how can we know that we will not eventually totally forsake Christ and abandon Him and His truth? We can know for certain, first, because HE WILL NOT LET US GO (John 10:27-30) .    He keeps us by His grace and power. The idea that God would not infringe His sovereign will and power upon us so as to impede upon our “free” wills or our inherent goodness is not only absurd but totally unscriptural. Left to ourselves we would never be saved and would never continue with Him.    Secondly, we can know for certain that we will never totally forsake Christ because we are thoroughly and eternally washed clean from all our sins in His blood, and we stand justified before God in His righteousness imputed. T...

To comfort the people of God we must preach the Gospel. As sinners saved by the grace of God, we experience in ourselves many miracles and powers of God’s grace. We go through a wide range of emotions. However, no experience or emotion will bring the lasting comfort that the good news of the work being finished by the Lord Jesus Christ will bring.  As true believers, we will make efforts to obey His Word as we are motivated by His grace and our gratitude and love to Him. However, no efforts to obey can bring us the peace and joy that comes to and in us from believing – resting in Him and His  righteousness for salvation. To realize that if left to myself I would be guilty and condemned by my best deeds requires the Holy Spirit to make the Gospel real by His Word.  To trust Christ as my Surety, Substitute, Redeemer, and Righteousness is the full assurance of knowing that I am saved by the grace of God. To know that the enmity between God and myself has been nailed to the c...

As the hope of the sleeping saints is the resurrection of the body, so the hope of the living is, not to be unclothed in death, but to be clothed upon in the translation, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life.   Enoch and Elijah were types of the faithful who shall survive unto the coming of the Lord, in whom the change from the corruptible into the incorruptible shall be accomplished without tasting of the bitterness of death.    “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.’ -I Corinthians 15:52 [KJV]   -preacher William Andrews, excerpt from  The Voice of the Church on the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer, Daniel Taylor, p.389

Christ Is All! by DG Miles McKee   Have you ever felt dissatisfied with your faith?  Have you ever thought that if only you had a better quality of faith, then you could be sure of your salvation? This is dangerous thinking for we are never called to have faith in faith.  Since when does the Bible say, "Being satisfied with our faith , we have peace with God”? (see Romans 5:1) . Satisfaction with Jesus, His person and work, is what Heaven is looking for. We are neither called to be satisfied nor even occupied with our faith.   We are called to be focused on Christ and His objective, outside of us, finished work! As believers we should be careful to avoid backsliding into subjectivism but backslide we will if we continually focus on our experiences and level of faith.   Gospel faith takes a hold of Christ and His accomplishments on our behalf and causes us to set our affection on things above where Christ is. (Colossians 3:2). Gospel faith takes us...

"Behold, the skin of the face of Moses shone, and they were afraid to come nigh unto him."  -Exodus 34:30 [KJV] Here see the glorious effects of being on the mount with God; of having free access to and holy converse with Him. When we draw nigh to God, and He draws nigh to us, our souls catch the splendour and glory of His grace. This revives our countenance, and makes our face to shine. Here is somewhat worthy our attention; for the holy inspirer calls upon us, behold. Lord! give us to behold this to our edification and comfort. (1st.) “When Moses came down from the mount his face shone, but he knew it not.”  O! it, is well for us, when we are so wholly taken up with the majesty and glory of our Lord, and see such splendour of grace and love shine on His countenance, as not to be looking at ourselves, and admiring our own gifts and graces. It is to imitate fops and fribbles in nature, to look in a glass to admire ourselves. To fall in love with our own beauty, i...

"Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."   -James 5:11 [KJV] There is something uncommonly soothing and consolatory in these words, concerning the Lord's grace, "that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."  Very pitiful! Sweet consideration to a child of God, under affliction! For it speaks in the tenderest and most endearing manner, upon all such occasions, that if afflictions abound, while the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, there must be a needs be for them. My soul keep this thought always uppermost in thy remembrance; and carry it about with thee in thy bosom for constant use, to have recourse to, as occasion may require. And take another sweet lesson with thee, to help on thy mind to suitable exercises on this account. Hadst thou as much wisdom, and as much love for thyself, and what concerns thy most material interests, as Jesus hath, a...

"And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD." -Isaiah 54:13 [KJV] The teaching of God can only be known and realised by those who have seen an end of all creature perfection, and who are completely and experimentally destitute of all wisdom in the flesh. And God's teaching does not leave a man where it found him, dead, stupefied, worldly, unfeeling, and carnal. If he is in distress, it does not leave him in distress; if he feels guilty, it does not leave him guilty; if he is in darkness, it does not leave him in darkness; but it lifts him out of these evils. Thus God's people are continually led to come unto Him for His instruction, because they feel that without His special teaching they can know nothing as they ought to know. Nay, the more they have, the more they want to have; for no sooner is the light withdrawn, than the darkness is more sensibly felt. If any text of Scripture has been opened up to them, it makes them want to have others made k...