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

“No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”   -John 6:44 [KJV]    It is by the secret and effectual operation of the Spirit that the Father brings each of His elect to a saving knowledge of Christ.  No sinner ever comes to Christ until the Holy Spirit first comes to him !  And no sinner will savingly believe on Christ until the Spirit has communicated faith to him.   “ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).    The gift of faith is an eye to  discern  Christ before it is a foot to approach Christ .   There can be no act without an object, and there can be no exercising of faith upon Christ till Christ is seen in His excellency, sufficiency and suitability to poor sinners.     “They that know Thy name will  (not ...

  LIBERALITY        A person is self-deceived when they think “If only I had more money, I would be liberal in my giving to support the gospel.”   Those who fail to be generous with whatever funds God has entrusted to them now would not be generous should God give them more.     Consider this - if we prove to be poor stewards of what the Lord has already committed to our trust, why would we ever imagine that He would trust us with more?       “God loveth a cheerful giver.”   -II Corinthians 9:7        “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”   -Proverbs 11:25    -preacher Jim Byrd 

GRANT THY MERCY SOVEREIGN SAVIOR   God of mercy, grace and glory, Hear this poor and needy soul; Grant to me Thy sovereign favor, Come and make this sinner whole. Manifest Thy lovingkindness, Unto Thee alone I cry; Meet my need and heal my spirit, Or this sinful soul will die.   In Thy holy Word ‘tis written, Christ for sinners bled and died; By His sacrifice on Calv’ry, All Thy justice satisfied. Since the Savior paid their ransom, All Thy people shall be free; Look upon the precious Savior, And show mercy Lord to me.   By Thy gracious, loving Spirit, Unto Jesus I will flee; Low I humbly bow before Him, And confess iniquity. Christ alone can cleanse and save me, I shall live at Thy command; Sovereign Savior, grant Thy mercy, Save me by Thy mighty hand.       Tune: “Love Divine” 8.7.8.7. double  Words by Jim Byrd     -------0-------       GLORYING IN THE CROSS           “But God forbid that ...

Subject: Exodus chapter 15 and the murmuring of Israel, Spurgeon wrote: ‘Observe-and this is worthy of note-that the murmuring was not ostensibly against God.  They murmured against Moses.  And have you ever noticed how the most of us, when we are in a murmuring vein, are not honest enough to murmur distinctly against God.  ...To complain of the second cause is about as sensible as the conduct of the dog, which bites the stick with which it is beaten. It owes no anger to the stick, but to the person who uses it.  “Is there evil in the city and the LORD hath not done it?”   Whoever is the instrument, the LORD overrules .   In our heart of hearts our rebellion is against the Lord Himself.  We have not quite honesty enough to rail against God openly and avowedly, and so we hypocritically cover up our repining against Him, by murmuring against some person, occasion, or event.  ... Is complaining of the second cause, better than raili...

"...and take the helmet of salvation." - Ephesians 6:17 [KJV]   It is excellently said, “Resolve for hardships, or lay down thine arms.   Few come at the beat of Christ’s drum to His standard. Many that list by external profession under Him, after a while drop away and leave His colours. It is suffering work they are sick of. Many men are more tender of their skin than of their conscience. They had rather the gospel had provided armour to defend their bodies from death and danger, than their souls from sin and Satan.” -Gurnal’s Christian Armour   All this is, because they have not on the helmet of salvation. What is this? “For an helmet, the hope of salvation” (I Thessalonians 5:8.) Do not all naturally hope to be saved? Yes, some in one way, and some in another. But all natural hopes are false hopes. Therefore they die and perish. But this helmet is a supernatural and divine hope. All men have not faith. Therefore they have not Christ, who is the helmet of...

"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD our God hath cursed ." -Genesis 5:29 [KJV]   I still think, and believe that I always shall think, that holy men of old possessed great superiority of faith to new testament believers, in the attention they paid to the choice of names given to their children. Our choice, for the most part, is from caprice, or respect to our relations or earthly connections; they had an eye to heaven. Thus, in the instance before us, Lamech evidently called his son, Noah, which signifies rest, in reference to "the rest which remaineth for the people of God;" and, as such, had an eye to Christ, the promised seed, in whom alone that rest was to be found. I do not presume to suppose that Lamech thought this child to be himself the promised seed, as our first mother Eve did at the birth of Cain, when she said, "I have gotten...

"The substance of a diligent man is precious." -Proverbs 12:27 [KJV] If the Lord has done anything for our souls by His Spirit and grace, and given us anything to taste, handle, realise, and enjoy for ourselves, we know there is a substance and reality in the things that we believe. Religion is our chief employment; our daily meditation or exercise—the main concern of our thoughts and what lies with the greatest weight upon our minds. And justly so; for it is our all. If we have religion, the religion of God's giving, it will be uppermost in our heart. It is true we are surrounded with and often hampered by a body of sin and death; we have many worldly cares and anxieties which will intrude upon our minds; and those engaged in business have many things especially to drag them down from heaven to earth. Still, religion will be for the most part uppermost in a man's soul, where God has begun and is carrying on a gracious work. Not but what he is often very...