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

Luke 19:10   — “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” In most department stores, there is a lost-and-found section. Someone loses something, another person finds it and turns it in; and eventually the original owner comes looking for what was lost. When it is found, it is returned to its rightful owner.   But when it comes to God’s elect, there is an important difference:  God never lost His sheep.  Yes, all of God’s elect are lost by nature. But God did not lose them. In fact, He secured them in Christ before they were ever lost in Adam. So, how is it that they are lost?   Adam lost all his posterity when he fell in the Garden of Eden. Through Adam’s fall, sin and death entered the world, and all his descendants came into this world spiritually dead and separated from God. We are born lost, unable to find our way back to God or even recognize our lost condition.   Yet Almighty God never lost His sheep.  They lost Him, bu...

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” -I Corinthians 13:13 [KJV]   There are three main graces...   1). FAITH , by which we look to Christ, receive Christ, and live upon Him (Romans 5:1; Hebrews 12:2) .    2). HOPE , by which we wait for the fulfillment of every promise in Christ  (Romans 8:24; Colossians 1:27; I Thessalonians 2:16) .   3). LOVE to God and men. Yet LOVE exceeds the others as to its duration and use (I John 4:19-21) .   FAITH will give way to sight one day, and HOPE will become reality; but LOVE SHALL ONLY EXPAND !   -preacher Henry T. Mahan  

"The power of original sin is not always very discernible in children and young persons; but sometimes lies hid under the cover of decent civility, and seeming innocence.  But, alas! all the offspring of Adam are deeply infected.  They are like young lions, which do not discover much of their native fierceness at first.  But if they live long enough for time to let their teeth and claws grow, they will quickly give proof of the savage nature they brought into the world with them." -Mr. Haweis, September 6th, 1769 A.D.

"Behold, this dreamer cometh."   -Genesis 37:19 [KJV]   St. James says, “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy , ” (ch. 4:5.) This is fully manifest in the conduct of Joseph’s brethren against him. Joseph seemed open hearted, simple, and without guile. If he had not told his dreams, he had not raised his brethren’s envy. But the Lord’s hand was in it: no thanks to them. Their cruelty to Joseph, raised him to the greatest eminence, and saved them from death by famine. Thus the Lord brings good out of evil. Methinks I see young Joseph coming towards his brethren, and they looking upon him with an air of the greatest contempt and derision, saying, “Behold, this dreamer cometh!” There, that’s he, that we are all to bow down to, worship, and serve. Look at this mighty dreamer of foolish dreams.    St. Paul, in enumerating the sufferings of the faithful, says, “Others had trials of cruel mockings , ” (Hebrews 11:36.) Samson by the Philistines; Elisha by the c...

"And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great ." -Mark 16:3, 4 [KJV]   My soul, how very often, like these poor women at the door of our Lord's sepulchre, hast thou been at a loss to think whence help should arise to succour thee in the needed moment? And how often, like them, hast thou found, when looking again, all the difficulties which thou hadst figured to thyself removed! And with thee the mercy hath been, if possible, yet more striking. For thou not only needest the stone to be rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, that thou mightest see Jesus, but to have the stone taken away out of thine heart, that thou mightest love and believe in Jesus to the salvation of thy soul .    Is it so then, that whilst, at any time, thou art putting forth the question and inquiry, full of doubt, and fear, and misgiving, who shall help in thi...

"I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring." -Isaiah 44:3 [KJV] In pouring out His Spirit upon Zion's seed, God pours out therewith every spiritual blessing that there is in His heart or hands to bestow. Whatever earthly good you may enjoy, without the blessing of God it will but prove a curse; whatever afflictions fall to your earthly lot, if God bless, they must all eventually be made a blessing. Nor is this blessing niggardly given, for the Lord has here promised that He will pour it out! It shall be given as profusely and as abundantly as the Spirit Himself. Nor shall Zion doubt either the blessing itself or the source whence it comes, for it carries its own evidence, shines in the light of its own testimony, and manifests itself by its own effects.  And does not the contrast between the dry ground and the promised showers of blessing enhance it all the more? Your very barrenness and sterility make the promise all the more suitable, an...