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

     "Remember thy sins and Christ’s pardonings; thy hell-deservings and Christ’s merits; thy weakness and Christ’s strength; thy pride and Christ’s humility; thy many infirmities and Christ’s restorings; thy guilts and Christ’s new applications of His blood; thy fallings and Christ’s raisings-up; thy wants and Christ’s fulness; thy temptations and Christ’s tenderness; thy vileness and Christ’s righteousness." -Wilcox

The Gospel and a Good Death , Part II In the Gospel we see God's victory over death; In the Gospel we see that our sins are judged upon Christ. In the Gospel we see Satan exposed and stripped.  Because of the Gospel, the reign of death has been replaced by the reign of life and grace. Paul tells us, " For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ " (Romans 5:17) . He further states,  "That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord , "   (Romans 5:21) . To speak of 'reigning' is to speak of Kings and Kingdoms. This is why the believer can declare that Christ Jesus has destroyed the Kingdom of Death, (II Timothy 1:10).   By faith we believe that we have already been translated and transplanted into another Kingdom, the kingdom of God's dear Son...

"There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."   -II Corinthians 12:7 [KJV]   I dearly love St. Paul’s experience. For there is so much of the artless simplicity of the poor humble sinner; such a dread of self-glorying, while it ever exalts the rich grace of the dear Saviour. Let us make a few remarks on it, and pray our gracious Lord to bless them.    (1st.) Here is a painful experience, a thorn in his flesh. What was that? Fanciful men have entertained strange ideas. Some have said the cholic: others the ear-ache, others the head-ache, etc. If it were a bodily pain, we might as well guess, the gout in his great toe. But would the apostle have been thus anxious to have a bodily pain removed? Would the most excruciating pain prevent soul exalting? Surely it was something more. It was the heart-ache. He plainly tells it was, “the messenger of Satan to buffet him.” His very soul was harassed ...

"Should not a people seek unto their God?" -Isaiah 8:19 [KJV] To be sure they should. My soul, what would become of thee, in thine exercises, hadst thou not had a God in Christ to fly to, and a God in Christ to depend upon? Where wouldest thou find a bosom to pour all thy griefs into, did not Jesus say to thee, as to the sorrowful father, concerning his child, "Bring him hither to Me?" Thou knowest, dearest Lord, that there are circumstances into which I am cast, where none but Thyself can help; and even if help could be derived from man, yet who is there to whom I could seek with a certainty of success? "My friends , " saith Job, "have dealt deceitfully, like a brook ; " like a brook which, dried up by the summer heat, disappoints the traveller when he most needs supply to slake his thirst.    Oh for grace to centre all my desires in Thee, and to seek unto Thee with all my concerns! Blessed Lord! Let that devout frame of David, in the wilder...

"Abide in Me, and I in you." -John 15:4 [KJV] The Lord did not use these words as though there were any power in the creature to abide in Him. But He was pleased to use them that they might be blessed to His people when the Holy Spirit applied them to the heart; for He adds, "And I in you." The one is the key to the other. If we abide in Christ, Christ abides in us. It is by Christ abiding in us, that we are enabled to abide in Him. But how does Christ abide in us? By His Spirit. It is by His Spirit He makes the bodies of His saints His temple; it is by His Spirit that He comes and dwells in them. Though it is instrumentally by faith, as we read, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; " yet it is through the communication of His Spirit in the soul, and the visits of His most gracious presence.    Thus He bids us, encourages us, and influences us to abide in Him by His abiding in us. But His abiding in a child of God may be known by certain effec...

Form or Faith? | The Difference Between Religion and True Faith | Matthew 23 | Pastor Henry Mahan (24 minutes) Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbvnB7OyipE   In this message from Matthew 23, we examine the difference between outward religion and genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ strongly rebuked the religious leaders of His day for placing emphasis on outward form, ceremony, religious duties, public recognition, and human tradition while neglecting the weightier matters of God’s Word: judgment, mercy, and faith.  This message asks a serious question: Is your religion merely outward form, or does it arise from true faith in Christ? The sermon examines the seven charges Christ brought against the religious leaders in Matthew 23, including hypocrisy, seeking the praise of men, religious showmanship, making converts without true salvation, emphasizing religious duties while neglecting matters of the heart, outward cleanliness without inward transfo...