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

"I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." -I Corinthians 15:10 [KJV] When we meet with journals, diaries, experiences, etc. which do not exalt the riches of the grace of God, but set off the self-importance of the writers of them, they are as nauseous to the mind as tainted food to the palate. They remind us of the poet’s observation, “And I the little hero of each tale.”  Not so St. Paul, in speaking of himself. No sooner had he brought this little great "I" upon the stage, but he instantly caused it to disappear. Hence, the doctrine is plain, The grace of God makes a person labour for God, and yet keeps him humble before God . Consider, (1st.) To have the grace of God with one, is to have a lively sense of God’s free favour, in Christ, upon one’s own soul . Without this, we go on heavily in the ways of God; soon tire in His service; and turn back and walk no more with Christ. This was the life and sp...

"And He is the head of the body, the church." -Colossians 1:18 [KJV] Sweet view of Jesus! Ponder well the subject, my soul, and behold thy Lord in this endearing character, and thine own personal union with Him. Jesus is indeed, in every point of view, "the head of His body, the church." He is so by the Father's own appointment, as our glorious Surety: in which character He stood up at the call of God the Father, from everlasting; for when, at that call, He put Himself in our stead, in our law-room and place, He undertook, as the church's representative, to do all, and to suffer all for her; and what He did and suffered, they, as His body, might truly be said to do and suffer in Him. Sweet thought! When Jesus obeyed the whole law, then was Jesus their law-fulfiller. When He suffered the death of the cross, they in Him were crucified. When He arose from the dead, in that resurrection they partook of the triumph, and, as members of His body, arose...

"As dying, and, behold, we live." -II Corinthians 6:9 [KJV] Though we die, and die daily, yet, behold, we live; and in a sense, the more we die, the more we live. The more we die to self, the more we die to sin; the more we die to pride and self-righteousness, the more we die to creature strength; and the more we die to nature, the more we live to grace. And this runs all the way through the life and experience of a Christian. Nature must die, that grace may live. The weeds must be plucked up, that the crop may grow; the flesh be starved, that the spirit may be fed; the old man put off, that the new man may be put on; the deeds of the body be mortified, that the soul may live unto God. As then we die, we live. The more we die to our own strength, the more we live to Christ's strength; the more we die to creature hope, the more we live to a good hope through grace; the more we die to our own righteousness, the more we live to Christ's righteousness; and t...

  “Look Unto Me, and Be Ye Saved”   -Isaiah 45:22 [KJV] Man by nature will always look elsewhere other than Christ and His finished work on the cross for salvation and assurance of salvation. He will look to himself, within himself, to his religious experiences and works. The fact is that any thoughts of salvation or assurance of salvation based upon such notions is an abomination to God (Luke 16:15) and a false refuge for sinners (Matthew 7:21-23). God’s gift of salvation, as set forth in the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus and based upon HIS blood and righteousness imputed  alone, is so simple and free that the natural man cannot and will not believe it. He reasons in his depraved mind that he must work for it or, at least, have some life-changing experience within to be qualified for it and settle the issue. Although it is true that all who are saved by Christ will experience in the new birth a life-changing experience in receiving Christ by ...

     If the Holy Spirit enables us to be honest, it is a fact that there can be no real inward joy when we evaluate ourselves. Whenever we  look within, we get discouraged because all we see is corruption. Yes, we do believe Christ, but we do not pray enough, we do not read the Bible as much as we ought, we don’t love the Lord like we should, we do not love each other like we are supposed to; our hearts are sometimes cold and seemingly lifeless.  Every thought, every deed, every motive, every imagination is polluted by sin. Who among us can find any comfort in our own conscience with regard to our relationship with a holy God upon the basis of anything within us? Let this be established, the heart can only be genuinely comforted when we look away from self and cast the eyes of our souls upon Christ Jesus the Lord. He is our hope, our joy, our confidence, our  righteousness and our salvation. When we look only to Him, then each of us can say with the prophet...

I was reading an article on the internet last week that posed this question – “What  determines moral truth? Is it rooted in emotion, reason, tradition, or divine authority?” Well, the only right answer to this question is that by divine authority, God alone determines moral truth .    But ever since our fall in and by Adam, fallen, sinful human beings have rebelled against God’s sovereign right to determine moral truth and have aspired to determine truth for ourselves. This was shown in the Garden of Eden by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).    That tree set forth God’s sovereign right as Creator and Lord to determine what is good and what is evil . When Adam ate of that forbidden fruit, he declar...

JUSTIFIED – NOT MERELY PARDONED   I heard of a soldier who was court-martialed and imprisoned for deserting his post during a battle. Later evidence revealed that he had not deserted his post, and that the charge had resulted from the confusion of the battle. He therefore was told that he would be pardoned. He replied, “I do not want to be pardoned ; I want to be justified .”       He replied rightly. To be pardoned implies admission of guilt. To be justified is to be declared innocent of the offense . He who is innocent may be justified, but he does not need to be pardoned. He who is guilty may be pardoned, but he cannot be justified.       Except by God!       All of us are guilty of violating God’s law and breaking His commandments (Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20). We are therefore criminals and sinners before Him. We who acknowledge ourselves as such may pray “For Your name’s sake, O Jehov...

"From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him."   - John 6:66 [KJV] Thus was fulfilled that word, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3.) This chapter is like a touch-stone. Herein our Lord tries His disciples, to see who are real sterling, and who not. Many are His professed, but few His real disciples. Sifting times will come. They make manifest. The hottest place in hell is prepared for those who turn their backs upon the Son of God on earth. Lord, grant that our faces may be set like a flint towards Thee. For, blessed be Thy name, Thou hast said of those who continue with Thee in Thy temptations: “I appoint unto you a kingdom: ye shall eat and drink at My table” (Luke 22:29, 30.) But those who are not agreed with Christ, have not the mind of Christ: will not walk long with Him. See this exemplified.    (1st.)  Some of these disciples followed Christ for the loaves and fishes , verse 26. Those who f...

"Eternal Redemption - Redeemed by Blood, Spirit & Power" preached by Henry T. Mahan (40 minutes in length) Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-aTlr6Sok   What does it truly mean to be redeemed?  In this powerful message inspired by A. J. Gordon, a simple story of two trapped birds becomes a life-changing illustration of the Gospel—showing how Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price to set sinners free. This deep Bible teaching walks through: Redemption through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9) Why sin separates us from God How Christ satisfied God’s justice completely The role of the Holy Spirit in salvation What it means to be saved: past, present, and future 📖 Key Scriptures: Hebrews 9, Ephesians 1:7, Isaiah 53, Romans 8. You’ll discover that salvation is not just a moment— it’s a complete work : Redeemed by blood ( what Christ did ) Redeemed by the Spirit ( what God is doing now ) Redeemed by power ( what is yet to come ) This message will challenge shallow ...

"A Nazarite unto God from the womb." -Judges 13:5 [KJV] And what, in the language of scripture, was a Nazarite unto God? Certainly what the very term implies; one dedicated to God, set apart, and sanctified. Both the person and character are largely descried, Numbers 6:1-21. And was Samson such? It cannot be doubted, notwithstanding the many strange particularities in his life, which were departures from sanctity of character. But in that part of Samson's life wherein the Nazarite was strongly marked, he was eminently proved to be one; and it is in this feature of the illustrious Danite, that we behold him as a striking type of the Lord Jesus Christ.   My soul! as it hath pleased the Holy Ghost to give the church so circumstantial an account of Samson, do thou ponder the subject well, and remark (what was evidently the only design for which it was given) how gracious the Lord the Spirit was, thus to set forth, in type, Jesus of Nazareth, so many ages befor...

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." -Colossians 3:2 [KJV]          Everything upon earth, as viewed by the eyes of the Majesty of heaven, is low and paltry. Earth is after all but a huge clod of dust, and as such, apart from its having been once the place of the Redeemer's sufferings and sacrifice, being now the habitation of His suffering people, and to be hereafter the scene of His glory, as insignificant in the eyes of its Maker as the small dust of the balance or the drop of the bucket. What, then, are its highest objects, its loftiest aims, its grandest pursuits, its noblest employments, short of the grace of the gospel, in the sight of Him who inhabits eternity, but mean and worthless? Nay, even in our eyes is there not one consideration that when felt stamps vanity upon them all?—that all earth's pursuits, whatever high attainments men may reach in this life, be it of wealth, rank, learning, power, or pleasure, ...

     "In Christ, there is no further perfection to attain.   In Christ, a sinner is made to be everything that God requires him to be.   In Christ, wisdom is complete, righteousness is complete, sanctification is complete, and redemption is complete.   To know Him is to know it all and to have Him is to have it all.   In Christ, we are as perfectly complete as we will ever be."       -preacher Gabe Stalnaker  

  WHAT A MYSTERY TO ME     O what a mystery it is That I would have a place; Among the people of our God,  A loved and chosen race. O what a mystery it is That God my soul would save; That He would love this sinner so, That His Own Son He gave.   O what a mystery it is, That Christ my place would take; To satisfy the law of God, And full atonement make. O what a mystery it is, That He would die for me; To rescue me from guilt and shame, From sin to set me free.   O what a mystery it is, The Spirit worked within; And then on Jesus I believed, To save me from my sin. O what a mystery it is, That God would care for me; Ordain that I should dwell with Him, Throughout eternity.  Tune:  “There is a Fountain” CM/double Words by Jim Byrd     -------O-------         “The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men.  The LORD trieth the rig...

"Honour the LORD with thy substance." -Proverbs of Solomon 3:9 [KJV] O may this be the daily study of our hearts, and the constant practice of our lives! “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to the Lord: for the marriage of the Lamb is come”   (Revelation 19:7.) He is our Husband: we are espoused to Him by faith. Consider the work of honouring the Lord, and the reasons for it. (1st.) The work. What! can I, a worm of the earth, honour the Lord of heaven: Yes; thou art called to it, and formed for it. This honour have all His saints. It is our greatest honour on earth to honour our Lord in heaven . “All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power: to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.”   -Psalm 145:10-12 So they honoured the Lord of old, in displaying the glory of His grace. This work you are called to, if you h...

"There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." -Revelation 8:1 [KJV] This is a very striking scripture, and records as striking an event, when took place on the opening of the seventh seal  silence in heaven; not a suspension or interruption to the happiness of the place, but the silent adoration of God and the Lamb. This must be the sense of the passage, if by heaven we are to understand the place where dwell "the spirits of just men made perfect."  But as it is more than probable that it refers to the events of the kingdom of Christ upon earth, which are here spoken of under prophetical representations, the silence may rather be supposed to mean, that the church of God, both in heaven and on earth, are waiting in solemn expectation of what events the sounding of the seventh trumpet will bring forth. But there are some sweet instructions to be taken from what is here said, of silence in heaven by the space of half an hour, which in the...

"Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him." -Psalm 62:8 [KJV] Have we not sometimes been enabled to pour out our hearts at a throne of grace, and tell the Lord what we really wanted, what we really asked for, and tell Him that nothing but that which He alone could give would satisfy our souls? There have been such times of access to the God of grace. And afterwards perhaps we have forgotten the things we told Him of; we have been heedless of the prayers we laid at His feet; and though very earnest at the time in seeking after certain blessings, we left them at the Lord's feet and forgot them all. But the Lord does not forget them; they are treasured up in His heart and memory; and in His own time He brings them to light, and gives the fulfilment of them. But before He does it, He will bring us into the spot where we want them again; and then we have to tell Him, and supplicate and ask Him again, ashamed of ourselves perhaps that w...