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

"I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" -John 17:4 [KJV] These words were spoken by our Savior at the beginning of His High Priestly prayer. He speaks in anticipation of accomplishing the task assigned to Him in the covenant of grace, which He delightfully agreed to do. The work for which He was chosen was to join Himself to human flesh and be "made under the law to redeem them that were under the law." As the God-Man, He would have to give His life a ransom for those entrusted to Him by the Father in electing grace. His work was to satisfy divine justice by enduring the penalty of the law in the stead of His people who would break the law and become deserving of death. His work was to establish righteousness, purge away the guilt of sin, save, redeem and satisfy divine justice for all those chosen by the Father in distinguishing mercy before the world began. The fact that the Savior arose, ascend...

“ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations” -Psalm 89:1 What was it which made David so desirous to sing of the mercies of the Lord? What was it that warmed and emboldened him at all events to make known Jehovah’s faithfulness from one generation to another? It was the glorious gospel of the blessed God, seen in the light of the Spirit and experienced through the influence of grace. Here is the reason for David’s zeal: “ For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens” (v. 2) . What is this mercy that is “ built up for ever,” but the glorious and the gracious scheme, the glorious and the gracious fabric of our salvation, founded in the eternal purpose of God  carried into execution by the labors and the death of Jesus Christ  and then applied and brought home to the heart by the illuminating and converting power of the Holy G...

THERE IS A SUBSTITUTE   The “ good news” of the gospel is that there is a Substitute Who has stood in the place of every repentant sinner and bore the wrath of God in his place. He did this for all whom the Father had given Him from all eternity. It is for them that He prayed in John 17. They are “ His sheep.” The Father gave them to Him, and He died for them (John 10:15, 29). Substitution is the very heart of the gospel. Christ did not simply give His life to make salvation possible for those who contribute their part to what He has done by repenting and trusting Christ. He it is that gives repentance and faith (2 Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8). Christ did not say to the religious Jews of His day that they were not of His “ sheep” because they did not believe; rather, He says, “ Ye believe not because ye are not of My sheep” (John 10:26). If they had been His sheep they would have believed. The “ good news” is that all whom the Father has given to the Son, and for whom He...

   The desire for immediate results and numerical success has brought many preachers to preach a gospel that is what Paul called “ another gospel.”   It is less offensive to man because it is a man’s gospel.  God’s gospel comes from God as He is to man as he is.  Thus, it has an immediate offensiveness to the sinner because it declares salvation entirely the work of God alone.  This offends sinful, powerless man who wants a part in saving himself.  He wants a part because he wants the glory of it which God will not share!  When men leave out the essential doctrines of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, they have a less offensive message but they also have an ineffectual message.  They preach a god that cannot save.  In the true gospel man meets the God of the Bible who has predestinated all things after the counsel of His own will, the God who has chosen a people unto Himself before the world began, the God who is just...

Complete in Christ the Lord. No trusting in my best. Wrapped fully in the garment of Imputed righteousness. Complete in Christ the Lord. By faith His fullness known. The Father looks at me and sees One as His very own. Complete in Christ the Lord No better could be had. For none can by their doing here To His completion add. Complete in Christ the Lord. Though circumstance be grim. Above it all does God declare, "Ye are complete in Him." To the tune: I Love Thy Kingdom - Short Meter 66.86 Words by Gospel preacher Gary Shepard -------0------- “ SOUND DOCTRINE” I Timothy 1:10 [KJV] There are but two schemes of religion in this world. One is true the other is false. One is saving the other is damning. These two schemes of religion are free grace and "free will." Free grace declares that salvation is the work of God alone (Jonah 2:9). Free will declares that salvation is, at least in part, the work of man. Free grace declar...

"And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not" -Jeremiah 45:5 [KJV] These are personal words of encouragement from Jeremiah to his scribal friend, Baruch. We all need encouraging from others, especially in a situation like Baruch's, when he was suffering mental anguish from being associated with the prophet Jeremiah. So, as Jehovah's messenger, Jeremiah assures Baruch that he will be spared from the coming judgment on the land, and that there is no need to "seek great things" for himself, the Lord favoring him in sovereign mercy. I often think of this text when I consider my "low" position in life. That is, if I begin to question why I am not cast among the so-called "great ones" of earth (whether politicians, businessmen, popular preachers, etc.), I am here reminded, "Seek them not." That settles it, for I know it is wrong to seek to be "great" in this world. Only our God an...

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" -Psalm 85:10 [KJV] This matter of our salvation is so wisely structured that God can show mercy upon poor sinners without compromising the righteous demands of His justice. In the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, mercy and truth are so met together, and righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that it is now not only an act of lovingkindness and tender mercy for God to pardon our sins and receive us, but it is an act of strictest justice. God has accepted the righteous obedience of Christ Who made full satisfaction to divine justice on the behalf of all His fallen sheep. -Gospel report by preacher Jim Byrd