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

EFFECTUAL, PARTICULAR REDEMPTION "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" -John 10:11 "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it" -Ephesians 5:25 The very heart of the gospel is that Christ died for His guilty people. Per the Surety’s agreement in the everlasting covenant, the sins of those the Father gave Him in electing grace were charged to Him and He became responsible to satisfy the demands of offended justice for them which required death for sin. We therefore read, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). The innocent Shepherd was sacrificed in the stead of His guilty sheep. Substitution and satisfaction are two words which wonderfully summarize the gospel. Christ took the place of His chosen people, fully answering every demand of the law of God in their stead. The true gospel is the message of effectual, particular redem...

Salvation is wholly of grace, not only undeserved but undesired by us until God is pleased to awaken us to a sense of our need of it. And then we find everything prepared that our wants require or our wishes conceive; yea, that He has done exceedingly beyond what we could either ask or think. Salvation is wholly of the Lord and bears those signatures of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness which distinguish all His works from the puny imitations of men. It is every way worthy of Himself, a great, a free, a full, a sure salvation. It is great whether we consider the objects ( miserable, hell-deserving sinners ), the end ( the restoration of such alienated creatures to His image and favor, to immortal life and happiness ) or the means ( the incarnation, humiliation, sufferings and death of His beloved Son ). It is free, without exception of persons or cases, without any conditions or qualifications, but such as He, Himself, performs in them and bestows upon them. -preacher John Ne...

Most people involved in self-righteous, works religion have to be constantly motivated to obedience through threats of punishment or promises of rewards. Tragically, I know from personal experience that this kind of motivation will produce the desired result the preacher is seeking. When the false preacher I sat under preached those "hell-fire and brimstone messages", he would tell us if we weren't diligent enough, or obedient enough, or giving enough, we were at best "back-sliders", and at worst we were lost. You can be assured after that kind of message, over the next few services church attendance and giving increased substantially. When attendance and giving began to wane, there would be new threats of punishment and new promises of "stars in our crowns". The problem is that if it takes threats of punishment or promises of reward to motivate you to obedience, it is evidence you are currently in a state of lostness. Also, no true Gospel preache...

" H o, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. - The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. - Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. - My blood is drink indeed. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. "   -Isaiah 55:1. Revelation 22:17. John 4:14. John 6:55. Song of Solomon 5:1 [KJV]

"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...