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

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."     - II Corinthians 3:17 [KJV] The gospel is "the perfect law of liberty," therefore the very perfection of liberty, and thus thoroughly and entirely free from the least taint of bondage, the slightest tincture of servitude. It is this perfect freedom which distinguishes it from the law which "worketh wrath" and "gendereth to bondage." It is, therefore, a freedom from sin; from its guilt, as having "the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience;" from its filth, by "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" from its love, through "the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost;" from its dominion, as "not being under the law but under grace;" and from its practice, by becoming "servants to God,” so as to have our “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." How, then, can this pure, holy, a...

"I will cry unto God most high; unto God  that performeth all things for me." -Psalm 57:2 [KJV] Our Saviour performed all things for us. Our sin has been all put away. The righteousness with which we are clothed is complete. All that God's infinite justice can demand of us has been performed for us by our Substitute. Our warfare is accomplished. Our sin is pardoned. There is not one thing for us to do to complete the work of Christ. This word performeth means perfecteth . "I will cry unto God most high, unto God who perfecteth all things concerning me." David is confident that what God has said will come to pass. He is so sure of God's purpose, that while he is fleeing for his life, he praises and blesses God that He is perfecting that which concerns him, and leading him by a sure path to the throne. The Lord God of Heaven is working every detail for our good and for His glory. No wonder he could say, "I will cry unto God most high; un...

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy ways." -Psalm 119:71 [KJV] God's ways and God's Word are best learned by experience and in time of trouble. When our Lord is pleased to lay His hand heavily upon us, we do not soon forget the lessons learned. When the Lord singles out a believer or a church for special affliction and adversity, it is not for punishment, nor lack of love for them; it is for eternal blessings and because He does love them. "Whom the Lord loveth" He chastens, corrects and teaches! When Job sat before his friends, who was afflicted? THE ONE GOD LOVED! When Paul stood before k ing Agrippa, who wore the chains? THE ONE GOD LOVED! Humanly speaking, which path of life would you prefer to live on earth, that of Esau or Jacob? Esau had the life of prosperity and ease; Jacob was full of trouble and conflict, BUT GOD LOVED JACOB! Thank God He has loved us in Christ and is pleased to teach us H...

“ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:3-4 [KJV] ========================= There was not a speck of sin on the conscience, nor a principle of sin in the nature of His people for which Christ was not judged on the cross; and they are now looked upon as having died with Christ, lain in the grave with Christ, been raised with Christ, perfectly accepted in Him - their sins, their iniquities, their transgressions, their enmity, their uncircumcision, having been entirely put away by the cross. The sentence of death has been written on the flesh; but the believer is in possession of a new life, in union with his risen Head in glory. What rest -perfect rest- for the heart and conscience is here! What full relief for the ...

There are just two kinds of people in this world; those who justify themselves before God and those who are justified by God in Christ. Those who justify themselves are always condemned before God. Those who condemn themselves are always justified before the Lord by His grace ( Rom ans 3:24 & Titus 3:7 ) . In Luke 18 the Pharisee justified himself and was condemned. The publican condemned himself and was justified ( Luke 18:13-14 ) . Which one are you? Grace is for the guilty! “And H e said unto them ( the Pharisees ) , Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” ( Luke 16:15 ) . The Lord Jesus had the sharpest rebukes and the strongest warnings to those who went about to seek salvation by the deeds of the law. He never had a kind word of mercy or a word of grace to those Pharisees who stood on the ground of their merit and self-righteousness. He ...

“ For in HIM dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in HIM, which is the head of all principality and power.” -Colossians 2:9-10 [KJV] What a great and glorious message this is! All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all who are united in Him are complete in HIM! Christ is the fullness of all the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification ( holiness ), and redemption, God requires, and this is true of all who believe in Him, all who rest in the blessed fact that His righteousness alone entitles them to the whole inheritance of eternal life and final glory in Heaven. If all who believe in Him are complete in Him, and it is all based on the merits of His righteousness alone, then there is nothing left for believers to do in order to attain salvation. They have it completely, and it will never be lost. There is nothing for believers to do in order to be qualified, fit, or entitled to any part of etern...

“ Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of Thy countenance.” - Psalm 89:15 [KJV] Why is the gospel news of salvation called the “the joyful sound?” Because it is the vehicle of making known to us that God is love, and that He has (in the blood and righteousness of Christ) opened a channel for His love to exert itself in the salvation of the unworthy. The lost are found; the blind see; the deaf hear; the lame walk; the leprous are cleansed; the dead are made alive; and all “ without money and without price ” (Isaiah 55:1). -Augustus Toplady Note: audio Gospel sermon entitled "God's Call To The Needy" http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1024082043350