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

"Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him" (I PETER 3:22) . The resurrection, enthronement and universal authority given to Jesus Christ provide us with undeniable evidence that He accomplished, to the Father’s full satisfaction, the work He was sent to do. What was that work? It was that work laid upon Him from all eternity, that work which He delightfully accepted to accomplish - to save, redeem and satisfy divine justice for all of those people given to Him by the Father in covenant grace before the world began. The Savior’s abiding presence in the Father’s house shows that real, substantial and everlasting peace has been made between the Lord and His fallen people by the blood of the cross of Christ. The Holy Spirit said "this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God" ( HEBREWS 10:12) . Among the seven pieces of fur...

"For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto them that call upon Thee." -P SALM 86:5 [ KJ V] The sinner who has saving faith believes that there is a fullness of salvation in Christ for poor sinners: "Wherefore HE is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by HIM..." (H EBREWS 7:25) . In the word of the Gospel Christ is held forth as an able Saviour - able to save men from their sins and from the wrath of God. His merit is a sufficient shield against the tempest of wrath which incensed justice is ready to exact against transgressors. The sinner who has saving faith knows that the righteousness Christ fulfilled as the condition of the Covenant of Grace is so valuable in itself, and in the eyes of the Father, that it is sufficient to procure justification, sanctification, and all other saving benefits to sinners who in themselves deserve death and damnation. So they are happy who are in Him. They shal...

"THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" - JEREMIAH 23:6 [KJV] While believers always trust Christ and submit to His righteousness as the sole basis for our acceptance before God, there are four times when we must be especially certain that we are looking to Him Who is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." 1. When we have sinned and experience feelings of shame, conviction, remorse and despair we must look to Christ and His righteousness. The life of a child of God is lived with the realization of personal guilt, but remember, "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" ( I JOHN 1:7) . Our record before God is perfect for He sees us in "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." God has never looked to us, but to our Surety and Substitute, His Son, for satisfaction to His just demands. We are "made the righteousness of God" in that One "Who loved us and gave Himself for us." 2. When we feel like we have d...

"The God of all grace." -I PETER 5:10 [KJV] All we have and are, everything we know and feel, comes from "the God of all grace." We have nothing spiritually good in ourselves; all therefore that we have is the free gift of His hand, and comes from the ever-flowing Fountain of mercy and truth. It will be our mercy, then, as the Lord may enable us, to be ever looking to Him, not looking to books, not looking to ministers; these are only instruments, and in themselves but poor instruments. The soul must look through all and above all to "the God of all grace." The Lord enable you to examine every truth as it is brought before you by the light of God's Spirit in your heart, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." And however deeply you may feel the vileness of your heart, remember this, there is "the God of all grace" to go to. If you feel yourself the vilest of sinners, He suits you the more as ...

"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." -P SALM 89:15-16 [ KJ V] The psalmist alludes to the jubilee-trumpet, which was sounded throughout the land on the great day of atonement. This was an ordinance of the Lord [ L EVITICUS 25:10 ] . It was a joyful sound of liberty to God's people. This is a true type and just emblem of the blowing of the great trumpet, and THE SOUND OF THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL restoring life, liberty, and salvation to perishing captive souls. Has the gospel thus proved the power of God to the salvation of our souls? Surely then, we must esteem it, as the most joyful sound that ever saluted our ears! Joyful, that it is not clogged with any terms and conditions: Joyful, that it is not, as some call it, a milder law, proposing mercy on easier performances than the legal yoke. No! such ...

"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." -H EBREWS 6:18 [KJV] No: it is utterly impossible for God to lie. The earth may be dissolved, and all creation reduced to chaos before God could lie. He would cease to be God if the faintest breath of a change, or the shadow of a turn should pass over the glorious Godhead. But it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore this holds out strong consolation for those that have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. And what is the ground of this strong consolation? This is the ground, that God has eternally determined and sworn by Himself—that He will save and bless those that have "fled for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel." This is the foundation of their consolation, this is the ground of their hope, that God has made such and such promises, a...

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which H e hath purchased with H is own blood." - A CTS 20:2 8 [KJV] I am always amazed how just one verse of scripture is often given to us by the Holy Spirit as an invincible weapon and an impenetrable fortress in the conflict with religious error. These words spoken by the apostle Paul as he charged the Ephesians elders is such a verse. Two areas in which the truth and doctrine of Christ are most often attacked are the deity of Christ and the design of His death . That Jesus Christ the Son is God in flesh and co-equal in the Godhead is not even up for debate. Along with all the other places in scripture where this truth is taught, this verse stands strong to support it. Paul says, "the church of GOD, which H e purchased with H is own blood ." How does God, Who declares Himself to be Spirit, come to h...