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

My standing before God is in no way affected by how I live my life. I am justified by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I stand forever blessed in the Savior Whose blood secured my pardon and Whose impeccable righteousness has been imputed to me. God sees no sin in me for He sees me in His Son Who was manifested to take away my sin by His substitutionary, sacrificial death. By God’s sovereign appointment, I am "in Him," and being "in Him," I have no sin ( see I J OHN 3:5 ) . "In Him" I am always accepted. Having established that, let me also say this. While my standing before God is in no way affected by the way I live my life, yet, the way I live my life IS affected when I am taught by the Holy Spirit of my perfect standing in Christ. I have been brought to love His gospel, submit to His Lordship, seek His will and bow to His authority. While it is true that I fail miserably in doing these things perfectly, yet I ...

The word of God is full of Christ. He is the Sun of this divine system, the Fountain of its light and beauty. Every doctrine derives its substance from His person, every precept its force from His work, every promise its sweetness from His love. Is it not to be feared, that in the study of the Scriptures it is a much-forgotten truth, that they testify of Jesus? Are they not read, searched, and examined, with a mind too little intent upon adding to its wealth by an increased knowledge of His person, and character, and work? And thus it is we lower the character of the Bible. We may read it as a mere uninspired record; we may study it as a book of human literature. Its antiquity may interest us, its history may inform us, its philosophy may instruct us, its poetry may charm us; and thus, while skimming the surface of this Book of books, the glorious Christ, who is its substance, its subject, its sweetness, its worth and but for whom there had been no Bible has been deeply ...

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus ." -P HILIPPIANS 3:13-14 [KJV] The faith that rests short of believing in, laying hold of, and resting upon the Son of God in HIS FINISHED WORK , will not be the work of faith that God will own and crown with H is approbation; the love that never labours for an entrance into the mysteries of H is dying love, will be found to be a love more in lip and tongue than in heart and life; and the hope that anchors in anything short of the finished work of the Son of God , will be a brittle cable which will snap asunder, or a rotten piece of iron which will break in the first heavy storm. Do not rest in the knowledge of a few doctrines in the letter of truth. Do not take up with a few passing thoughts and feelings; ...

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the L ORD ." -H OSEA 6:3 [KJV] We gather from these words that there is such a thing in soul experience as "a following on to know the Lord;" and indeed there is no obtaining the blessings which are laid up for the righteous, unless there is this following on. "To know the Lord" is the desire of every living soul; that is, to know H im by H is own divine manifestations, by the gracious revelation of H is grace, H is love, H is presence, and H is glory. But the expression, "follow on," implies that there are many difficulties, obstacles, and hindrances in a man's way, which keep him back from "knowing the Lord." Now the work of the Spirit in his soul is to carry him on in spite of all these obstacles. Nature, and all the work of nature, and all the power of Satan working on nature, is to draw the man back; but the work of the Spirit on the soul is to lead him forward, to keep ali...

Thy promise, Lord, is perfect peace, And yet my trials still increase; Till fears at times my soul assail, That Satan's rage must yet prevail. Then, Savior, then I fly to Thee, And in Thy grace my refuge see; Thou heard'st me from Thy holy hill, And Thou wilt hear and help me still. Beneath Thy wings secure I sleep; What foe can harm while Thou dost keep? I wake, and find Thee at my side, My omnipresent Guard and Guide! Oh why should earth or hell distress, With God so strong, so nigh to bless? From Him alone salvation flows; On Him alone, my soul, repose. Hymn, “Just As I Am” -Words by Henry F. Lyte and William H Bradbury

SALVATION BY SUBSTITUTION WAS EMBODIED IN THE FIRST PROMISE regarding the woman's seed and His bruised heel. Victory over our great enemy, by His subjecting Himself to the bruising of that enemy, is then and there proclaimed. - The clothing of our first parents with that which had passed through death, in preference to the fig leaves which had not so done, showed the element of SUBSTITUTION as that on which God had begun to act in His treatment of fallen man. - Abel's sacrifice revealed the same truth, especially as contrasted with Cain's. For that which made Abel's acceptable, and himself accepted, was the death of the victim as SUBSTITUTED FOR HIS OWN; that which rendered Cain's hateful, and himself rejected, was the absence of that death and blood. - The slain firstling was accepted by God as (symbolically) Abel’s SUBSTITUTE, laid on the altar till He should come, the “woman’s seed,” “...made of a woman, made under the law, to redee...

“ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast ” -Ephesians 2:8-9 [KJV] "BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED." There is no present salvation except that which begins and ends with grace! No man can preach or possess a present salvation except those who preach and believe that we are saved by grace alone! The Work is finished! Any other way of salvation is dependent on the sinner and it will fail. -Gospel report by preacher Henry Mahan Audio Gospel Sermon, “Jesus – Friend of Sinners” here: [33 min, 16 sec] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=11180521541