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

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (22-24NOV19) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from their sins and from Hell: NOTHING MATTERS BUT CHRIST One of Satan's devices in steering sinners away from a hope in Christ is confusion. He will cause someone to consider things that JUST DON'T MATTER. When it comes to trusting and following Christ, NOTHING MATTERS BUT CHRIST. What foolish things people allow to get between them and Christ. "If I say that I have been saved, people will think that I am being self-righteous." What do the thoughts of other people matter! "If I were to be baptized, it would offend some of my family and friends." What does the approval of man have to do with obedience to Christ! "If I were to testify of the go...

"But we trusted that it had been H e which should have redeemed Israel." -L UKE 24:21 [KJV] What a trial to their faith must the death of Jesus have been to His disciples and believing followers! When their Lord and Master died, their hopes, for the time at least, seem almost to have died with Him. And indeed to the eye of sense, truth, holiness, innocence, all fell crushed by the arm of violence as Jesus hung on the cross. To the spectator there, all His miracles of love and mercy, His words of grace and truth, His holy, spotless life, His claims to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel, with every promise and every prophecy concerning Him were all extinguished when, amidst the triumph of His foes, in pain, shame, and ignominy, He yielded up His breath. We now see that, by H is blood-shedding and death, the blessed Lord wrought out redemption, finished the work which the Father gave H im to do, put away sin by the sacrifice of H i...

" Ho , 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]

"Make me not the reproach of the foolish." -P SALM 39:8 [KJV]   Who are these "foolish?" I think the best answer to this question is given by our Lord Himself, in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. "The foolish" were those who had oil in their lamps, but none in their vessels. By "the foolish" in the text, therefore, we may understand those who have the light of knowledge in their heads, and the lamp of profession in their hands, but no oil of grace in their hearts. They are "foolish," because they know neither God nor themselves, neither sin nor salvation, neither the depth of the fall nor the greatness of the remedy. They are "foolish," as regards themselves, in thinking that light and knowledge will save them, without life and grace; and they are "foolish," as regards others, for want of an experimental acquaintance with the heart. They know nothing, therefore, of the temptations of a ...

The Satisfactory Sacrifice   by D.G. Miles McKee When Jesus called out, “It is finished” [JOHN 19:30 ] it was a declaration that His redeeming work had been accomplished. Because redemption happened in the past, in history, redemption cannot be undone or added to. Nothing more is needed. It is finished. At the cross, there was a once-and-for-all completed sacrifice for sin. We were purchased, bought and paid for by the shedding of Christ’s precious blood. Since the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was completed at Calvary it is incorrect to say that redemption was finalised when Christ sprinkled His blood upon the heavenly mercy seat. There are those who incorrectly teach that the blood of Jesus had to be applied to the heavenly mercy seat to redeem us. They say that if Jesus' blood had soaked into the ground at Calvary, then sins could not have been taken away. Wrong! Christ ascended into heaven because His work of atonement was finished, not in order to co...

" He ruleth by His power for ever; His eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves." - PSALM 66:7 [KJV] There are three things that are obvious in this verse. First, God rules. He rules over all things and all people. Whatever powers might exist on earth, they are subservient to God who rules alone. He does His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth and none can question or stop Him. This is true in all things but especially in that business which is His greatest glory, the salvation of His people in Christ. He purposed it in Christ before the world began. He did all necessary to save them in a way glorifying to His just and holy character through the substitutionary death of Christ and He will make manifest this salvation to them for the glory of His grace . He rules over all things pertaining to them as they live in this world and makes sure their welfare both physical and spiritual, working all things togeth...

"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 ...