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

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 [II TIMOTHY 2:25; E PHESIANS 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 died, wil...

"They shall mount up with wings as eagles." -I SAIAH 40:31 [KJV] It is said of the eagle, that he mounts up towards the sun; and that of all birds, he is the only one which can gaze upon the sun with unshrinking eye. So with faith in the soul. The Lord's people alone can look by faith upon the "Sun of righteousness," gaze upon a glorious Immanuel at the right hand of the Father, and see a precious Jesus ever interceding for them, and drawing them near to His bosom. And when this blessed Jesus communicates a measure of His love and blood to their consciences, and raises up and draws forth faith in His name, then the soul begins to mount up with these wings like eagles, soaring higher and higher, till it comes into the presence of God; mounting up in higher and higher circles of spiritual flight, till it penetrates into the very sanctuary of Jehovah. Now, has not your soul thus soared sometimes as upon eagle's wings? Have there not been those co...

"For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." -II C ORINTHIANS 1:20-22 [KJV] Paul is reminding the believers at Corinth and us today that all that God has promised us in His word is as certain and sure as His own name and character [II TIMOTHY 2:19 ] . These promises were all made according to His own will and purpose [EPHESIANS 1:11 ] . The scriptures teach, that which God has promised He is able to perform [ROMANS 4:20-21 ] . All these precious promises display the qualities of God Who gave them [II PETER 1:3-4 ] . Notice several particulars that the apostle points out. 1). The range and scope of these promises, "All the promises of God." There is not a need any guilty sinners has that the promises of God does not meet [PHILIPPIANS 4:19 ] . ...

“ Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” -H EBREWS 13:8 [KJV] O the everlasting salvation that we have in Jesus Christ! He is the same, and will be the same for ever and ever, and the righteousness He has wrought out for us is like Himself, it is an everlasting righteousness. It covered our first parents. It is true they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves, but God rejected them, as He will reject our self-righteousness, and clothed them with the skins of beasts that had probably been slain in sacrifice. Abraham had to look to this Jesus for righteousness, and so had the prophets, and so have we. It is an everlasting righteousness, covering all the election of grace in ages gone by, covering them all today, and that will cover them all tomorrow, making them accepted in the presence of a holy God. As it is written, we are “ accepted in the Beloved,” beheld all fair and perfect in the Lord Jesus. And as respects the blood of this salvation...

My friends, do you love to hear Christ lifted up and exalted as your all and in all? If you do, you are willing to be made less than nothing and vanity in yourselves. Professors of religion, generally, do not like to be thus humbled. They love to have something to do, in whole or in part, to recommend themselves to God. But the Lord’s salvation is not a mixture of grace and works. It is of free and sovereign grace, and received by faith alone, which is the gift of God. It is “ not of works, lest any man should boast.” The Lord alone be exalted as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last in the salvation of His people. - Gospel report by preacher John Kershaw (1792-1870 A.D.)

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made H imself of no reputation, and took upon H im the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." -P HILIPPIANS 2:6, 7 [KJV]   The humanity of our blessed Lord was actual flesh and blood from the moment of its conception, a perfect human body, to which was united a perfect human soul; both without sin, or else He could not be the Lamb without blemish; both without sin, or his pure humanity would not have been that "holy thing" born of the Virgin, which should be called the Son of God. Thus He came forth as the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish. Well indeed might the Apostle say, "Great is the mystery of godliness." Here as in a glass we see the wonderful love of Jesus, that He who is the Sort of God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, a sharer of the Father's essence, of the Father's glory, should stoop so l...

T HE S CRIPTURES PLAINLY TEACH that God is the first cause of all things. He does according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. He works all things after the counsel of His own will . He does all His pleasure, raising up and putting down, making rich and making poor, afflicting or healing....all things! As He does so, the responses and attitudes of men and women to these "all things" greatly reflect their attitude toward the God who sends them. I'm not talking about a few words spoken in the heat of pain or the piercing sorrow of grief. Jacob, the man of faith, spoke in haste at a time of great sorrow, "all things are against me." I'm talking about the individual’s general attitude and response after the initial shock has passed. When their thoughts again are gathered and a course must be taken, what will they say and do? Will they blame or bless the God who is the first cause of all things. I...