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

  "For by grace are ye saved through faith" - Ephesians 2:8 [KJV] Salvation, from start to finish, is the work of God's free grace in Christ. Grace planned the way of salvation by the Substitutionary Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Grace that chose those who would be saved in eternal election. Grace brought the Lord Jesus Christ down from Heaven to die in our place at Calvary. Grace calls sinners to Christ by its irresistible power. Grace gives us life. Grace preserves us in life. And that same grace of God will present us holy and without blame before the presence of His glory in heaven. All the blessings of Grace in Salvation come to all of God's people "Through faith." Faith is not our Saviour. Christ alone is the Saviour of His people. But faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary unto salvation. Every one of God's elect looks to Christ in faith and receives salvation from Him. Faith is the channel through which salvation comes. F...

"If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."                                                                                                     - II Timothy 2:5 [KJV] In other words, it is not a bare striving, but a striving according to certain rules. But these rules are spiritual rules; and being spiritual rules, exclude everything of sense, reason, and nature. Now man, in an unregenerate condition, whether he be in a state of profanity, or in a state of profession, has no spiritual knowledge of the way by which to overcome. He may strive against his lusts; he may endeavour to overcome those things that conscience bears testimony against; but he...

There is one word in the Bible which in itself forms a complete library, and that word is Christ, the uncreated Word. And when the redeemed and regenerated child of God, brought from the Adam-darkness of a state of nature into a state of grace, is savingly acquainted with this divine Word, he is then made "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" [II Timothy 3:15 ] . And as the Lord the Spirit leads him on, in daily acts of faith, by living upon, walking with, and rejoicing in the glorious person and the finished salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is brought also to what the apostle calls, "all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" [ Colossians 2:2-3 ] . And what tends to endear this science to the awakened soul yet more is that in learning to know Christ, we learn at the same time to know ourselves...

  "Thou hast ascended on high, T hou hast led captivity captive; T hou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the L ORD God might dwell among them." -Psalm 68:18 [KJV] What a painful thing it is to be rebellious! There is hardly any feeling worse than rebellion to a man whose conscience is made tender in God's fear. To have rebellion against a holy and wise God; rebellion against His dealings with us in providence; against His teachings in grace; because we have not more of the light of His countenance; because we have not more and clearer testimonies and manifestations! We know in our judgment that God cannot err in any of His dealings, and yet to find at times such awful rebellion against God, O how painful it is! The least trifle can work up rebellion. It does not want a storm or a gale to lift up its proud waves. The slightest breath, the faintest breeze that blows, will at times stir up the billows of the rebellious heart, and make it swe...

"O that I knew where I might find H im! that I might come even to H is seat! I would order my cause before H im, and fill my mouth with arguments." -Job 23:3, 4 [KJV] Was not Job in the same spot where we often are? If this aged patriarch had not known what it was to be shut up in his mind, harassed and distressed, and well-nigh overwhelmed with the attacks of the wicked one, he would not have said, "O that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments." Has that ever been, is it now, the genuine feeling, the real experience of your soul? Do look into your heart, you that fear God. Do look for a moment, if you have never looked before, at the work of grace (and where are you, if you have never looked at it?) and consider if you know any of these matters. Did you ever, in a feeling of darkness, gloom, bondage, and distress of soul, cry (I do not say the words, it is the feelin...

  "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with H im, that we may be also glorified together." -Romans 8:17 [KJV] O the blessedness of being a child of God! Can heart conceive or tongue express the heights and depths of grace and glory, the safety, the happiness, the honour, the bliss, the delight of being an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ? We soon shall have to put off our mortal bodies—soon have to lie down with the worms of the grave and the clods of the valley—soon have to enter into the invisible world. Well may we then ask ourselves what are our prospects of eternity? Where then will be our inheritance? Will it be one of eternal misery and woe, of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, or of the pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore? Have we any evidence or testimony that we are the children of God? Has the Spirit ever borne any direct or indirect witness to our adoption into his ...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands ( 14-16 AUG20) 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: "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite." -Psalm 147:3-5 [KJV] He who counts the stars and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting His own children! He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint He ever loved! It is most important for us to learn, that the smallest trifles are as much arranged by the God of Providence, as the most startling events. He who counts the stars — has also numbered the hairs of our heads. Our lives an...