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

  A refuge for sinners the Gospel makes known, 'Tis found in the merits of Jesus alone; The weary, the tempted, the burdened of sin Are never excluded from entering in. This refuge for sinners God's love did ordain In Jesus, the Lamb, from eternity slain; In Christ the Redeemer Who lived and Who died, God's law and His justice are now satisfied. Should conscience accuse us, as often it may, The blood of our Saviour has put sin away; In Jesus, our Surety, the sinner can view A city of refuge and righteousness too. -Tune:  How Firm A Foundation

  I once read a statement by a group that said, “We operate from the belief that everyone is essentially good.” I thought this a bit contradictory since it was given in a statement of policy concerning dealing with problems between individuals! If all people are “essentially good,” then why all the problems among them in the world: the wars, the crime, the conflicts between individuals, the mistrust and on and on? But what is worse, this same principle is at the core of most all religious beliefs. Yet the word of truth is clear. God who knows man far better than we know ourselves says, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one...” (Romans 3:12) . The “good heart” that most claim to have is the seat of all bad, all evil according to God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer emiah 17:9) . The hearts of men are “desperately wicked” and most deceitful, deceiving us into imagining we are essentially good. Christ said, “For out of...

  "And floods upon the dry ground." -Isaiah 44:3 [KJV] How often does the soul, born and taught of God, feel that it is this "dry ground!" It would fain be fruitful in every good word and work; it would be adorned with every grace of the Spirit within, and with every good and godly fruit without. Let no one think that the child of God is careless or indifferent either as to inward or outward fruit. There is nothing too holy, too heavenly, too spiritual, or too gracious which the child of grace would not desire inwardly to experience and outwardly produce.   But he feels that he cannot by any exertion of his own produce this fruitfulness after which he sighs. As well might a barren field convert itself into a fruitful garden without being tilled by human hand or without rain from the sky, as a soul that feels and knows its own barrenness produce by its own exertions a crop of the fruits of righteousness.   But the Lord that knows the desire of the heart, and...

  "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." -Micah 7:19 [KJV] When God takes all our iniquities with His own hand, and casts them with His own arm into the depths of the sea, they will never come out of those depths to witness against the family of God in the great and terrible day. Your sins now may seem to be all alive in your breast, and every one of them to bring accusation upon accusation against you. This sin is crying out for vengeance, and that for punishment. This slip, this fall, this backsliding, this foolish word, this wrong action, are all testifying against you in the court of conscience. Do what you may, be where you may, live how you may, watch and pray how you may, keep silent and separate from the world or even from your own family how you may, sin still moves, lives, acts, works, and often brings you into guilt and bondage. But if God has had mercy upon us, He has cast all our sins with His own hands into the depths of the sea, and t...

Christ did not die for sinners so that God would be merciful and love us. Rather, it was because the Lord was merciful and because He loved us that Christ was sent to save us from our sins. "God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8) . "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10) . God’s love for His people did not commence with the death of Christ; the death of Christ is the result of God’s everlasting love for His chosen people. -preacher Jim Byrd https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=13thstbaptist

  A Little to a Lot by D. G. Miles McKee   The Lord can do a lot with a little. Just consider how in John 6:1-14 the Lord was given a little food ( 5 loaves and 2 fish ) and turned it into a feast.  Little was placed in hands of the Lord and He made it a lot.  Isn’t that just like Jesus? I recently read of how an evangelist was ministering many years ago in the Lake District of England.  There he met an 80-year-old lady who told him how her shop had come into being. It all started in her Sunday school class when, one day, one of her young students came to her after class with a request. He held up a shining sixpence and said, “Please, Mrs. Cameron, will you give this sixpence to Jesus?” Startled, she almost told the child she couldn’t do that, but upon her shoulder she felt the restraining hand of the Lord who seemed to direct her, “Take it.” “Alright,” Mrs. Cameron told the boy, “I’ll give it to Jesus.” That night she held up the sixpence and prayed, “L...

Before the throne of God above, I have a strong, a perfect plea; The Great High Priest, whose name is love, Will ever live and plead for me. My name is graven on His hands; My name is written on His heart; I know that while in heaven He reigns, No tongue can bid me to depart. Because the sinless Saviour died, My sinful soul is counted Free; For God, the Just, is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there, the worthy Lamb! My perfect, spotless righteousness, The great unchangeable "I AM," The KING of glory and of grace. Tune: “Doxology”