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

“Search me, O God: reveal me to myself.  If I am deceived undeceive me ere it be eternally too late.  Enable me to measure myself faithfully by Thy Word, so that I may discover whether or no my heart has been renewed, whether I have abandoned every course of self-will and truly surrendered to Thee; whether I have so repented that I hate all sin, and fervently long to be free from its power, loathe myself and seek diligently to deny myself; whether my faith is that which overcomes the world (I John 5:4) , or whether it be only a mere notional thing which produces no godly living; whether I am a fruitful branch of the vine, or only a * cumberer of the ground; in short, whether I be a new creature in Christ, or only a painted hypocrite." -preacher Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of Hebrews , pg. 605 * https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Cumbrous

" Strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." -Hebrews 5:14 [KJV] It is almost impossible for any who are called to minister in holy things, or who write about the truths of God, to please every one. Babes, who are unskillful in the word of righteousness, can only like milk. They cry out against strong meat, it offends their stomach.  But such should consider, (1st.) That they are not always to continue babes, to feed upon infant nutriment. The tender mother tries her infant, again and again, with meat, though its stomach heaves against it, and it has not the art to swallow it. So they must learn to eat strong meat, that they may grow thereby.  (2d.) God’s children are not all of equal age, therefore strong meat is as necessary for adult men, as milk is for babes; those of full age, or perfect. Not so, compared with the perfect law of God. There is no one upon e...

"Nevertheless, I am continually with Thee." -Psalm 73:23 [KJV] Yes, my soul, and well it is for thee that it is so; there is a nevertheless in the precious redemption by Jesus, which secures thee, amidst all thy languishing seasons, when to thy view it sometimes appears as though the Lord had forgotten to be gracious, and had shut up His loving-kindness in displeasure. And whence this security but in Jesus, and the covenant engagements of God thy Father in Him? The everlasting worth and efficacy of the Redeemer's righteousness and death, are the same amidst all the changeable circumstances of His people's warfare. By the expression of being continually with Jesus, is meant, no doubt, that union with His person, as the sinner's Surety, which gives security and firmness to the everlasting state and happiness of His redeemed. And it is this which constitutes, not only the safety of His people now, but the happiness of His people for ever. Heaven itself,...

"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." -Romans 7:9 [KJV] The apostle describes in his own case how men are affected toward the law before it enters as a condemning sentence into their heart. "I was alive without the law once." The law was hanging over him as a condemning sentence, as a minister of death, as a messenger of wrath, as a consuming fire, but he felt it not. As with a thunderstorm in the remote distance, he might hear the low mutterings of the thunder which once rolled over Sinai's fiery mount, or might see from far the play of those lightnings which scorched its top.  But at present the storm was in the distance. He went about without thinking, or feeling, or fearing, or caring whether the law was his friend or enemy. In fact he rather viewed it as his friend, for he was using it as a friendly help to build up his own righteousness. He had gone to it, but it had not come to him; he...

The Gospel Believer, Part I   by D.G. Miles McKee   Christ Is All and In All— Colossians 3:11. The Gospel believer holds that Jesus is the sum and substance of our wonderful gospel!    In the Gospel, we are presented with the Lord Jesus Christ, the God/Man. The Gospel declares the wonderful facts of His incarnation and impeccable life. These indeed are wonderful truths, but they are not the sum total of our Gospel. There is much more! By the way, if the Gospel stopped with the incarnation and sinless life of Christ then no one would ever have been saved! That God came to earth as a genuine, sinless human being is a precious Gospel truth, but it is not the entirety of the good news!  The incarnation in and of itself saves no one! The incarnation, however, is the beginning of the good news; it is the Alpha, but not the Omega.   The Gospel in its fullness tells us more. Yes indeed, it tells us that Christ was born and lived sinlessly, but it goes...

" Nothing is so well fitted to put the fear of God--which will preserve men from offending Him--into the heart, as an enlightened view of the cross of Christ. There shine spotless holiness, inflexible justice, incomprehensible wisdom, magnificent grace, omnipotent power, and holy love.  None of these excellencies darken or eclipse the other, but every one of them rather gives a lustre to the rest. They mingle their beams, and shine with united eternal splendour: the just Judge, the merciful Father, the wise Governor. Nowhere does justice appear so awful, mercy so amiable, or wisdom so profound."   -Jerry Bridges , 19th century Scottish pastor and theologian

" Believe in the L ORD your God, so shall ye be established: believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." -II Chronicles 20:20 [KJV] Such was the advice of good old Jehosaphat, in a time of invasion by a powerful army. Precious words! at all times seasonable. What can a child of God desire on this side glory, so much as establishment of mind and prosperity of soul? Both are obtained by faith. As the mind is established, so the soul prospers.  (1st.) What is implied in being established? It is to be fixed and settled in the confidence of our mind, and not to halt between two opinions, as those of old did, between God and an idol (I Kings 18:21.) To halt, is to be lame on both sides. Thus, their minds were in suspense, agitated between two objects, and not steadily fixed upon either. So many sincere souls are tossed to and fro, by every wind of doctrine. They are like children, not steadily fixed in their judgment, nor settled in their confidence in the Lord: ye...

"The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." -Revelation 19:7, 8 [KJV] Behold, my soul, behold that day, that glorious day, in which redemption is to be consummated, and in the kingdom of heaven; when the Son of God brings home His bride, the church, the full celebration of God's glory in the happiness of the redeemed in Jesus, everlasting joy will burst forth. See how thy nature is then to be adorned. The whole body, the church, is then to be arrayed in the robes of Jesus' righteousness, having been washed from all their sins in His blood .  And these nuptial ornaments are to be granted or given to the church; for she hath no righteousness of her own; but as all along in this world she had professed, so there in the upper world she triumphantly sings, "I will greatly rejoice in the L ORD...

"The God of all grace." -I Peter 5:10 [KJV] All we have and are, everything we know and feel, comes from "the God of all grace." We have nothing spiritually good in ourselves; all therefore that we have is the free gift of His hand, and comes from the ever-flowing Fountain of mercy and truth. It will be our mercy, then, as the Lord may enable us, to be ever looking to Him, not looking to books, not looking to ministers; these are only instruments, and in themselves but poor instruments. The soul must look through all and above all to "the God of all grace." The Lord enable you to examine every truth as it is brought before you by the light of God's Spirit in your heart, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." And however deeply you may feel the vileness of your heart, remember this, there is "the God of all grace" to go to. If you feel yourself the vilest of sinners, He suits you the more as "t...

" David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul ." -I Samuel 27:1 [KJV] Who will say, that, from the nature and reason of things, David had not cause to think so? The king’s wrath was incensed against him. “The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: yea, as the roaring of a lion” (Proverbs 16:14–19:12.) Saul wanted neither policy nor power to execute his cruel designs upon David: but only, he must have permission from David’s Lord, before he could hurt a single hair of his head.  Poor David’s heart seems to forget this, when, in a fit of fear and frame of unbelief, he says, “I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul.” Now, only think, “The Lord had appointed and anointed David to be king; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward” (ch. 16:12, 13.) Yet, we here find him doubting the truth of what had passed, giving way to unbelief, and suspecting that the Lord’s purpose might be prevented, by Saul’s malic...

"And the L ORD said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren." -I Samuel 16:12, 13 [KJV] Was David singled out from amidst his brethren, to be the Lord's anointed; and do I not behold in this the representation of Jesus, that Holy One, concerning whom the Lord spake in vision, and said, I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people ?  Yes, Thou Lord our righteousness, in this I behold Thee. And let my soul make this sweet subject the meditation of my morning song, for surely it is a lovely song, to hail Thee the chiefest among ten thousand. I behold Thee then, Thou dear Emanuel, by the eye of faith, as coming up from everlasting, when amidst that immense multitude of those Thou disdainest not to call Thy brethren, Thou stoodest forth, in the eternal view, as the glorious One, to be the Christ, the God-man Mediator, for the salvation of Thy chu...

"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." -Hebrews 6:18 [KJV] No: it is utterly impossible for God to lie. The earth may be dissolved, and all creation reduced to chaos before God could lie. He would cease to be God if the faintest breath of a change, or the shadow of a turn should pass over the glorious Godhead. But it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore this holds out strong consolation for those that have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. And what is the ground of this strong consolation? This is the ground, that God has eternally determined and sworn by Himself—that He will save and bless those that have "fled for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel." This is the foundation of their consolation, this is the ground of their hope, that God has made such and such promises, and ...

" That your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge and in all judgment." -Philippians 1:9 [KJV] The soul that is not concerned that it may be so with Him, is not alive to God. We see many professors, who have lost a warm sense and comfortable feeling of divine truths. But are they deeply concerned for it? Do they earnestly wrestle with God, fervently crying out, O that it were with me as in months past? Alas! no: they say, We are not called to live upon our frames and feelings.  Very true: neither, blessed be God! are we called to live without warm frames and comfortable feelings. O, let us beware, lest we despise the comforts of the Holy Ghost! Some professors, by their spirit and conduct, remind us of the fox in the fable, who lost his tail in a trap, and told his brethren he ran so much the lighter without it. So some, having lost their warm and lively feelings, think little about them, and seem to say, they can run well without them.  Truly, so they...

"Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him! " -John 11:36 [KJV] The tears of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus produced that astonishment in the mind of the Jews, that they thus exclaimed! But had they known, or did the whole world know, what I know of Thy love to me, Thou dear Redeemer of my soul, every one that heard it might with greater wonder cry out, "Behold how He loveth him!"   I would for the present pass by, in my contemplation of Thy love, all the numberless instances of it, which I possess in common with Thy church and people; for though these in every and in all cases carry with them the tokens of a love that passeth knowledge, yet, for the meditation of the morning, I would pause over the view of Jesus's love to me a poor sinner, not as it is displayed in general mercies, even the glorious mercies of redemption, but as those mercies come home, in their personal direction of them to my own heart, even to mine. Think, my soul, what a huge volum...

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these Three are One." -I John 5:7 [KJV] All God's people are led into a knowledge of the Trinity; not indeed by metaphysical reasoning or subtle arguments addressed to the understanding. The Spirit teaches them, not by reasoning addressed to the head, but by the power and dew of divine truth resting upon the heart. All God's people learn the doctrine of the Trinity in their souls. They learn, under divine teaching, the authority, justice, majesty, holiness, and in due time feel the love of God the Father. They learn the Godhead of Christ in their souls, by seeing and feeling the power of His blood, as the blood of God (Acts 20:28) , and His righteousness as the "righteousness of God." And they learn the Deity and Personality of the Holy Ghost by feeling the divine power of His operations on their hearts. They learn also that He is God, by perceiving ...

" I will put a division between My people and thy people: to-morrow shall this sign be." - Exodus 8:23 [KJV] Thus speaks the sovereign Jehovah to the haughty, stubborn monarch Pharaoh. Loving children delight to treasure up in their memories the words of an affectionate father: they love to reflect on them, and draw comfort from them. O that we may do so to-night, by this speech of our heavenly Father!  Consider, (1st.) here is a people distinguished from a people. The Lord has a people among a people, chosen out of a people . These He particularly calls His own— My people . They are so, by everlasting love, eternal choice, and covenant grace.  (2d.) Though near and dear as they are to the Lord, yet they may for a season continue under the power of, and suffer oppression from their enemies. Though the love of the Lord’s heart is ever set upon you, and the eye of His providence is ever over you, yet He may seem to leave you. O! tarry the Lord’s leisure, and be st...

"Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them." -Song of Solomon 4:2 [KJV] See, my soul, how Jesus sets off the beauties of His church, when made comely in His comeliness, which He hath put upon it. Jesus' whole church forms but one flock; for there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. And though it is called a little flock , and a flock of slaughter, yet it is a beautiful flock in the Lord's hand.  But wherefore are the teeth of the church said to be like a flock shorn? Probably, from their never being exercised but upon divine things: shorn to all desires in which unshorn and carnal persons delight. The believer feeds on Jesus: His flesh he finds to be meat indeed, His blood drink indeed : To the roof of his mouth this becomes, like the best wine, which goeth down sweetly, causing even the lips of those that sleep to speak. And how do believers, like...