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

“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” -John 17:17 [KJV]   When the gospel comes “not in word only, but also in power,” it comes “in the Holy Ghost,” that is, in and with the teaching and testimony of the Holy Ghost. It is this coming “in the Holy Ghost” which gives truth in its power such a sanctifying influence on the heart. But you will ask, perhaps, What is a sanctifying influence? It is the communication of holy feelings, heavenly desires, and gracious affections; in a word, it is the breathing into the soul of that sweet spirituality of mind which is life and peace. If we are among the people of God, He chose us in Christ, “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” If He chasten us in this time-state, it is for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness (see Hebrews 12:10) . It is this holiness of heart, this heavenly-mindedness which I mean when I speak of the sanctifying i...

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures”   (I Corinthians 15:3-4, KJV).   Note the word “how,”  and consider the nature and quality of the death Christ died and what the Old Testament Scriptures have to say about His death. 1.  He died violently.   “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter...He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He smitten”   (Isaiah 53:7-8) .  Christ did not die from natural causes.  Because He had no sin in Him, He must die a violent death or He would never have died at all.   In the Scriptures, no sacrifice was ever offered to God which had died a natural death, only that which was slain when it was in the prime of life and full of strength.  The broken law required the exec...

" I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me ." -I Corinthians 15:10 [KJV] When we meet with journals, diaries, experiences, etc. which do not exalt the riches of the grace of God, but set off the self-importance of the writers of them, they are as nauseous to the mind as tainted food to the palate. They remind us of the poet’s observation, “And I the little hero of each tale.” Not so St. Paul, in speaking of himself. No sooner had he brought this little great I upon the stage, but he instantly caused it to disappear. Hence, the doctrine is plain, The grace of God makes a person labour for God, and yet keeps him humble before God.  Consider, (1st.) To have the grace of God with one, is to have a lively sense of God’s free favour, in Christ, upon one’s own soul. Without this, we go on heavily in the ways of God; soon tire in His service; and turn back and walk no more with Christ. This was the life and spring of a...

"And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." -Isaiah 33:24 [KJV] What is this? What happy climate is there where any of its inhabitants are exempt from sickness? Where is that salubrious (- healthful ) air, that is not impregnated with disease? Surely, no where but in heaven. But if the cause of sickness be removed; if the envenomed dart of sin be taken out, and hath lost its poison, the inhabitant no longer complains, for both the evil and the pain are gone. My soul, hast thou found this happy spot?  Hath Jesus manifested such views of His pardoning grace in the all-sufficiency of His blood and righteousness, that thou not only art fully convinced and satisfied that His blood cleanseth from all sin; but that thou as fully believest and resteth in it for thy salvation; and art of the happy number of those who believe to the salvation of the soul. Hath Jesus said to thee, as to the poor man in the g...

“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” -Song of Solomon 4:16 [KJV] We are, most of us, so fettered down by the chains of time and sense, the cares of life and daily business, the weakness of our earthly frame, the distracting claims of a family, and the miserable carnality and sensuality of our fallen nature, that we live at best a poor, dragging, dying life. We take no pleasure in the world, nor mix with a good conscience in its pursuits and amusements; we are many of us poor, moping, dejected creatures, from a variety of trials and afflictions; we have a daily cross and the continual plague of an evil heart; get little consolation from the family of God or the outward means of grace; know enough of ourselves to know that in self there is neither help nor hope, and never expect a smoother path, a better, wiser, holier heart, or to be able to...