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

" But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who were sometimes afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." -Ephesians 2:13 [KJV] If any one were asked, Do you live near the court? Have you free access to his majesty? Did you ever kiss the king’s hand? Who would hesitate one moment for an answer? Consciousness would instantly dictate one. Pray, is Christian experience so dark and doubtful a matter, that if asked, are you brought nigh to God? Do you live near God? Have you free access to God? That we cannot answer, with some degree of knowledge and certainty.  O my dear fellow Christians, though we are brought nigh to God, yet we do not live near Him. Hence our doubt and uncertainty. Our hearts and affections too much rove in the high roads of earthly honour, riches, and pleasures. Here clouds of dust rise. They so dim our sight, and cloud our views, that we can hardly see our way, or tell where we are. Here we are reminded,  (1st.) That we “were sometimes afar off.” Awf...

"The LORD said unto my Lord." -Psalm 110:1 [KJV] Some have called this Psalm, David's creed . Certain it is, that there is scarce an article of a true believer's faith, but what is in it. My soul, look through it this morning, if thou hast time, and see whether it is thy creed. If not, look at this precious portion of it, and ask of the Holy Ghost to teach thee the blessed things contained in it. "The LORD said unto my Lord:" that is, Jehovah said unto my Adonai . Observe, my soul, that here, as in many other parts of the bible, one of these words Lord is in capital letters, the other in small characters. This no doubt was done by the translators, by way of telling the English reader that the two words in the original Hebrew are not the same. They had no better method of explaining the difference. But by using different sized letters, they meant to say that there is a difference, and the difference seems to be this: the word LORD, whenever use...

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." -Romans 8:34 [KJV] As the soul is led and taught by the Spirit, it follows the Lord through all the various acts and sufferings of His life. The first spot to which the Holy Ghost takes the poor sinner is the cross of Jesus. That is the first real saving view we get of the Lord of life and glory; the Holy Ghost taking the poor guilty sinner, laden with the weight of a thousand sins, to the foot of the cross, and opening his eyes to see the Son of God bleeding there as a propitiation for sin.  To be brought there by the power of the Holy Ghost, and receive that blessed mystery of the bleeding, suffering, and agonising Son of God into our hearts and consciences, is the first blessed discovery that God the Spirit favours us with. But we pass on from that to see Jesus sleeping in the sepulchre; for we have ...