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

"Ye are risen with Him, through the faith of the operation of God." -Colossians 2:12 [KJV] Who are risen with Christ? All the members of His mystical body. He is their head and representative. They are all mystically risen with Him. But they have no knowledge or comfort of this, till another resurrection is experienced by them. This is what the apostle here alludes to. This is by faith. As soon as any poor sinner knows, understands, and believes, that Christ died for our offences, and was raised again for our justification, that soul is actually risen with Christ .  Here, behold, (1st.) the preciousness of faith.  (2d.) Whose operation it is.  (3d.) The glorious effects it hath upon the heart and life. It brings Christ into the soul. Faith causes the soul to ascend up to a risen Saviour.  Thus, this living, powerful, influencing grace, which is the work of the Holy Ghost, is distinguished from a dead faith, a lifeless assent, a barren notion, which float...

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." -Titus 2:13 [KJV] Pause, my soul, over these sweet and solemn words. Is Jesus my hope? Surely then it is a blessed hope; for all blessings are in Him. Art thou looking for His appearing? Pause, for the thought is solemn. How shall I know? Suppose this moment the trumpet of the archangel was to sound, "Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment;" my soul, art thou ready? Pause once more. Do I long for Jesus' appearing now, in the conversion of every poor sinner? Do I rejoice to hear, at any time; that a soul is born to God? If so, is not this looking for his appearing?  Again—Do I long for Jesus appearing in the after-manifestations of His grace to the souls of the people?—for this is to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to prove a family interest. Again- Is Jesus precious to me, and do I long for the renewal of His visits, as the earth longet...

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes ." -Matthew 11:25 [KJV] Whatever religious knowledge, whatever carnal wisdom, or whatever worldly prudence a man may be possessed of, if he is devoid of the life of God in his soul, he is destitute of the workings of godly fear, he has no solemn awe or reverence for Jehovah, he has never seen his sins in the light of God's countenance, he has never trembled at "the wrath to come," he has never prostrated himself with a reverential spirit before the eyes of a heart-searching Jehovah, that sees into the secret recesses of his bosom.  But all his knowledge, and all his wisdom, and all his prudence leave him just where they found him, unimpressed, carnal, sensual, worldly, "dead in trespasses and sins." All his wisdom never reached beyond the surface; it nev...