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

"The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD." - Acts 3:19 [KJV] Who shall these times come to? Every sinner that repents and turns to Christ for salvation. From whence shall they come? From the presence of the Lord. Here then it is manifest, whether you have repented and turned to the Lord.  If so, (1st.) your soul will delight in God’s presence.  (2d.) You will earnestly long for and highly prize these refreshing seasons.  (3d.) You will say with David, “Thou art my God; my times are in Thy hands. I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall be continually in my mouth”   (Psalm 31:14-15 & 34:1.)  Hence, (4th.) you will turn from your sins, your self-righteous hopes, carnal pleasures, and worldly vanities, to seek all your happiness in the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord.  And, (5th.) you will wait in the patience of faith, for the coming of refreshing seasons, believing they shall come. Is it now a ...

"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me." -John 6:45 [KJV] Mark, my soul, these precious words of thy Jesus. It was one of the old testament promises, that all God's children should be taught of Him. And as this condescension of God, in teaching, implied the Father, so the blessed consequence and effect of it should be, that every one thus taught proved his being a child, and inclined his heart to come to God in Christ as a Father. My soul, art thou come? Art thou looking to, leaning upon, trusting in, walking with, and seeking for Jesus? Is He the LORD thy righteousness , thine only righteousness, thine only hope, thine only confidence? Dost thou, like the apostle, count all things else but dung and dross to win Christ, and to be found in Him? Courage then, my soul!  These are blessed tokens of thine adoption character. None but God the Father,...

"That He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." -Romans 3:26 [KJV] Every created thing, every finite intelligence, must sooner be annihilated, than Jehovah can sacrifice, or suffer the slightest tarnish to come over any one of His eternal attributes. Yet God can be just, infinitely just, scrupulously just, unchangeably just - and yet, preserving His attribute of justice unchanging and unchangeable, He can still be "the justifer of him which believeth in Jesus."  The way by which this was effected will take a countless eternity to understand, and a boundless eternity to admire and adore. But what is meant by the expression "the justifier?" "The justifer"  means, that God can count man as righteous, can freely pardon his sins, can graciously accept his person, can impute to him righteousness without works, and can bring him to the eternal enjoyment of Himself. And who is the character that He thus brings to...