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

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” -Colossians 3:1-4 [KJV]    The basis for Christian character and conduct, acceptable obedience, fruit unto God, good works, and the proper, God-honoring motivation for this is our union with Christ wherein we died with Him to the guilt of sin and wherein we are risen with Him unto justification and life. To be risen with  Christ is to be justified, sanctified, and certain to be glorified based on His righteousness alone.  It is to have His righteousness imputed to us and His life within us – “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”  (Romans 8:10). If we are in a state of j...

"For by one offering, HE hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." -Hebrews 10:14 [KJV]   Surely all are sanctified who were set apart from everlasting, in the council of peace, between the Persons of the Godhead, and  given unto the Son, in an everlasting covenant, that cannot be broken: for to this purport are those blessed words of Jesus  Himself, in His prayer to His Father – "That I should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Me" (John 17:2). And, my soul, take one observation more, from this sweet scripture; this perfection, given to His people, by His one offering, is for ever – "He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."   So that the blessing runs through all eternity. The efficacy of Jesus' blood and righteousness is eternally the same. In point of merit, it blows as fresh and pure, and sovereign, in its pleadings now, as ever.  Hallelujah! Fold up, my soul, this blessed verse, in thy bosom, and carry it abou...

  I WILL HEAL AND CURE THEM -see Jeremiah 33:6-9 [KJV]     In these verses of scripture we have the gospel of grace given to us in a providential type and picture.  Paul has told us that all things that happened to Israel of old were given for our example to teach us and comfort us in the way of grace (Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11).   Israel was taken into captivity by the Chaldeans and then delivered by the decree of God (Jeremiah 33:26). The same is true of God’s spiritual Israel, they were taken captive by sin, Satan and the holy justice of God and then delivered by the almighty decree of God (Romans 8:28-30). Notice carefully some of the blessings given in these verses.   1). I will bring health and cure.  Through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, all our spiritual diseases have been put away and eternally healed (Isaiah 53:4-6; I Peter 2:24).   2).   I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Apart f...

"Non-existent spiritual life cannot give being to itself. Light is not brought out of darkness, neither does love come from hate. Every seed bears its own kind. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6) . A new creature, therefore, cannot be the product of natural power. The sinner is not regenerated by combined efforts of God and man. There is no “I will if you will” in regeneration. The record states, “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live” (Ezekiel 16:6). God’s passing by was not by chance , but according to His own eternal purpose. Who but God could dispense life with a single syllable, “Live.” This is a demonstration of God’s unsought and free grace. “...I am found of them that sought Me not...” (Isaiah 65:1). “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest ...

"But some are fallen asleep."   -I Corinthians 15:6 [KJV]   It is the united testimony of faithful witnesses, that Jesus is risen indeed. But what is this truth of a risen Saviour, to a dead sinner? He hears it, but without any affections of heart, joy of soul, desires to rise with Christ, or hopes of enjoying Him. But when, by the grace of Christ, the soul is quickened to know Him, then the believer rejoices in His resurrection, as the best news that ever saluted his ears, or reached his heart. Then, he delights to read the testimony of the witnesses, to this glorious event. Yea, he also becomes a witness of it himself, for he has an inward testimony of it by faith. My heart has felt joy on seeing Charity-children at Easter, with this label upon their breast, He is risen .    It is this blessed truth, which changes the king of terro rs into an angel of comfort: turns that frightful monster, death, into the image of sweet sleep. Fo r Christ died for OUR s...

“An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." -John 1:47 [KJV] And what are we to understand by our Lord's account, in this short but sweet history of Nathaniel, of an "Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile?" If, my soul, thou wilt do as thou art directed, (I Corinthians 2:13) attend "to the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual , " thou wilt soon arrive at a proper apprehension of the Lord's account, of "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."   It is our mercy that, on a point of so much consequence, we are not left to mere conjecture; for the Holy Ghost hath Himself pointed out what it is to be without guile, in one of the Psalms of David (see Psalm 32.) And in his comment upon it by the apostle, (Romans 4:12) he hath followed up the same doctrine more fully; "Blessed (saith he) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the L...