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

"He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom He loved. Selah." -Psalm 47:4 [KJV] My soul, to whom, but to the all-lovely and all-loving Jesus, couldest thou have thought this blessed verse referred, even had this little word Selah not been placed at the end, by way of marking the emphasis of the Holy Ghost? Who couldest thou have considered suitable to have chosen the inheritance of His people, but He Who is the Lord of His people, and Himself their inheritance and their portion for ever? It was God thy Father that chose him to be the excellency of Jacob, when He gave Him for a covenant to the people; and when to the infinite mind of Jehovah, this One glorious Person, in the holiness and purity of His nature, came up before Him here, on Him the Lord placed His choice.    And had all His people been present; had it been possible for the whole of the chosen of Zion to have been consulted in the choice, would not every soul have fixed its longing eyes...

"The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Ephesians 6:17 [KJV] There is only one weapon whereby we can fight Satan to any purpose, and that is the word of God . But observe, that it must not be merely the letter of the word. It must be the "sword of the Spirit , " and therefore a spiritual sword, which can only be taken in hand when the word of God is applied with a divine power to your heart, and you have a living faith in it as made "life and spirit" to your soul. It is of no use my bringing forward a text to resist a temptation of Satan, unless I can make that text my own; in other words, unless I can handle that sword as one who knows how to wield it. To take up a text and not know the sweetness and power of it, would be like a child taking up a warrior's sword without having the warrior's hand. He might play with the sword, but what is the sword of a giant in the hand of a child?    The sword of Scander-Beg, a famous Albanian wa...

“I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only”   -Psalm 71:16 [KJV]  Wise travelers provide things needful for their journey, and guard against such as lie in wait to rob them.  Our gracious God calls not His dear children to forsake their native country to travel to the heavenly city without furnishing them with a rich supply of all things necessary for their comfort, and also strength to protect them from the power of every enemy.  No soldier of His goeth a warfare at his own charge.  Christ being both their righteousness and strength, they can want (- lack ) nothing.  Hence, they go on from day to day, glorying in Him as their richest treasure, and trusting in Him as their almighty strength; and this is their constant song in the house of their pilgrimage, and all their journey through: “Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:24) .   Jesus’ ri...

  THE WORK OF REDEMPTION   Our Lord is incomparable in the work of redemption and truly this work is His masterpiece, pure workmanship.  Indeed, all His works of creation and providence are subordinate to this.  All His attributes sparkle most gloriously in this (Psalm 102:16) .  All His angels in heaven admire and adore Him for this (Revelation 4:10-11) .  This is the work of all His works, which He is so mightily pleased with and reaps so much glory and praise from (Isaiah 42:1; 43:21) .     No angels, no men, no, not all together, could with their united worthiness redeem one soul.  “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever” (Psalm 49:7-8) .  None beside God had pity enough for man’s misery, or wisdom enough to find a remedy, or power enough for His recovery.  None had pity enough for man’s misery.  Boundles...

     Peter the apostle tells us that ignorant and unstable people pervert the Holy Scriptures to their own destruction (II Peter 3:16) . Such people are found especially among those denying God’s omnipotence and sovereignty, and affirming the necessity of man’s “free will” in salvation and his ability to thwart God. One such person, a denominational head and seminary president, is quoted as saying: “Knowing God as I do through the revelation He has given me of Himself in His Word, when I am told that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, I know it means that the Triune God has done, is doing, always will do, all that the Triune God can do to save every man, woman, and child on this earth. If it doesn’t mean that, then tell me I pray you, what does it mean? What is hell? It is an infinite negation. It is infinite chaos. And it is more than that. I tell you, and I say it with profound reverence, hell is a ghastly monument to the f...

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" -Amos 3:3 [KJV]   There was a time, child of God, when the world held in your heart the chief place. It was not so in God's heart. You and He were therefore at variance. But now, through grace, you are brought to make eternity your chief concern. You and God are agreed there; for in the mind of God eternity as much outweighs time as the stars in the midnight sky outweigh a grain of dust. There was a time when you loved the world and the things of time and sense; and earth and earthly things were your element and home. You and God disagreed upon that matter; because the Lord saw that the world was full of evil, whilst you saw it full of good.    The Lord saw the world under His curse, and you loved its favour and its blessing—seeking madly and wickedly to enjoy that which God had denounced; therefore you could not agree. Thus you see that in order to be agreed with God, we must have God's thoughts in our heart, God's...