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

"...of whom I am chief."  -I Timothy 1:15 [KJV]   What a mighty change does grace make! The apostle was once, in his own eyes, the chief of saints. If but two went to heaven, he had no doubt but he should be one. Now, he is really an eminent saint in Christ: he confesses himself the chief of sinners. Why so? Did he love sin, lie down and wallow in sin, and glory in sin? No, far from it: he was now saved from all his sins. Hence he sees the exceeding preciousness of Christ, his Saviour; the exceeding sinfulness of sin, which dwelt in him; and the infinite holiness, spirituality, and perfection of the law of God . Therefore, he makes this public declaration: not, I have been, but, I now am the chief of sinners.    He, as it were, stands forth and challenges the whole race of sinners, and says, I will give place to no one: of all of you, I will be the first rate, and stand foremost in the rank. But is not this glorying in sin, which was his shame? Self-ri...

"And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled." -Acts 24:25 [KJV] And wherefore did Felix tremble? Did Paul, who was then preaching to him, charge him with any particular sins? It doth not appear that he did. Neither is it probable that a poor prisoner would have been permitted so to have done. But the truth is, God's holy word, by Paul's preaching, and the man's own guilty conscience, which Felix himself applied, so met together, that the conscious sinner could not refrain. The very thought of a future judgment, and a day of account, crossing the mind of a guilty conscience, will be enough to damp the mirth of the stoner in the midst of his jollity. Every man, more or less, must have thoughts now and then of an hereafter. Man, by nature, is a creature compelled to look forward. He is forever proposing to himself prospects that are to arise.    Hence, men of the world are sending out into the highways and lane...

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." - Hebrews 5:8 [KJV] Our gracious Lord had to learn obedience to the will of God by a personal experience of suffering, and especially by an implicit submission to His heavenly Father's will. And what was this will? That He should take upon Himself the huge debt which His bride had incurred by original and actual transgression; that He should offer Himself as a ransom price to discharge and put it away; that He should bear our sins in His own body on the tree, with everything which was involved in being made a curse for us; that He should by death overcome Satan, who had the power of death, and deliver them who all their life, through fear of death, were subject to bondage; and that, whatever sorrows and sufferings should lie in His path, He should bear them all, and learn, in and by them, implicit submission to the will of God.    This was the will of God, for He was determined...

     Now, there may be people on this earth, religious folks, who boast of what they have done for God. There may be. I am sure there are, who boast of what they have done for God. But that is not the song in heaven. The song in heaven is what He did for us, not what we did for Him . There may be folks on this earth who feel like they are due some praise and some credit for their teaching or preaching or giving or their works. But not in glory. Your works might look pretty good down here, but they won’t look too good before God, not compared to Christ’s perfect work, perfect holiness, perfect righteousness, perfect love. Ah, nobody there is talking about what they have done. They are talking about what He did.   “He washed us. He redeemed us.” There may be folks here who feel like they deserve a reward, that they deserve a crown, that they deserve some special attention up there for what they did down here. But nobody up there feels that way. From first...

"Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image."   - Genesis 5:3 [KJV]   Not in the image of God, in which Adam was created, but after the likeness of himself, an apostate spirit, fallen from God, into all the cursed, proud, wrathful tempers of a wicked devil, and all the vile, filthy lusts of a brute beast. Awful difference between God’s creation, and man’s procreation! Where can we turn our eyes, but we see the dreadful effects of it? The Holy Ghost hath left this truth upon record for our instruction.    Consider, (1st.) that we are begotten sinners, not created such by God. David confesseth this: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5.) He does not charge his sinful nature to God, and impiously demand, Why hast Thou made me thus? Ever beware of such doctrines, which have the least tendency to make a holy God the author of sin.    (2d.) See whence you sprung. Boast not of your high bir...

"He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall He lift up the head." -Psalm 110:7 [KJV]   The brook of Kedron was a black brook (for so the word Kedron signifies) into which all the filth from the sacrifices was thrown; it was the brook over which the Son of God passed in the night that He entered the garden of Gethsemane. Now, as the whole Psalm from which this portion is taken, refers to the person of Jesus, nothing can be more plain than that David, by the spirit of prophecy, is here describing the deep sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.   By the expression, drinking of this black brook, it is intended to convey an idea of the "cup of trembling" put into the Lord Jesus' hands, when He sustained all the sins and filth of His people, and in consequence as their surety, all the Father's wrath against sin. Hence the Lord said, "The cup that My Father giveth Me, shall I not drink it?" My soul! pause, and...