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

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise." - Psalm 57:7 [KJV]   My soul! Here is a delightful subject proposed for thine evening meditation, in the fixedness of the heart. The only possible way of really "singing and giving praise to the Lord" with the heart, is when the Lord hath fixed thine heart to the service. Many rush to ordinances, as the unthinking horse rusheth to the battle: not so, my soul, be thy practice. See to it, that He who alone can give a fixedness to the heart, hath fixed thine; for then, when the view of a God in Christ is brought home by the Holy Ghost to thy warmest and most devout affections, then, and not before, will there be a going forth of those affections, awakened and led by the same Almighty Spirit, upon the glorious person of thy Lord, and faith will be in lively exercise, in a way of praise, and love, and obedience, and joy. Then thou wilt sing and give praise "with the spirit, an...

"For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul." -Psalm 109:31 [KJV]   How cheering, how comforting it is, to have a friend to stand by us when we are in trouble. Such a friend is Jesus. In the hour of necessity, He comes as a friend to stand by the right hand of the poor creature, whose soul is condemned by guilt and accusations. But He stands in a far higher relation than that of a friend; He stands too as a Surety and a Deliverer. He goes, as it were, into the court; and when the prisoner stands at the bar, He comes forward and stands at his right hand as His surety and bondsman; He brings out of His own bosom the acquittance of the debt signed and sealed with His own blood, He produces it before the eyes of the court, and claims and demands the acquittal and absolution of the prisoner at whose right hand He stands.  He stands there, then, that the prisoner may be freely pardoned, and completely justified from ...

Great God! Thy glory and Thy love Our humble songs employ In mercy from Thy throne above Look down and cause our joy.   Thy presence and Thy glory, Lord Fill all the realms of space O let Thy presence, by Thy word Divinely fill this place.   This hymn begins the solemn sound Of holy worship here May ev’ry saint with joy abound And reverential fear. Eternal Spirit! Heav’nly Dove! Descend and fill this place Reveal the Saviour’s matchless love The wonders of His grace!  -Gospel hymn, "O For A Thousand Tongues"     “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The freedom of the believer is just what it is declared to be – entire exemption from  condemnation. From all which that word of significant and solemn import implies, he is, by his relation to Christ, delivered. Sin does not condemn him, the law does not condemn him, the curse does not condemn him, hell does not condemn him, God does not condemn him. He is und...

As the Word, Christ has made manifest the invisible God. As the Word, Christ has communicated to us the life and love of God. As the Word, Christ reveals the attributes and perfections of God. In Christ, and nowhere else, is God fully and finally told out. —copied   -------0-------  The business of the Law is to knock us down from the pedestal of self-confidence, and to grind us small; as Moses ground to powder, and dispersed the materials of the Israelitish idol. The business of Grace is to lift us from the dust, to settle us upon Christ the Rock of ages, to put a new  song of free salvation into our mouths. —Augustus Toplady   -------0-------  Christ compared spiritual error to leaven. A baker would never prepare bread completely of leaven; none would eat it. It is only when a little leaven is added and baked with the dough to make a loaf that men readily consume the bread. Skillful false prophets often mix a small amount of heresy  with lots of truth. Un...

 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” -Hebrews 11:6 [KJV]  To seek, to know, and to worship God rightfully is to seek, know, and worship Him by God-given faith as He reveals Himself in the glorious Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Christ that God reveals Himself AS HE IS as opposed to what unbelieving sinners think of Him. It is through Christ that sinners approach God and find the reward that Christ Himself earned for them by His righteousness, the merits of His obedience unto death.  Without this faith that looks to and rests solely in Christ as the Author and Finisher of our faith and as the only way of salvation, it is utterly impossible for sinners to please God Who is holy and righteous and Who must condemn all sinners to whom sin is charged. All who are saved by grace, evidenced by God-given faith in Christ,...

"A million torches cannot shew us the sun.  It can only be seen by its own light.  Nor can all the natural reason in the world discover, either what God is or what worship He expects, without divine and supernatural revelation from Himself." -Arrowsmith