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

"But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not."   -John 8:6 [KJV] Every, the most minute transaction of the life of Christ, should be precious to the faith of our hearts. For in all that He did in life, and by all that He suffered in death, He manifested Himself to be the Saviour of lost sinners. The love of His heart knows no bounds to such. He willingly came to seek, and to save them. It is His joy to find, and His glory to save the lost. O were it not so, the hand that writes must tremble, that holds the pen, drop it with terror, while his heart would be filled with distress, and his soul sink into black despair. But, O this faithful saying, “That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners , ” braces every nerve with joy, and fills the whole man with triumph—See a vile prostitute brought before our Lord; and her crimes charged upon her. She was taken in the act. Here are witnesses to prove it. Her sin admi...

  "And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors."   -Mark 15:28 [KJV] Look up, my soul, to the cross, and behold thy Lord hanging with two thieves; yea, in the middle of them, as if the greatest malefactor of the three; and, what is the most awful part of the subject, not only was He thus considered by the Jewish rabble, but as the sinner's representative, Jesus was thus beheld in Jehovah's view; "numbered with the transgressors," and virtually, the great surety and sponsor of them all. Pause, my soul, as thou readest this scripture, and as thou beholdest it fulfilled on the cross. Will it not undeniably follow, that if Christ was so reckoned, and so numbered, then must it have been, not for Himself, for He had no sin, but for His people; and if made sin and a curse, surely He hath taken away both sin and the curse, by the sacrifice of Himself, that they might be made the righteousness of God in him?  ...

"I will be as the dew unto Israel."   -Hosea 14:5 [KJV] Sometimes the Lord, without applying His word with any very great and distinguishing power to the heart, makes His truth to drop with a measure of sweetness into the soul. This is as rain or dew, according to His own gracious declaration, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain; My speech shall distil as the dew"   (Deuteronomy 32:2) . The dropping, then, of His doctrine, or, as the word means, His "teaching,"  as rain, and the distilling of His gracious speech as dew, kindle in the soul a love of the truth, and wherever this is felt there is salvation, for we read of those who perish that "they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (II Thessalonians 2:10). There is a receiving of the truth, and a receiving of the love of the truth . These two things widely differ. To receive the truth will not necessarily save; for many receive the truth who never receive the ...

IF I AM NOT SAVED   If I am not saved, it is not because I want to be saved and God refuses to save me. If I am not saved it is not because God did not elect me, Christ did not die for me, and the Holy Spirit did not give me life.   If I am not saved it is because I do not want to be saved. That does not mean I do not want to be delivered from the punishment of hell.   But it does mean I do not want to be saved God’s way on God’s terms.       If I am saved, I do want to be saved.   If I am saved, I am saved because God elected me, Christ died for me, and the Holy Spirit gave me life!   But if I am not saved, I have no one to blame but myself.   I do not want to be saved. Could anyone charge God with injustice because He did not give to somebody something they did not want?   -copied 

  What sacred Fountain yonder springs Up from the Throne of God And all new covenant blessings bring? ’Tis Jesus’ precious blood. What mighty sum paid all my debt When I a bondman stood And has my soul at freedom set? ’Tis Jesus’ precious blood. What stream is that which sweeps away My sins just like a flood Nor lets one guilty blemish stay? ’Tis Jesus’ precious blood. What voice is that which speaks for me In Heaven’s high court for good And from the curse has set me free? ’Tis Jesus’ precious blood.   -Gospel hymn, “ O God Our Help ”     -------0-------    “Redeeming the time,  because the days are evil.”   -Ephesians 5:16 [KJV]   The New Year does not change the moral climate around us.   The days are still evil.   Sin is still aggressive.   Evil days are much like their father Satan.   They do not shout, “Waste your life.”   They whisper, “Later.”   Later is how time is lost.   We must not lose time; we ...

"Thy God reigneth."   - Isaiah 52:7 [KJV]   Christ commissions His ministers, to proclaim this joyful truth to Zion, His church, that every member of His might receive it in faith, change the pronoun and say, My God reigneth . Christ’s reign is His people’s glory, their triumph on earth; and the shouts of disembodied saints in glory. Listen to their acclamations of joy. “Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come”   (Revelation 19:6, 7.) Are we married to the Lamb? Has He our hearts and affections? Then we shall constantly rejoice, and give honor to Him, that He, who is our God, reigneth . Where? Where He dwells. In heaven for us: and in our hearts over us. For, as He dwells in our hearts by faith, He spiritually reigns over all within us. O what matter of joy and consolation is this!    For (1st.) If our King has set up His throne in our hearts, what ene...