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

"Worthy is the LAMB." - Revelation 5:12 [KJV]   This the song, this the glory of angels and redeemed sinners of heaven. To know, believe in, love, and follow this Lamb, constitutes our heaven upon earth. Sin is our hell. But this Lamb of God taketh away our sin . Then heaven is in our souls. O that ever we should be ashamed of this Lamb, Who is heaven’s wonder and heaven’s glory! Is not this thought of being ashamed of God’s Lamb, like a dagger to our heart? Lamb of God, have mercy upon us! Why is our dear Saviour called a Lamb?    (1st.) Because of His immaculate purity. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners: without a spot of sin, or stain of impurity.    (2d.) He was meek and inoffensive like a lamb. A lamb has no weapon of hostility. It never hurts any one. It cannot defend itself against assaults. It becomes an easy prey. All this Christ was in His life.    Therefore, (3d.) like a lamb, He was taken and slain. He was ...

"The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me." -John 14:24 [KJV]   My soul, hast thou ever fully and thoroughly considered that sweet and precious teaching of thy Lord, which, as Mediator, when upon earth, in all His discourses and conversations with His disciples, He was perpetually shewing them? I mean, that all He was, and all He had; and all He dispensed, were the blessings and gifts of His Father, in Him, to His people. If thou hast been meditating upon this most blessed point of the gospel ever so fully and closely, it will still afford new glories for every renewed attention to it; and therefore, sit down this delightful summer's evening, and take another view of it. Jesus comes to His people in His Father's name, and He saith in this charming scripture, that His very words are not His, but the Father's; so much of the heart of the Father is in Christ, and in all of Christ, in all He saith, and in all He hath done. So...

"And stablish you in every good word and work." -II Thessalonians 2:17 [KJV] The living family of God need to be established in the truth, so as not ever to be "children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine." It is not sufficient for a building to be reared: it must be established before we can know whether it will stand. The most anxious moment of the builder is to see how it will settle; how the walls will bear the roof, and every part stand firm and good without bulging or slipping. When the centering is taken away from a newly-built arch, how the architect looks to see whether it will settle well and the extent of the drop, if there be any.  So in grace. It is not merely making a profession that will serve. Many a building stands well as long as the scaffolding remains; many an arch looks firm whilst the centering supports it. So many seem to stand well in early days, when upheld by zeal and earnestness, or strengthened by the support of ...

     When we speak of the whole of our salvation by God’s sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what we mean: ELECTION is God’s choosing His people in Christ before the world was made. JUSTIFICATION is God clothing us with and imputing to us the righteousness of Christ. REDEMPTION is God purchasing His elect out of the hands of His own law by the blood of Christ.  FORGIVENESS is God pardoning our sins through the blood of Christ. REGENERATION is God giving dead sinners life in Christ, and Christ living in us – God forming Christ in us, imparting His life to us.   PERSEVERANCE is God preserving us to the end by His preserving grace in Christ. RESURRECTION is God raising us up by the power of Christ. GLORIFICATION is God conforming us to the image of Christ, to which end we were predestinated in the eternal purpose of His grace.    —Unknown preacher of righteousness  

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." -I Peter 5:7 [KJV]   In casting our cares on God, there are plainly required three things: (1) A persuasion that God has complete control in reference to those things which excite our anxiety.   (2) A persuasion that He will use this control in the best way, abstractly considered; and,   (3) A persuasion that He will use this control in the best possible way, as far as we are concerned. I could not get rid of painful anxiety by casting it on God if I did not believe He could sustain it.  What lies at the very basis here is the conviction that God is the sovereign of the universe, uncontrolled & uncontrollable. He is one, “Whose Kingdom ruleth over all,” “Who can do everything,” “Whose arm none can stay,” to Whom none dare say, “What doest Thou?” I cannot cast my care, all my care, on Him unless I believe that His power is guided by wisdom and righteousness. If I were not convinced that God is ...

"Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake ."   -John 13:37 [KJV]    Peter seems now in a happy frame indeed. All is warmth of love and sunshine of joy. Ecstacies carry us out of ourselves. We forget what we are, where we are, what we are exposed to, and what may soon befall us. Like Peter on the mount, we are apt to speak without due consideration. We know not what we say. The fire of passion exceeds the bounds of solid judgment.    “Why cannot I follow Thee now? Let the way be strewed with ever so many difficulties—let ever so many dangers oppose, nothing is able to dismay or dishearten me. I have just now such fervent love to Thee, that I could face death in the most frightful form, and lay down my life with the greatest pleasure for Thy sake.”    Doubtless, Peter now thought himself perfect and free from all sin. What thinkest, O soul? Is Peter’s language becoming him or not? Is it not...