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

"The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." -M ATTHEW 26:41 [KJV] Why is flesh so weak? Because it is fallen, because it is sinful, because it has an alliance with the temptation which is presented to it. It is weak against temptation for the same reason that a man who loves strong drink is weak against the offered dram. If we had no inward lusting after evil, no pride, no rebelliousness, no fallen nature, no carnal mind, no vile affections, nothing in us earthly, sensual, or devilish, need we fear temptation? No; for then we should be proof against it; it would be like dipping a match in water. Here our weakness lies. If we could always resist we should conquer, but resist we cannot, except by the special power of God . This is a lesson we all need to learn. The weakness of the flesh manifests itself continually in compliance, in nonresistance, in giving way, in yielding, often almost without a struggle, nay, sometimes in acting a worse and more wic...

Jesus Christ is a Christian’s "all in all" [COLOSSIANS 3:11 ] . Jesus Christ is "all in all" in election [EPHESIANS 1:4 ] . He has "chosen us in Him , " as our Head. The free grace and love of God is the head of election. God did, therefore, choose us, because He did love us; and He did therefore love us, because He would love us. No other reason can be given [DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8 ] . But the Head of the elect is Christ. God the Father gave them to Him to be His body, and Him to them to be their Head. Except for Christ and His undertaking for us, there had been no such thing as electing of us. - Gospel report by preacher Phillip Henry (1631–1696 A.D.)

    Judge the awfulness of sin by the punishment required to remove it. We know that a just God would never require an unfair payment for sin. His justice would not demand more, nor settle for less, than the price required to remove it. Behold the cross of Calvary. See who is fastened to the cursed tree. It is the Lord’s Anointed, the holy, spotless, eternal Son of God. Why does He hang there? Why does He suffer so? Why does He cry out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Why does He die? It is because He bore the sins of His own people on the cross, and since a holy God demands satisfaction for crimes against Him, Christ must suffer, bleed and die as the Substitute for sinners. "God spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all" [ROMANS 8:32 ] . Learn then the awfulness of sin by the payment required to put it away. "Christ died for our sins" [I CORINTHIANS 15:3 ] . Let me weep over my sin that caused His grief and let me rejoi...