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

What do we mean by this expression - the sovereignty of God? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High , doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? [Daniel 4:35] .  To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will [Psalm 115:3] . To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is “The Governor among the nations , ” [Psalm 22:28] , setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best.  To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the “Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” [I ...

" Who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." -I Peter 1:5 [KJV] The wicked, who are totally ignorant of the doctrine of grace, assert this truth by their common saying, “They only are well kept, whom God keeps.” Many, who profess to preach the gospel, do not hold forth such sound divinity as this. Consider, these three points: Who are thus kept? How are they kept? Unto what are they kept?  (1st.) Who are kept? St. Paul tells us, they are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God.  (2d.) “Sanctified by the Spirit unto obedience.” They obey the Father’s voice: they hear and believe on His beloved Son.  Hence, (3d.) Sprinkled by the blood of Christ from the guilt of sin in their consciences.  (4th.) “Begotten to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance reserved in heaven for them.” The work of the glorious Trinity has passed upon them.  (5th.) Christ calls them, “My sheep” (John 10:14.) Th...

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." -I Thessalonians 5:8 [KJV] Sobriety in religion is a blessed gift and grace. In our most holy faith there is no room for lightness. The things which concern our peace are solemn, weighty matters, and if they lie with any degree of weight and power on our spirit, they will subdue that levity which is the very breath of the carnal mind. But sobriety implies not merely the absence of all unbecoming levity in speech and conduct, but the absence also of all wild, visionary imaginations in the things of God. It denotes, therefore, that "spirit of a sound mind" which the apostle says is the gift of God. Vital godliness, it is true, has its mysteries, its revelations and manifestations, its spiritual and supernatural discoveries and operations; but all these come through the word of truth, which is simple, weighty and solid, an...

"The day-dawn, and the day-star." -II Peter 1:19 [KJV] And what is "the day-dawn, and day-star," arising in the hearts of God's people, but Jesus, "the dayspring from on high, visiting us?" Is not Jesus "the bright and morning star, the light and the life of men?" Yea, is He not "the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings?" And when He ariseth on our benighted minds, may He not be called, "the day-dawn, and the day-star?" Pause, my soul, over the sweet thought. It was all darkness in the creation of God, until Jesus arose. And His coming was as the breaking forth of the morning, the sure harbinger of day.  Indeed, Jesus was "the day-dawn, and the day-star," in the light of redemption, before the world was formed: for in the council of peace, as man's light and salvation, He came up, at the call of God, from all eternity. And in time, during all His eventful ministry upon earth...