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

"There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION."   It is not here a question of our heart condemning us (as in 1 John 3:21) , nor of us finding nothing within which is worthy of condemnation; instead, it is the far more blessed fact that God condemns not the one who has trusted in Christ to the saving of his soul . We need to distinguish sharply between subjective and objective truth; between that which is judicial and that which is experimental; otherwise, we shall fail to draw form such Scriptures as the one now before us the comfort and peace they are designed to convey. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. "In Christ" is the believer’s position before God, not his condition in the flesh. "In Adam" I was condemned (Romans 5:12) ; but "in Christ" is to be forever freed from all condemnation.  "There is therefore now no condemnation." The qualifying " now " implies there was a time when Christia...

" Judge me, O L ORD , according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity that is in me." -Psalm 7:8 [KJV] What! is David become a self-justifier? Does he trust in, and depend upon his own righteousness? Does he plead it, even before the Lord, and expect justification by it? Hath he not elsewhere declared, “In Thy sight shall no man be justified” ? (Psalm 143:2.) Why then does he here talk of my righteousness? and why does he say, The Lord reward me, according to my righteousness? (18:20.) It was far from David’s heart, to make his own righteousness the ground of his acceptance before God, or to place his hope of eternal life on it. He was a poor sinner. He knew it well. He confesses it constantly to the Lord. He declines it in point of justification, “I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine ONLY , ” (Psalm 71:16.)   Why then does he here talk of his own righteousness? Let not this puzzle thy mind, nor pervert thy judgment, O Christi...

"That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." -Luke 1:74, 75 [KJV] Holiness consists mainly of two points: 1. Being made a partaker of the spirit of holiness whereby, as born of God, we are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; set our affections on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; have our conversation in heaven; put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him which created him; live a life of faith in the Son of God, and beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. To be thus spiritually-minded, to be thus brought near unto God through His dear Son, to walk before Him in the light of His countenance, and to know something of spiritual communion with the ...

"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth; for Thy love is better than wine." -Song of Solomon 1:2 [KJV] And what are the kisses of Jesus, but the manifestation of Himself to His people? Old testament saints longed for this blessing; and new testament believers live by the same faith in the enjoyment of it. The cause is most evident indeed; for the love of Jesus passeth knowledge . Nothing of the nether-springs in comforts can even describe the blessedness of it; for corn, and wine, and oil, when they increase, cannot satisfy those desires, which Jesus in Himself and His upperspring mercies, can alone fulfil. Wine indeed may act as a temporary cordial to the body's weakness, and it may for the moment relieve worldly sorrow; but in both cases, the maladies will return, sometimes with double violence, and baffle all its powers; nay, if wine be used too freely, so far from affording relief, it will add drunkenness to thirst. But Thy love, blessed Jesus, neve...