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

" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves..."   -Luke 10:30 [KJV] An awful down-hill journey! Here is a true picture of the woeful backsliding of a believer from his Lord.  (1st.) “He went down from Jerusalem,” which signifies the visions of peace. These are enjoyed by faith, in communion with Christ, and close walking with God. When these are departed from, it is going down, indeed! The way of sin is down hill; the descent is easy; the event, dreadful! It is going down from the delectable mountains, into the dreary vale of Jericho. This place was cursed by Joshua, (6:26.) It was very wicked in the days of Christ; so is this present world now.  (2d.) “He fell among thieves;” so the believer, when he gives up himself to sinful company, vain delights and carnal diversions. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, steal his heart from God, and strip him of his raiment of purity and peace.  (3d.)...

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again; Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." -Romans 8:33, 34 [KJV] See, my soul, what a blessed security thou hast. Here is God justifying; Christ dying; the Holy Ghost raising the sinner's surety from the grave, as an evidence that the debt of sin is cancelled; and Jesus ever living to see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied in the redemption of His people. What, then, shall rob thee of thy comfort, while thou art triumphing in thy Jesus? Sin shall not; for Jesus hath put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. The law cannot; for thy Jesus hath answered all its just demands. Divine justice cannot; for God Himself justifieth. Death and hell cannot; for Jesus hath conquered both. In short, all that stood in thy way, the Son of God hath removed. And wilt t...

"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." -John 17:19 [KJV] Christ is made to His people sanctification (I Corinthians 1:30) . What am I? What are you? Filthy, polluted, defiled; are we not? Do not some of us, more or less, daily feel altogether as an unclean thing? Is not every thought of our heart altogether vile? Does any holiness, any spirituality, any heavenly-mindedness, any purity, any resemblance to the divine image dwell in our hearts by nature? Not a grain, not an atom.  How then can I, a polluted sinner, ever see the face of a holy God? How can I, a worm of earth, corrupted within and without by indwelling and committed sin, ever hope to see a holy God without shrinking into destruction? I cannot see Him, except so far as the Lord of life and glory is made sanctification to me. Why should men start (- be startled, amazed ) so at "imputed sanctification?" Why should not Christ's holines...