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

"Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." -I John 3:6 [KJV] Beware, O my soul! of licentious spirits, who make Christ a minister of sin, instead of a Saviour from all sin. For such are strangers to the sweet experience of abiding in Christ, whereby sin is dethroned in the heart, the power of it subdued in the life, and holiness maintained in the soul. To abide in Christ, is to continue to believe in, and rest upon Him, as the dwelling of our souls. “LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations”   (Psalm 90:1.)  This is the claim and confession of the faithful. Ask a believer, “Where dwellest thou?" he will reply, "On my own freehold, my Father’s patrimony, where my treasure is—IN Christ." Such an one sinneth not. What! never sin in thought, word, or deed? has he no sin in him? This state is the earnest desire of his soul.    Verily, he doth not abide in Christ, who doth not long for it ; but so far from being in it, that every believer...

"And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me; for who is this that engaged His heart to approach unto Me? saith the LORD." -Jeremiah 30:21 [KJV] When the patriarch Jacob was dying, he pronounced, under the spirit of prophecy, that "the sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come" (Genesis 49:10.) And here in the prospect of the Babylonish captivity, now on the eve of its arrival, the prophet is commissioned by the Lord to tell the church, that notwithstanding all present appearances, no foreigners should judge or rule over them; but one should proceed from the midst of them, to be their governor, even David their king, whom I (saith Jehovah, verse 9) will raise up unto them. One like unto themselves, such as our Jesus was, like unto His brethren.    Sweet confirmation of our faith! A...

"I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." -Isaiah 27:3 [KJV]   The Lord Jesus Christ, who lives at God's right hand, has to send down supplies of His grace continually to keep your soul alive unto Himself. Without this life being kept up and maintained by these continual supplies of His grace, you cannot pray, or read, or hear the word, or meditate with any feeling or profit.  You cannot love the Lord and His blessed ways; you cannot submit to His righteous dealings; or hear the rod and Him who appointed it. You may approach His throne, but your heart is cold, clouded, and unfeeling; your spirit sinks under the weight and burden of the trials and difficulties that are spread in your path; nor are you able to do anything that satisfies yourself, or that you think can satisfy God.   By these painful but profitable lessons, you are experimentally taught that you want the life of Christ as well as the ...

Forgetful Grace   “I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake and will not remember your sins.”   -Isaiah 43:25 [KJV]   “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more”   (Hebrews 8:12).   One of the most neglected doctrines in the Bible is that of the forgetfulness of grace.    Simply stated, it teaches that when God forgives, God forgets. When God forgives our sin, He puts it out of His mind; He forgets it. He doesn´t hold it against us.   Consider Noah´s story.   The word “grace” makes its Bible debut in the story of Noah (Genesis 6:8) . Noah, we are told, found grace ( favour ) with God.  Then when the fateful day of destruction arrived the Lord shut Noah and family into the Ark.  They were spared and saved from the judgment of God.  After the flood, however, Noah got drunk out of his mind and lay na...

"Is not this the carpenter’s son?"   - Matthew 13:55 [KJV] “Such indignity I cannot bear; such insult is intolerable.” Ah! who? What art thou who speakest thus? Thou sinful dust— thou proud worm of earth, look unto Jesus! See the King of kings; the Son of God, in the form of a mean man, the son of a carpenter!—yea more, Himself a carpenter, the Son of Mary! (Mark 6:3.) Mark His condescension; learn humility. Behold His treatment and contempt; learn patience and submission. Astonishing mystery! Let reason bow and faith adore. Sinners, behold with joy and wonder, thy God in flesh. Born under that curse for sin, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” (Genesis 3:19.) He works at a common trade, and follows an ordinary occupation.  O! ye great and mighty, who are above trade, and despise those who follow it, saved ye must be by this carpenter’s son, or perish everlastingly! He is the one and only object of hope and salvation. “He is God and man in one Christ. One, not...

"In deaths oft."   -II Corinthians 11:23 [KJV] What did the apostle mean by this expression, but that from living in Christ, he was always on the lookout for dying in Christ; so that death could make no change of state, whatever change it made of worlds; for that living or dying, he was still in Christ? Paul seems to be speaking out his whole soul in the thought. It seems as if the conscious sense of his union and interest with Jesus was so inwrought in his very nature, that he was "in deaths oft,"  hoping that this providence, or that appointment, would be found the messenger to call him home to his Redeemer, to be with him for ever. My soul! As every night the bed of sleep to thy wearied body becomes a representation of the night of death, and the chamber of the grave, sit down this evening, and look over the memorandums of thine heart, whether there are some of the same sweet testimonies, and arising out of the same blessed source, as the apostle's, thou art...

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy ."   -James 5:11 [KJV]   The words translated "endure" and  "patience"  are the same in the original; and in fact, the example of Job is given as an instance of the happiness of those who endure. The same word is also used by our blessed Lord, where He says, "He that endureth  to the end shall be saved"   (Matthew 10:22) . We have need then of endurance.  As he that runs a race needs not so much swiftness as enduring strength to hold out to the end, never to give up as long as he can drag one limb before another; as the British soldier must never suffer himself to be beaten; so it is in the Christian race: we must never give up; we must never say "die;" we must never allow ourselves to be beaten by sin or Satan.   If God Himself seem to thrust us away from His throne,  we...

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions; and as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee." - Isaiah 44:22 [KJV]   Thus, of miserable sinners, God makes happy saints. Here is the work of each divine person in the ever glorious Trinity. God the Father blots out sins in the court of heaven: God the Son by His atonement on the cross; and God the Spirit, in the court of a sinner’s conscience. Believe, and enjoy the comfort of this. Now, may the God of hope fill us with joy and peace in believing this, and make us to abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Romans 15:13.)     When the dear women came unto the sepulchre, to see our Lord, they said, Who shall roll away the stone from the door? (Mark 16:3.) But behold, it was done. So a poor, broken-hearted sinner says, This thick, black, impenetrable cloud of my sins intercepts between my soul and the light of God’s countenance: it prevents the comforting rays of...

"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of our body." -Romans 8:23 [KJV]   It is blessed to receive from the Holy Ghost such gracious interpretations of His own most holy word as bear a correspondence with what we feel in a life of grace. We know that our adorable Jesus is the Saviour of the body as well as the soul; but we know also that these vile bodies of ours are not regenerated, as the souls of His redeemed are. In this tabernacle, therefore, we groan, being burdened. "I know , " saith Paul, "that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." And I too often know, to my sorrow, the same.   Pause, my soul, this evening, over this solemn scripture, and look up to the great Author of it, to unfold its sacred truth to thy comfort. I hope I can humbly adopt the language, and say, that I "have t...

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD." -Hosea 6:3 [KJV]   "To know the LORD" is to know experimentally and spiritually the power of Jesus' blood and righteousness; to know our eternal union with Him; to know Him so as to be led by the Spirit into soul communion with Him, that we may talk with Him as a man talketh with his friend; to know Him so that the secrets of His heart should be revealed to us, and we enter by faith into the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge; to know Him so as to drink into His spirit, and to have His image stamped by the Holy Ghost upon our souls; to know Him as coming down into our hearts out of His glorious sanctuary, filling our souls with His presence and His love; to know Him as formed in us the hope of glory, making our bodies His temple, dwelling in us, breathing Himself into us, speaking in us, moving as it were every affection of our heart and ever...

"The very hairs of your head are all numbered."   -Matthew 10:30 [KJV]   I never can understand this, says carnal reason. Therefore, reject it, says human pride. What didst thou ever gain, O Christian! by indulging carnal reasonings, or giving way to human pride? Verily, many a sad hour, many an uncomfortable frame. O, how happy doth simple faith make the heart! It receives every word which the Lord speaks, and draws comfort from it. It serves carnal reason and pride, as David did his ten concubines: he put them in a ward, and shut them up, to the day of their death (II Samuel 20:3.)    For verily, they are like the spies which Moses sent out, “who brought up an evil report of the land” (Numbers 13:32.) Therefore, listen not to their suggestions. Our Lord never spoke a word as a subject for thy curious speculations; but, that thou shouldest humbly believe it, exercise thy believing mind upon it, and derive peace and comfort from it. Our Lord had been t...

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." -Ephesians 4:30 [KJV]   Methinks I would make this scripture the motto of my daily walk, to keep in remembrance more than the dearest friend that wears the ring of love upon his finger, and bears it about with him whithersoever he goeth. And is the Holy Spirit grieved whenever a child of God forgetteth Jesus, and by indulgence in any sin, loses sight of those sufferings which He endured on account of sin? Yes, God the Holy Ghost is grieved, communion with God the Father is interrupted, and all the agonies and bloody sweats of Jesus, forgotten, if there be a loose and careless life. And shall I ever grieve the Holy Ghost by any one allowed transgression? Would not my soul feel shame at the consciousness of it, even if no eye but His had seen the foul act? Wouldest Thou grieve for me, O Lord, at such a sight? Can it be possible that a poor worm of the earth, such as I am, sh...

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." -Romans 8:5 [KJV]   None but those who are partakers of a heavenly birth feel heavenly realities to be their choice element, holy things their sweetest meditation, and the solemn worship of God their supreme delight. Look at this mark as a touchstone of divine life; for to be spiritually-minded a man must be spiritual, and to be spiritual he must have received the Spirit and been made a partaker of that "kingdom of God which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17) .   Have you never found in reading the Scriptures a sweet peace distill over your soul, as the glorious promises came forth one after another as the stars in the evening sky, each one brighter and clearer, and you felt a blessed persuasion of your interest in them? When at the throne of grace, favoured with liberty of spirit and ac...