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

"The Father seeketh such to worship Him."   - John 4:23 [KJV]   Error is natural to fallen man. He sets his face against truth, and turns his back upon it with contempt. The more error abounds with pride and self-sufficiency, so much the more it is suited to our corrupt nature. Hence, we are naturally Pelagians: we cannot think Adam’s sin has hurt us. Or else, Semi-pelagians: though we confess our souls are wounded by Adam’s sin, yet we cannot think we are totally dead to God thereby; but, as it were, only half dead: so that we still possess some power and ability, to seek God and to please Him, if we will but exert ourselves. This is the popular doctrine of our day: it is suited to man’s pride, and keeps up his self-importance .    Hence, this dry, shriveled comment is put upon our Lord’s words: “That, if we will but stir up ourselves to seek God, possess our minds with an habitual sense of religion, and worship Him in spirit and truth, He then will see...

"This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." - Luke 15:2 [KJV]   My soul! wouldest thou, by faith, review some more than ordinary representation of the Lord Jesus, to melt the finer feelings of thy heart, in the contemplation of His unequalled condescension and love? Let this be it, which the evangelist hath here drawn of the Son of God. Behold Him, encircled with poor publicans and sinners, alluring them to the arms of His mercy; and behold the self-righteous pharisees and scribes withdrawing from the sacred spot, and with all that indignation and scorn, which marked their character, murmuring at the grace of Jesus, saying, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them!"     Well is it for thee, my soul, that the Son of God hath received sinners; else how should I have been looked upon by Him? And well is it that His table hath been spread for sinners; or how should I have been fed by Him?   Yea, Lord, is it not the very feature of Thy rich...

"His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." -Genesis 49:24 [KJV]   Our ancestors, you know, were celebrated bowmen. Victories were won at Cressy and Agincourt by the English yeomanry, who were skilled in the use of the bow. Latimer says, in a sermon preached before the king, that no man could be a good archer who did not learn from his boyhood; and the custom he tells us was for the father to put his hands upon the son's hands, to teach him how to shoot, and throw the whole strength of his body into the bow.    When the boy drew the bow, it was not the strength of his own arm that drew the string, nor was it the keenness of his eye that directed the arrow to the mark. The child appeared to draw the bow and to direct the arrow; but the hand of the father was upon the hand of the child, and the eye of the father was guiding the eye of the child; thus though the child seemed to draw the bow, it...

Paul the apostle speaks of “the grace of God that brings salvation” (Titus 2:11) . This is indeed a glorious picture! God’s grace is here portrayed as a vehicle – His chariot. In it is the salvation He is delivering to His people. This salvation is both a person and a blessing.       First, the salvation in this chariot of grace is a person . He is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jehovah in Old Testament times called Jesus “ My salvation” whom He would send to His people (Isaiah 49:6; 56:1) . When Jesus came, Simeon called Him “ Jehovah’s salvation” (Luke 2:30) , for He is the very embodiment of the salvation Jehovah ordained for His people. Every saint knows Jesus as “my salvation” (Psalm 27:1) , for Jesus is not only our Savior but also the salvation wrought by the Savior.       Second, the salvation in this chariot of grace is a blessing . And this blessing of salvation is in the hands of Him who is our salvatio...

" And he bowed himself, and said,  What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" -II Samuel 9:8 [KJV] Old love cannot be forgotten: it makes such deep, and leaves such lasting impressions on the mind, which time itself cannot efface. This was verified in David and Jonathan. The latter is dead; yet love to his memory lives in David’s heart. Hence, he enquires after the remains of his family, to shew kindness unto them. Mephibosheth, the lame son of Jonathan, is introduced to the king: he thus expresses the affection of his royal heart to him, “Fear not; I will surely shew kindness to thee, for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.”   Had any of David’s subjects a right to arraign, and call him to an account, for this sovereign act of favour? Which of them would dare to say unto him, What doest thou?  But yet proud hearts rise with ...

"A nail in a sure place." -Isaiah 22:23 [KJV] My soul! through grace, thou hast long been enabled to hang all thy grand concerns for eternity upon the Lord Jesus; and will it not be a very refreshing subject for thine evening meditation, to see how eternally firm and secure all rest, with an unshaken and-unchangeable confidence? Behold Him as He is in Himself, in His person, work, and righteousness; "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Next contemplate Him as the source, origin, fountain, and support of all the great things of salvation. There is not a purpose of God, but is founded on Christ; not a promise, but is made, confirmed, and fulfilled in Christ; and not a dispensation in all the kingdoms of nature, grace, and glory, but comes from Christ and His own righteous government. Go on, under a third branch of meditation, and behold Jesus as a nail in a sure place, and that the persons, concerns, and blessings of His people ...

"I am the LORD that healeth thee." -Exodus 15:26 [KJV] How does God heal the diseases of His people? He heals them chiefly by subduing them; for in this life they are never thoroughly healed. The promise runs: "He will subdue our iniquities"   (Micah 7:19) . To subdue them is to restrain their power. Thus He sees one suffering under the power of unbelief. He gives him faith: this subdues his unbelief. Here is another poor languid patient, dying of exhaustion: He gives him strength. Here is a third mourning under his corruptions: He gives a drop of His blood to purge his conscience, and a taste of His love to warm his heart. He sees a fourth crying under the strong assaults of Satan: with one look Satan flies and the soul is set free. Thus with infinite wisdom blended with infinite love and power, He passes on from bed to bed of every sick patient, administering health wherever He goes. This blessed Physician has a remedy for every disease, and the reme...

  Faith asks no signal from the skies, To show that prayers accepted rise; Our Priest is in the holy place And answers from the throne of grace.                                                                              --Josiah Conder     -------O-------     ETERNALLY SECURE IN CHRIST          Someone asked me, “Do you think those who believe on Christ are eternally secure, or do you believe that a person can, through sin and neglect, lose their salvation?”   My response was, “What do the scriptures say?”   This is always how we should seek to answ...

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory ” (Isaiah 6:-1-5).   Isaiah was privileged with a sovereign revelation of the glorified and victorious Lord Jesus Christ.  However, before that came to pass the Lord killed Isaiah’s king, Uzziah.   Maybe Isaiah thought too highly of this most popular and powerful king (II Chronicles 26:11-15) .  Maybe Isaiah took his eye of faith away from the King of kings and starting trusting Uzziah to solve Israel’s troubles.   When the Lord killed Uzziah, He took away all the support that Isaiah was resting in. Isaiah was shut up to the only King, God...

" But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. " -I Peter 3:15 [KJV]   God is essentially and infinitely holy. We do not make Him so; but we do declare, proclaim, and regard Him to be our Holy and Sovereign Lord in two ways.   1 . INTERNALLY - " Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ." Unless we truly love, praise, and worship God in our hearts, all of our outward form and claims are hypocrisy.   2 . EXTERNALLY - He is sanctified by His people when we walk in the Spirit, obey His word, preach His gospel, and live together in peace.   "BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER." When a person asks us to tell him why we believe our sins are pardoned, why we are not under condemnation, and why we expect to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, be ready to give him a scriptural answer. It is because " Christ loved us and gave Himself ...

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” - Matthew 10:34 [KJV]   At first glance this statement the Lord Jesus Christ makes seems to be contradictory to other places where the gospel is called, the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15) . We also read about our God being called the God of peace (Hebrews 13:20) . The Lord Jesus Christ is also called the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6) .   The Lord Jesus was instructing His apostles before He sent them to preach the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 10:7) and He tells that His message is not one that would bring world peace among all men or all nations . We are not to expect that. Christ did not come to give His life to bring peace among nations.    But rather the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for sin to bring peace and reconciliation between God and His covenant children (Ephesians 2:12-18; Colossians 1:12-23) . We do have peace with God through our L...

The Salvation of the Righteous Sub-titled: 'God's Promise of Deliverance' by preacher Henry Mahan (45 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhAm6Zgs3SA  

"The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."   -I Corinthians 4:20 [KJV]   It is the wisdom of a Christian to improve from the various objects he meets with. See we an open, profane sinner? beware of looking down upon him with Pharisaic pride, and supercilious contempt: behold in him your wicked nature! Remember, grace alone made the difference: be humble: adore the God of grace. See we only the form of godliness in any? St. Paul tells us how to act: “From such turn away” (II Timothy 3:5.) You will get no good from them. There is little hope of doing good to them: leave them .    Why so? Because they are strangers to the vital power of godliness, and destitute of the inward experience of the grace of Christ upon their souls. True, they may make a great shew; have vast zeal for the interest of a party; be very warm and violent for the form of sound words, a consistent plan of doctrine, and a set of Scripture notions. But, yet, after all, it is bu...

"And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." -Genesis 35:5 [KJV]   It was the evening before the last, that my soul was led to the contemplation of what is the everlasting security of a child of God, amidst all the corruption, within and without, which he carries about him in a body of sin and death. It will form a very pleasing subject, to a similar effect, to trace also a believer's security from the world at large, in the natural enmity there is in every unawakened heart to a state of grace. And this precious scripture traces every child of God's safety to the same source. The family of Jacob, the praying seed of Jacob, are still journeying; for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. The people of God are but few in number; yea, very few: the scripture saith, "And they are strangers in the land , "   -Psalm 105:12 .   The very...

"I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." -Psalm 116:9 [KJV]   There is a distinction between walking before God and walking with God. To walk before God is to walk with an abiding sense of God's eye being upon us; to walk with a desire to do those things which are pleasing in His sight; to walk in His ordinances blameless; to walk before His people with our garments unspotted by the world; in a word, to walk before Him in private as in public, alone and in company, before the Church and the world, by day and by night, as we should walk if we had a personal view of His glorious majesty in heaven before our eyes.    Now if you carried about with you a deep and daily sense that God saw every thought, marked every movement, heard every word, and observed every action, this sense of His presence would put a restraint upon your light, trifling, and foolish spirit. You would watch your thoughts, your words, your actions, as living under a sense of G...

  THY GOD REIGNS   O what a glad, delightful sound, Within the Word of God ‘tis found; The Lord our God reigns over all, The Sovereign over great and small.   Ye children of the Father’s love, Rejoice!  He governs from above! All things that happen, He ordains, The Lord of glory ever reigns.   By day and night and year by year, Jehovah reigns, so do not fear; Be calm, O anxious, troubled soul, Thy God still reigns, may this console.   O yes He reigns forevermore, With grateful hearts, His Name adore; And though His will we faintly see, Trust Him who reigns eternally. Tune:  “From Every Stormy Wind” LM Words by Jim Byrd     -------O-------     NATURAL BLINDNESS          “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”   (II Corinthians 4:6) .        ...