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

"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness by men."   -Romans 1:18 [KJV] One sin ruined the whole race of Adam. It brought curse and wrath upon every soul of man. Every man that ever lived, that now lives, and that ever shall live upon this earth, is by nature a child of wrath; and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against his sin, not one soul excepted. How is this wrath revealed?  (1st.) At the giving the holy law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19.) There the LORD revealed all the terror and glory of His majesty, as the most holy, sin-hating God. O think of the mount that burned with fire! the blackness, darkness, and tempest!—the awful sound of the trumpet!—the terrible voice of words, which they who heard, entreated they should not be spoken any more. And so terrible was the sight, that even Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake”   (Hebrews  12:21.) O! think of this; and think not what is called the least sin...

"I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb." -Isaiah 48:8 [KJV] Humbling as the view is, it is profitable to look back, and trace all the way the Lord our God hath brought us, through many a year in the wilderness, to humble us, and to prove us, and to shew us what is in our heart; and this perhaps is the sweetest of all subjects, when the Holy Ghost takes us by the hand, and leads the heart back. Even from the first moment of conversion, to the very moment when taking the review, every step serves to prove what this scripture sets forth, that the Lord knew that His people would deal very treacherously, and be transgressors from the womb. My soul! let thy meditation, this evening, as it concerns thyself be to this amount: Where wert thou, when in a state of unawakened nature, and as all other carnal persons, intent only upon the best means of fulfilling to the desires of the flesh; living without God, and with...

"...and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."   -Ephesians 2:6 [KJV]   There is a distinction between being quickened together with Christ and being raised up together with Him. Is not this true in the experience of God's people? To be quickened into divine life, to be convinced of sin, to have the fear of God planted deeply in the soul, is the commencement of a work of grace . But this is not a deliverance, not a being raised up out of darkness, bondage, doubt, guilt, and fear.  This is not a knowledge of Christ, and the power of His resurrection; this is not a full coming out of the dark and silent tomb into the glorious light and warmth of day. But here is the great blessedness of a mystical union with the Lord Jesus Christ that, as by virtue of interest in Him there is a partaking of the benefit and power of His having been quickened, so there is a partaking in the benefit and power of his having been ra...