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

  When we truly realize that the Lord of heaven and earth CHOSE US in Christ to salvation, redeemed us by His blood, and called us by His gospel, it will have a seven-fold effect on us.   1 . It will cause us to REJOICE! " O blessed is the man whom Thou choosest and causeth to approach unto Thee. " Praise Him from whom all blessings flow.   2 . It will promote HUMILITY! " Who maketh thee to differ ?" Grace and pride are incompatible, impossi­ble to exist together. We rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in this flesh.   3 . It will COMFORT us in hard trials! " The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away ." Even these work together for our good and His glory. When we trust Him, we don't have to understand.   4 . It will SUPPRESS self and sin! " We are not our own ; " we are bought with so great a price. Therefore we desire to glorify our Lord in our souls and in our bodies.   5 . It gives us ASSURANCE!  If God foreknew us, predestinat...

"For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone.  Teach me Thy way, O LORD; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name.  I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name for evermore."   - Psalm 86:10-12 [KJV] -------0-------    WHO CAN CHARGE US?   Here is what every believer knows from the testimony of Holy Scripture and from the experience and conviction of his own heart ( John 16:8-11 ) . We know, recognize and confess the problem and plague of our own heart, is sin ( Romans 3:9-12; 5:12 ) .    But thank God, we also know the solution for sin, Christ and Him crucified ( I Corinthians 2:2 ), Christ our propitiation for sin ( Romans 3:25 ). Christ Jesus crucified ( Romans 4:25 ), the Substitute ( II  Corinthians 5:21 ), Surety ( Hebrews 7:22 ), Satisfaction ( I John 4:10 ) and Saviour ( Matthew 1:21 ) is our only answer to every just charge against us: ...

“It shall be well with the righteous.”   -Isaiah 3:10 [KJV]       In spiritual things all your temptations, all your darkness, all your wandering God will overrule.  It shall be well with you.  There shall never be a night, but that morning shall come; there shall never be a day of trouble, but a day of prosperity shall follow; there shall never be an emptying, but there shall be a filling; there shall never be a bringing down, but that He will raise you up again.  Let it be either darkness or light, sorrow or grief, night or day, life or death, time or eternity, “It shall be well with the righteous.”                                                           ...

Now to the Lord a noble song! Awake, my soul; awake, my tongue! Hosanna to His Holy Name And all His boundless love proclaim.   His glory shines in Jesus’ face The brightest image of His grace! God, in the Person of His Son Has all His greatest works outdone.    The spacious earth and spreading flood Proclaim the wise, the mighty God And His rich glories from afar Sparkle in every rolling star.   But in our Lord a glory stands The noblest labor of His hands The love and mercy in His eyes Outshines the wonders of the skies!   Grace! ‘Tis a sweet, a charming theme My thoughts rejoice at Jesus’ Name Ye angels dwell upon the sound Ye heavens reflect it to the ground!      -Gospel hymn: “Doxology”       -------0-------      OPPORTUNITY   We have all heard the phrase, “opportunity knocks,” or “a door is opened.”  In the grave there will be no more opportunity.  As we have opportunity, Paul says, “As we ha...

"... all things were created by Him, and for Him."   -Colossians 1:16 [KJV]   Did you know that the Lord loves His people, ( those for whom He has died ) with a very personal love? See Ephesians 1:4 . If we are believers, we can say with confidence that He loves us.  He has chosen us.  He has lived for us.  He has died for us.  He has risen from the dead for us. But even though these are precious truths, He wants us to know that behind them all it is for Him , not ourselves, that we have been created.   Let me illustrate. Remember how in the book of Jonah, Jonah was called to preach at Ninevah.  Being a prophet, he knew he was created by the Lord but he doesn´t quite seem to have grasped that he was created FOR the Lord.  We read that to get away from the Almighty, Jonah rose up to flee.  Here is a prophet who has forgotten good theology.  Afterall, how does one flee from Omnipresence?  As D...

"Now the just shall live by faith." -Hebrews 10:38 [KJV] Then they will highly prize the word of God. “For by that faith cometh” (Romans 10:17.) Prophets and apostles, Old Testament saints and New Testament believers speak by one and the same Spirit, one and the same language, of one and the same life. “The just shall live by his faith , ” says Habakkuk 2:4. Mind, It is not said, the just, or the justified sinner, shall live for his faith. This would be to substitute faith in the room of its blessed object, Jesus who saith, “Because I live, ye shall live also"   (John 14:19.) Nor is it said, he shall live upon his faith. We are too apt to look more to, and live more upon, what we think faith, which is rather the feelings of sense, than upon Christ, the object of faith. It is said of Esau, “By thy sword shalt thou live” (Genesis 27:40.) To have lived upon his sword, would have been hard food indeed. But he lived upon the precious morsels his sword brought ...

"He turned their heart to hate His people."   -Psalm 105:25 [KJV] Oh! precious scripture! what a blessed discovery is here made! Never should I have known, never thought that the hand of my God was in a dispensation like this. Henceforth, my soul, remember, when at any time the world is oppressing thee, and opposing thee, yea, when even "thy mother's children are angry with thee;"  look deeper than the surface, and behold both the Lord's wisdom, and the Lord's appointment in the exercise. And dost thou ask wherefore the Lord should dispose the heart of the believer's foes to hate His people? the answer is at hand: it is to keep His people from "mingling with the heathen, and learning their works."   Nature cleaves to nature; and the dispositions of flesh and blood are in all the same. If God, therefore, turn the hearts of those we are too fond of, to treat us with unkindness, and reward our love with hatred, this process will do...

"Ye are not your own." -I Corinthians 6:19 [KJV] There is a blessed sense in these words, "Ye are not your own."  Remember you must be some one's. If God be not your master, the devil will be; if grace do not rule, sin will reign; if Christ is not your all in all, the world will be. It is not as though we could roam abroad in perfect liberty. Some one will have us. We must have a master of one kind or another; and which is best, a bounteous benevolent Benefactor such as God has ever shewn Himself to be; a merciful, loving, and tender Parent; a kind, forgiving Father and Friend; and a tender-hearted, compassionate Redeemer, able to save us to the uttermost; or a cruel devil, a miserable world, and a wicked, vile, abominable heart?   Which is better, to live under the sweet constraints of the dying love of a dear Redeemer; under gospel influences, gospel principles, gospel promises, and gospel encouragements; or to walk in fancied liberty, with sin i...