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

     May each of us ask that question to ourselves:  Why am I here?  Various motives prompt those who worship together for the professed purpose of worshipping God.  But may we hope that all of us here present are moved by spiritual motives and not fleshly.  In answer to the question I have asked, I can truly say that I am here for the glory of God, the exaltation of God’s Christ, the honor of His blessed Spirit and the good of God’s chosen people .   Those of you who are spiritually one with Me are longing for the fulfillment of the Father’s promise,  “In all places where I record My Name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee”   (Exodus 20:24).  You are also desiring the fulfillment of the Master’s promise,  “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them”   (Matthew 18:20).    May He give us to enjoy the reality of His Own sweet words to the Samaritan wo...

     “But when he (John the Baptist) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”   (Matthew 3:7).    Remember the tremendous and overwhelming fact, that the wrath of God does not end with death.  This is a truth which the preacher cannot mention without trembling, nor without wondering that he does not tremble more.  The eternity of punishment is a thought which crushes the heart.  When an unbeliever dies, you have buried the man, but you have not buried his sins.  His sins live, and are immortal: they have gone before him to judgment and they will follow after him to bear their witness as to the evil of his heart and the rebellion of his life.  The Lord God is slow to anger, but when He is once aroused to it, as He will be against those who finally reject His Son, He will put forth all His omnipotence to c...

  Now may the Lord reveal His face And teach our stammering tongues To make His sovereign, reigning grace The subject of our songs. No sweeter subject can invite A sinner’s heart to sing Or more display the glorious right Of our exalted King. Grace reigns to pardon crimson sins To melt the hardest hearts And from the work it once begins   It never once departs. ’Twas grace that called our souls at first By grace thus far we’ve come And grace will help us through the worst And lead us safely   home.     -Gospel hymn: “O God Our Help In Ages Past”   -------0-------    “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” -I Peter 2:2-3 [KJV]   A believer certainly ought to desire, long after, crave the sincere, pure milk of the Word.   A true believer does in fact desire this pure milk.   He cannot be a believer without this attitude toward the Word. ...

"Building up yourselves on your most holy faith."   - Jude 20 [KJV]   Instead of going on comfortably in this work, many are questioning, I do not know whether I have obtained a most holy faith or not. Bring this to a point to-night. Has the ruinous fabric of nature’s self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-complacency, and self-pleasing ever been pulled down? Has the Spirit convinced you of sin? Do you see yourself a lost, ruined sinner: so lost and so ruined by sin, that no one but the Son of God can restore and save you? Do you believe that He came to save sinners? Is it the desire of your heart, to be saved from ALL sin by Him? If so, you as surely possess a holy faith as you enjoy natural life. And you will get stronger evidence, and greater assurance of it, by using every blessed means to prove that you have this most holy faith, while you build up yourself on it.    (1st.) This will appear to be a holy faith, by leading out your soul after a holy...

"And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD ." -Numbers 14:20, 21 [KJV]   My soul! ponder over this solemn scripture, and observe how truly awful Jehovah is, even in His mercies. Well may it be said to the people of God, "rejoice with trembling." This was a memorable moment in the history of Israel, when the spies returned from searching the promised land. The evil report which the greater number brought back, in denying God's faithfulness, is most solemnly recorded; and the falling carcases in the wilderness, most awfully set forth the divine judgment. And what is unbelief now but the same, aggravated, if possible, to a ten thousand times greater degree of guilt, in denying and disbelieving the record which God hath given of His Son? The apostle saith,  "it is making God a liar,"   I John 5:10 . And John the Baptist confirms the same; and add...

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." - Colossians 3:16 [KJV] This surely means something more than merely reading the word in a careless, formal manner. It is "to dwell in us," that is, take up its firm and lasting abode in our heart, and that "richly;" not poorly and niggardly, but copiously and abundantly, unfolding to us and putting us into possession of the wealth of its treasures; and that in "all wisdom," making us wise to salvation, opening up to us the manifold wisdom of God, and how it displays itself in the great mystery of godliness. Now we shall not attain to this rich and heavenly wisdom unless we search and study the Scriptures with prayer and supplication to understand what the Holy Ghost has revealed therein, and what He is pleased to unfold therefrom of the will and way of God for our own personal instruction and consolation.    We very easily fall off from abiding in Christ; nor can we exp...