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

Divine Sovereignty: There is no doctrine more comforting to a self-condemned sinner than this: that Salvation is of the LORD . And yet, this same truth unsettles a man, until he has nothing left to stand on. As long as he imagines there is something in himself to distinguish him, something that makes him more worthy than another, sovereignty will feel harsh, even offensive. But when he is brought low, stripped of every imagined distinction, and sees his own wretchedness without excuse, what once troubled him becomes his only hope. For if salvation rests in God’s sovereign will, then it does not rest in anything found in him. For that reason, this doctrine is either deeply offensive or deeply comforting, depending on whether a man still trusts himself, or has come to see that he has nothing at all. Sovereignty is not an abstract truth to be weighed and considered at a distance, but the very ground of a salvation that brings a man to the end of himself and shuts him up - n...

     The old gospel preachers took as their essentials, "The scriptures alone, grace alone, and CHRIST ALONE." What did they mean, "CHRIST ALONE"? I believe it was Isaac Watts who wrote: "Christ as our Mediator stands  Between our souls and God;  Upon both parties lays His hands,  Presenting His precious blood.  Christ is my rock; on Him I build My life,  my hope, my all; His promise shall be  fulfilled; He will not let me fall." All spiritual blessings that the sovereign, gracious God has for sinners are IN our Lord Jesus Christ, BY the merits and blood of our Lord, and FOR the glory of our Redeemer. Simply put, CHRIST IS SALVATION ! It is Christ, not the cross, who saves. It is Christ, not the church, who justifies. It is Christ, not my faith, nor my confession, nor my profession, who unites me to God. It is the Master, not the mother, who is our Mediator. It is His blood that cleanses, His obedience that sanctifies, His lov...

"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father."   -Revelation 1:6 [KJV]   Christ has done a great work for us. But does He only call us to believe it, and then leave us just as we were, under the dominion of sin, Satan, and the world? No. He not only washes us from our sins, which He hates, in His blood, but He also dignifies our person, which He loves, by His power. Hail Jesus, lavish of strange gifts to man! Thine all the glory; man’s the boundless bliss. O miracle of grace! Christ hath made us kings and priests.    (1st.) Kings to rule over sin, the world, death, and hell. Sin brought death into the world. Death reigned over all that sinned. “But they who receive abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life, by one Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17.) O believer, do not you too often forget your real dignity? Then you do not honour your King of kings. Consider, you are made a king to reign in life. A spiritual life, ov...

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law doth he meditate day and night." -Psalm 1:1, 2 [KJV]   It is blessed to read every portion of scripture which speaketh of perfection in our nature, as referring to the person of the God-man Christ Jesus; and then, from our union with Him, and interest in Him, to mark our connection as His people, and our concern in all that is said or written of Him. In the book of Psalms, particularly, there are numberless passages, which say that of holiness, which can be said of none among the fallen sons of men with the smallest shadow of truth.   Who is the man, and where to be found, that hath never walked in the counsel of the ungodly; nor yet, which is more than walking, hath stood, as one not distressed at it, in the way of sinners; nor yet sat down, which is worse tha...

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -I John 1:9 [KJV]   Has the Lord made sin your burden? Has He ever made you feel guilty before Him? Has He ever pressed down your conscience with a sight and sense of your iniquities, your sins, your backslidings? And does the Lord draw, from time to time, honest, sincere, unreserved confession of those sins out of your lips? What does the Holy Ghost say to you? What has the blessed Spirit recorded for your instruction, and for your consolation? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Not merely on a footing of mercy; still less because you confess them. It is not your confessing them, but it is thus—your confessing them is a mark of divine light; your confessing them springs from the work of grace upon your heart.    If, then, you possess divine life, if you have grace in your soul, you are a child of G...