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

Great God! Thy glory and Thy love Our humble songs employ In mercy from Thy throne above Look down and cause our joy.   Thy presence and Thy glory, Lord Fill all the realms of space O let Thy presence, by Thy word Divinely fill this place.   This hymn begins the solemn sound Of holy worship here May ev’ry saint with joy abound And reverential fear. Eternal Spirit! Heav’nly Dove! Descend and fill this place Reveal the Saviour’s matchless love The wonders of His grace!  -Gospel hymn, "O For A Thousand Tongues"     “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The freedom of the believer is just what it is declared to be – entire exemption from  condemnation. From all which that word of significant and solemn import implies, he is, by his relation to Christ, delivered. Sin does not condemn him, the law does not condemn him, the curse does not condemn him, hell does not condemn him, God does not condemn him. He is und...

As the Word, Christ has made manifest the invisible God. As the Word, Christ has communicated to us the life and love of God. As the Word, Christ reveals the attributes and perfections of God. In Christ, and nowhere else, is God fully and finally told out. —copied   -------0-------  The business of the Law is to knock us down from the pedestal of self-confidence, and to grind us small; as Moses ground to powder, and dispersed the materials of the Israelitish idol. The business of Grace is to lift us from the dust, to settle us upon Christ the Rock of ages, to put a new  song of free salvation into our mouths. —Augustus Toplady   -------0-------  Christ compared spiritual error to leaven. A baker would never prepare bread completely of leaven; none would eat it. It is only when a little leaven is added and baked with the dough to make a loaf that men readily consume the bread. Skillful false prophets often mix a small amount of heresy  with lots of truth. Un...

 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” -Hebrews 11:6 [KJV]  To seek, to know, and to worship God rightfully is to seek, know, and worship Him by God-given faith as He reveals Himself in the glorious Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Christ that God reveals Himself AS HE IS as opposed to what unbelieving sinners think of Him. It is through Christ that sinners approach God and find the reward that Christ Himself earned for them by His righteousness, the merits of His obedience unto death.  Without this faith that looks to and rests solely in Christ as the Author and Finisher of our faith and as the only way of salvation, it is utterly impossible for sinners to please God Who is holy and righteous and Who must condemn all sinners to whom sin is charged. All who are saved by grace, evidenced by God-given faith in Christ,...

"A million torches cannot shew us the sun.  It can only be seen by its own light.  Nor can all the natural reason in the world discover, either what God is or what worship He expects, without divine and supernatural revelation from Himself." -Arrowsmith

"...and killed the Prince of life."   -Acts 3:15 [KJV]   O dreadful effects of the fall of man! We are not only become enemies to God, and rebels against Him, but are also, so ignorant of ourselves, and so blind to our own state, that we do not see this: we will not own it. An enemy to God! What, to that good and gracious Lord, in whom I live, move, and have my being? I cannot think, that any one upon earth can be so wicked, as to be an enemy to God. Such is the language of blind nature. Thou that utterest it, art the man. Yea, such is the enmity of thine, of every man’s nature against God, that were it possible and in our power we should kill God.    Start (- don't be startled ) not at the thought. Horrid as it is, here is proof of it. God was manifest in the flesh. How was He received? How was He treated by sinful man? Let the annals of His holy life, speak the base contempt and hellish treatment He met with from man. Let the history of His painful an...

"Elect, according to fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." -I Peter 1:2 [KJV]   Of all blessings, surely this is the highest, and the best, which holds forth to a poor sinner the assurance of redemption, as the united result of the love, grace, and mercy of all the persons in the Godhead. My soul, pause over the glorious truth, and sweetly mark the testimony of each cooperating and acting together in the great work of salvation. Behold thy God and Father setting apart, from all eternity, the chosen vessels of mercy, foreknowing and fore-appointing every event, in His own counsel, purpose, and will. What a blessed thought, in the mind of the redeemed, is this, to live upon, to cherish, and keep alive in the soul, from day to day, to call up the unceasing fruits of adoration, love, duty, and praise, in grace here, and in glory to all eternity.    Go on, my soul, t...

"Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." -Jeremiah 31:12 [KJV]   Until the redeemed know something of the efficacy of atoning blood and have their consciences purged from guilt and filth by its application, they cannot come and sing in the height of Zion. But when they are redeemed from the hand of Him who is stronger than they; when atoning blood is applied to their consciences to purge away guilt and filth; when Christ is revealed and made experimentally known; when His gospel in the hands of the Spirit becomes a word of power, and a view of the King in His beauty is granted to the believing heart, then, drawn by the cords of love and the bands of a man, they come to Zion, where the King sits enthroned in glory.    It is called "the height of Zion," not only because Zion was high literally, but because the Lord of life and glory is exalted to the highest place of dignity and power. God's ancient promise was, "Behold, My s...