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

THE WORK OF THE SOVEREIGN SPIRIT        Believing the gospel is no small thing.  The message of salvation altogether by grace conditioned upon the merits and work of the Son of God is offensive to the natural man because it declares the inability of man to save himself.   It proclaims that redemption has been obtained, reconciliation has been accomplished and righteousness has been brought in for all of God’s elect by the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ .  When God the Holy Spirit comes to a spiritually dead sinner, He finds in that poor rebel nothing with which to work.  The sinner’s mind is enmity against God, his heart as adamant stone toward the truth and his will set in opposition to the divine will.     The Spirit must quicken the dead, break down the rebellion, convince of sin, grant repentance from dead works and faith in Jesus Christ and seal upon the heart and conscience of the newly regenerated ...

“Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O LORD.  Lord, hear my voice: let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.”   -Psalm 130:1-3 [KJV]   -------O-------   ALL GLORY TO GOD   TUNE TO “THERE IS A FOUNTAIN”     CM/DOUBLE      WORDS BY JIM BYRD   All glory to the Father’s Name, Who from our sinful race; Chose out a people to proclaim, The wonders of His grace. All glory to the Son be made, Who dwelt in human clay; By His own blood our debt was paid, And sin was washed away.   All glory to the Spirit give, Who at the chosen hour; In mercy calls to sinners “Live!” How mighty is His pow’r. All glory to the Trinity, All thankfulness and praise; Now and throughout eternity, To everlasting days! -------O-------               ...

"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness."   -Romans 8:10 [KJV]   St. Paul was an experimental teacher. He applies himself to the heart. He appeals to the conscience. He aims to quicken and animate the soul, and to draw out the affections to Christ, from what it had inwardly experienced of divine grace. O Christians, let this be your study when you meet and talk together. Yea, often do as David did. Converse freely with your own soul. If Christ be in you., that is, if He dwell in your heart by faith. If you have an inward approbation of Him, delight in Him, and love to Him in your heart: if you believe in Him as the Son of God, anointed by the Holy Ghost, to be the only Redeemer, Justifier, and Saviour of perishing sinners— what then? I will tell you, says the apostle, what will be the experience of your heart.    (1st.) “The body is dead because of sin.” You will find, and groan under the weight of a dea...

"Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." -P salm 76:4 [KJV]   My soul, the more thou turnest over the word of God in inquiries after thy Beloved, the more writ thou be astonished at the relation given of Him in His excellency and glory. By every thing that can represent the adorable Redeemer, in His beauty, loveliness, grace, fulness, and all-sufficiency, whether considered in His absolute, His comparative, His relative, or His official glory, or in His glory as the Head of His body, the church, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all; thou art constrained, with the church to cry out at every view, "Yea, He is altogether lovely; the chief among ten thousand." There is somewhat particularly striking to this amount in this verse for thine evening portion: "Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." Yes! it must be so: for when the soul hath found Jesus, like the merchant-man seeking goodly pearls, having...

"But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city." -Hebrews 11:16 [KJV]   In desiring a better country these ancient pilgrims wanted something heavenly, something that tasted of God, savoured of God, smelt of God, and was given of God; a heavenly religion, a spiritual faith, a gracious hope, and a love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost; something which came from heaven and led to heaven; which gave heavenly feelings, heavenly sensations, heavenly delights, and heavenly joys, whereby the heart was purified from the love of sin, carnality, and worldliness by having something sweeter to taste, better to love, and more holy to enjoy. It is these heavenly visitations, droppings in of the favour, goodness, and mercy of God, which keep the soul alive in its many deaths, sweeten it amidst its many bitters, hold it up amidst its many sinkings, and keep it from being drowned ...