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

"He hath CHOSEN US IN HIM before the foundation of the world." - E phesians 1:4 [ KJ V] So the apostles wrote and preached, to comfort and establish their brethren in the faith of Christ, in the love of God, and in the sanctification of the Spirit unto all true holiness. The election of sinners, by God the Father in Christ Jesus, from all eternity, is the foundation from which all faith and hope spring . If this truth is rejected, the atonement of Jesus is made precarious, the work of the Spirit uncertain, salvation doubtful, faith void, the promise of none effect, and the hope of eternal life is made to depend on the will and power of weak and vile sinners, instead of the grace and truth of God. But in every age, men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, have opposed God's sovereign grace, everlasting love, and eternal purposes. God hath suffered it, "that they which are approved may be made manifest among you" (I Cor inthians 11:19 ) . H...

Nothing in all the world is more foolish, more debasing to humanity, more dishonoring to God, and more assuredly condemning to the souls of men and women than idolatry. Without question, idolatry takes many forms , from the worship of false gods, to the use of images in the worship of God (Ex odus 32:4-5) , to the making of imaginary images and pictures of angels, saints, or Jesus (Ex odus 20:4) , to the placing of spiritual value upon religious relics (II Kings 18:4) , to the wearing of crosses for jewelry, to covetousness. However, the most subtle and abominable form of idolatry in the world is that which Paul calls "WILL WORSHIP" , the worship of one's self, attributing to self the work of God (see Col ossians 2:23) . All who attribute salvation, in whole or in part, to the will, work, or worth of man are idolaters. They worship themselves. Any who believe that the determining factor in salvation is the will of man, the work of man, or the worth of man ...

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." -John 3:6 [KJV]   There is no promise made that we shall be set free in this life from the in-being and the in-working of sin. Many think that they are to become progressively holier and holier, that sin after sin is to be removed gradually out of the heart, until at last they are almost made perfect in the flesh. But this is an idle dream, and one which, sooner or later in the case of God's people, will be rudely and roughly broken to pieces. Nature will ever remain the same; and we shall ever find that the flesh will lust against the spirit. Our Adam nature is corrupt to the very core.    It cannot be mended, it cannot be sanctified, it is at the last what it was at the first, inherently evil, and as such will never cease to be corrupt till we put off mortality, and with it the body of sin and death. All we can hope for, long after, expect and pray for, is, that t...

“ The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.” - Psalm 64:10 [KJV] In what way is a man made righteous before God? I answer; he is not made so by any good works proceeding from himself, by his prayers, duties, and obedience, or by his faith and love to the Lord. God has made him righteous in His own way; and He has revealed it in the word of His grace . There we find that He has in sovereign mercy and discriminating grace, imputed to and laid upon the beloved Surety all the sin and transgression of His chosen inheritance, and transferred to them all the obedience, righteousness, and holiness of His beloved Son, placing it to their account as their justification; and here it is that they are exclusively righteous before God. “ Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” ( I Cor inthians 1:30) . So nothing belonging to ...

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." - II Peter 1:19 [KJV]   The "sure word of prophecy" is the mind of God revealed in the Scripture of truth. This is compared to "a light shining in a dark place." This "dark place" is the heart of man, and a dark place it is; and the light shining in the dark place is when the Spirit of God pours His own heavenly light into the dark heart. The Spirit of God works by the word of God. He makes use of the Scriptures of truth, by means of these blessed Scriptures to communicate light. There is no light in the Scriptures themselves; they cannot teach a man to profit, that being God's prerogative. They are a dead letter, nothing but a collection of words and syllables; there is no light in them, no, not a particle, but what the Spirit of ...

“ We will be glad and rejoice in T hee” -Song of Solomon 1:4 [KJV] Sweet are the tunes of love in this most unusual book. First, it expresses the love of Solomon and his wife. Secondly, it typifies the love between Christ and His church. Consider, as the church speaks to her Beloved. “ WE” – Here are the chosen, redeemed and called-out ones. We have “ tasted that the Lord is gracious” ( I Peter 2:3) . We continue to make our “ calling and election sure” ( II Peter 1:10) . We rest in the truth that He is not willing “ that any should perish, but that all [of us] should come to repentance ” ( II Peter 3:9) . “ WILL” – Jesus spoke to His lost generation saying , “y e will not come to M e” (John 5:40) . When the day of His power came to us, we couldn’t resist coming to Him (Psalm 110: 3 ) . We have our lamentations, troubles and woes, but still we will come. The coming is continuous, as Peter said, “to W hom coming” ( I Pet er 2:4) .We are resolved t...

It is an astounding thing that such a sinner as I could ever call the justice of God my friend. God is infinitely and unchangeably holy. I know that. Also, He is just and His justice is inflexible, the same for all as it pertains to sin. He must and He will punish all sin. Being a sinner, there is no way that I in myself could ever look at divine justice with anything but absolute terror and fear! Having made myself an enemy to God, I became a fugitive from His justice. At least that’s what I thought for a good portion of my life. What I didn’t know and what I found out at His appointed time, was that He had already dealt with the matter of my sins. He had already dealt with them justly , satisfying His justice by demanding the full penalty of them against Another. He had in grace appointed a Substitute for me, the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God had become Surety for me. He had assumed all the responsibility for my sins before I was even born. God had been ...