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

  "Yet a little while, and the world seeth M e no more; but ye see M e: because I live, ye shall live also." - J OHN 14:19 [KJV] Communion with Christ rests on three things—seeing Him by faith, living upon His life, and experiencing His manifested presence. But all these three things depend on His resurrection and a knowledge of its power. As risen from the dead, the saints see Him; as risen from the dead, they live a life of faith upon Him; as risen from the dead, He manifests Himself unto them; and as life and feeling spring up in their souls from sweet communion with Him, the power of His resurrection becomes manifest in them. This communion, therefore, with the Lord Jesus as a risen Head all the reconciled and justified saints of God are pressing forward after, according to the measure of their grace and the life and power of God in their soul. It is indeed often sadly interrupted and grievously broken through by the sin that dwelleth in us. But the principle...

The seventeenth chapter of the gospel of John is saturated with giving. The Father has given the Son "power over all flesh." That ability and authority is His to "give eternal life." Eternal life is made sure because Christ "finished the work that Thou gavest M e to do." Then Christ says, "I have given them Thy word." It is a word of giving, the Word of the grace of God. All things given by God in Christ. Then He says, "And the glory which Thou gavest M e I have given them." "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given M e be with M e where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou has given M e: for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world." But in verse six is the highlight of God's amazing grace. "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which thou gavest M e out of the world: T hine they were, and THOU GAVEST THEM ME: and they have kept Thy word." God has given to His Son a pe...

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." -P ROVERBS 17:17 [KJV]   If I may use the expression, we want not a dead but a living, not an absent but a present, not a once but a now Jesus; we want a friend at the right hand of God at the present moment; an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and yet pitiful and loving Mediator between God and us; an interceding High Priest, Surety, and Representative in our nature in the courts of heaven, Who can shew mercy and compassion to us now upon earth: "Whose heart is made of tenderness, Whose bowels melt with love." Our wants make us feel this. Our sins and sorrows give us perpetual errands to the throne. This vale of tears is ever before our eyes, and thorns and briars are perpetually springing up in it that rend and tear our flesh. We want a real friend. Have you not sometimes tossed to and fro upon your weary couch, and almost cried aloud, "O that I had a friend!" You ...

Most would agree that Jesus of Nazareth was a good man, but that does not set forth the full truth about Him. He was not merely a good man, but the only good man who has ever lived for He is the Son of God incarnate. None but God is good - Jesus Christ is God; none but man could suffer, bleed and die - Jesus Christ is man. He alone was qualified to endure the law’s curse and save His people from their sins. There are many who do not curse His Name nor say harsh things about Him. They do, however, have inferior thoughts of His person and work, refuse to look to Him for righteousness and seek to establish their own righteousness by their efforts. Though they speak of His goodness, they fall woefully short of truly honoring Him and giving Him the worship He has earned by His successful substitutionary atonement upon the cross. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man w hose obedience unto death satisfied divine justice and enabled God to be the just Savior of every sinner in wh...

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when H e shall appear, we shall be like H im; for we shall see H im as H e is ." - I J OHN 3:2 [KJV]   What Christ is to the Church, what the Church is to Christ, can never be really known till time gives place to eternity, faith to sight, and hope to enjoyment. Nor even then, however beyond all present conception the powers and faculties of the glorified souls and bodies of the saints may be expanded, however conformed to the glorious image of Christ, or however ravished with the discoveries of His glory and the sight of Him as He is in one unclouded day,—no, not even then, will the utmost stretch of creature love, or highest refinement of creature intellect, wholly embrace or fully comprehend that love of Christ, which, as in time so in eternity, "passeth knowledge," as being in itself essentially incomprehensible, because infinite and divine. Who ...

"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" - J OHN 6:67-69 [KJV] As it was with Peter and the rest of the disciples, so it is with all sensible sinners and true believers who see THERE IS NO OTHER TO GO TO FOR LIFE AND SALVATION, BUT CHRIST ; not to the law of Moses, which accuses, curses, and condemns, and by which there is neither life nor righteousness; nor to any creature, or creature performance, for there is a curse on him that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm; nor to their own righteousness, which is impure and imperfect, and cannot justify before God nor answer for them in a time to come; nor to their tears of repentance, which will not satisfy the law, atone for sins, or wash them away; nor to carnal descent, birth privileges, a religious education, sobr...

Augustus Toplady was bold in his opposition of the false doctrine held by John Wesley. Wesley preached a salvation conditioned upon the sinner’s cooperation with God. He embraced free-willism and staunchly opposed the gospel of sovereign grace. In one of his letters to Wesley, Toplady chided him: " Canvass the points of doctrine wherein we differ, as strictly as you can. They will stand the test. They scorn disguise. Truth, like our first parents in the state of innocence, can show herself naked without being either afraid or ashamed: and he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." My friends, the truth of God will stand inspection; it will bear up under scrutiny. In fact, truth, when closely examined, sparkles more brilliantly to the glory of God’s grace. Consider the intricate details of the gospel of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ and you will find all of the divine attributes to be active...