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

“ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus .” - ACTS 4:13 [KJV] Oh! for the grace to rest upon me, as upon those faithful servants of my Lord; that like them, I may manifest the sweet savour of Jesus’ name in every place; wherever I am, with whomsoever I converse, in every state, and upon every occasion, that all may witness for me, and everything bear witness to me, that I have been with Jesus! I would entreat Thee, my honoured Lord, that I may honour Thee so before men, that after my morning visits to Thy throne of grace, my mid-day communion, my evening and nightly fellowship, my return to the society of men might so be distinguished as one that had just been with Jesus. And as it might be supposed, if an angel was to come from heaven that had seen Thy face, and heard Thy voice, and been an eye witness of Thy gl...

"The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." - PROVERBS 27:7 [KJV] Afflictions, trials, and sorrows are very bitter things. And they must needs be bitter, for God never meant that they should be otherwise. When He takes the rod, it is to make it felt; and when He brings trouble on His children, it is that they may smart under it. Our text therefore does not, I believe, mean that the "bitter thing" is sweet when it is taken, for then it would cease to be bitter; but it is sweet on account of the blessed nourishment that is brought to the soul out of it. I remember reading, many years ago, the travels of Franklin to the North Pole; and a very interesting book it is naturally. But there is one incident mentioned in it which just strikes my mind. In wandering over the snows of the circumpolar regions there was no food to be got for days and, I think, weeks, except a lichen or kind of moss that grew upon th...

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." -R OMANS 5:1 [KJV] Peace with God is essential to our salvation and our comfort. I remember seeing signs as a child that said, “ Make Peace With God.” God has been pleased to show me through His word that such a thing is impossible. No sinner can ever make peace with God for himself or anyone else! What we find out when God’s Spirit teaches us the truth of the gospel is that this is a thing already accomplished by Christ . “ And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” [COLOSSIANS 1:20 ] . The Lord Jesus Himself is both the Prince of Peace and the Peace of God. But not only is this peace a thing accomplished by the cross death of Christ, it is also a thing to be experienced by those He died for. He made peace with God through the blood of His c...

"Being made so much better than the angels, as H e hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." - HEBREWS 1:4 [KJV]   Christ was made so much better than the angels, not as the Son of God, because as that He was better than they already, being, indeed, their Maker and Creator. Nor did He become God's Son by being appointed “heir of all things," and "obtaining by inheritance a more excellent name" than all the angelic host. If I have an only son, and he inherits my property, his being my heir does not make him my son, but his being my son makes him my heir. So the blessed Jesus is God's heir. But the beauty and blessedness, the grace and glory, the joy and consolation of His being "the heir of all things," lie in this, that He is such in our nature,—that the same blessed Immanuel who groaned and wept, suffered and bled here below, is now at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest, Mediator, Advocat...

When your faith endures many conflicts, and your spirit sinks low, do not condemn yourself. There is a reason for your season of heaviness. Great soldiers are not made without war. Skillful sailors are not trained on the shore. It appears that if you are to become a great believer, you will be greatly tested. If you are to be a great help to others, you must pass through their trials. If you are to be instructed in the things of the kingdom, you must learn from experience. The uncut diamond has little brilliance, and the unthreshed corn feeds no one, and the untried believer is of little use or beauty. There are GREAT BENEFITS to come from your trials and depression. The one who is much plowed and often harrowed will thank God if the result is a larger harvest to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ. If your face is now covered with sorrow, the time will come when you will bless God for that sorrow. The day will come when you will see great gain from your los...

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life ." - JOHN 11:25 [KJV]   How often we sink into places where we are in our feelings dead men. Has sin never slain you? Have convictions never, so to speak, knocked the life of God out of your soul? Has Satan never come with his fiery darts, with all the artillery of hell, and sought to scorch up every gracious feeling and every living desire? And have you not sunk at times in your soul into such miserable deadness of spirit, that it seemed that not only there and then you were devoid of all grace, but that it was an impossibility for grace ever again to renew and revive your soul? Here you were dead. I have often been here, which enables me to describe it to you. Yet with all this, there is a longing look, a heartfelt groan, a heaving sigh, a resisting unto blood, not an utter giving way, nor sinking down into miserable despair. God the Spirit kept alive His work upon the soul, and Christ Himself as the res...

“ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” - II TIMOTHY 4:2-3 [KJV] Paul predicted the time would come when people would not receive the gospel of grace, but, motivated by carnal desires, they would seek out, find and listen to those preachers whose objective is to tell folks what they want to hear. Surely the season about which Paul prophesied has arrived. The philosophy of consumerism has been carried over from the marketplace into churches. The rule of the day among false religionists is demand and supply; whatever the congregation demands, that’s what lying prophets are ready to supply. The average preacher may be likened to a shrewd businessman; he is consumer oriented and motivated by personal success. His job is to discover what religious customers want a...