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

All people are ignorant of something. To be ignorant is to be without knowledge and understanding of something. The scientist may have great knowledge in many areas but he may be ignorant as to how his car works or how to fix it. But there is a common and very deadly ignorance that we abide in and bear witness of apart from the grace and power of God upon us. Paul confessed it and attributed his deliverance from it to God’s grace alone. Before Christ coming to him in His saving power, he was an educated, religious and moral man who trusted in his own works of religion, nationality and morality to commend him to God. But when God revealed Christ to and in Paul, he says, “ I was before a blasphemer” and trusted my own works of righteousness “ ignorantly in unbelief” [I TIMOTHY 1:13 ] . The unbelief he spoke of was ignorance of God’s truth. Ignorance of Christ who is the Truth. We are ignorant of the most important things when we are ignorant of who God is, what...

"My people are bent to backsliding from M e." -H OSEA 11:7 [KJV] What an awful error it is to deny backsliding! What ignorance it manifests of a man's own heart! How it stamps a man as a perverter of truth, and one that trifles with sin and the displeasure of the Most High! Who that knows himself and the idolatry of his fallen nature, dares deny that he backslides perpetually in heart, lip, or life? Can any of us deny that we have backslidden from our first love? backslidden from simplicity and godly sincerity, backslidden from reverence and godly fear, backslidden from spirituality and heavenly-mindedness, backslidden from the breathings of affection and pouring forth of the heart into the bosom of the Lord? And if we have not been suffered to backslide into open sin, if the Lord has kept us, and not suffered us to be cast down into the mire, yet have we not committed that twofold evil which the Lord charges upon His people: "They have forsaken M e, the fo...

"They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" -M ATTHEW 9:12 [KJV] A physician is useless without a case; and the deeper the case, the wiser and better physician we need. Thus a guilty conscience is a case for atoning blood, a wounded spirit for healing balm, a filthy garment for a justifying robe, a drowning wretch for an Almighty hand, a criminal on the gallows for a full pardon, an incurable disease for a heavenly physician, and a sinner sinking into hell for a Saviour stooping down from heaven. A man with a real case must have a real salvation. He is no longer to be cheated, deluded, and tricked with pretences, as a nervous patient is sometimes cured with bread pills; but he must have a real remedy as having a real disease. Christ in the Bible, Christ sitting as an unknown Saviour in the heavens, Christ afar off, unmanifested and unrevealed, is no Christ to him. "Near, near; let H im come near; in my heart, in my soul, revealed i...

Suppose a poor sinner under the awakenings of grace, and by the leadings of the Holy Ghost, from the conviction of sin, comes forth with the anxious question, what must I do to be saved? And, suppose, that instead of the immediate answer Paul gave to this same question, when put to him by the Jailor at Philippi, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house” [ A CTS 26:30-31 ] . Suppose, that a preacher should direct such an one to his repentings and reformings, to his amendments, and tears, and prayers, telling him to hope that Christ will do the rest, when he hath done his best? What a trifling would this be with an alarmed sinner under his soul distresses? And what could charity herself say of all such preachers, but as Job did of those pretended friends of his when they read to him such reproving lectures on his dunghill, “ Miserable comforters are ye all!” [JOB 16:2 ] .  Oh! how sweet doth God the Spirit preach Christ in Hi...

Though troubles assail us and dangers affright, though friends should all fail us and foes all unite, yet one thing secures us, whatever betide, the promise assures us, “The Lord will provide.” The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed; from them let us learn to trust God for our bread. His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied so long as ‘tis written, “The Lord will provide.” When Satan assails us to stop up our path, and courage all fails us, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried, this heart-cheering promise, “The Lord will provide.” No strength of our own and no goodness we claim; yet, since we have known of the Savior’s great name, in this our strong tower for safety we hide: the Lord is our power, “The Lord will provide.” Author: John Newton To the tune of, "O Worship the King"

"And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." - I CORINTHIANS 3:23 [KJV] "Christ is God's." These are remarkable words, and need to be carefully and reverently opened up. The fulness of the mystery is beyond our grasp. Still, we may attempt to look at it in faith and godly fear. How, then, is Christ God's? First, He is God's Son—not a Son by covenant or by office; in other words, not a nominal, but a true and proper Son—a Son by nature, by His eternal mode of subsistence as a Person in the Godhead. "This is M y beloved Son" was twice proclaimed by God the Father with an audible voice from heaven. Second, but He is also God's servant. "Behold M y servant whom I uphold" [ISAIAH 42:1 ] . "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be M y servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob" [ISAIAH 49:6 ] , and this He was as Messiah. But because He is by office God's servant, He is not less by nature God's S...

“ Who would not fear Thee, O King of nations? for to Thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto Thee .” - JEREMIAH 10:7 [KJV]   How reasonable it is, that this glorious Being, whose greatness is unsearchable, should be regarded with feelings of the profoundest reverence. It is, indeed, His due, and as such He claims it from all His creatures. “ The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes ” [ P SALM 36:1 ] . To have no fear of God before their eyes is at once the greatest injustice, and the most unutterable folly. All who have the impudence to lift up their puny arms in rebellion against Him, are engaged in a conflict, which, if persisted in, is sure to terminate in their utter destruction. Think of His incomprehensible greatness and majesty. Think of Him as the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity--the heavens His th...