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

"Howbeit when H e, the Spirit of truth, is come, H e will guide you into all truth: for H e shall not speak of H imself; but whatsoever H e shall hear, that shall H e speak: and H e will shew you things to come." -John 16:13 [KJV] There are two grand lessons to be learnt in the school of Christ, and all divine teaching is comprehended and summed up in them. One is, to learn, by the Spirit's teaching, what we are by nature; so as to see and feel the utter ruin and thorough wreck of self, and the complete beggary, weakness, and helplessness of the creature in the things of God. This is the first grand branch of divine teaching. And we have to learn this lesson day by day, "line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" [Isaiah 28:10] . Through this branch of divine teaching we have almost daily to wade, and sometimes to sink into very painful depths under a sense of our depraved nature. And the other grand branch of divine teaching is, ...

"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" -Isaiah 2:22 [KJV] With all the political advertising of the present hour, dividing the opinions of men and women between the various candidates, there is something God's people are to remember: There is no help in man! How can men help us who are ignorant of the most basic truth about men? That being, we are everyone basically evil! Not basically good as most imagine but sinners. A sinner cannot really help another sinner. Our life's breath is given to us by God one breath at a time. All true help must come from God alone. Plus, the greatest need of a sinner is a Savior from their sins. There's only One, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who has saved all His people from their sins. He's the One and His cross death is what God appointed: “ I have laid help upon One that is mighty ; I have exalted One chosen out of the people ” [ Psalm 89:19 ] . This co...

To exalt the Lord Jesus, to comfort His beloved people, and to benefit our fellow-men-- should be the great object of our lives. For this purpose we were . . .   chosen by the Father,   redeemed by the blood of the Son,   and are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To accomplish this end . . .   grace is given us,   gifts are conferred upon us,   and life is continued to us. We only live consistently --as we live for the benefit of others. No Christian should make SELF his main end; therefore the apostle says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."   If we are influenced by the grace of God, if we study to commend ourselves to God, if we are ruled by the Word of God-- our principal object will be, to "do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Upon this, we shall keep the eye steadily fixed, toward this, we shall bend all our energies, and upon this, w...

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 5:21 [KJV] This is the mercy for mourning saints who are sighing and groaning under a body of sin and death, that God has decreed that grace not only may reign, but that it must reign. Were it left to us, we could no more rescue ourselves from the dominion of sin than the children of Israel could deliver themselves from the house of Egyptian bondage. But they sighed and groaned by reason of the bondage, and their cry came up unto God. He had respect unto His covenant, and looked upon them and delivered them [ Exodus 2:23-25 ] . So God has determined on behalf of His people that sin shall not be their eternal ruin; that it shall not plunge them into crime after crime, until it casts them at last into the gulf of endless woe, but that grace "shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life."   But it must reign here as w...

A wealthy and philanthropic individual visits Algiers and approaches a dungeon in which a wretched captive lies bound with chains and fetters, and strongly secured within walls and doors and bars. He proclaims aloud to the captive that he has brought gold sufficient for a ransom, on condition that the captive will liberate himself from his chains, burst open his prison doors and come forth. 'Alas,' exclaims the wretched man, 'your kindness does not reach my case. Unless your gold can effect my deliverance, it can be of no service to me. To offer it on such terms can do me no good.' Now man by nature is spiritually as unable to believe in Christ, as the Algerian captive is physically unable to break his chains and the prison doors; so that all this boasted sufficiency of the atonement is only an empty offer of salvation on certain terms and conditions; and such an atonement would be much too weak to meet the desperate case of a lost sinner. But how differe...

"He that hath received H is testimony hath set to his seal that God is true ." -John 3:33 [KJV] We can only set to our seal that God is true in any one point of doctrine, experience, or precept when we feel an inward witness that God indeed has declared it. Thus, upon every manifestation of God's goodness to the soul, every application of Christ's blood to the conscience, and every revelation of God's distinguishing grace, it is only as we receive Christ's testimony, experience the inward approbation of it, and feel its sweetness and blessedness that we can set to our seal that God is true. This, we may be well assured, is the only way to know the power and reality of true religion, to understand the Scriptures, and enjoy a convincing testimony that God is our God, Christ our Saviour, the Holy Ghost our Teacher, heaven our eternal home, and that our soul is saved in the Lord Jesus Christ with an everlasting salvation . And with what divine certainty can...

"Faith looks neither to works, nor worthiness in self, but considers what Christ is to the soul, and what the soul is in Him- righteous, perfectly and everlastingly righteous. Then joy, GREAT JOY, springs up. See the claim of faith in My God, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridgroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels" (Isaiah 61:10). Faith does not cause the Lord to become our God, nor adopt us into His family, but it claims that peculiar and precious interest in Him, which the word of His grace reveals. The Father draws us by His Spirit, to His Son as our righteousness. The Spirit bears witness that we are righteous in His Son. Then faith makes the claim, boasts of it, and glories in it. Then Jesus has our hearts and our hopes. Our affections are placed on Him, our hopes cen...