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

"Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" -John 4:29 [KJV] Those are sweet and blessed views of the Lord Jesus, which He Himself gives, when, by letting the poor sinner see himself, how wretched he is, and at the same time how glorious the Lord is, and how exactly suited to his wants and necessities, He makes the soul cry out, as this woman of Samaria did, "Is not this the Christ?" For who but Christ can read the heart, and tell all that passeth there? And as she found it, so all taught of Jesus find the same, that every true discovery of Christ must end in condemning ourselves, and exalting the Redeemer. My soul! there are numberless instructions to be gathered from this scripture, and the history connected with it.   Sit down, this evening, in the coolness of the shade, and look at a few of them. The Lord the Holy Ghost will open them to thy meditation. Jesus, we are told, "must needs go through Samaria." Yes...

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."   -I  Peter 1:3 [KJV] The resurrection of Jesus Christ was God's grand attestation to the truth of His divine mission and Sonship, for by it He was "declared to be the Son of God with power." It therefore set a divine stamp upon His sacrifice, bloodshedding, and death, shewed God's acceptance of His offering, and that sin was thus for ever put away.   Now, just think what would have been the dreadful consequences if Christ had not been raised from the dead, or if we had no infallible proofs (Acts 1:3) of His resurrection. There would have been, there could have been no forgiveness of sin (I Corinthians 15:17) ; and therefore, when the conscience became awakened to a sense of guilt and condemnation, there could have been nothing before it but black and gloomy despair. But...

"Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." -Ephesians 3:8 [KJV] My soul, hear what the great apostle to the gentiles speaks of himself. He calls himself "less than the least;" a thing almost impossible in itself; but he doth it with a view to magnify the riches, the exceeding great riches of grace. And in the same moment that he views himself so low and abject, he is lost in amazement at beholding the exalted office to which he was called. So that Paul cries out, "Unto me," a poor, sinful, unworthy creature of the earth, "to me was this grace given!"   My soul, leave for a moment the view of the apostle, and make the subject personal, by looking to a renewed instance of that grace, most freely given, in a case as far surpassing Paul in the greatness and undeservedness of it, as the imagination can conceive. Perhaps every sinner feels the same; this at least is certain, all may well feel the same. But the subject ...

"Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies."   - Psalm 103:4 [KJV] The coronation of a king puts the last and highest seal upon his reigning authority. This made the spouse say, "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold    king    Solomon with the crown wherewith his    mother crowned him in the day of    his espousals, and in the day of    the gladness of his    heart" (Song of Solomon 3:11) .  And what a day will that be when the anti-typical Solomon is crowned Lord of all. Thus there is a crown put upon the soul which is healed of all its diseases, and whose life is redeemed from destruction. It is as if God could not be satisfied till He had put the crown of His lovingkindness upon the soul, until He had Himself crowned the heart with His own love. And what is the effect? The soul puts a crown of glory upon His head. So the soul has the crown of grace, and God has the crown of glory.   Thi...

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise ." -Psalm 57:7 [KJV] My soul! Here is a delightful subject proposed for thine evening meditation, in the fixedness of the heart. The only possible way of really "singing and giving praise to the Lord" with the heart, is when the Lord hath fixed thine heart to the service. Many rush to ordinances, as the unthinking horse rusheth to the battle: not so, my soul, be thy practice. See to it, that He who alone can give a fixedness to the heart, hath fixed thine; for then, when the view of a God in Christ is brought home by the Holy Ghost to thy warmest and most devout affections, then, and not before, will there be a going forth of those affections, awakened and led by the same Almighty Spirit, upon the glorious person of thy Lord, and faith will be in lively exercise, in a way of praise, and love, and obedience, and joy. Then thou wilt sing and give praise "with the spirit, and with the unde...

  The LORD JESUS be magnified! https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=61922158576150

  "For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul."   - Psalm 109:31 [KJV] How cheering, how comforting it is, to have a friend to stand by us when we are in trouble. Such a friend is Jesus. In the hour of necessity, He comes as a friend to stand by the right hand of the poor creature, whose soul is condemned by guilt and accusations. But He stands in a far higher relation than that of a friend; He stands too as a  Surety and a Deliverer . He goes, as it were, into the court; and when the prisoner stands at the bar, He comes forward and stands at his right hand as his surety and bondsman; He brings out of His own bosom the acquittance of the debt signed and sealed with His own blood, He produces it before the eyes of the court, and claims and demands the acquittal and absolution of the prisoner at whose right hand He stands. He stands there, then, that the prisoner may be freely pardoned, and completely justified from those ...