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

" He shall glorify Me." —John 16:14 [KJV] The gospel of Jesus is suited to our indigent state and distressed circumstances; but we are averse to receive the truth in the love of it, because of our loftiness of spirit and pride of heart. A system that tends to exalt and glorify us in our own eyes and in the sight of others, we are naturally very fond of. This notion sticks close to us, we do not easily part with it. To imagine ourselves possessed of some inherent good dispositions and amiable tempers, which put us upon more respectable terms in the sight of God, and gain His favor, this we are apt to mistake for the work of the Spirit upon the heart.  But as this notion leads from the faith and hope of the gospel, opposeth the glory of Jesus, lays another foundation than that which God hath laid, and tends to plume the creature with pride and vanity, we are taught to reject it as a spirit of Antichrist and delusion. This God severely reproves His church of old f...

" For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." —Romans 5:10 [KJV] Near twenty years ago, upon hearing a certain preacher vehemently assert, "that souls might be justified by faith in Jesus, and yet afterwards burn in hell," my soul was brought into great darkness, perplexity, and distress. Glory to my dear Lord, by this very text He again restored light, peace, and joy to my soul, and clearly taught and comfortably established me in the scriptural doctrine of the certain perseverance of all God's saints to eternal glory . I record this to the praise of our dear Lord, and to the comfort of His people.  "If when we were enemies:" —to whom? Our worst foe, Satan? No: but to our best Friend, God: the God of our salvation; to Jesus our God and Saviour; to God the Spirit our sanctifier; to the gospel of His grace, and word of our salvation. O, what a...

" Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ." —Romans 6:11 [KJV] There is a death IN sin which we are all naturally under. There is a death FOR sin; this our dear Saviour (we can never think of it too much, nor mention it too often) suffered for on the tree. And there is a death UNTO sin, which every believing member of Jesus partakes of, by virtue of union to Him. For when Jesus died for sin on the cross, all His members were mystically considered in Him, and dying in Him, as their covenant Head and Representative, unto sin. And, by communion with Jesus, the same Spirit which raised up Jesus the head, dwells in the mortal bodies of His believing members, quickening them to newness of life.  From hence the apostle would have such reckon, infer, or conclude themselves "to be dead indeed unto sin." And on the same account, and for the same reason, "alive unto God, through Jesus Christ." No...

" Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." —Matthew 5:3 [KJV] In the day of the Spirit's power "the lofty looks of man are humbled, the haughtiness of man is bowed down, and the L ORD alone is exalted in that day ." —Isaiah 2:11 . Then a man's own righteousness, wherein he trusted, is seen as filthy rags. His strength he boasted of, is found to be perfect weakness; his heart, in which he gloried as good, is found to be deceitful and desperately wicked. Then he becomes in his own eyes a POOR SINNER. He knows his poverty; he feels his wretchedness. Thus, when Jesus alone is exalted in his sight, he becomes little, vile, and mean in his own eyes; then he is poor in spirit, a mere BEGGAR, who must be wholly indebted to free-grace bounty and free-gift mercy.  Though he sees his state to be guilty, wretched, and desperate, yet he is blessed: Why so? Merely because he sees and knows himself to be wretched, poor, miserable...

Jesus, Not Just a Man by D.G. Miles McKee It’s not enough to believe that, as one preacher said, ‘Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connection or other with salvation.’ What a ridiculous statement.  The poor man had no clue about the Gospel and Christ’s Finished Work.  He and his congregation were going nowhere.  Why?  Because real faith, gospel faith, comes through the unadulterated preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:17). As the gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit generates faith. And genuine faith will cause us to embrace that God became a man. Not only did He become a man, He became our Man.  Faith sees that the God-Man, Christ Jesus, became our representative … the one who acted on our behalf.  Faith now causes us to say, “When He lived, I lived, when He died, I died and when He rose again, I rose again.” When the gospel is proclaimed and applied, faith sees we were in Christ when everything was redemp...

" The L ORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." —Psalm 23:1 [KJV] All comfort is derived to the soul from the knowledge of what Jehovah is to us. This we know by the word of truth, and enjoy in the sweet exercise of faith. "I am the good shepherd , " saith Jesus— John 10:11 . Thou art MY shepherd, says the believing soul. Thus, whatever office or character Jesus sustains, it is the glory of faith not only to view the Lord as such, but to draw sweet peace and comfort from it to one's own heart: that Thou art to ME. David knew the duty of a shepherd by experience. How watchful to preserve from danger, and how careful to guide and feed the sheep committed to his trust!  But herein is the peculiar love of the shepherd of our souls; He "gave His life for His sheep." And after such love manifested to them, shall they want either His power to protect, or His grace to supply their need? No; that is impossible. But a sheep is a silly weak creatu...

" Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee: in whose heart are the ways of Them." —Psalm 84:5 [KJV] When hearts are united in love there is a mutual complacency and delight in each other. Presence increaseth pleasure, absence begets uneasiness, jealousy of displeasing and fear of offending mutually subsist in each party. In some sense this holds good between the beloved soul and the loving Lord. All love is from Him; and as rivers from the sea return back to the great ocean, so the love which comes from God naturally flows back in complacency and affection of soul to Him. To know God is to love Him; both for what He is in Himself, and what He is to us in Christ Jesus.  The poor sinner who knows that he is in himself "without strength," rejoiceth at his very soul to know that the omnipotent Jesus is his strength; that all his might and power to strive against sin, to resist Satan, to overcome the world, is from above; it is treasured up in Jesus, a...