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

" Adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in ALL THINGS." -Titus 2:10 [KJV] What pains and expense are we at to adorn our bodies, which must shortly turn to ignoble dust: and our dwellings, which must soon be burnt up with fire? And shall we not study, and take pains to adorn the precious doctrine of our loving God and Saviour in our lives? Let gay clothing and genteel furniture reprove us for, and remind us of this duty. Let us not be like asses with long ears to hear doctrines, but slow of feet to walk in the ways of holiness. To avoid legality, let us not run into licentiousness. This awfully prevails amongst professors in our day.  They incessantly dwell on doctrines. But if you aim to reduce them into experience and practice, they cry out, O, you are as legal as an Arminian. This is really like one who should receive food into his mouth, chew it for a season, and then spit it out again: but as it passed not into the stomach to be digested, the body is not nour...

" He will reprove (or convince) the world of sin." -John 16:8 [KJV] Has the Spirit so convinced, so reproved you of sin, of the curse of the law of sin, of the wrath of God revealed against all sin; and of that sin of sins, unbelief, that whosoever lives and dies in, is under the wrath of God: so that you have fled for refuge to Jesus, and have taken shelter in His wounds, to be saved from all sin; then you are blessed: your soul is safe, your salvation is sure.  The Spirit has glorified the Redeemer in your eyes and to your heart. And Christ will glorify your soul with Him in His own kingdom. Is not the Spirit rightly styled the Comforter? Did He not act the part of a comforter, even in convincing of sin? What if your heart was broken and bled for sin, yet it was that you might be comforted with the love, and made joyful in the salvation of Jesus. But having thus convinced you of sin, and brought you to Christ for salvation, has the Spirit done with you? Is th...

"He who is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean." -John 13:10 [KJV] How precious is the word of the Lord! being in great disorder of body and heaviness of soul, our Lord refreshed and comforted me with these words. Here, Christ most plainly teaches us these blessed truths: (1st.) That every believer is washed by Him from the filth of all his sins. (2nd.) That each and every one are equally and alike perfectly clean from all sin, in God’s sight; “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27.) — “Justified from all things before God” (Acts 13:39.) There is not one condemnation against them from God (see Romans 8:1.)   Therefore, (3d.) They need no other cleansing to make them acceptable to God, pure in His sight, meet to come into His presence now, and to enjoy Him to all eternity. Rejoice, O my fellow-sinners! and thou, too, my soul! in a lowly, self-abasing, disciple washing, sin-cleansing Jesu...

  “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have:   for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” -Hebrews 13:5 [KJV]   -------O-------   COME TO JESUS Tune: “Come Thou Fount” 8.7.8.7. double Words by Jim Byrd    Come to Jesus needy sinner, Come to Jesus now and live; Come and trust the mighty Savior, He will grace and glory give. Come to Jesus hungry sinner, For He is the living Bread; Now obey His call of mercy, Come and dine, the Savior said.   Come to Jesus weary sinner, You who are by sin oppressed; If you long for His salvation, Come to Him and find sweet rest. Come to Jesus filthy sinner, Christ the perfect Sacrifice; Jesus died for guilty sinners, Fully paid their ransom price.   Come to Jesus do not linger, Come to Him without delay; If the Lord in power calls you, You will then His call obey. Then with others called in mercy, You will magnify His Name; And throughout your pi...

" Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine." -Titus 2:1 [KJV] “Like people, like priest,” is a Scripture adage, (Hosea 4:9.) Professors generally possess the same ideas of the minister they sit under. Our Lord advises, “Take heed what you hear , ” (Mark 4:24.) The seeds of all heresies are in our nature; they are sooner learned than sound doctrine. Hence Paul’s jealousy of, and advice to Titus. He was not only to preach sound doctrine, but the things also which become it. Sound doctrine is to be highly prized, yet it is not to be alone. Good as it is, to have a sound judgment in the doctrines of grace, yet we are ever to consider, they are all according to, and tend to promote godliness.  They are all of a practical and experimental nature: productive of love in the heart, and holiness in the life. Many err here. Some make little of sound doctrine. They cry out, Away with your doctrines, give us practical holiness. These cast contempt upon the word o...

" Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of." -II Corinthians 7:10 [KJV] By legal preaching, setting forth the curses of the law, and the terrors of hell, a sinner’s conscience may be made to tremble under the dread of damnation. He may be said to repent. “Judas thus repented himself, and said, I have sinned.” He might be sorry for it. His sin might make his heart ache, and fill his soul with horrors. But here was no godly sorrow. God was not in all his thoughts. No repentance unto salvation: this was out of his sight. His repentance was unto damnation. For “he went out and hanged himself,” (Matthew 27:5.) Natural fears and legal terrors may excite sorrow without the grace of repentance.  (1st.) What then is godly sorrow? It springs from God, it is excited by the views of God, it is directed to God, and arises in the heart on account of God. With David the soul cries, “against Thee only have I sinned,” (Psalm 51:4.) The heart is ...

All prescriptions of duty belongs to the law ... the law of God originated in his relation to men as moral agents; and in his necessary dominion over them, of which it is a natural expression: but the gospel, in his royal, supreme prerogative; it being the result of his mere, sovereign pleasure.   The former [the law] considers them as rational creatures that are bound to obey: the latter [the gospel], as guilty creatures, who deserve to suffer.  The precepts of divine law are the language of stern authority: the doctrines of the gospel are the voice of condescending mercy.  In that [the law], justice unsheathes the sword and demands vengeance: in this [the gospel], mercy exhibits pardon, and proclaims peace.   Divine law is the awful ministration of death, as the desert of sin: the everlasting gospel is the good news of life as the effect of boundless grace.  That [the law] by a righteous charge of guilt and of deserved ruin, stops the ...