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

" Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O L ORD in the light of Thy countenance." —Psalm 89:15 [KJV] The psalmist alludes to the jubilee-trumpet, which was sounded throughout the land on the great day of atonement. This was an ordinance of the Lord. —Leviticus 25:10. It was a joyful sound of liberty to God's people. A true type, and just emblem this, of the blowing the great trumpet, and the sound of the everlasting gospel restoring life, liberty, and salvation, to perishing captive souls. Has the gospel thus proved the power of God to the salvation of our souls? Surely then, we must esteem it, as the most joyful sound that ever saluted our ears! Joyful, that it is not clogged with any terms and conditions: Joyful, that it is not, as some call it, a milder law, proposing mercy on easier performances than the legal yoke. No; such notions are subversive of the very nature of the gospel; they only humor self-confidence, and elate t...

"One pearl of great price." -Matthew 13:46 [KJV] Great indeed, and but one! for salvation is in no other; neither is there any other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved. My soul, hast thou considered Jesus in this precious point of view? Hast thou beheld Him both in His divine and human nature, how unspeakably glorious in Himself, and how enriching to the souls of His people? Art thou a spiritual merchantman, seeking goodly pearls? And is Jesus the one, the only one, costly, precious, and so infinitely desirable in thine eye, that thou art willing to sell all, that thou wouldest part with millions of worlds, rather, than lose Christ?   Hast thou found Him in the field of His scripture, and dost thou ask how shall I buy? Listen to His own most gracious words: counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich . Yes, Thou generous Lord! I am come to buy of Thee without money and without price. For well I know, through...

"Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." -Lamentations 3:41 [KJV] When the Lord lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, when He makes the living man complain on account of deserved chastisement for his sins, and thus brings him to search and try his ways, he raises up an earnest cry in his soul. "Let us lift up our heart with our hands," and not the hands without the heart; not the mere bended knee; not the mere grave and solemn countenance, that easiest and most frequent cover of hypocrisy; not the mere form of prayer, that increasing idol of the day, but the lifting up of the heart with the hand. This is the only true prayer, when the heart is poured out before the throne of grace, the Spirit interceding for us and within us with groanings that cannot be uttered.   "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The contrite heart and broken spirit, the i...

" Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." —Ephesians 5:15, 16 [KJV] Light and life are communicated from Jesus to His members, not merely to fill their heads with gospel truths, as matters of speculation, or to make them fluent talkers about religion, but chiefly to affect their hearts, renew their minds, and cause them to be close, consistent WALKERS with Jesus. Without this, we only seem to be religious, and deceive our hearts, while our religion is vain: for we cannot stand approved in the sight of God, before men, nor to our own consciences. "The wise man's eyes are in his head;" he looks around him and sees the evil of sin, the vanity of this present world—that its gay pleasures, alluring pastimes, bewitching diversions, are the gilded bait of the god of this world, whereby he ensnares unwary fools to kill their precious time, and to blind and destroy their immortal souls!  The wise man lo...

" Every sinner chosen to salvation and redeemed BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST WILL BE REGENERATED AND EFFECTUALLY CALLED TO BELIEVE ON THE BLESSED SAVIOR .  Abram was an idolater, but being one of God’s elect, he was sought and found in Ur of the Chaldees. Rahab was a harlot, but before her city could be destroyed, she must be rescued from the destruction which was to come. The Son of Man found Zacchaeus up a tree in the accursed city of Jericho.  The dying thief was a convicted felon, just a breath away from eternity, yet at the appointed time the Savior revealed Himself to his heart. Saul of Tarsus was called out of self-righteous Pharisaism. Dionysius and Damaris were delivered from the heathenism of Athens.  No matter what dunghill God’s elect are in, grace will pull them out, wash them in the pardoning blood of Christ, robe them in His justifying righteousness and bring them safely home to God. Divine election shall not be disappointed."   -preacher Jim By...

"For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels." -Hebrews 2:16 [KJV] Contemplate, my soul, the peculiar sweetness of that grace which was in thy Jesus, when, for the accomplishment of thy salvation, He passed by the nature of angels to take upon Him thy nature. There were but two sorts of transgressors in the creation of God; angels and men. But angels are left in everlasting chains, under darkness, to the judgment of the great day. And falled, sinful, rebellious man, finds the grace of redemption. Had Jesus taken their nature, would not this have been nearer to His own? Would not their services have been vastly superior to ours?  Would not the redemption of beings so much higher in rank and intellect, have opened a far larger revenue of praise to our adorable Redeemer? Pause over these thoughts, my soul, and then consider there from how our Jesus, in His unequalled condescension, hath thereby the more endeared Himself to thy love.  And learn hence, that if...

"O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee." -Psalm 63:1 [KJV] David here speaks of seeking God for what He is in Himself as distinct from what He has to give. His gifts are one thing, Himself is another. Therefore he says, "O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee;" Thee as distinct from Thy gifts. The bride may value her bridegroom’s costly gifts; but what are his gifts apart from himself? So the Church highly prizes her royal Husband’s gifts and blessings; but what are these compared to Him who, in her admiring eyes, is the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely? Thus, as seen by the eye of faith, there is that in His most blessed Majesty which alone can satisfy the soul taught by His Spirit and influenced by His grace. The soul was made for Him; it was gifted with immortality by Him. Powers and faculties were given to it that might be expanded into an infinite capacity to know and to enjoy Him. So that being created for God, ...