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

" The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men." -Titus 2:11 [KJV] Here are three blessed and glorious truths. They demand the constant attention of our minds: they tend to sink into the deepest humility of heart, to excite the greatest joy of spirit, and to inspire the most ardent love and gratitude of soul.  (1st.) Salvation . This was the council of heaven; the work of the Son of God; the wonder of angels; the envy of devils, and the glory of apostate, rebellious sinners—sinners, who were born with enmity of heart, rebellion of will, and hatred of affections against God: and who have manifested the enmity of their mind by wicked works; the rebellion of their will, by taking arms against the Lord; and the hatred of their affections, by refusing to lay them down, and submit unto Him.  O that precious word! full of wonder, grace, and love; “God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; when we we...

"Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is precious." -I Peter 2:7 [KJV] My soul, art thou anxious to know whether thou art a true believer in Jesus? Try it, then, by this mark, which the Holy Ghost hath given by His servant the apostle. Do you believe in Jesus for life and salvation? Yes, truly; if so be He is precious. Look at Him, then. Is Jesus precious in His person, precious in His work, precious in His offices, precious in His relations, precious in His whole character? Do you know Him, so as to love Him, to live to Him, to rejoice in Him, and to cast your whole soul upon Him, for life and salvation?  Do you accept him as the Father's gift, the Sent, the Sealed, the Anointed, the Christ, of the Father? Is He so precious, that there is nothing in Him but what you love—nothing that you would part with? His cross is dear, as well as His crown! Afflictions with Jesus, sweeter than prosperity without Him! Pause over these questions. Recollect that there is no...

"For the word of God is quick and powerful." -Hebrews 4:12 [KJV] What is meant by the word of God being "quick?" That it moves with swiftness and velocity? It is certainly said of God's word (Psalm 147:15) that "it runneth very swiftly;" but that is not the meaning of the word "quick" in the text. It there means "living," and corresponds with the expression (Acts 7:38) "lively (-living) oracles." It is an old English word signifying "living;" as in the expression, "Who shall judge the quick and the dead" (II Timothy 4:1) , that is, the living and the dead. So we read of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram "going down quick (that is, alive) into the pit" (Numbers 16:30) . So the Lord is said to have "quickened (that is, made spiritually alive) those who were previously dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) . The word "quick," then, means not moving with...

" Come now, and let us reason together, saith the L ORD : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." -Isaiah 1:18 [KJV] Whenever our Lord denounces His judgments against hardened and impenitent sinners, we are sure to find a word of grace from His precious lips to our dear trembling souls. His loving heart knew that what He had been declaring against others, His people would take to themselves, reason their hearts into dejection and sorrow, and cast away their hopes and their comforts; therefore, as He frequently, in the days of His flesh, turned aside to His disciples and said, “Come now , ” —let not trouble arise in your hearts, let not terror and dread seize on your spirits one moment; so here, “Let us reason together . ”   Do not reason with flesh and blood—with your carnal notions, and your legal hearts; confer not with Satan, who is your enemy and accuser;—but reason with Me: I am ...

"The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them." -Revelation 7:17 [KJV] My soul thou hast not forgotten what thou wert so lately engaged in, a day or two since, at the call of God the Holy Ghost, to behold the Lamb of God. And art thou not still looking at Him, gazing upon Him, feasting thine eyes, thine heart, all thy affections, upon Him, and following Him, in the sweet contemplation, from His cross to His crown. Come then, my soul, harp again and again upon this blessed string; for sure it is most blessed. And remember, my soul, as thou lookest, thy Jesus is in the midst of the throne - that is, the very centre of it. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." For what is the Lamb of God, but God revealing Himself in Him, to thee, my soul, and all His people? And remember also, that the throne, in the midst of which thy Jesus is, in scripture, is called "the throne of God and the Lamb , " on purpose to shew the...

"Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth for I am God, and there is none else." -Isaiah 45:22 [KJV] How often we seem not to have any real religion, or enjoy any solid comfort! How often are our evidences obscured and beclouded, and our minds covered with deep darkness! How often does the Lord hide Himself, so that we cannot behold Him, nor get near to Him; and how often the ground on which we thought we stood is cut from under our feet, and we have no firm standing! What a painful path is this to walk in, but how profitable!  When we are reduced to poverty and beggary, we learn to value Christ's glorious riches; the worse opinion we have of our own heart, and the more deceitful and desperately wicked that we find it, the more we put our trust in His faithfulness; and the more black we are in our own esteem, the more beautiful and comely does He appear in our eyes. As we sink, Jesus rises; as we become feeble, He puts forth His strength; as ...

" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves..."   -Luke 10:30 [KJV] An awful down-hill journey! Here is a true picture of the woeful backsliding of a believer from his Lord.  (1st.) “He went down from Jerusalem,” which signifies the visions of peace. These are enjoyed by faith, in communion with Christ, and close walking with God. When these are departed from, it is going down, indeed! The way of sin is down hill; the descent is easy; the event, dreadful! It is going down from the delectable mountains, into the dreary vale of Jericho. This place was cursed by Joshua, (6:26.) It was very wicked in the days of Christ; so is this present world now.  (2d.) “He fell among thieves;” so the believer, when he gives up himself to sinful company, vain delights and carnal diversions. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, steal his heart from God, and strip him of his raiment of purity and peace.  (3d.)...