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

"The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."   -Matthew 20:28 [KJV] Most gracious words to me, who am a poor sinner, and have nothing to bring to Christ, but an empty hand, to receive: most precious ransom for me, who have the sentence of death in myself. May faith be high, and self low to-night! The poor disciples were now wrangling about precedence and supremacy.  What was the consequence? They were moved with indignation. They strangely forgot the end of Christ’s coming, and the nature of His kingdom. God knows we are poor as beggars, yet proud as devils. The very same spirit works in us all, as did in them. Lord grant that the evil which occasioned these words, may be made a blessing to us.  Consider, (1st.) Our proud notion of ministering to Christ. Some indeed did minister to Christ of their substance, (Luke 8:3.) But this was of natural things. Though empty of all good, and full of all evil, ...

"My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi."  -Song of Solomon 1:14 [KJV] How full, indeed how infinitely full, abundant, and soul-satisfying is Jesus, in all that concerns life, light, grace, glory! A cluster of all is Christ; whether the copher of medicine to heal, or of sweetness to satisfy, or of riches to enlarge, or salvation to impart. Every way, and in every thing that is lovely or desirable, Jesus is a cluster indeed to His people. And whether we meet Him in the valley or in the mount, in the plains of Jericho, or in the vineyards of Engedi, neither place nor situation, neither state nor circumstances, make any alteration in our Beloved; He is, He must be, Jesus, and that is always lovely. -preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)  

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."   -I John 5:20 [KJV] When the Lord Jesus is pleased in some solemn hour to reveal Himself to our soul, when He graciously condescends to take the veil from off our heart that we may behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, when He kindly favours us with some manifestation and discovery of Himself as the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His Person, then we know that the Son of God is come. How do you know that the sun rose this morning? By the light which rose with it. So we may say, spiritually, "How do you know that the Son of God is come?" By the Sun of righteousness arising upon you with healing in His wings and the shining light which He dif...

"The salvation of the righteous is of the LORD, He is their strength in the time of trouble."   -Psalm 37:39 [KJV] We may say of righteousness, as Job says of wisdom, “Where shall righteousness be found? And where is the place of perfect righteousness? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it to be found in the land of the living,”   (Job 28:12-13.) The patriarch says, It is not in me. The prophet says,  It is not in me. The apostle says,  It is not in me. The Lord saith, “All flesh hath corrupted his way , ”   (Genesis 6:12.) “There is none righteous, no not one , ”   (Psalm 14:3.)   Why then do the Scriptures speak so much of the righteous, if there be no such persons upon earth? Indeed there are. This is a point of great importance. The Lord settle it well in your heart and mine. We are guilty sinners in ourselves. We have no righteousness of our own. Yet, saith the Lord Jesus, the righteous one, “Their righteousness is of Me ,...

"And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men."   -Micah 5:7 [KJV] Observe, my soul, the character given of Jacob's seed, and bless the Lord for being included in the number.—For so saith the apostle, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."  Mark then their characters. They are a remnant. But they are God's remnant, being in covenant with God in Christ, and as such, distinguished and separated from the world. They are a people that dwell alone, and not reckoned among the nations.   They are in the midst of many people, but belong to none of them. For though living in the world, they are not of the world, but chosen out of the world . They are, moreover, as a dew from the Lord. Beautiful resemblance! For as the dew is from heaven, so believers in Christ are born f...

" For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven ."  -Matthew 5:20 [KJV] There are three kinds of righteousness, or at least three kinds of righteousness which bear that name. There is inherent righteousness, of which we have none. There is imputed righteousness, which is all our justification. And there is imparted righteousness, when God the Spirit makes us new creatures, and raises up in the heart that "new man, which after God"   (that is, "after the image of God" ) "is created in righteousness and true holiness."   When the Lord, therefore, said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven , "  He did not mean only an external righteousness wrought out by His obedience to the law for them, but an internal...

" 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] Notice the verse did not say that God made reconciliation possible by the death of His Son but that they were reconciled. And since this was done while they were yet enemies, it shows that their reconciliation to God had nothing to do with their will or faith or any actions on their part. -preacher Lucien LeSage, ‘ Reconciliation ’