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

Dear Lord, to us assembled here, Reveal Thy glorious face,  While we, by faith, with love and fear  Approach Thy THRONE OF GRACE. Thy house is called the house of prayer,  A solemn, sacred place;  O let us now Thy presence share  While at Thy THRONE OF GRACE. With holy boldness may we come, Though of a sinful race,  Thankful to find in Christ there's room  Before Thy THRONE OF GRACE. We bless Thee for Thy Word of truth, We bless Thee for Thy peace;  And we do bless Thee, Lord, because  There is a THRONE OF GRACE.    -Gospel Hymn: "Only Trust Him” words by preacher Samuel Medley – 1871 A.D.     -------0-------   WHOM – NOT WHAT – TO BELIEVE       One of our brethren speaks of a former time when he went from doctrine to doctrine looking for soul-satisfaction. He once started keeping the Sabbath. He obtained permission from his employer to be excused from working on the Sabbath. But he found no...

The apostle Peter describes the Lord’s believing people as those who have been “begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” and who have an “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” for them.  But these blessings would never be believed or received of them were it not for the description that follows: “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.”    They will all receive all the blessings of God’s grace in Christ because He will keep them!  All of God’s sheep will be “kept” by the great Shepherd!  They are told to “keep yourselves from idols” and to “keep yourselves in the love of God” but their keeping is not what keeps them!  No, they are “KEPT.”   They are “kept by the power of God” and not their own strength. Furthermore, they are “kept... through FAITH.”    Though they all have tempora...

"And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." -Luke 13:12 [KJV]   My soul! sit down this evening, and let the case of this poor woman open to thy view some sweet subjects of instruction and encouragement. Who knows, but that God the Holy Ghost may graciously make thy meditation on it blessed, in Jesus? The evangelist gives a short but interesting history of her. She was a daughter of Abraham; and yet Satan had bound her; and that not for a little space, but for a very long time, even to eighteen years. Hence learn, that they who are within the covenant, are not without affliction; nay, they become the very grudge and hatred of Satan, on that account; and shall assuredly be made sensible of his enmity.   Do not overlook this part of the poor woman's memoir. It forms a distinguishing feature in the children of the kingdom. Jesus Himself hath said, "Because ye are not of the world, but I ha...

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness."   - Ephesians 6:14 [KJV]   Soldiers of Christ! hear and obey the word of command: Stand. Against every enemy, stand to your arms: against all opposition from within and without, maintain your ground. Face all: fight all: conquer all. Does sin attack, Satan assault, the world threaten? Do corruptions rage, temptations beset, and carnal nature rebel? Are thine enemies many and potent? is their fury great? is the battle strong? Stand therefore. Why? Because you have put on the whole armour of God. Jesus is with you, upon you, over you, and engaged for you: therefore, “Stand fast in the Lord” (I Thessalonians 3:8.) “And in the power of His might: having your loins girt.”     Long standing makes the loins faint and weak. Is there much pain in the loins? Here is thy Lord’s command: “Gird up the loins of thy mind.” Make thy loins strong. “Fortify thy p...

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" -Romans 6:16 [KJV] There is a blessedness in obedience. It does not give us, but it manifests our interest in the finished work of the Son of God. There is nothing in the highest acts of faith or obedience that we can take any joy in as accomplished by us, nothing that we can boast of as our own; and yet there is a sacred blessedness in obeying the gospel by believing in the Son of God, by walking in the fear of God, and doing the things, as well as professing them, which are pleasing in God's sight. Walk in carnality, pride, and self-righteousness; live after worldly customs and conform yourself to worldly opinions, and if there be a grain of godly fear, or one spark of the life of God in your heart, you will do the best thing you can to bring your soul into misery and bondage.  Therefore, tho...

"When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” -II Thessalonians 1:10 [KJV] It is not in this world only, that God is glorified by His redeemed people. At the day of judgment, every saint will be a monument to God's glory! How God's sovereign grace will appear to every one among them, when each sees himself as a brand plucked out of the fire!  What stupendous wisdom will then be manifested in the wondrous plan whereby God has saved such undeserving, ill-deserving, Hell-deserving sinners! What marvelous patience will God be seen to have exercised towards them, under all their manifold failings and backslidings! What unbounded mercy will be seen in His pardoning their multiplied transgressions, and saving them from eternal Hell!  Nor will His omnipotence be less an object of admiration, when it is seen how wonderfully it has been exerted in converting thei...

Everything is done for God’s glory to the exclusion of man’s self-glorification and pride. This principle is founded upon truths such as these six: 1.  God will not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8): “I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images” – even if they be images of Jesus, Mary, saints (see Exodus 20:3-5.) 2.  Angels give glory to God alone (Luke 2:14): At Jesus’ birth they exclaimed “Glory to God in the highest!” 3.  Christ’s church gives glory to God alone (Ephesians 3:20f): “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (see also Acts 10:25f.) 4.  All in heaven give glory to God alone (Revelation 19:1): “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!” 5.  Saints desire no glory from God...