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

     "I have sometimes thought that that change which passes upon the hearts of God’s people at the instant of death, or will pass upon living saints at the time I speak of (i.e. the time of Christ’s second coming) , when hearts so full of sinful lust, pollution, and all wickedness will be at once cleared of all, is a greater evidence and display of the power of God than the change that passes upon their bodies, either at the resurrection or at this time." -preacher John Gill (1697-1771 A.D.)

"Glorify ye the LORD in the fires , " (Isaiah 24:15).   "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you , " (I Peter 4:12) .  "Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through the fire and through water: but Thou broughtest us out..." (Psalm 66:10, 12).      (1) Acknowledge His providence and worship Him. At all times remember that the purpose of God is continually at work. "The LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD , " (Job 1:21).       (2) Acknowledge His wisdom. "He is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works , " (Psalm 145:17). The Lord knows what is best for His children. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes , " (Psalm 119:71). "All things work together for good..." (Romans 8:28).      (3) Acknowledge His saving power and trust Him. "When thou walkest through the fire...

     The Lord Jesus Christ is the good, the chief, and the great Shepherd of His sheep. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand , ” (John 10:27-28.)  Christ's sheep are absolutely safe in His keeping. He gives them ETERNAL life, and He will not allow them to perish. No one will or can snatch them out of His hand! He laid down His life for them; they live because of, in, and by Him, and He will bring His own all safely home. –preacher James Miller

"Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth."   -Joshua 23:14 [KJV] Though fully assured of his near dissolution, yet with what calm composure doth Joshua utter these words! Though you are a sinner, and must fall under the sentence of death for sin, yet you need not be under bondage all your life time through fear of death. Why should you? Has not the sinner’s Friend gained a complete and everlasting victory over death, the sinner’s enemy? Consider,    (1st.) What Christ hath done for us sinners. For sinners we are, and shall be, though redeemed by the blood, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ. When the messenger of death kills the body, and calls the soul to glory, then honour thy Lord’s work by the faith of thy heart. So fear and terror shall flee thy soul.         -By His death, He has appeased divine Justice. As Jonah, His type, being cast into the sea, quelled the storm; so Christ, being cast into the furnace of divine wrath, q...

"A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this." -Psalm 22:30, 31 [KJV] It is precious, yea, truly blessed also, to discover the happy correspondence subsisting between the several parts of scripture, in their testimony concerning the features of God's people. Jehovah, in His three-fold character of person, is always found as engaged in it; and each One in the holy and undivided Three gives assurance to it. "I will pour My Spirit , (saith God the Father speaking to the person of His dear Son, as the Israel of His people) upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring , " Isaiah 44:3. "A seed , (saith Christ, or, as it might be rendered, and indeed is rendered in the version of the psalms read in the churches, My seed ) shall serve Him."   This is the very seed which the Lord hath blessed, and which all th...

"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant." -Psalm 25:14 [KJV] "The secret of the LORD" (that is, present possession) "is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them" (that is, something future) "His covenant." This shews, that while all the people of God, who fear His name, have the secret with them, that is, a measure of the secret, yet all the people of God have not the covenant revealed to them at the same time with the secret. The "secret" is in the present tense; the "shewing of the covenant" is in the future. It is very sweet to see how the Holy Ghost has discriminated between these blessings. If, for instance, it had run thus, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He shews to them His covenant," some doubting, desponding child of God might say, "How can I be one of those that fear God? for it says, God shews to them His covenant, and He...

     To preach “Christ crucified” is to preach the accomplishment of our redemption by the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is none other than “GOD WITH US” (Matthew 1:21,23) . It is to preach His death as the establishment of the only righteousness whereby God justifies the ungodly as confirmed by His resurrection  from the dead. It is to preach Christ’s righteousness imputed (- legally accounted and charged ) to us as the only ground of our justification before God. It is to preach spiritual life imparted by the Holy Spirit as the fruit of our justification before God.  God making His elect “the righteousness of God in HIM” (II Corinthians 5:21) in their justification guarantees and secures, as set forth by Christ’s resurrection from the dead, that His people, all for whom He died, will be resurrected from the dead, first in regeneration and then in final glorification. To preach “Christ crucified” is to preach both our justification by...