With these words, our Lord Jesus Christ assures us that none of God’s elect shall ever be in any real danger or suffer any real harm, for we are under the special care and protection of God himself. I see six things in this sentence, which are a constant source of peace and encouragement to me. 1.      The Blessed Fact of Divine Predestination…

The very trials and afflictions, and the sore temptations through which God’s family pass, all eventually endear Christ to them. And depend upon it, if you are a child of God, you will sooner or later, in your travels through this wilderness, find your need of Jesus as “able to save to the uttermost.” There will be such things in your heart,…

Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. Psalm 25:18 It is good for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins — when, being under God’s hand, we do not focus exclusively on our pain, but remember our sins against God. It is also good to take both sorrow and sin to…

The very storms through which the believer passes, will only strengthen him to take a firmer hold of Christ. As the same wind that blows down the poplar tree, only establishes the oak tree; so the very storms which uproot the shallow professor, only root the child of God more firmly in Christ. Though these storms may shake off some of his…

Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light than when he is spoken of as stooping from his throne, and coming down from heaven to attend to the wants and to behold the woes of mankind. We love him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were full of iniquity, would not destroy those cities until he had made a…

“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.” Hosea 13:9 “O Ephraim, you have destroyed yourself!“ not “Ephraim, if you do not take very great care, you will by and by destroy yourself.” But, “O Ephraim, you have destroyed yourself” already! And so have we destroyed our souls over and over again. Here is this temptation, this snare, this besetting sin, this…

Have you ever seen a generation so full of itself? Seemingly every thought is about self. It’s not about knowing self, but about serving self. If this generation was occupied with truly knowing itself, it would be ashamed of itself. Some of the smartest people that have ever lived in this world are living today — just ask them, just listen to…

Lord what is man? And what is a human heart – the heart even of thy saints – when proved and held up to view?  “O heart,  heart,” said John Berridge of himself, “what are thou?  A mass of fooleries and absurdities, the vainest, craftiest, wickedest, most foolish thing in nature.” What deep-hidden evil, what selfishness, what pride, what harsh tempers and…

This one true goal or resting-place where doubt and weariness, the stings of a pricking conscience, and the longings of an unsatisfied soul would all be quieted, is Christ Himself. Not the church, but Christ. Not doctrine, but Christ. Not forms, but Christ. Not ceremonies, but Christ. Christ the God-man, giving his life for ours; sealing the everlasting covenant, and making peace…

The Bible reveals God to be sovereign in creation, providence, and salvation. When men object to God’s sovereignty exercised in election, we do well to point them to the apostle’s words in Romans 9:20-21, “Nay, but, O man, who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath…