The love of the truth (J. C. Philpot, “The Valley of Achor” 1861) “They perish because they did not receive the love of  the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thess. 2:10 There is a receiving of ‘the truth’, and a receiving of ‘the love of the truth’. These two things widely differ. To […]

What is it to preach the gospel? “Salvation is, in its entirety, the work of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ. Election, redemption, justification, sanctification, and preservation are all works of grace alone, in no way conditioned upon the will, works, or worth of the sinner.” What Is it to Preach the Gospel? To […]

“We Will Be Glad And Rejoice In Thee”     Song of Solomon 1:4 Another year is dawning. We who are the children of the living God will not open the gates of the new year in sorrow and mourning. We will sing unto our God. With joy in our hearts and gladness in our […]

“I am black, but lovely!”  “I am black, but lovely!” Song of Solomon 1:5 The believer pictures her state. It is a seeming paradox. The extremes of lowliness and greatness are combined. She presents two aspects: deformity and loveliness compose the portrait. “I am black, but lovely!” Blackness is frightful and repulsive. No eye can […]

THE BELIEVER’S RULE OF LIFE I left the pulpit one night and a fellow asked me, “Do you believe ‘the law’ to be a believer’s rule of life?” He seemed surprised when I told him I did not. His very next question was, “How do you know how to live?” I told him immediately that […]

“Conversion is not the smooth, easygoing process some men seem to think it otherwise man’s heart would never have been compared to fallow ground and God’s Word to a plough.” -John Bunyan Truth! A sacred regard to the authority of God ought to lead us to reject an error, however old, sanctioned by whatever authority, […]

“The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple.” –Psalm 119:130 J.C.Philpot The word “simple” means literally something which is not folded or twisted together. But owing to the treacherous and desperately deceitful heart of man, all, without exception, in a state of nature are the reverse of this. All their […]

Law demands righteousness from men; Grace brings righteousness to men.  Law sentences a living man to death; Grace brings a dead man to life.  Law speaks of what men must do for God; Grace tells of what Christ has done for men.  Law gives a knowledge of sin; Grace puts away sin.  Law brings God […]

Come my friend, let us go to the throne of grace, and put up such petitions as may show that we have honourable views of the riches and bounty of our king. I am but a poor man in the trade of grace; I live from hand to mouth, and procure just enough, as we […]

Go and lay your icy heart upon   His flaming heart of love! (From Octavius Winslow’s, “Christ, the Everlasting Father”) The everlasting love of Christ never veers, never chills, and knows not the shadow of a change. Measuring Christ’s love to us by our love to Him, we often imagine that it must necessarily be […]