Spurgeon: February AM
* 02/26/AM
"Salvation is of the Lord."
--Jonah 2:9
Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the
soul "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is He also who
maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and
Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes
me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I
hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with
His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation,
except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all
my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own;
but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and
completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's
strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life?
It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I
did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I
weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements
sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great
Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly
art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing
but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I
feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the
Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do
I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that
manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose
blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase
of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from
heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch
cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more
can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great
deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of
the Lord."