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

"A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." -Isaiah 53:3 [KJV] My soul, there is one feature in thy Redeemer's character, which, in the unequalled abasement of His person, demands thy constant contemplation. I fear it hath not been considered by thee as it ought. And yet it is so sweetly accommodating and lovely, that the more thou beholdest thy Jesus in this tender light, the more endeared He must appear to thee. The prophet, under the Holy Ghost, hath here in a few words sketched the outlines of it - "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" It was most essential that Jesus should be all this, because it belonged to the curse which He became for His people, when He offered Himself as their Surety.   You will remember, my soul, the curse which God pronounced upon the earth, and man's passage through it, when he broke the Divine Law. The ground was cursed; the product of it was to be thorns and thistles; in sorrow, and in the sweat of t...

"In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble." -Proverbs 15:6 [KJV] How different is the estimate that faith makes of riches, honours, and comforts from that made by the world and the flesh! The world has no idea of riches but such as consist in gold and silver, in houses, lands, or other tangible property; no thought of honour, but such as man has to bestow; and no notion of comfort, except in "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind."   But the soul that is anointed by an "unction from the Holy One," takes a different estimate of these matters, and feels that the only true riches are those of God's grace in the heart, that the only real honour is that which cometh from God, and that the only solid comfort is that which is imparted by the Holy Ghost to a broken and contrite spirit. Now, just in proportion as we have the Spirit of God, shall we take faith's estimate of riche...

PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS ! -by D G Miles McKee   Humanly speaking, one of the reasons people don’t come to Christ is simple … they think they don’t need to. After all, in everyday life it´s only sick people who need the doctor. Then there are others who feel they are decent and good and, therefore, qualified to approach God.  But as Spurgeon says, “ There are people who quite misunderstand the gospel; they think that their righteousness qualifies them to come to Christ; whereas sin is the only qualification for man to come to Jesus.” When we are keenly aware of our sins, it is then that we see our need for the Saviour. The more we understand of the holiness of God, the more we see the necessity of being clothed in the flawless righteousness of Christ. We see that nothing but a perfect righteousness is suitable for our approach to God. Either we are covered in our own sins and failures or by His righteousness alone. So, let’s look again at Jesus. See Him once more at...

" Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness." -Jude 4 [KJV] From what the bee extracts honey, venomous insects will draw poison. The word of God, which is food to gracious hearts, is the sport and contempt of profane wits. An ungodly heart will convert the most wholesome truths of God’s grace into the most poisonous effects. There ever were such men: there are such at this day, who hold forth some of the most precious truths concerning the Lord Jesus, and the grace of God abounding to sinners in Him, and yet with these maintain the most damnable heresies: they are “the fools who make a mock at sin” (Proverbs 14:9.)  Personal holiness they hold in the greatest derision: they declare their sin as Sodom—‘Say unto the wicked, it shall be well with them. Tush! the Lord careth not about our walk and life: if we have lusts, better gratify them than burn with them.’ And they swallow up every unscriptural error in that damnable heresy, All men shall b...

"And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities, into a land not inhabited. " -Leviticus: 16:21, 22 [KJV]   Pause, my soul, and behold the tender mercy of thy God, in thus causing to be represented to the church of old, by so striking a service, that grand and most momentous doctrine of the gospel, which, in after-ages of the church was fully set forth and completed, when Jehovah laid upon our Lord Jesus Christ the iniquities of His people. And do, my soul, attend to those several most interesting points here graciously revealed. As first - this was at the express command of God. Yes, who but God could transfer or permit a change of persons in the transferring of sin?...

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." -I Corinthians 2:5 [KJV] True faith I may call the grand tidal wave of the soul. I will endeavour to explain the expression. We see the river Thames day by day ebbing and flowing. What causes this change? You answer, "It is produced by the sea in the Channel alternately coming up and retiring." It is a true explanation. But what makes the sea of the Channel alternately come up and retire? There is what is called "a grand tidal wave" that comes across the Atlantic Ocean, which, as it ebbs and flows, affects all the minor tides of the neighbouring seas; and thus the tide of the Channel, and that of the river Thames, ebb and flow in unison with this huge Atlantic wave. In the same way faith is the tidal wave of the soul; and all the graces and fruits of the Spirit ebb and flow just as faith rises, or just as faith sinks. If faith rises in the soul, all the graces a...