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

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...” (Isaiah 64:6) I came before God with nothing to offer Him. Even my righteousness was nothing but filthy rags. But what I could never provide for myself, Christ provided for me. He took my sin and gave me His righteousness. He took my guilt and gave me His peace. He took my poverty and made me rich in grace.   “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” —II Corinthians 8:9 Salvation is the great exchange: my rags for His righteousness, my debt for His payment, my poverty for His riches.   I brought nothing to Christ but my need. He gave me everything in Himself.                               -preacher David Eddmenson

“Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (- atonement ) for the sins of the people."   - Hebrews 2:17 [KJV]   Those who are blessed to hear and believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ do not embrace or prescribe to a theory of atonement. In the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified we have a glorious atonement for all our sins by His precious blood (I John 4:10) . We don't have an "attemptment" we have an effectual and full atonement. Here are four things we know about His redeeming sacrifice and High Priestly work.   1). It is particular. The Lord Jesus laid down His life for His covenant people, all those chosen and given to Him in eternity (Matthew 1:21; John 6:37; 10:15-18; Ephesians 1:3-6) .   2). It is powerful. His blood sacrifice puts away all sins of His elect to the complete satisfaction of the holy Law and in...

"Is not My word like as a fire? saith the LORD."   -Jeremiah 23:29 [KJV]   How comforting this reflection? “We, who were sometimes afar off, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ , ” (Ephesians 2:13.) How happy is the soul, when it finds nearness of access to God, and enjoys sweet converse with Him? Then with Jeremiah it says, “Let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments , ” (chapter 12:1.) Then the Lord condescends to hear and reply. As here, He appeals to the soul’s experience; and asks, What effect has My word had on thine heart? Is it not like fire? Let us consider this, that the word of the Lord may be glorified by us to-night.    (1st.) It is the property of fire to communicate light. So doth the word. “The entrance of Thy word giveth Light , ” (Psalm 119:130.) When we were darkness itself, how did the word enter, and shine into our hearts, and give us the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ? In seasons of darkness, how often has the ...

"Man did eat angels' food." -Psalm 78:25 [KJV]   Yes, so he did, when the Lord rained down manna upon the people in the wilderness. But, my soul, what hast thou eaten, now thou hast. been at the table of thy Lord? What did Jesus there entertain thee with? "Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!" Thou hast feasted upon the body and blood of Christ! And this is food which angels never ate, neither was such a feast ever prepared for them. Pause over this blessed subject, for it is enough to call up the wonder, praise, and love of all thine intellectual faculties for ever!    When man fell, the earth was made to bring forth thorns and thistles; this was all the inheritance then left us; man was to eat bread in the sweat of the brow. But Jesus interposeth, and removes the curse, in being made a "curse for us." The curse being removed by Him and His cross, the earth is made to bring forth its blessings, and "wine that maketh glad the heart of...

"I will strengthen that which was sick." -Ezekiel 34:16 [KJV] Peculiar maladies require peculiar remedies; but here is a general remedy, a family medicine. The Lord not only has strong remedies for desperate diseases; but in the divine medicine chest He has His restoratives and cordials. "Stay me with flagons; comfort me with apples," cries the Bride, "for I am sick of love." She was in a swoon, and needed a reviving cordial to restore her. So a poor fainting soul may come to hear the preached gospel, or may open his Bible, and say, "What is here for me? When I hear any deep experience described, that seems to cut me off as too deep; and when I hear great manifestations entered into, that cuts me off as too high. So I seem to be a strange being, a peculiar out-of-the-way creature, that can neither dive nor fly, sink nor rise."     Well, you are sick; you are like one in a hospital, ill of a malady that puzzles all the doctors. At last, one mor...

"Behold! I have erred exceedingly."   -I Samuel 26:21 [KJV] I have selected this text for a peculiar purpose. At the close of the meditation, I shall assign the reason. In this chapter, we have an account of the heroic act of David’s faith in the Lord, his invincible courage, and his amazing tenderness towards Saul, his enraged enemy, by which he melted his heart, and overcame his cruel wrath. Let us view his conduct, and pray for grace to improve from it.    (1st.) View his faith. Here was Saul, with three thousand chosen men, in pursuit of David, thirsting for his blood. They were at a very small distance from him. Behold, David proposes to go to Saul’s camp in the dead of the night, and asks, “Who will go down with me?” Does not this seem to the eye of carnal reason, to be a most rash and dangerous attempt? Though it were at midnight— though they might be fallen into a deep sleep—yet out of such a number of men, one, or more might awake, and seize on David. Surely, it...