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

"It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."   -Romans 13:11  [KJV] Solemn consideration! What time is it with thee, my soul? Let me ask, with the prophet, "Watchman, what of the night? The morning cometh, and also the night." Perhaps there may be but a step between me and death. Am I really awakened from the sleep of carnal security? Am I alive from spiritual death? Am I dead to the world, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord?     Oh Lord Jesus, impress these solemn enquiries upon my soul yet more and more, since everlasting happiness, or everlasting misery hangs upon the decision. My beating pulse is hastening to fulfil the appointed number. Even while I think of these things the account is increased. Every fleeting breath is one the less to take. Lord, make me wise to remember my latter end!   -preacher Robert Hawker   (1753-1827 A.D.) November 30th, THE POOR MAN'S MORNING PORTION   ...

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." -Romans 5:6  [KJV] My soul fold up this sweet and precious scripture, and carry it about with thee in thy bosom, and in thine heart, that it may help thee on at any time, and at all times, when thy strength seems gone, and there is no power left. Was it not when the whole nature of man was without strength, that Christ was given of the Father? And was it not equally so, when Christ came to seek and save that which was lost? And was it not in due time when Christ died for the ungodly; due time in His resurrection, due time in His ascension, "when He ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them?"    Go further yet, my soul, as it concerns thyself was it not due time indeed, when Jesus passed by and saw thee in thy loathsome state of sin, cast out to perish, and when no eye pitied thee, that...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (26-28NOV21) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in  SO GREAT SALVATION  by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: Blind Eyes Opened One of the many promises concerning God’s servant is that He would open the  eyes of the blind. In the Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Publican  who both went into the temple to pray we have an excellent example of what  this means (see Luke 18:9-14).  The Pharisee’s eyes had not been opened and thus he prayed: “I thank Thee  that I am not as other men.” A person whose eyes have not been opened is  blind to his sinfulness, that his righteousness is [in God’s sight] like  filthy rags and as Solomon said “the plague of his own heart.” The publican’s eyes had been opened and thus he prayed:  “God be...

"The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy?  Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy; deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought of, untold, and endless blessedness.  With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?" -Octavius Winslow

"Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, for my Name is in him." -Exodus 23:20, 21  [KJV] Who can this be, my soul, but Jesus? He, and He only, who is the whole of the covenant, is also the Messenger and the Angel of the covenant. Jehovah hath never put His name in any other; neither given His honour to any other.     But in Jesus He is eternally well pleased, and hath given all things into His hand. Pause then, my soul, and contemplate this holy, this blessed, this only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. I see in Him all the glory, the sovereignty, the wisdom, grace and goodness of the Father, and He is Jehovah's salvation to the ends of the earth. And wilt Thou then, my gracious God and Father, send Jesus before me in all my way, to keep me, to guide me, and to bring me in, to behold Thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and to dwell with Thee...

The Forgetfulness of Grace (Part 1) by D.G. Miles McKee   David was perhaps the greatest ever king of Israel.  He wrote many of the Psalms.  He was God’s choice over Saul (Acts 13:22).  Yet he was a sinner.  He coveted his neighbour’s wife and stole her for himself. After that, he lied to cover up his sin, and then had her husband murdered. Those are just the facts! (See 2 Samuel 11 and 12).  But in the New Testament, David is never remembered for his bouts of wickedness. In fact, the New Testament quotes heavily from the Psalms that bear his name.  And yes, he was at times a philandering murderer, but that is not mentioned in the New Testament. What’s going on here? I’ll tell you what’s going on.  It’s beautiful, marvelous, matchless grace.  It’s the ‘Grace of Forgetfulness.’ What has happened?  Why are his failures not mentioned?   It’s because of what is written in Isaiah 43:25 where the Lord clearly says, “I,...

"If the LORD were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands; neither would He have shewed us all these things." -Judges 13:23  [KJV] Precious faith this of the wife of Manoah, and sound and conclusive reasoning. My soul, hath the Father, who gave thee Jesus for a Saviour, accepted thee in Jesus? Hath the Father, who sent His dear Son to be the Saviour of the world, accepted Jesus for thy, Saviour? Hath the Holy Ghost shewed thee the glorious things of redemption in His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace? And hath He given thee to believe in the record that "God hath given eternal life, and that this life is in His Son?"     Oh then say, with the wife of Manoah, surely the Lord would never have done all this, neither would He have showed me all these things, had He not intended my salvation. Treasure up, then, these past tokens of favour: consider present evidences of mercy; and ...

"Come, buy wine and milk, without money, and without price." -Isaiah 55:1  [KJV]   Surely, no man can plead poverty as an excuse for not buying, when the things sold are not only without money, but without even the proposals for money; not only without ready money, but without any money . Here is not even a price given. My soul, remember this. The poorer the wretch, the more welcome to this market.    But what are the things sold? Both wine and milk. A blessed variety in the gospel feast—wine to cheer, and milk to nourish. Yes, blessed Jesus, Thy love is better than wine, and Thy salvation more healing than milk: Besides, it comes free, it comes pure, it comes in plenty. And it far, very far, exceeds the strongest wine, and the richest milk. For though wine may remove a temporary heaviness, yet was it never known to raise the dead; but Thy love, blessed Jesus, hath raised, and will keep alive for ever, sinners dead in trespasses and sins, and preserve the languishin...

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." -Isaiah 11:5  [KJV] Mark these expressions, my soul, concerning thy covenant God in Christ. The Lord condescends by them to represent both His righteousness and faithfulness, as they are engaged to make good the purposes of redemption, in the Father and the Son. Jehovah's righteousness, and Jehovah's faithfulness, are blessed securities for this purpose; for so saith the Holy Ghost. "God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Wherefore? Because "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."    And do not overlook the striking figure of the girdle, which is chosen to represent it by; for as a man binds on the girdle round his loins, as a strengthener; so Jehovah takes to Himself the righteousness of His dear Son. "Let him take hold," saith Jehovah, "of my strength, to make peace with me, and he shall...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (19-21NOV21) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: "Good news from a far country."   -Proverbs 25:25   [KJV] From a far country, indeed; for it is no less distance than from heaven to earth, and from beings as opposite as holiness and sin could make-even from God to man, from a rich Saviour to poor sinners! And so remote that had not this good news been sent, heaven must have remained at an eternal distance, as an inaccessible region! And what is the good news itself? The angels who were first sent to proclaim it, called it glad tidings of good things, of great joy to all people. And indeed, such glad tidings it contains, as language fails to describe. It is pardon, mercy, and peace to poor rebels. It h...