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

“And above the firmament, that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stones and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it." -Ezekiel 1:26  [KJV] It forms the most satisfying consideration to the breast of the faithful that every event and every providence concerning the people of God is as much directed, arranged, and determined, as the purpose of redemption themselves. The covenant is "a covenant ordered in all things and sure." He who hath undertaken and completed salvation for them, hath no less secured the means that shall infallibly accomplish the end; and all things, how unpromising soever on the first view, shall work together for good to them that love God.     When the Holy Ghost would graciously lead the church into the proper apprehension of this great truth, the prophet is directed to the contemplation of a vision by the river Chebar, which opened before him. There...

"Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."   -Ephesians 1:11 [KJV]  By these words the apostle brings before our eyes God's omnipotent power as carrying into effectual performance the counsel of His own will towards the objects of His distinguishing favour. An especial blessing is couched in this. Next to a believing view of the purposes of God's grace, and a sweet persuasion of our interest in them, nothing is more strengthening and encouraging than a realising apprehension of the power of God to carry them into full execution. Feeling, as we do, our own miserable helplessness, sinking under the pressure of our daily weakness, mourning over continual failures, and grieving on account of perpetual backslidings, encompassed by foes, and distressed by fears, how strengthening it is to our faith, thus tried to the utmost, to believe that He who has purposed has power to perform.  This persuasion of the almighty power of God was the support and strength o...

"Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever." -Psalm 45:2  [KJV] I admire this blessed portion, as well as the method in which the sacred writer hath introduced it. He opens the psalm, professing his design of speaking of the King: but in a moment, as if beholding him, he breaks off, and speaks to him. The verse now quoted contains but three short sentences: but indeed within its bosom, there are folded up as many volumes. For who so fair, so lovely, so engaging, as Jesus? "He is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person:' and if all the accomplishments and perfections which can constitute excellency, be among the recommendations of beauty and loveliness; then it will be found, that in the person of Jesus they all centre and shine in one full constellation.     Well might the prophet therefore speak of him in this character: for he is a perfection of loveliness...

"The king's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework."   - Psalm 45:13,14 [KJV] This is a beautiful description of the bridal garments of the Church as the queen. The gold was to be wrought into her clothing, the raiment to be of needlework, intimating that her robe of justifying righteousness was wrought, as it were, as in needlework, stitch by stitch; yet that every thread was embroidered with gold. Here we have the thread of the humanity in union with the gold of Deity, and yet each in such close union that the thread is but one. In gold thread the beauty, the value is in the gold; yet how close the union. Gold by itself could not be made into embroidery.     So Deity cannot suffer, bleed, or die; but humanity can in union with it. Thus, as our blessed Lord went through the whole work which the Father gave   Him to do, His Deity, being in union with His obeying, suffering humanity...

"He shall not speak of Himself." -John 16:13  [KJV] I have found, in time past, a very great blessedness in this short but sweet account, which Jesus gives of the gracious office of the Holy Ghost; and therefore I would make it the subject of my present evening meditation. I find what the Lord Jesus said concerning the blessed Spirit, in this most delightful part of His divine ministry, to be true. For look wherever I may, through the bible, it is of Jesus only the Holy Ghost is continually speaking, and not of Himself.     And hence, by the way, I learn how to form a most decided testimony of the faithful preachers of the word. For, if God the Holy Ghost, in His glorifying the Lord Jesus, is never found to be speaking but of Jesus; surely all His faithful servants, who act by His authority, and are commissioned and ordained by Him to the work, will never preach themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And how blessed is it to be taught of Jesus, by the Holy Ghost! It is a...

"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."   -Proverbs 14:16 [KJV] I believe no living soul can be satisfied with a notional religion: though a miserable backslider, and driven into the fields to feed swine, he cannot feed on their husks, but sighs after the bread of his Father's house. The eyes being enlightened to see the nature of sin, the justice and holiness of God, and the miserable filthiness of self, the quickened soul can find no rest in anything short of a precious discovery of the Lamb of God; and the more that the soul is exercised with trials, difficulties, temptations, doubts, and besetments of various kinds, the more does it feel its need of that blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.  What is a Christian worth without inward trials and exercises? How dead and lifeless are our prayers; how cold and formal when the soul is not kept alive by inward exercises! Where are the sighs, cries, gr...

"I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb." -Isaiah 48:8  [KJV] Humbling as the view is, it is profitable to look back, and trace all the way the LORD our God hath brought us, through many a year in the wilderness, to humble us, and to prove us, and to shew us what is in our heart; and this perhaps is the sweetest of all subjects, when the Holy Ghost takes us by the hand, and leads the heart back. Even from the first moment of conversion, to the very moment when taking the review, every step serves to prove what this scripture sets forth, that the Lord knew that His people would deal very treacherously, and be transgressors from the womb.     My soul! let thy meditation, this evening, as it concerns thyself be to this amount: Where wert thou, when in a state of unawakened nature, and as all other carnal persons, intent only upon the best means of fulfilling to the desires of the flesh; living without God, and without...

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."   -Ephesians 2:6 [KJV] There is a distinction between being quickened together with Christ and being raised up together with Him. Is not this true in the experience of God's people? To be quickened into divine life, to be convinced of sin, to have the fear of God planted deeply in the soul, is the commencement of a work of grace. But this is not a deliverance, not a being raised up out of darkness, bondage, doubt, guilt, and fear. This is not a knowledge of Christ, and the power of His resurrection; this is not a full coming out of the dark and silent tomb into the glorious light and warmth of day. But here is the great blessedness of a mystical union with the Lord Jesus Christ that, as by virtue of interest in Him there is a partaking of the benefit and power of his having been quickened, so there is a partaking in the benefit and power of his having been raised up. God does no...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (28-30JAN22) 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: Rejoice ~ JUDGMENT OCCURRED AT THE CROSS! “ The glorious good news of the Gospel is that, "It is finished." Justice has been satisfied, righteousness has been established. The believer rests exclusively in a finished work. On the other hand, the religious moralist strives daily under a crushing weight of duties and expectations, looking to a future judgment on his performance, where he may, or may not be rewarded. For the believer, this judgment occurred at the cross and there is no possibility of future condemnation. The believer is counted by God to be the very righteousness of God in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, the believer i...

"And on His head were many crowns." -Revelation 19:12  [KJV] Every view of Jesus is blessed. But there are some views which the heart of a believer finds a peculiar gratification in contemplating. The Holy Ghost hath in this scripture given a very interesting representation of Jesus. Heaven is opened; Jesus appears in His well-known characters, "faithful and true." A "white horse" He rides on, to manifest His equity and justice. His vesture is "dipped in blood," to intimate that by blood He hath purchased His kingdom. And His glorious name, "the Word of God," is also mentioned to testify the greatness and almightiness of His person. But amidst these distinguishing characteristics, the coronation of the Lord Jesus is particularly striking. "On His head were many crowns." The crown of Godhead is His by right, in common with the Father. And the crown of God-man mediator is His also, being His by gift, by purchase, and by conqu...