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

" That also He should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad." -John 11:52 [KJV] These words are like Sampson’s riddle, which, some read thus: Food came from the devourer, and sweetness from that which is violent, or fierce (see Judges 14:14.) Caiaphas the high-priest, though a devourer of Jesus, yet holds forth precious food; though violent and fierce against Christ, yet he delivers sweet truth. Truth is truth, though from the tongue of an enemy: yea, it is a double confirmation of truth. If Christ be preached, let us rejoice, though even by bad men, and from bad principles.  Judas preached; the Holy Ghost causes this wicked high-priest, to prophecy of Jesus. By these words, the Holy Ghost plainly instructs us in these precious truths.— O that we may receive them in love!  (1st.) That though the whole world is become guilty before God, yet He has a peculiar, chosen number, who are here called, “the children of God.” They were n...

"... Out of season." -II Timothy 4:2 [KJV] I have often thought, as passing by the great number of churches in London, what manner of stones and what buildings are here! What noble cages are these! But what pitiful birds occupy them! They scarcely ever sing in them above once a week; and then, it is a strange wild note, not the joyous song of salvation, by the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. They do not follow St. Paul’s solemn advice, “I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, and His kingdom: preach the word, be instant in season, out of season.”   If Christ’s ministers are thus charged to preach out of season, this charge is equally binding upon all His disciples, to hear out of season also. Consider some reasons for this. (1st.) By the preaching of the word, faith grows and is strengthened. This truth ever remains, and will be made good in experience, “Faith cometh by hearing ” (...

  Jesus the Go-Between, Part II by D.G. Miles McKee   Last week, in part one of this message, we finished by noting that we are saved exclusively by Christ’s work for and apart from us.  His person and work are fully welcome in heaven, and this constitutes the very basis of our acceptance in Glory. Since our salvation is entirely for Christ’s sake (Ephesians 4:32) and bound up in His performance, if He ever becomes “persona non grata” in Glory we will, because we are in Him, be deported from the heavenly city. If Christ becomes unwelcome in Heaven, we will become unwelcome. To guarantee our continuing acceptance in Heaven, therefore, Christ must of a necessity be God. Let me explain. If Jesus is not God, then none of us who have trusted Him are safe. We will only be safe if Jesus and God don’t fall out! We are only secure if there is no disagreement between Christ and the Father. Remember, our favour and acceptance with God are not bound up with anything ab...

"He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing." -Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] Instead of two meditations on this verse, it is worthy the study of our whole lives. Eternity itself will never exhaust the fulness of that rich and glorious grace contained in it. When the vanity of the creature, and the richness of God’s everlasting love and free grace are the subjects, well might the preacher say, “Of making many books there is no end; though much study may be weariness to the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12.) Yet such study is reviving and refreshing to the spirit.  Well, saith the poor sinner, ‘I remember the day of my espousal to Jesus: it was sweet. My heart was filled with peace and joy in believing. But, ah me! I have lost my first love: I am cold, and dark, and dead: I go on heavily, while the enemy oppresses me, and is daily saying to me, Where is now your God, in whom you once delighted, and of whom you formerly made your boast? Thy love is cold to Him...

" The L ORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy." -Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] A truly gracious heart is restless and unhappy, when it experiences distance from the Lord. Notions in the head may satisfy formal, dry professors; but those who are alive to God, cannot rest without enjoying His presence. They will draw nigh to Him, praying Him, “Draw nigh to my soul, and say, I am thy salvation.” That precious word lives and abides in our heart: Now, in Christ Jesus, we sinners, who, in times past, were far off from God, are made nigh by the blood of Christ (see Ephesians 2:13.)   Hence, we are called upon, “Sing, shout, be glad, rejoice with all the heart.” Yea, thou God-fearing, soul-trembling sinner! even thou, the Lord has in His eye, and speaks from the love of his heart, “Fear thou not, let not thine hands be slack” (Zephaniah 3:14-16.) Dread not thy mighty, thy many enemies. Put on courage. Lift up the hands wh...

" It pleased the Father, that in Him should all fulness dwell." -Colossians 1:19 [KJV]    The religion of nature is the religion of pride. Pride is of the devil. Pride works by a lie, and keeps the soul in unbelief of the truth. Hence, we naturally think some change in us, some good done by us, causes God to be our Father, and we consider ourselves as His very good children. This notion obtains in the mind of many, and is the cause of their rejecting the everlasting covenant of the three-one Jehovah, and denying the covenant relations and transactions of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  They are so filled with themselves, with their Stuff of inherent righteousness, (- so called ) free-will, moral agency, and one knows not what unscriptural jargon, that they see not all fulness in Jesus, where it pleased the Father it should dwell. Lord! empty us of all self-fulness, that we may receive out of Thy fulness. The Father, by covenant love, took on Him that n...

" What is your life?" -James 4:14 [KJV] A short day, full of evils; a span long, replete with crosses. Each revolving day brings its troubles; each fleeting moment, its sorrows. ‘Yes,’ says a soul, ‘I am a living witness of this: I am a mark for the enemy to shoot his fiery darts at; against man he daily renews his attacks, constantly buffets, and is ever busy with his subtle devices. Each morning I rise, I am brought into the field to exercise my arms; or on the stage, to conflict with my enemies. Truly, I am almost worn and wearied out. What with a sense of indwelling corruptions, the plague of my heart, the attacks of Satan, the troubles of the world, want of the sense of my Lord’s love, and the workings of unbelief;—my life is one continued scene of sorrow and distress.’  Remember, for your comfort, your life is short: your rest shall be eternal and glorious. Consider what one sweetly says, “It is the great work and difficulty, and yet duty of a christian, ...

" Where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them." -Matthew 18:20 [KJV] Our hopes and comforts rise or fall, according to our conceptions and belief of what Christ is in Himself, and what He is to us. Attend to this. You will find this true in your experience. Therefore it is of no small moment, whether you believe Christ to be God over all, or only a mere man. Yea, it is of the utmost importance: it enters into the very life, peace, and joy of your soul. Our Lord here puts this beyond a doubt. None but God is, at one and the same time, in more places than one. But Christ declares, “Wherever My disciples are gathered together in My name, there am I.”   Therefore Christ is the omnipresent God. This is the joy of our faith; this, the glory of our souls. Now, it should be our grand concern to bring this into experience and practice. (1st.) Remember “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Prov...

" Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light ." -Ephesians 5:8 [KJV] Unregenerate persons, raised from indigence to opulence, do not love to hear of their pedigree: they see not the hand of the Lord in it. What detracts from their character and merit, hurts them. But disciples of Christ like to hear of, love to look back upon what they were by nature, that they may ascribe fresh praise to the Lord, Who of His mere grace raised their degenerate souls out of the dust, and lifted their needy souls from the dunghill, and has set them with the princes of His people” (see Psalm 113:7, 8.)   We are here reminded, “Ye were” —what? dark, having some glimmering light of God, His truth, His ways, etc. Nay more, darkness itself. Blind to them, as if totally deprived of sight. Ignorant of them as a beast: as dark, respecting them, as we should be of natural objects without the sun. We walked in darkness, and knew not that we were...

" Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." -I John 3:24 [KJV] “That the soul be without knowledge, is not good” (Proverbs 19:22.) What knowledge is to be compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ? All other will perish. But, “this is life eternal” (John 17:3.) “For He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20.) Does He abide in us? Could we possess the whole world without this, we should only grasp a phantom. We might as well seek to fill our belly, and satisfy our hunger with the east wind, as be happy without Christ abiding in us.    (1st.) What is implied in this? We know what it is to receive and entertain a friend in our dwelling. According to our love to him, and delight in him, so we treat him. Love will set the best things before him, give him the pre-eminence in all things, and accommodate him with the best room in our house. Yea, love is jealous, lest all things should not please, and will ap...

Jesus the Go-Between by D.G. Miles McKee   1Timothy 2:5. ¨For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.¨ Between the all-holy God and sin-filled man there stands the awesome sinless person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The genius of the gospel is that Christ is Himself both God and man and thus is a fitting and qualified mediator between us and the Almighty. In Christ, man encounters the all-holy God and in Christ, God encounters the perfect man. Jesus, therefore, because He is both God and man, is the only one exclusively qualified to be our mediator. Indeed, He must be both God and man to qualify as an effective representative of both parties. If He was merely man, He could not represent God: If God only, He could not represent man. So, what is a mediator? In disputes, people often call upon the services of a mediator to help settle arguments where opposing groups feel hard done by. There are offences on both sides and the mediator care...

" O Lord! Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, and every one mocketh me." -Jeremiah 20:7 [KJV] A poor deluded perfectionist lately made a great noise in London: he blasphemously pretended to be as holy as God Himself, to have revelations from Him, and peremptorily fixed upon a day when the world was to be destroyed. He deceived many, and alarmed more. But time proved how artfully he had been deceived himself; and now, what is most awful, he has cast off all sense of religion, ridicules it, charges all his delusion upon God, and quotes these very words of Jeremiah, to prove that God had deceived him. One would not mention this by way of reflection, or triumph over this unhappy man; but, as a caution against this mad, wildfire notion of sinless perfection, which so spreads itself among a certain description of professors.  But did God really deceive Jeremiah? Can we suppose that he charge...

" He hath put a new song in my mouth." -Psalm 40:3 [KJV] Some sing, when they have cause to be sad: others are sad, when they have reason to sing and rejoice. Some go on merrily to hell; others go on sorrowing to heaven. When the grace of Jesus is in the heart, a new song is put into the mouth. This is a song of new covenant love. This we are to sing all our days on earth, and for ever and ever in glory. In passing the streets, we meet with many occurrences, which remind us of our Beloved. It is sweet to spiritualize carnal things. I was much delighted with a carnal song, which concludes thus: All the time is thrown away, But what is spent in love. I thought this was very true of the love of our Saviour. This Psalm is applied to Christ in His manhood state (Hebrews ch. 10.) A new song was put in His mouth on our accounts. He says, “Many shall see it, and fear, and trust in the Lord.” See hence, our spiritual joy springs from seeing Christ’s work in our salvati...

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fainteth for thirst, I the L ORD will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." -Isaiah 41:17 {KJV} It is common to hear people say, ‘Such-an-one is a great believer.’ What idea strikes our mind of such a person? Are we not apt to think he is very rich in himself, having a vast stock of inherent righteousness? This is wrong: he is just the reverse. He is one, who knows himself to be poor and needy. His great faith leads him out of himself, to the great God and our Saviour, to receive, out of his fulness, grace upon grace. He confesses, I am a poor and needy sinner, living upon the unsearchable riches of Christ.  The sight of our poverty, and sense of our need, the Holy Spirit keeps up in our minds all through life. This makes Christ, and His riches of grace, precious to us. Some say, Such-an-one is only a seeker of the Lord. This is just what God’s children are all their ...

" Now abideth—hope." -I Corinthians 13:13 [KJV] Gospel faith and Christian hope are twin graces in the heart: they are inseparable. Faith exists not without hope. Hope has no being without faith. Such as a man’s faith is, such is his hope. They both flow from God’s word, as light and heat from the sun. Take away a word spoken, and faith has no being. Without a promise made, hope has no existence. Faith receives and takes possession of Christ, as set forth in the word: hope expects all promised blessings, comforts, and joys in Him, with Him, and from Him, according to the word. “The word of God liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23.)   Jesus, Who is the essential Word, “is our hope” (1 Timothy 1:2.) He is the cause of our hope; the object of our hope; and the life of our hope. Therefore, our hope abideth. Yea, though all in nature fails; all in sense forsakes us; and all, as to outward appearances, are against us;—though corruptions rage and foam, and lift...