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

" So an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST." -II Peter 1:11 [KJV] Our last meditation was gloom and sadness. Here, the Sun of comfort arises, and sheds splendour, glory, and joy upon us. O that we may this night enter by faith into the joy of our Lord! Come, Christian! it seems you and I must tarry a little longer on earth, absent from our Lord. How shall we employ ourselves? In studying the word of His grace: in being diligent in the use of means: in exercising ourselves unto godliness. What then? O blessed assurance! “So an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly.” When? both in life and in death.  (1st.) In life. We shall find a free and open door into the kingdom of Christ’s grace, love, and peace, even now. We shall have the joy in the Holy Ghost, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, in our hearts. Thus, with the full sail of assurance, and the rapid...

"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." -John 17:24 [KJV] Nothing short of the revelation and communication of this glory could satisfy the heart of God; and nothing short of the partaking of this glory can satisfy the heart of man. Heaven short of this would be no heaven to his soul. Not to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; to have no view of the glory of an incarnate God; not to be conformed to His glorious image, so as to be perfectly holy both in body and soul—were these things denied, there would be no heaven at all for the redeemed among the children of men. But God, in giving the saints heaven as their happy home, gave them with it an eternal weight of glory. He has designed that all whom He has chosen unto salvation should reach the heavenly shore; that none should suffer shipwreck by ...

"The curse causeless shall not come." -Proverbs 26:2 [KJV] It is a sweet thought, that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. And surely the curse of the wicked cannot injure the righteous. But it is doubly blessed when a child of God finds a promising God, a performing God, in making their curses fall to the ground; yea, converting their very curses into blessings. Had not Joseph's brethren sold their brother, humanly speaking, how would he have arrived to the government of Egypt? Had not Haman planned the destruction of Mordecai, and for this purpose erected the gallows, though means would not have been wanting for his own destruction, yet the idea of hanging might not have entered the breast of the king. Yea, had not the Jews crucified the Lord Jesus, where would have been the triumph of the cross to His redeemed? Learn, my soul, to be looking at these things; not by mere outward appearances, not by the event of the moment, ...

"Seek meekness." -Zephaniah 2:3 [KJV] How are we to follow after this grace of meekness? By learning the contrary. How often have we mistaken false fire for the light and fire of God's Spirit! and have contended more for our own views, in our own spirit, with many rash and unbecoming words, rather than for the glory of God. But after a time we are led to see that strife and contention, in our own spirit, are contrary to the spirit and temper of the gospel, and are brought to see what a blessed grace the spirit of meekness is. Nay, the very want of it, the risings up of an excited temper, the anger, strife, envy, and jealousy that often work in our bosoms convince us how little we know of "the meekness and gentleness of Christ." We thus feel what a blessing it is to be made humble and submissive; and how impossible it is to enter into communion with a broken-hearted Jesus, till the soul is in some measure meekened by His Spirit. But it is by havin...

"At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me... Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me ." -II Timothy 4:16, 17 [KJV] My soul, think of the apostle's situation, when brought as a prisoner, for Jesus's sake, before the council, and deserted by all. Nay, look to an infinitely greater than Paul, when hurried away to Pilate, and when all His disciples forsook Him and fled. Make improvement of the view of both, as it may be profitable to thyself and thine own circumstances. There is a period coming, and, for aught thou knowest, may be near indeed, in which no man can stand with thee; in which the kindest earthly friend, if thou hast any, or the tenderest-hearted neighbour, cannot minister to thy safety. When thou art going down to the valley of the shadow of death, and the Lord is undressing thee for Jordan's river, think of that season, and how blessed must it then be to say, with Paul, I though no man hath stood wi...

" He who lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." - II Peter 1:9 [KJV] It is hard to say, whether St. Peter here draws the character of a mere formal professor; or of one who has really tasted that the Lord is gracious, and has awfully backslidden. Be it which it may, it holds forth a solemn lesson of instruction to our souls. We may hence lay this down as a sacred truth, that whatever profession a man makes of faith in Christ— justification by Him, hope of salvation through Him; yet, if he is destitute of the graces of the Spirit, and the fruits of righteousness in his life, he is blind to the glorious end of the gospel of peace, and is a stranger to the purifying grace and pardoning love of Christ to his soul.  Think of this. Pardoning love, purifying grace, and sanctifying influences are inseparable. Where there is the root of grace, there will be the fruits of righteousness. This is as...

The Gospel and the New Creature in Christ , Part III by D.G. Miles McKee Closeness to God always makes a person feel undone. Consider Abraham! The Lord had just told him He was about to incinerate Sodom and Gomorrah. He’d had enough of their wickedness and now stood ready to vaporize the whole vile mess. Abraham’s reply is astonishing: He says, “Lord, I’ve talked to You and I’m already incinerated.” Actually, what he said was, I am "but dust and ashes” but it’s the same thing. (Genesis 18:27) . Abraham had drawn close to God and had encountered true holiness: as a result, he felt as vile as the people of the doomed cities. He felt the same judgment they were about to receive was due to him. Consider also Job and his miserable comforters. Remember Job? He was afflicted with a plague of Sabeans, a plague of Chaldeans, a plague of wicked weather and because of these things he lost everything. Then he endured a plague of boils, the plague of a nagging wife and then fin...