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

We gather this day to honor the King, Who sits on His throne, His triumphs we sing; The Savior who died to atone for our sin, Came forth from the tomb and He liveth again. Christ Jesus the Lord the victory has won, He died and arose; the work is all done! He took on Himself all our debt to repay, The sins of His people are all washed away. To Jesus our Lord, all honor we bring, We say unto death, “Where now is thy sting?” Enthroned in His glory, almighty to save, How great is His conquest o’er sin and the grave! He conquered the grave and liveth above, All praise to His Name, all power and love; Made righteous in Jesus we someday shall rise, To dwell with our Savior above earth and skies. -Hymn, "O Worship the King."    Words written by Jim Byrd  

"Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the LORD JESUS."   -Colossians 3:17 [KJV] I have sometimes thought, how is it possible that a believer in Christ can ever willingly and deliberately commit any one sin? It is hardly to be conceived, that such can live and walk under the power of sin. I am sure all sin is as contrary to the nature of a new-born soul, as heaven to hell: yet nothing is more plain, from the word of God, and the experience of His saints, than that sin dwells in them. But they are solemnly forbidden to “let sin reign in them, that they should obey it in the lusts thereof”   (Romans 6:12.) And if our souls are not striving against sin, and pressing after holiness, I know not where to find one text, in the word of God, to encourage us to believe and hope, that we are the children of God. I dread not the Satanic grin of licentious Antinomians. Does their infectious breath pronounce this legal? It only proclaims their unregenerat...

"The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." -John 20:19 [KJV] There is a peculiar blessedness in this first visit of the Lord Jesus to the whole college of disciples (at least as many as were present of them) after He arose from the dead: and the manner of relating it is peculiarly striking also. It was the same day at evening; and it was the first day also; as if the Lord Jesus would again and again honour the day, as well in the evening as the morning of His resurrection, and make that day for ever memorable to His church, and among His people. My soul! thou hast celebrated thy Lord's triumphs over death, in the morning, both at home and abroad, in His church, at His ordinances, at His table, and among His disciples; but learn hence also, that at evening time Jesus will make it light by...

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."   -II Timothy 2:3 [KJV] We often get into states and frames of mind, where we need something else besides consolation. A child would not grow, if it were always fed upon sweetmeats. It must have exercise, and be exposed to the weather, and have the cold winds blow upon its face, and be hardened, so as to enable it to bear the chill winter and the nipping frosts. So the child of God is not always petted, and fed upon love-tokens. He is not always carried in the warm bosom, or sucking the breasts of consolation, but he has to learn lessons to fit him to be a soldier. The soldier, we know, has to endure hardships. He has to lie all night upon the wet grass; to be pinched with hunger, parched with thirst, and nipped with cold; to make harassing marches; to hear the roar of the cannon and the whistling of the bullets, "the thunder of the captains and the shouting;"  to see the flash of the ...

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  -John 1:14 [KJV]  The eternal God joined Himself to human flesh and He evermore remains inseparably God and Man. Let us rejoice with joy unspeakable and give unceasing thanks to God for this wonderful truth. When Christ came to give His life a ransom for His people, He did not cease to be God. When He finished the work of redemption, went back to the Father and took His seat upon the throne of universal dominion, He did not cease to be Man. Our Mediator and Great High Priest always shall be, “the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5).  —preacher Jim Byrd

This is a privilege of the highest nature, and an exercise of the highest delight; for glory in the highest perfection is due to the Holy Name of the LORD. “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard ; ” (Psalm 66:8) ; and all nations are called to bless and adore Him; that is, so many as it shall please our God to call to the faith of His Son Christ Jesus, for they that love the LORD, can never cease from this work. “I will extol Thee, my God, O king; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:1-2.)   Everyone that honours the Father, honours the Son, for their glory cannot be divided; no glory can possibly be given to the one, that is not given to the other, for they are one; and to render thanksgiving and praise is the most direct and immediate way of confessing the God of all grace. In this way we confess the sensible feelings of our hearts, and breathe out th...

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” -Exodus 25:22 [KJV]   The tabernacle of old was a revelation of the shekinah glory of God, which was the fullness of God’s revelation of Himself in the glorious Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the full salvation of His people. This revelation was given not only in the preaching of the Gospel but also in the types and pictures of the elements of the tabernacle such as the mercy seat in the holy of holies.    Here we see Christ as the Surety, Substitute, and Redeemer of His people by the sacrifice of Himself as the Lamb of God in Whom and by Whom God justified His people and accepts them as righteous in His sight. The blood of the lamb sprinkled on this mercy seat pictured the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the s...

"Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."   - Judges 10:14 [KJV]   A severe sarcasm from the Lord to apostate sinners! It causes a hell upon earth to a renewed soul, to hear and feel just upbraidings from the Lord of heaven: this is one of His severest chastizings to His children. Here is an awful charge, and a severe reproof: the Lord keeps us clear of the one, that we fall not under the other.    Consider, (1st.) the charge: it is idolatry. They had gods of their own choosing. For the Lord’s sake, and for our soul’s sake, let us not think, we are in no danger of falling into this sin! It is committed by professors every day. Aged Paul wept over such. Though they professed Christ, yet they were enemies to His cross: their belly was their god: “Their hearts were set upon earthly things” (Philippians 3:19.)    Such are not content with Christ as their own; to live in fellowship with Hi...

"Having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." -Acts 2:24 [KJV]   My soul! thou hast been in contemplation to the tomb of Jesus this morning, and seen the place where the Lord lay; now sit down, and ponder over what this blessed scripture saith, that "the pains of death were loosened, because it was not possible for Jesus to be detained a prisoner by it." And if there were no other scripture, but this one, in proof of Christ's godhead, this in itself would be unanswerable; for it could be nothing but the godhead of His person which made it impossible. It was this which, from the union of the manhood with the godhead, preserved His soul from sin, and His body from corruption; for though the human nature that Christ took was subject to all the sinless infirmities of nature, and to feel hunger, weariness, and the like, to the full, being part of the curse on the fall, which He came to bear and do away;...

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." -Hebrews 13:8 [KJV]   The eye of our faith must be ever fixed on Jesus, for the Person of Christ is the grand object of faith, and to lose sight of Him is to lose sight of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Is He not the same Jesus now that He was on earth? He is exalted, it is true, to an inconceivable height of glory, so that when John saw Him, even as if in some measure veiled, he fell at His feet as dead. But He is the same Jesus now as when He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as He wears the same human body, so He has the same tender, compassionate heart. All that He was upon earth as Jesus, He is in heaven still.    All that tenderness and gentleness, all that pity to poor sensible sinners, all that compassion on the ignorant and on those that are out of the way, all that grace and truth which came by Him and were manifest in Him, all that bleeding, dying love, all that sym...

The heart of the gospel is the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ . Scripture places all the responsibility and burden of our salvation on the shoulders of our Lord. If a man is to be saved God must save him and the good news is that the Lord Jesus Christ has ‘saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.’ If I am to be redeemed from the curse of the law it must be the Lord Jesus who redeems me. If I am to be delivered from captivity to my own sinful nature it must be the Lord Jesus who sets me free. To be released from the bondage of Satan, Christ must break the chains for by my own strength I can neither settle the claim of God’s law, overthrow my inherited sinful nature or escape the devil’s grasp.  The doctrine of particular redemption lays all the responsibility for salvation on the shoulders of the Saviour and gives Him all the glory. Christ’s...

Blood that Cleanses by D G Miles McKee “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” –I John 1:7 [KJV]   There’s a painful truth that glares out to us from this beautiful text and that is this... sin must be cleansed. But not just any old sin, it’s our sin that needs to be cleansed.   The blood cleanses “us” from all sin! Since our sin needs to be cleansed, sin must, therefore, be filthy and polluted, but more than that, without this cleansing we are left filthy and polluted. It’s a painful picture, isn’t it?   There is a tendency today to forget just how horribly wretched sin is. We’ve dulled our spiritual senses so much that we cease to see sin as being what the Bible says it is, “exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13) . What a choice of words! “Exceeding Sinful.” God, wanting to call sin by the worst of words, could have called it vile or wretched or any number of names yet He chose to call it by it‘s own name “sin.“ Literally, sin is heinous b...

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."   - Revelation 2:10 [KJV]   This text has been seized by Arminian hands, dragged to their mint; the impress of man’s faithfulness struck on their minds, as his title to a crown of life; and pressed into their service, to militate against the electing love of God, and finished salvation by Christ only. O, Christian! does not your heart rise with indignation against such a self-exalting notion? It is the very dregs of unfaithfulness to Christ. Are you not ready to spurn it with a holy vehemence, saying, Get to hell, from whence you sprung?    What! my faithfulness on earth the cause, the condition, the merit of my being crowned in heaven?! O, my law-fulfilling, justice-satisfying, sin-atoning Jesus! can I ever think so meanly of Thy agony and bloody sweat; Thy cross and passion; Thy precious death and burial; Thy glorious resurrection and ascension; and of the coming of the Holy Ghost? as...

"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God ." -Hebrews 10:11, 12 [KJV]   The morning portion was the finishing cry of Jesus on the cross. This, my soul, I hope thou didst, as it were, hear with the ear of faith: beholding with the eye of faith, the Lord of life and glory as retreating from the field of battle, having gotten Himself the victory, and by that "one offering of Himself, once offered, for ever perfected them that are sanctified." Fold up then the blessed object for thy nightly pillow, as for thy morning meditation, and bring it forth continually for thine unceasing joy and peace in believing, that (as the Holy Ghost hath in this scripture, for thy present enjoyment, sweetly set it forth) when all the priests in their daily ministry could accomplish nothing, thi...

"And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." -Esther 4:16 [KJV]   When we are in darkness, under distress of conscience, or when guilt lies hard and heavy upon the soul, these things do, and must until removed, keep us back from the Lord. But are we ever to give heed to these enemies of our soul's peace? Are we never to press through the crowd? How was it with the man who was paralyzed for so many years? He might for ever have lain helpless upon his bed, had he not been brought into the presence of Jesus. How with the woman with the issue of blood? She might for ever have tarried on the skirts of the crowd, a poor, polluted, self-condemned wretch. But she pressed through the crowd, and got to touch the hem of Jesus' garment.    So with us. Shall we ever dwell in the outskirts—in the outer court of the temple? Shall we merely walk round Zion's bulwarks and tarry at her doors, or shall we venture int...

  All My Tears When I go don't cry for me,  In my Father’s arms I'll be.  The wounds this world left on my soul  Will all be healed, and I'll be whole. Sun and moon will be replaced  With the light of Jesus' face,  And I will not be ashamed  For my Savior knows my name. It don't matter where you bury me,  I'll be home, and I'll be free.  It don't matter where I lay,  All my tears be washed away. Gold and silver blind the eye.  Temporary riches lie.  Come and eat from heaven's store.  Come and drink and thirst no more. So, weep not for me my friend  When my time below does end,  For my life belongs to Him  Who will raise the dead again.     -sister Julie Miller   -------0-------  Psalm 135:6, "The LORD does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths."   Psalm 147:16-18, "He sends the snow like white wool; He scatters frost upon t...

‘This Word of God is of value, only as we feed on it for ourselves; and as we properly digest it and assimilate it.  No one can do this for us. Do not think, therefore that we can live by looking on and seeing other people eat or that we can learn by merely looking over and copying their’ work. We must do our own searching’s of the Word, and “mark” our own Bibles, and make our own tables and analyses. True, we may be guided and instructed in this by others; and we may be stimulated by their labours and examples; but we must each one do it for one’s self, and we must learn it for ourselves from the Word. After we may have heard if from others, we must feed on it for ourselves in order to derive strength from it. Everything that we can need for our spiritual health and strength is in the Word of God ….’ -E. W. Bullinger , ‘The Two Natures in the Child of God,'  p.27, May 1906 A.D.

"For Thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great."   - Psalm 25:11 [KJV] Strange plea! Great is mine iniquity, therefore pardon it! Such an address at a throne of grace, never arose from a self-righteous heart. No: with the Pharisee of old, such are ready to say, “Thank God I am not such a sinner as David was: I never committed the horrid crimes of murder and adultery: his iniquity was great indeed.”  It was so; but souls, enlightened by the word of truth, to see the spirituality of the holy law of God, will agree to our Saviour’s comment upon it, that lust is adultery in the heart, and anger a species of murder in the soul (Matthew 5:28.) “Out of the heart proceed murders, adulteries,”  etc. (Matthew 15:19.) Sensible of the desperate wickedness of our heart, convinced of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, who will dare plead, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is little ? Is it against a little God, sin is committed? Is it a little wrath revealed a...

“And the people stood beholding; and the rulers also with them derided Him, saying , He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar, and saying, If Thou be the king of the Jews, save Thyself." -Luke 23:35-37 [KJV] My soul! thou art not tired, I hope, of taking thy stand, night by night, and morning by morning, at the foot of the cross. Surely it is blessed to sit down by the fountain, which was opened by the soldier's spear, in the heart of Jesus, and contemplate, one by one, the mercies which flow in it to the souls of His redeemed. There are more to be seen, more to be discovered at every renewed review; for in the death of Christ, is the life of the soul. It is not the smallest part of the excellencies which Jesus discovered in His death, that it was "the death of the cross ; " for the apostle joins this with His sufferings. He not only endured the...