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

‘ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ’ -Romans 5.10 [KJV] Notice the verse did not say that God made reconciliation possible by the death of His Son but that they were reconciled . And since this was done while they were yet enemies, it shows that their reconciliation to God had nothing to do with their will or faith or any actions on their part. -Lucien LeSage, Excerpt from ‘Reconciliation’

"Strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."   -Hebrews 5:14 [KJV]    It is almost impossible for any who are called to minister in holy things, or who write about the truths of God, to please every one. Babes, who are unskillful in the word of righteousness, can only like milk. They cry out against strong meat, it offends their stomach. But such should consider,    (1st.) That they are not always to continue babes, to feed upon infant nutriment. The tender mother tries her infant, again and again, with meat, though its stomach heaves against it, and it has not the art to swallow it. So they must learn to eat strong meat, that they may grow thereby.    (2d.) God’s children are not all of equal age, therefore strong meat is as necessary for adult men, as milk is for babes; those of full age, or perfect. Not so, compared with the perfect law...

"Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth, with all your heart; for consider how great things He hath done for you." -I Samuel 12:24 [KJV] How truly affectionate was this pastoral advice of the prophet to Israel, in the close of recapitulating Israel's history, and God's love over them! My soul! take this portion from Israel's history, and apply it to thine own; for the argument, and the reason upon which the argument is founded, are one and the same; and thou wilt find the same causes, both from interest in Christ and from received mercies from Christ, to form the same conclusion. But at what part of thine history wilt thou begin, or where wilt thou end, in considering what great things thy God, thy Jesus, hath done for thee? Wilt thou open with the consideration of God's mercies towards thee in nature, or providence, or grace? What arithmetic will be competent to score the vast account, even in a thousandth degree, of either of those departme...

"Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me."   - Psalm 25:5 [KJV] What wonderful things does God sometimes shew us in His word! How our eyes sometimes seem to be anointed with eye-salve "to behold wondrous things out of God's law!"   (Psalm 119:18.) Sometimes in reading a chapter we see such beauty, such fulness, such sweetness, such glory in it, that it seems, as it were, to fill our very hearts. And what our souls want (I am sure my soul wants it, and it is my frequent cry to the Lord in secret that I may feel it) is to have this blessed truth taken out of the word of God, and applied to and sealed upon our hearts by the Spirit of God. I want no new revelation. Day by day I seem more satisfied of this, and more established in it—that all saving truth is in the word of God. I seek no visions, I desire no dreams, I want no airy speculations; but when my heart is brought to lie at the footstool of mercy, this seems to be the panting and breathing of my sou...

Plush! by D G Miles McKee   “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved)."   -Ephesians 2:4-5 [KJV]   In the beginning part of our verse, we are given an amazing picture of God.  We are told that He is rich in mercy.     Rich in mercy?  .....What does that mean? It means, among other things, that the Lord´s mercy is neither meagre nor miserly. Indeed, His supply of mercy is munificent and very generous.  He is rich in mercy. The Greek word for rich in our verse is  plousios  and speaks of wealth and abundance. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word plush.  Literally, the Lord is plush in mercy (we see this in His treatment of the woman caught in adultery, John 8 ). We also see it in David´s repentance after his affair with Bathsheba (Psalm 51:1) Etc, Etc.  He is plush in merc...

"Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established: believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper."   -II Chronicles 20:20 [KJV]   Such was the advice of good old Jehosaphat, in a time of invasion by a powerful army. Precious words! at all times seasonable. What can a child of God desire on this side glory, so much as establishment of mind and prosperity of soul? Both are obtained by faith. As the mind is established, so the soul prospers.    (1st.) What is implied in being established? It is to be fixed and settled in the confidence of our mind, and not to halt between two opinions, as those of old did, between God and an idol (I Kings 18:21.) To halt, is to be lame on both sides. Thus, their minds were in suspense, agitated between two objects, and not steadily fixed upon either. So many sincere souls are tossed to and fro, by every wind of doctrine. They are like children, not steadily fixed in their judgment, nor settled in their confidence in the...

"The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." -I Peter 3:4 [KJV]   My soul! where is this to be had? Hast thou considered it in its importance, or in its attainment; whence it cometh, and on whose account it is given? Sit down, this evening, and ponder over it. What is a meek and quiet spirit, but grace, in all its blessed properties and saving effects, keeping the heart and mind through Christ Jesus?   Now mark some of the many precious things belonging to it. The fountain of it is God; for "every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning , '' James 1:17 . It is also the purchase of Christ's blood, and the fruit of the Holy Ghost; and so infinitely important in its operation, that believers are said thereby "to be made partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in th...

"Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD." -Lamentations 3:39, 40 [KJV]   I believe in my conscience there are thousands of professors who have never known in the whole course of their religious profession what it is to have "searched and tried their ways;" to have been put into the balances and weighed in the scales of divine justice; or to have stood cast and condemned in their own feelings before God as the heart-searching Jehovah. From such a trying test, from such an unerring touchstone they have ever shrunk. And why? Because they have an inward consciousness that their religion will not bear a strict and scrutinizing examination. Like the deceitful tradesman, who allures his customers into a dark corner of his shop, in order to elude detection when he spreads his flimsy, made-up goods before them, so those who have an inward consciousness that their ...

WHO IS THE BLESSED PERSON? Ref: Psalm 32:1-2 [KJV]  Who would you say is the truly blessed man? Most people would probably say, “Well, it is the person who has good health, if you have good health you have everything.” To them I would answer, good health is only temporary, one day soon the flesh must wither and die and after that is judgment (Psalm 103:14; Isaiah 40:6; Hebrews 9:27) . Others might answer and say, “That the person who is wealthy, surely he is a blessed man.” Again, wealth may purchase a lot of things and influence many people, but we can be sure that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold (I Peter 1:18) . David in this Psalm gives us the right answer to this very important and sobering question. " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Truly, here is the statement of the Almighty God that ident...

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.  Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David.  His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me.  It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah."   - Psalm 89:34-37 [KJV] -------0-------    The things that are WRITTEN and that are PREACHED by us concerning salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ are not only written and preached to encourage sin­ners to believe Him and come to Him that they might be saved, but the gospel is written and preached to you who believe that you may have confidence and as­surance of your interest in Christ, and having come to Him, you are still coming. How is faith confirmed?    How is faith increased? Even by the preaching of the gospel, by having the person and work, the righteousness and sacrifice of our Lord explained to us again .  Eternal lif...

"David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul ."   -I Samuel 27:1 [KJV]   Who will say, that, from the nature and reason of things, David had not cause to think so? The king’s wrath was incensed against him. “The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: yea, as the roaring of a lion” (Proverbs of Solomon 16:14–19:12.) Saul wanted neither policy nor power to execute his cruel designs upon David: but only, he must have permission from David’s Lord, before he could hurt a single hair of his head. Poor David’s heart seems to forget this, when, in a fit of fear and frame of unbelief, he says, “I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul.”    Now, only think, “The LORD had appointed and anointed David to be king; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon him from that day forward.”   Yet, we here find him doubting the truth of what had passed, giving way to unbelief, and suspecting that the Lord’s purpose might be prevented, by ...

"Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them; but their eyes were holden, that they should not know Him." - Luke 24:15, 16 [KJV]   My soul! here is a most interesting subject proposed to thine evening meditation, in this account of an interview between Jesus and two of His disciples, in the interval between His resurrection and ascension. Sit down, and under the divine teaching, ponder it well. Were the eyes of those disciples so holden, that they should not know Him, from some supernatural effect wrought on their powers of vision; or was it induced from any alteration wrought upon the person of their Lord? Probably there might be a concurrence of both these causes. The effect accomplished by this interview seems indeed to shew it; but it is profitable, highly profitable, to exercise our meditation upon it, though the point cannot be determined.   I think it more than probable, that death had given an aspect to Jesus, which in itself must have induced a change. ...

"My soul followeth hard after Thee." -Psalm 63:8 [KJV]   The Lord (we would speak with reverence) does not suffer Himself at first to be overtaken. The more the soul follows after Him, the more He seems to withdraw Himself, and thus He draws it more earnestly on the pursuit. He means to be overtaken in the end: it is His own blessed work in the conscience to kindle earnest desires and longings after Himself; and therefore He puts strength into the soul, and "makes the feet like hinds' feet" to run and continue the chase. But in order to whet the ardent desire, to kindle to greater intensity the rising eagerness, the Lord will not suffer Himself to be overtaken till after a long and arduous pursuit. This is sweetly set forth in the Song of Solomon 5:2-8.    We find there the Lord coming to His bride; but she is unwilling to open to Him till "He puts His hand in by the hole of the door." She would not rise at His first knocking, and therefor...

     If the Holy Spirit enables us to be honest, it is a fact that there can be no real inward joy when we evaluate ourselves.  Whenever we look within we get discouraged because all we see is corruption.  Yes, we do believe Christ, but we do not pray enough, we do not read the Bible as much as we ought, we don’t love the Lord like we should, we do not love each other like we are supposed to; our hearts are sometimes cold and seemingly lifeless.   Every thought, every deed, every motive, every imagination is polluted by sin.  Who among us can find any comfort in our own conscience with regard to our relationship with a holy God upon the basis of anything within us.  Let this be established, the heart can only be genuinely comforted when we look away from self and cast the eyes of our souls upon Christ Jesus the Lord .   He is our hope, our joy, our confidence, our righteousness and our salvation.  When we look only...