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

The Lord, our merciful and gracious God and Saviour has promised to fully pardon His elect. Not based upon their faith, repentance, works of faith or labors of love; but for one single and solitary reason; for Christ’s name sake and for the gospel’s sake (Ephesians 4:32). Consider these precious promises of the gospel and rejoice in Christ:   I Samuel 15:25; “Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin , and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.”   Psalm 25:11 ; “ For Thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”   Nehemiah 9:17; “ But Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.”   Isaiah 55:7; “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon .”   Jeremiah 33:8; “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned a...

In  John 5:1-9,  the Lord Jesus came to a man lying by the pool of Bethesda who had suffered with an infirmity for thirty-eight years. Knowing his helpless condition, the Lord asked him,  "Wilt thou be made whole?"  The man's answer revealed both his misery and his inability:  "Sir , I have no man , when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me" (vs. 7.) He could not help himself. He had no strength to remedy his condition and no one to do it for him. He was completely dependent upon another.   This is the place to which every sinner must be brought. Salvation begins when a sinner sees that he is utterly helpless before God. Sin has rendered us unable to save ourselves. We cannot remove our guilt, change our hearts, or make ourselves acceptable to God. Like the impotent man at Bethesda, we are completely dependent upon another. That One is Christ.   Unless the Lord comes to where...

"The LORD reigneth, He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.  Thy throne is established of old: Thou art from everlasting."   - Psalm 93:1-2 [KJV]    -------0------- " Seeing that we have A GREAT HIGH PRIEST, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, LET US THEREFORE COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE ." -Hebrews 4:14-16      Our Lord is called the GREAT High Priest because of the DEITY OF HIS PERSON; He is the Son of God! He is the GREAT High Priest because of the PLACE IN WHICH HE OFFICIATES, HEAVEN! He is the GREAT High Priest because of the EFFICACY OF HIS SACRIFICE, " By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified ." He is the GREAT High Priest because of the CONTINUATION OF HIS PRIESTHOOD, " He is a priest FOREVER after the order of Melchisedec."   Seeing then that He is WHO He is an...

  1. No more, my God, I boast no more   Of all the duties I have done;   I quit the hopes I held before,   To trust the merits of Thy Son.   2. Now, for the love I bear His name,   What was my gain I count my loss;   My former pride I call my shame,   And nail my glory to His cross.   3. Yes, and I must and will esteem   All things but loss for Jesus’ sake:   O may my soul be found in Him,   And of His righteousness partake!   4. The best obedience of my hands   Dares not appear before Thy throne;   But faith can answer Thy demands   By pleading what my Lord has done.   –Isaac Watts   THE PUZZING PROBLEM CONCERNING EVIL’S ORIGIN  I am not so much troubled about how evil came into the world as about helping to get it out! Practical common-sense seems to say, “If there is a thief in the house, let us catch him, or else get him out. And after that we will try to find out how he got in.”...

"The divine providence which is sufficient to deliver us in our utmost extremity, is equally necessary to our preservation in the most peaceful situation." -Isaac Newton

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him."   -Colossians 2:6 [KJV]   It is to the glory of the grace of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, that any sinner receives Christ; and Christ is the glory of that heart which receives Him. Thus, there is a mutual complacency and delight between Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit and believing sons. Every one who believes in Christ Jesus, has received Christ as his Lord, his atonement, his righteousness, his salvation as verily as St. Paul, or any of the apostles. God is alike the Father of all such; the Son is alike the Saviour of all such; and the Holy Ghost is alike the Sanctifier and Comforter of all such.    O well may the believing heart cry out in a rapture of joy, Lord, what rich grace is this! What glorious privilege am I invested with? What hast Thou wrought! What am I! Why should Jesus apprehend me, worthless me, that I should apprehend Him! Lord, what wouldst Thou hav...

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise." - Psalm 57:7 [KJV]   My soul! Here is a delightful subject proposed for thine evening meditation, in the fixedness of the heart. The only possible way of really "singing and giving praise to the Lord" with the heart, is when the Lord hath fixed thine heart to the service. Many rush to ordinances, as the unthinking horse rusheth to the battle: not so, my soul, be thy practice. See to it, that He who alone can give a fixedness to the heart, hath fixed thine; for then, when the view of a God in Christ is brought home by the Holy Ghost to thy warmest and most devout affections, then, and not before, will there be a going forth of those affections, awakened and led by the same Almighty Spirit, upon the glorious person of thy Lord, and faith will be in lively exercise, in a way of praise, and love, and obedience, and joy. Then thou wilt sing and give praise "with the spirit, an...

"For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul." -Psalm 109:31 [KJV]   How cheering, how comforting it is, to have a friend to stand by us when we are in trouble. Such a friend is Jesus. In the hour of necessity, He comes as a friend to stand by the right hand of the poor creature, whose soul is condemned by guilt and accusations. But He stands in a far higher relation than that of a friend; He stands too as a Surety and a Deliverer. He goes, as it were, into the court; and when the prisoner stands at the bar, He comes forward and stands at his right hand as His surety and bondsman; He brings out of His own bosom the acquittance of the debt signed and sealed with His own blood, He produces it before the eyes of the court, and claims and demands the acquittal and absolution of the prisoner at whose right hand He stands.  He stands there, then, that the prisoner may be freely pardoned, and completely justified from ...