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

“ That H e would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve H im without fear, i n holiness and righteousness before H im, all the days of our life.” -L UKE 1:74-75 [KJV] The grand point of all true religion is to be brought by the blessed Spirit into that happy spot where we can serve the living God free from that guilt, bondage, darkness, doubt, and fear which often possess our mind, and are the worst enemies of our soul’s peace. But though they are such enemies to all true peace and happiness, yet are they mercifully overruled for our spiritual good, to convince us from whence our help must come, to strip us thoroughly of all creature help and hope, and bring us to the spot where the Lord meets the soul in mercy, sheds abroad His love, and brings near a precious Christ. We have no reason to thank bondage, guilt and the law, still less sin and Satan, for any work they have done which God has overruled for our good. And y...

The Wednesday Word The Shepherd and the Sword by D.G. Miles McKee “ Awake O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow" -Z ECHARIAH 13:7 [KJV] The Lord Jesus came here to be the effective, substitute for sinners. As such, it pleased the Father to bruise Him. The decree went out from Yahweh Himself, "Smite the Shepherd." That´s why we also read, "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (R OMANS 8:32) . Although Jesus went to the cross, He was under no compulsion to do so. No man took His life, He laid it down voluntarily (J OHN 10:18) . The Father decreed that the Shepherd would die and Jesus willingly fulfilled those wishes. Men, it seems, were the unwitting accomplices in carrying out the great, eternal purposes of redeeming grace. But why did Jesus die? Is there anyone reading this who can answer? Is there a prophet or a son of a prophet who can shed some light on this matter? But w...

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" - H EBREWS 13:5-6 [KJV] We are instructed in the scriptures to be content with the things God has been pleased to graciously give us, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment let us be therewith cont ent" (1Tim. 6:8) . A covetous and grumpy spirit is unbecoming in a believer and will only grieve your heart and bring reproach on the gospel. "Be content with such things as you have." I ask myself and you this question, What things do we have? God has sovereignly given to every believer, Himself, "I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (John 17:23) . When we consider that Almighty God, po...

“ I have stuck unto T hy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.” -P SALM 119:31 [KJV] In whatever state or stage of experience you are, it will be your wisdom and your mercy to STICK TO GOD’S TESTIMONY . Has the Lord just begun a work of grace in your heart? Is H e shewing to you what you are by nature, and bringing before your eyes the sins of your youth, and plunging you in deep convictions? It will be your wisdom, and it will be your mercy, to stick to that testimony; not to be driven from your standing into despair, nor pushed forward into fleshly confidence; but to stick to that testimony which God himself has implanted. Has God made you to sigh and cry from the depths of a broken heart – to fall down before H is truth? Stick to that testimony; H e will not put you to shame. Again, if the Lord has done a little more for you, shewn you the least glimpse of mercy and favor, and given you some little testimony of your interest in the blood of the Lamb, it will be y...

"Somewhere in my reading I came across the expression, "The richness of the ascension." I was struck by the expression because so little is said or written these days about the tremendous act of both the Father and the Son, by which the Gospel of God concerning His Son is brought to its climax. A gospel that does not speak of an ascended Lord is not the Gospel of God! If the Gospel is Christ and Christ is the Gospel, and surely this is true; we must proclaim a Christ risen, exalted and reigning. He must be preached where He is now identified as the pre-existent, virgin born, sinlessly living, vicariously dying, Son of the living God.  Always the apostles preached the living Christ and worked backward, a decided reverse from the gospel of today. This is God's good news. How can Christ be preached if He is not preached where He is now? If Christ be risen and exalted, the rest is easy to accept! If not, the virgin birth and everything else cannot be acce...

“ Who H is own self bare our sins in H is own body on the tree” - I P ETER 2:24 [KJV] We beg the Lord, sometimes, to give us a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a tender conscience, and a humble mind; but it is only a view by faith of what the gracious Redeemer endured upon the cross, when H e bare our sins in H is own body with all their weight and pressure, and with all the anger of God due to them that can really melt a heart, and break a stony heart. No sight, short of this, can make sin felt to be hateful; bring tears of Godly sorrow out of the eyes, sobs of true repentance out of the breast, and the deepest, humblest confessions before God what dreadful sinners and base backsliders we have been before the eyes of H is infinite Purity, Majesty, and Holiness. Oh, what hope is there for our guilty souls; what refuge from the wrath of God so justly our due; what shelter from the curse of a fiery law, except it be in the cro...

“ I am well satisfied it will not be a burden to me at the hour of death, nor be laid to my charge at the day of judgment, that I have thought too highly of the Lord Jesus Christ, expected too much of Him myself, or labored too much in commending and setting Him forth to others, as the Alpha and Omega, the Lord our righteousness the sufficient atonement for sin, the only Mediator between God and men, the true God and eternal life. On the contrary, alas! My guilt and grief are, that my thoughts of H im are so faint, so infrequent, and my commendations of Him so lamentably cold and disproportionate to what they ought to be.” - Gospel report by preacher John Newton (1725-1807 A.D.)