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

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands ( 12-14 FEB21) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in  SO GREAT SALVATION  by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from their sins and from Hell: COMFORT IN TROUBLE Being a believer in Jesus Christ and resting in His good providence does not exempt us from trouble, trial, sorrow and heartache in this life. Our Lord said, "In this world you shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). But here is our comfort and help, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psa lm 46:1). Our blessed Lord said, "Come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb rews 4:16). Our gracious God has promised wisdom to understand the trial (James 1:5). Grace to endure and bear the trial ( II Corinthians 12:9). Faith to trus...

"And the LORD shut him in." -Genesis 7:16 [KJV] It was a sweet invitation to the patriarch Noah, when the Lord called him to the ark. Jehovah did not say, go thou into the ark; but, "Come." So saith Jesus to His people: "Come with Me, from Lebanon, My spouse; with Me, from Lebanon." Yes, precious Jesus, to be with Thee is heaven; for Thou Thyself art the heaven of the soul. But observe further, my soul: when Noah had entered the ark, what kept him there? "The LORD shut him in." Yes, neither bolts nor bars were his security; but God Himself, in His covenant engagements, kept him. The patriarch could no more get out, than the unbelieving carnal throng (who perhaps hung about the ark when they saw the flood arise, and felt its power) could get in. Precious Jesus! and what is it keeps Thy people now? Is it not Thyself? Are not Thy redeemed eternally secure in Thee, and Thy blood and righteousness, as Noah in the ark? Yes, Thou who hast the key of...

"Let M ine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." -Isaiah 16:4 [KJV] "When a man's ways please the L ORD , H e maketh even his enemies to be at Peace with him." Moab was the sworn foe of Israel, but yet Moab shall be overruled to shelter and feed Israel. The world, like Moab, dislikes God's people: but as God's people must sojourn in the world, until the time comes for God to take them home, they shall be taken care of. "Let M ine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab;" house them as travellers in an inn. See that they have a lodging. Let their bread be given, and their water sure. "They are poor; but they are My poor," saith our God. "They are outcasts; but they are Mine outcasts." Oh! precious Jesus, I see Thou wilt still own Thy people. And wherefore is it, dearest Lord? Not for their worth, not for their deservings, not for their adherence to Thee; but because Thou hast love...

"By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament" (Hebrews 7:22). When one undertakes to be surety for another, then the debt is reckoned unto him, and he accepts it. Thus, our dear Savior, our blessed Surety, stood up for us engaged in our behalf. Our debts, all our iniquities, were imputed to Him and laid upon Him, charged upon His person. He fully satisfied, perfectly atoned justice for them. By the one sacrifice of Himself He has taken them all away, made an end of sin, so that justice itself proclaims its own faithfulness to forgive sin (1 John 1:9) .  Grace reigns, mercy triumphs, sinners are pardoned, believers rejoice. Oh believer, you are blessed of your God Who is just, therefore does not, cannot, impute sin to you. True, you have committed sins innumerable; but it is just as true, they were all laid upon Jesus. True, you do commit sins; it is equally tru...

  "Unto you, therefore, which believe, H e is precious ." - I Peter 2:7 [KJV]   My soul, art thou anxious to know whether thou art a true believer in Jesus? Try it, then, by this mark, which the Holy Ghost hath given by His servant the apostle. Do you believe in Jesus for life and salvation? Yes, truly; if so be He is precious. Look at Him, then. Is Jesus precious in His person, precious in His work, precious in His offices, precious in His relations, precious in His whole character? Do you know Him, so as to love Him, to live to Him, to rejoice in Him, and to cast your whole soul upon Him for life and salvation? ...as the Father's gift, the Sent, the Sealed, the Anointed, the Christ, of the Father? Is He so precious, that there is nothing in Him but what you love—nothing that you would part with? His cross is dear, as well as His crown! Afflictions with Jesus, sweeter than prosperity without Him!     Pause over these questions. Recollect that there is not...

"The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them." -Revelation 7:17 [KJV] My soul thou hast not forgotten what thou wert so lately engaged in, a day or two since, at the call of God the Holy Ghost, to behold the Lamb of God. And art thou not still looking at Him, gazing upon Him, feasting thine eyes, thine heart, all thy affections, upon Him, and following Him, in the sweet contemplation, from His cross to His crown. Come then, my soul, harp again and again upon this blessed string; for sure it is most blessed. And remember, my soul, as thou lookest, thy Jesus is in the midst of the throne - that is, the very centre of it.   "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." For what is the Lamb of God, but God revealing Himself in Him, to thee, my soul, and all His people? And remember also, that the throne, in the midst of which thy Jesus is, in scripture, is called "the throne of God and the Lamb," on purpose to shew thee that it...

" Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again; W ho is even at the right hand of God, W ho also maketh intercession for us ." -Romans 8:33,34 [KJV] See, my soul, what a blessed security thou hast. Here is God justifying; Christ dying; the Holy Ghost raising the sinner's Surety from the grave, as an evidence that the debt of sin is cancelled; and Jesus ever living to see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied in the redemption of His people. What, then, shall rob thee of thy comfort, while thou art triumphing in thy Jesus? Sin shall not; for Jesus hath put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. The law cannot; for thy Jesus hath answered all its just demands. Divine justice cannot; for God Himself justifieth. Death and hell cannot; for Jesus hath conquered both.   In short, all that stood in thy way, the Son of God hath removed. And wilt thou ...