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

The Gospel and Faith, Part 6 by D G Miles McKee   Many times, in the Old Testament, the question is asked of God “Who is like unto Thee.” For example,   “Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)   Likewise, “Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto Thee!” (Psalms 71:19).  Furthermore, “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of H is heritage? He retains not his anger forever, because He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18).  Who indeed is like Jesus? Is Buddha like Him? No! Or Mohammed?No! Or any of the host of religious leaders from the past?  No! When do we ever read of Buddha, Mohammed or Confucius or any of them cleansing their people from their sins? Never! Who is like unto Thee?   Not only did Christ cleanse His people’s sin, but fo...

"... a nd hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?" -Isaiah 51:13 [KJV]   Pause, my soul, over those sweet expostulating words of thy God. Wherefore should the fear of man bring a snare? How much needless anxiety should I spare myself, could I but live, amidst all my changeable days and changeable circumstances, upon my unchangeable God. Now, mark what thy God saith of  thy unreasonable and ill-grounded fears— "Where is the fury of the oppressor?" Can he take from thee thy Jesus? No! Shouldest thou lose all thy earthly comforts, Jesus ever liveth, and Jesus is thine. Can he afflict thee, if God saith no? That is impossible. Neither men nor devils can oppress without his permission. And sure enough thou art, thy God and Saviour will never allow any thing to thy hurt; for all things must work for good. And canst thou lessen the oppressor's fury by anxious f...

"But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." -Ephesians 2:13 [KJV]   Of all the vast alterations made upon our nature by grace, that which is from death to life seems to be the greatest. I do not think the change would be as great, if Jesus were to make a child of God, after his conversion, at once an  archangel, as when, by His blessed Spirit He quickens the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and brings him into grace. My soul, contemplate the sweet thought this morning, that it may lead thee, with thy hymn of praise, to all precious Jesus! First then, my soul, think where you then stood, before this vast act of grace had quickened you. You stood on the very confines of hell— unawakened, unregenerate, uncalled, without God, and without Christ. Supposing the Lord had not saved you; supposing a sickness unto death had, by His command, taken you; supposing that any one cause had been commissioned to sign your death-warrant...

" God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). David wrote "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1), but the glories of redemption vastly outshine the magnificence of creation. All of the infinite perfections of God are harmoniously featured in the substitutionary death of Christ. At the cross we behold God’s determinate purpose, His everlasting love and His inflexible justice working together to bring about the salvation of unworthy sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace. -preacher Jim Byrd https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=13thstbaptist

"From this day will I bless thee." -Haggai 2:19 [KJV]   My soul, what day is the memorable day to thee from whence commenced thy blessings? No doubt from everlasting the Lord hath blessed His people in Jesus. But the commencement of thy personal enjoyment of those blessings, was at the time the Lord graciously laid the foundation of His spiritual temple in thee; the blessed, the gracious, the auspicious, the happy day, when the Lord made thee willing in the day of His power? Oh! blessed day, never, never to be forgotten! A day of light; when the light of Jesus first broke in upon me. A day of life; when the Lord Jesus quickened my poor soul, which before was laying dead in trespasses and sins. A day of love; when His love first was made known to my soul, who so loved me as to give His dear and ever-blessed Son for me: and His love was sweetly manifested, who so loved me as to give Himself for me.     A day of the beginning of victory, over death and hell, and the gra...

"They shall hunger no more." -Revelation 7:16 [KJV]   My soul! contemplate for a moment, before thou enterest upon the concerns of time and sense, in the claims of the world, the blessed state of the redeemed above. They are at the fountain-head of happiness, in their station, in their service, in their society, in their provision, in their everlasting exemption from all want, and above all, in the presence of God and the Lamb. "They shall hunger no more." Sweet thought! Let me this day anticipate as many of the blessed properties of it as my present state in Jesus will admit. If Jesus be my home, my residence, my dwelling-place, will not the hungerings of my soul find supply?     Yes, surely. A life of faith on the Son of God, is a satisfying life, under all the changes of the world around. Finding Jesus, I find sustenance in Him, and therefore do not hunger for ought besides Him. "Thou art my hiding-place,"said one of old; and my soul finds occasion...

“ For it pleased the Father that in H im should all fullness dwell." - Colossians 1:19 [KJV] All wisdom to guide, all power to uphold, all love to soothe, all grace to support, all tenderness to sympathize, dwells in Christ. Let us, then, gird ourselves to a fresh taking hold of Christ. We must walk through this year not by sight, but by faith- and that faith must deal simply and directly, with Jesus. "Without M e y e can do nothing." But with His strength made perfect in our weakness, we can do all things. Oh, be this our course and our posture- "coming up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved." Living in a world of imperfection and change, we must expect nothing perfect, nothing stable, in what we are, in what we do, or in what we enjoy. But amid the dissolving views of the world that "passes away," let us take firm hold of the unchangeableness of God. The wheels may revolve, but the axle on which they turn is immoveable. Such is our coven...