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

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28  [KJV]   "According to His purpose" —for He had purposed before the world was who His called ones would be, and also purposed that all things would work for their good. The doings of His grace in time, are ever the result of the purposes of His grace before the foundation of the world (Romans 8:30).  "Those who are CALLED according to His purpose." These are called to know themselves as guilty before God and deserving of eternal condemnation. These are called to know the all-sufficiency of Christ to save. These are called to trust in His atoning death as their only hope of salvation. These are called out of the world. They no longer revel in the world's gaieties, or are swayed by its corrupt principles. These are called to be followers of the despised Lord Jesus, treading in His footsteps. This is the calling w...

"And he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed Him that he might be with Him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not; but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee ." - Mark 5:18, 19 [KJV] Mark this, my soul, and especially when at any time thy Jesus is so graciously revealing Himself to thee, in a way of love, that thou art longing to be absent from the body, that thou mayest be "present with the Lord:" think then, of what Jesus said to this poor man. The thought of being made instrumental in the hand of the Lord in calling sinners to Jesus, made holy Paul willing to wait in a sinful world, and put off his own happiness. Precious frame of mind! Paul knew also, that if the Lord housed His children from the lion's den, and from the mountains of leopards, as soon as He had brought them to the knowledge of Himself, then, in this case, Jesus would have no church in the wilderness. The holy ...

“Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." - Isaiah 62:3  [KJV] It is very easy to conceive how the Lord of Hosts in the day of salvation becomes for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto His people, as a prophet hath said, Isaiah 28:5 . But that the church, and every individual redeemed of the church, shall be the Lord's crown and diadem. Oh, the wonders of grace! Pause, my soul, over the sweet scripture, and take to thyself the blessedness of it. What a variety of images and similitudes thy God hath made use of to manifest how highly He prizeth His redeemed. "Yea, He loveth the people," said one of old; "all His saints are in Thy hand." He calleth them jewels, precious stones, His treasure, His chosen, His inheritance, His portion, His crown, His diadem.     And what a thought is it for thee, my soul, to meditate upon, that though in thyself thou art nothing, yet considered in Je...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands   (14-16MAY21) 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  our  sins and from Hell:   “We preach Christ crucified” (I Corinthians 1:23) . In keeping with the apostle Paul, I proclaim the only message from God that will, if blessed of the Spirit, meet the needs of all who hear me. “Christ and Him crucified” is pardon to the guilty, clothing to the naked, rest to the weary, water to the thirsty, bread to the hungry, ransom to the slave, liberty to the bondman, cleansing to the filthy, righteousness to the sinful and peace to the troubled. To those who are spiritually sick, I preach “Christ crucified,” the Great Physician; to the sorrowful, He is the Comfo...

"And one Man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by His side." - Ezekiel 9:2  [KJV] Pause, my soul, over this scripture. Who could this one man be, but Jesus, thy Mediator. Did not His garment of linen mark His righteousness, and the inkhorn to write down His people, His pierced side? Hath He not written in the book of life the names of all His redeemed, that none of them may be lost when He cometh to make up His jewels? And was it not with an eye to this the soldier pierced His side when by His death He had obtained eternal redemption for them, that He might with His precious blood mark His people, as a shepherd doth his sheep? Yes, Thou dear Redeemer! Surely I behold Thee sweetly set forth in this scripture. Surely the Holy Ghost, who all along delighted to set Thee forth under various similitudes before the old church, hath graciously represented Thee here.    Methinks I behold Thee now coming forth in the white garment of Thy spotless righteous...

  THE AMAZING BLOOD OF JESUS , Part  1 by D.G. Miles McKee 1 Peter 1 :18-19, “Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” One of the most important things we can come to grips with is to understand the value of the blood of Jesus. The Blood of Jesus has removed all our sins. It is, therefore, not only priceless but also powerful. But what is it that gives the blood its power and value?  I´ll tell you what it is … it is because of whose blood it is!  The blood of Jesus is the blood of the God/Man … He who is fully God and fully Man. Christ’s blood would not have been effective if He had only been God. Why? Because God cannot die! On the other hand, had He merely been a man His death would not have been successful. The death of one man, no matter how good a man, coul...

The great and important question for you and me always has been and is now. "How can man be just with God?" I do not deny an interest in the mysteries of providence and the matters of prophecy, but the most important matter to me at all times ­ and it increases as I grow older and approach the day of judgment ­ is, "How can I stand before God justified and accepted?" Woe to the man who shall be weighed and found wanting! "If I justify myself," Job declared, "my own mouth would condemn me." If I say that I am without sin and holy enough for God's fellowship, I would be a liar and make God a liar! But Paul declares "It is God that justifieth." He can, by the substitution and satisfaction of His Son, make the unjust, just and the unclean, clean! He can cover us with a perfect robe of righteousness, so that we are as holy and pure as the Redeemer Himself. And the important thing is that God can justify us in a way that is...