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

"A friend that sticketh closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24 [KJV] And who is this, my soul; indeed, who can it be, but Jesus? None among the fallen race of Adam could ever redeem his brother; or, if he could, would have done it, at the expence of his own soul. But Jesus did all this, and more, when our cause was desperate, and gave Himself a ransom for His redeemed. Oh for grace to mark the features of His love. It began in eternity, it runs through all time, and continues everlasting. As Jesus is Himself, so is He in His love; the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. And how hath He shewn it? First, by engaging as our Surety; then paying all our debts; fulfilling the whole law; purchasing our persons; undertaking for our duty; nay, even to the conquering the stubbornness of our nature, and making us willing to be saved in the day of His power!     And what is it now? Having accomplished redemption for us by His blood, He is gone to take possession o...

"Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." - Song of Solomon 8:6  [KJV] My soul, is this the language of thine heart to Jesus? Yes, it is. Can any desire to be nearer Christ than thee? Can any long more to be worn as a signet upon His arm, and to lay nearer His heart than thee? And can any desire more than thou dost, to be sealed with His Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption?     Surely, my soul, thou longest earnestly for these precious things, that that arm of Jesus, on which thou wouldest be set as a seal, may be ever clasping thee; and that heart of thy Redeemer's upon which thou art engraven, as the high priest bore the names of the people of Israel, may be always folding thee, and hearing both thy person and thy wants before the throne, and thus unceasing fellowship may abound with the Father and with His Son Jesu...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands   (06-08AUG21) 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 to save us-  from  our  sins and from Hell: Christ, All Our Righteousness! When we review the fall of man in the garden, we discover how great was that  fall and how infinite was our loss. We became corrupt, dying creatures; once  strong, now weak; once healthy, now sick; once always living, now always  dying. Pain, sorrow, sickness, and death is our lot. We lost happiness and  became creatures of fear, shame, hate, and greed. We can’t live alone and we can’t live together. We lost fellowship with God;  our sins have separated us from His presence and His favor. We are not dying  men spiritually; we are dead men!  But ...

"Therefore, thus saith the LORD, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies." - Zechariah 1:16  [KJV] My soul, think what a sad state that land, that church, that family, that heart is in, where God withdraws but for a moment! This will be one way of rightly appreciating His presence. What a mercy, what an unspeakable mercy is it when God returns! For until He returns in grace, there will be no return to Him in a way of seeking mercy. Pause, my soul, over the thought. Though a child of God loseth not the interest and favour of God in His covenant, because what unworthiness soever, as in ourselves, we must appear in before God, yet in Christ there is an everlasting worthiness, in which His people are accepted and beloved: yet if the Lord suspends His gracious influences on the soul; if Jesus speaks neither by Urim nor Thummim; if the Holy Ghost, though at home in the heart, manifests not Himself to the heart; what shall the soul do?     Ordinances are nothing if the God of o...

What Did Christ Our Surety Accomplish?  He reconciled us to God in His sin-atoning death. He entered into Heaven as our Covenant-Head and claimed our eternal inheritance in our name, as our Surety. Also, He will, in the last day, present all of His elect faultless before the Father’s glory with exceeding great joy. In that day, He will appear without sin. Also, those that are in Him will also appear without sin.  His Father will say again, " Well done!"   And it's written,  "By so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better testament" (Hebrews 7:22). Friends, Christ our Surety is all of my righteousness and justification before God. Christ is all my salvation. He is my comfort and assurance. He is my motivation to obey God. And He is my hope of eternal life forever more. Christ is All to this poor sinner.   -brother Jim Casey

"And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." -Psalm 107:7 [KJV] My soul, what are thy daily exercises concerning the way the Lord thy God is leading thee through a wilderness dispensation? Art thou convinced that it is the right way? What if it be a thorny way, a tempted way, frequently a dark way; yet art thou satisfied that it is the right way, because it is thorny, tempted, dark, and with numberless other exercises. This is the plan to judge by.     And though, my soul, I trust thou hast grace enough given thee to see and know, in thy cool hours of thought, that whatever thy God appoints must be right, and His holy will must be done; yet there is an exercise of grace which goes much beyond these views of the subject, and which a believer is enabled to bring into practice, when he not only submits to a painful dispensation, but rejoiceth in it, because it is the right way.     When he saith, I am afflicted; bu...

"Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me." - Genesis 22:12 [KJV] My soul, ponder these words. By whom were they spoken? It is said by the angel of the Lord; probably the messenger of the covenant; He, who in the fulness of time, was to make known, face to face, to all Abraham's seed, the whole revelation of Jehovah concerning redemption. It was a critical moment in Abraham's life, and a trying moment to his faith. It is said, "Now I know." Did not the Lord know before? Oh yes; but He that gave Abraham the faith, now afforded an opportunity for the exercise of it.     My soul, how blessed is it to remark, that the largest gifts of grace are dispensed, when there is the largest occasion for them. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." And, my soul, do not forget to remark also, that our Isaacs, our children, our earthly comforts, are most likely to be continued to us, when the ...