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

"And there was a rainbow round about the throne."   -Revelation 4:3  [KJV] Mark this, my soul, and connect with it what God said after the destruction of the old world by water: "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh." And was not this rainbow round the throne which John saw, to tell the church of Jesus, on whom the Father is always looking, to remember His everlasting covenant of grace? And what doth it say but this, there shall be no more a deluge, nor floods of vengeance poured out upon the sinner that believes in Jesus.     He looks to Christ, while the Father beholds Christ: he trusts in Jesus, whom the Father hath trusted with His honour: he accepts Jesus as the whole of the covenant, in whom the Father beholds the whole of the covenant fulfilled. Help me, Lord, in the view of ever...

"He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted: neither hath He hid His face from him: but when he cried unto Him He heard him." -Psalm 22:24 [KJV] My soul, behold Jesus, the Lamb of God, in this sweet scripture. Is it not said of Him, that in the days of His flesh "He offered up strong crying and tears, and was heard in that He feared? Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." And was Jesus the Holy One, the afflicted One, also? Was He truly so, when He bore thy sins? And was this the time to which the scripture refers, when God the Father had respect to the sufferings of Jesus, and neither despised nor abhorred them? Did the Father behold Him then through the whole as the sinner's Surety, and graciously accept Jesus and the church in Him?     Oh then, my soul, think of this in all thy trials and afflictions. Carry all thy sins and sorrows to the throne. Jesus knows them all, sees them ...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands   (24-26SEP21) 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 - Almighty   God's unmerited favor to save us  from our sins and from Hell: GRACE ALONE - CHRIST ALONE! If any man thinks that he is justified before God by his good works he is  tragically and dreadfully mistaken (II Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5) . What a horrible  rebuke of the effectual, substitutionary sacrifice and perfect obedience of  the Lord Jesus Christ, to entertain thoughts of self-glory,  self-righteousness and self-salvation (Philippians 2:6-9; Luke 16:15) . Paul made  this very argument to the Galatians church. "I do not frustrate the grace of  God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain"  (Galatians 2:21...

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of My people recovered?" -Jeremiah 8:22  [KJV] Yes, there is both balm in Gilead, and a physician there. For the blood and righteousness of Jesus is the truest balm; and Jesus Himself a Sovereign and an Almighty Physician. But if that blood be not applied, if Jesus be not known nor consulted, how shall health be obtained? My soul, hast thou known thy disease, felt thy disorder? Art thou convinced that it is incurable by all human means— no medicine, no earthly physician, can administer relief? Hast thou known these things? And convinced of the infinite importance of seeking elsewhere, art thou come to Jesus?  What sayest thou, my soul, to the enquiry? Art thou acquainted with Jesus? Hast thou made known thy case to Him? And hath He told thee all that is in thine heart? Hath He taken thee under His care? Is He administering to thee the balm of Gilead? Oh my soul, see to it tha...

The Multi-Purpose Blood by D.G. Miles McKee   In Western culture we often say that if a matter is one thing, then it is not another.  In Eastern culture they don’t have that same concept.  Instead, they tend to look at things from a ‘Both/And’ ‘concept. Take for example the blood of Christ, it has many functions not just one. Consider this, Romans 5:9:   “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him .” We are Justified by His blood. “Justified” means we stand before God as if we had never sinned.” Justification means we are acquitted!  But this is not the only function and benefit of the blood. Ephesians 1:7: “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” We have redemption through His blood. The blood of Jesus Christ not only justifies us, it redeems us. It buys us back. We also have the forgiveness of our sins through the Blood of Jesus...

"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost."   -Acts 11:16  [KJV] Blessed promise! realize it, Oh Thou Holy Spirit, day by day, in and upon my soul. Bring me under the continued baptisms of Thy sovereign influence, and cause me to feel all the sweet anointings of the Spirit sent down upon the hearts and minds of Thy redeemed, as the fruits and effects of Jesus's exaltation, and the promise of God the Father.   Y es, blessed Spirit, cause me to know Thee in Thy person, work, and power; in all Thy offices, characters, and relations. I need Thee day by day, as my Comforter. I need Thee, as the Spirit of truth, to guide me into all truth. I need Thee, as the Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus, to bring to my forgetful heart all the blessed things He hath revealed to me. I need Thee, as the witness of my Jesus, to testify of my wants, and His fulness to supply. I need Thee, as my advocate and helper, in all my infirmities in prayer. I need thee, as the earnest of the promised inher...

"Behold the man whose name is the Branch."  -Zechariah 6:12  [KJV] My soul, listen to the call, and behold this wonderful Man, whose name is the Branch. Mark the wonderful features of His person. This is one of the prophetical names of Him, in the faith of whom, as the Redeemer of Israel, all the old testament saints died. The branch of the Lord—the branch of righteousness; or, as He is elsewhere called, the Nazarene. But observe how very descriptive of His nature is this title. He grows up out of His place. And where is that? rain the eternal counsel of Jehovah.     Who shall declare His generation? He is indeed a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of His roots. But all this as the root Himself of David; planted in the eternal purpose of God's own sovereign decree, and budding forth as a branch in all the periods of His incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, glory. And what a branch of never-failing loveliness, and everlasting verdure and fruitfuln...