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

"I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb." -Isaiah 48:8  [KJV] Humbling as the view is, it is profitable to look back, and trace all the way the LORD our God hath brought us, through many a year in the wilderness, to humble us, and to prove us, and to shew us what is in our heart; and this perhaps is the sweetest of all subjects, when the Holy Ghost takes us by the hand, and leads the heart back. Even from the first moment of conversion, to the very moment when taking the review, every step serves to prove what this scripture sets forth, that the Lord knew that His people would deal very treacherously, and be transgressors from the womb.     My soul! let thy meditation, this evening, as it concerns thyself be to this amount: Where wert thou, when in a state of unawakened nature, and as all other carnal persons, intent only upon the best means of fulfilling to the desires of the flesh; living without God, and without...

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."   -Ephesians 2:6 [KJV] There is a distinction between being quickened together with Christ and being raised up together with Him. Is not this true in the experience of God's people? To be quickened into divine life, to be convinced of sin, to have the fear of God planted deeply in the soul, is the commencement of a work of grace. But this is not a deliverance, not a being raised up out of darkness, bondage, doubt, guilt, and fear. This is not a knowledge of Christ, and the power of His resurrection; this is not a full coming out of the dark and silent tomb into the glorious light and warmth of day. But here is the great blessedness of a mystical union with the Lord Jesus Christ that, as by virtue of interest in Him there is a partaking of the benefit and power of his having been quickened, so there is a partaking in the benefit and power of his having been raised up. God does no...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (28-30JAN22) 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: Rejoice ~ JUDGMENT OCCURRED AT THE CROSS! “ The glorious good news of the Gospel is that, "It is finished." Justice has been satisfied, righteousness has been established. The believer rests exclusively in a finished work. On the other hand, the religious moralist strives daily under a crushing weight of duties and expectations, looking to a future judgment on his performance, where he may, or may not be rewarded. For the believer, this judgment occurred at the cross and there is no possibility of future condemnation. The believer is counted by God to be the very righteousness of God in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, the believer i...

"And on His head were many crowns." -Revelation 19:12  [KJV] Every view of Jesus is blessed. But there are some views which the heart of a believer finds a peculiar gratification in contemplating. The Holy Ghost hath in this scripture given a very interesting representation of Jesus. Heaven is opened; Jesus appears in His well-known characters, "faithful and true." A "white horse" He rides on, to manifest His equity and justice. His vesture is "dipped in blood," to intimate that by blood He hath purchased His kingdom. And His glorious name, "the Word of God," is also mentioned to testify the greatness and almightiness of His person. But amidst these distinguishing characteristics, the coronation of the Lord Jesus is particularly striking. "On His head were many crowns." The crown of Godhead is His by right, in common with the Father. And the crown of God-man mediator is His also, being His by gift, by purchase, and by conqu...

"And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."  -Ephesians 2:1 [KJV] Death in sin is of course a figure, and must be interpreted as such; for moral death is its meaning, and by moral death we understand the utter absence of everything holy, heavenly, spiritual, and divine; the entire want of participation in, and conformity to the life which God lives as essentially and eternally holy, pure, wise, and good, and for ever dwelling in the glorious light of His own infinite perfections.  To be dead, then, is to have no present part or lot with God; no knowledge of Him, no faith, no trust, no hope in Him; no sense of His presence, no reverence of His terrible Majesty; no desire after Him or inclination toward Him; no trembling at His word, no reliance on His promise, no longing for His grace, no care or concern for His glory. It is to be as a beast before Him, intent like a brute on satisfying the cravings of lust, or the movements of mere animal passion, witho...

"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." -Acts 4:13  [KJV] Oh! for the same grace to rest upon me, as upon those faithful servants of my Lord; that, like them, I may manifest the sweet savour of Jesus's name in every place; wherever I am, with whomsoever I converse, in every state, and upon every occasion, that all may witness for me, and every thing bear witness to me, that I have been with Jesus! I would entreat Thee, my honoured Lord, that I may honour Thee so before men, that after my morning visits to Thy throne of grace, my mid-day communion, my evening and nightly fellowship, my return to the society of men might so be distinguished as one that had just been with Jesus.     And as it might be supposed, if an angel was to come from heaven that had seen Thy face, and heard Thy voice, and been an eye witness of Thy glory; so, Lord, having by faith enjoyed such views, I might delight to tell, as He would relate to the inhabitants of the earth,...

"And He taught them many things by parables."   -Mark 4:2 [KJV] The Scripture employs two beautiful figures to illustrate the reception of the divine testimony. One is the committing of the seed to the ground, as in the parable of the sower. The husbandman scatters the seed in the bosom of the earth, and the ground having been previously ploughed and reduced to a beautiful tilth, opens its bosom to receive the grain. After a little time the seed begins to germinate, to strike a root downward, and shoot a germ upward; as the Lord speaks, "First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear."   This emblem beautifully represents how the testimony of Jesus Christ finds an entrance to the soul, takes root downward and carries a shoot upward. The root downward is into the depths of a tender conscience, and the shoot upward is the aspiration, breathing, and longing of the soul for the living God. The other figure is that of grafting. "Receive," says J...