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

"And David spake unto the L ORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo! I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? " -II Samuel 24:17  [KJV] My soul! here is a subject of an heart-searching nature opened to thee this evening, in those expostulating words of the man after God's own heart. Summon up all thy faculties to the meditation; and yet, infinitely more than this, seek the teaching of the Holy Ghost, that thou mayest profit by them. The apostle was commissioned by the Holy Ghost to tell the church, that for man's sin the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. The slaughter of every beast, the sacrifice of every lamb, proclaimeth with a louder voice than words can declare, the baleful malignity of human transgression. And if David, when he saw the destroying angel brandishing his dreadful sword over Jerusalem, felt remorse in the recollection of his own sin, and the punishment fal...

"Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and my groaning is not hid from Thee." - Psalm 38:9 [KJV] Many of the Lord's people cannot clearly read their names in the book of life; many are the doubts and fears that work in their bosom whether the Lord really has begun a work of grace upon their souls, and whether they truly are among the Lord's living family. But this thing they must know— whether at times and seasons they can lie in humility at the footstool of mercy, and appeal to a heart-searching God— "All my desire is before Thee."   They must know whether they ever fell down in humility and brokenness of heart before the divine Majesty, and felt these living desires going out of their bosom into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth; and whether they can, with honesty, uprightness, and godly sincerity, say to the Lord in the language before us, "O Lord, all my desire is before Thee."   "Thou seest my heart, and knowest everything that passes in my ...

"Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." -Isaiah 38:1  [KJV] My soul! whether or not the decree be as yet gone forth for an early day for thy removal, as here to Hezekiah, it must shortly arrive; and as thou knowest not how soon, it is good to set both thine house and thine heart in order; for he that is best fitted to live, is best prepared to die. How stands thy great account? This body of thine must go down to the chambers of the grave. And surely if the soul be safe in union with Jesus, such an event as the dissolution of the body, is more to be desired than dreaded. If the pearl be safe, no matter though the casket be broken. Pause over the view; for though it be solemn, it is profitable. If a voice from heaven declared the dead to be blessed, who die in the Lord; then will thy death be blessed, if thou art living in union with Christ.   See to it this night, this very night, whether this be thy case; all is well if this be we...

"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."   -II Peter 1:10 [KJV] Have you any testimony to your effectual calling? Has grace indeed laid hold of your heart? O that you might know more fully—more powerfully— what a blessed hope of eternal life is laid up in the bosom of this heavenly calling, that it might cheer and encourage you to press on more and more to realise all that is given you in Christ, both for here and hereafter, in present grace and in future glory! In knowing what is the hope of their effectual calling, the saints of God learn that this hope embraces all things which are made theirs in Christ, whether life or death, or things present or things to come, that all are theirs; and for this blessed and all-sufficient reason, that they are Christ's and Christ is God's.  It is by making sure our calling that we make sure our election,—for the one is the sure evidenc...

  More on THE BLOOD . Part 1.  by D.G Miles McKee The Scriptures abound with allusions to the blood of Christ and show conclusively that no one but those who are cleansed with that blood can enter glory. The human heart is so deeply stained with sin, that, in order to get rid of sin, it clings to a thousand fake remedies.  It shouts with deafening silence, “Anything, anything but the blood of Christ.”  However, to trust in anything or anyone other than Christ and His precious blood is utterly redundant. Cleansing by the blood is the theme tune of God’s people.  The entire redeemed community in glory will sing with one voice “ Thou art worthy, . . . for Thou . . . hast redeemed to God by Thy blood ,” (Revelation 5:9). Let’s then briefly consider seven things that the Word of God says about the blood. May we all be spiritually enriched as we consider more about the blood of the Lord Jesus.  In this short series, we will notice that, 1. It is precious blood. 2...

"I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." -Solomon 2:1  [KJV] Yes! dearest Lord Jesus, Thou art all this, and infinitely more to my soul; more fragrant than both, and more precious than all the flowers of the field. Help me, this evening, to contemplate my Lord under those sweet similitudes. Do I not, and shall I not henceforth, in the red blushing beauty of the rose, behold Thy human nature, which Thou hast assumed for the redemption of Thy people?     Are not Thy bloody sufferings, and Thy red apparel, strikingly set forth by the image of the rose; as Thy spotless purity is shewn under the loveliness of the white lily? Can the sweet-scented rose, even of Sharon, vie with the perfume of the incense of Thy righteousness, to a poor sinner's soul? Or can the beauty of the lily be as grateful to the eye, as the purity of Jesus to a mind conscious of its own pollution, and beholding itself complete in His salvation, Who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separ...

"These all died in faith." - Hebrews 11:13 [KJV] When death came it did not rob them of their faith. They held with their believing hand in death every truth which they had held with their believing hand in life. It is in death that the gospel is such a blessing when held by a believing hand. What should we do upon a dying bed, with all our sins staring us in the face in all their awful magnitude, accused by Satan, condemned by conscience, terrified by a holy law, and frowned upon by an indignant God? What must be our end upon the bed of death if we had nothing to look to but a God who is a consuming fire, with nothing but the bitter recollection of past sins to agonise the mind and distress the conscience?  O, if ever faith is needed, it will be needed then; if ever the gospel embraced, embraced then; if ever Christ looked to, looked to then; if ever laid hold of by the hand of faith, laid hold of then! Now if you know what faith is, and your faith has embraced the Son of G...