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

" And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering, rebuked him." -Luke 23:39-40 [KJV] My soul! thy morning meditation was directed to that soul-reviving, penitent, encouraging prospect, which the cross of Christ affords, in the recovery of the thief upon the cross, as furnishing the most illustrious example of the sovereignty of grace! Oh! what a trophy was there of the Redeemer's conquest! Now take thy stand again at the foot of the cross, and look on the other side, and behold the dreadful reverse, in the obduracy of the human heart. Here view the sinner dying in all the possibilities of a hardened conscience, railing and blaspheming; while the other departs in the most finished act of faith and repentance, glorifying the Lord.   Pause over the contemplation, and then ask, What was it made the mighty difference? Who made thee, my soul, to differ from another? And what hast thou, which...

"Hold fast that which is good."   -I Thessalonians 5:21b [KJV] There are two things especially which every saint of God is called upon to hold fast: these are, first,  the beginning of God's work  upon his soul; and, secondly, his  deliverance . Any manifestation too that you have had of the Lord Jesus Christ; any application of His atoning blood; any discovery of His glorious Person or shedding abroad of His love; hold that fast, for it is good. And so I may say, hold fast any promise you have ever had applied; any answer to prayer you have ever received; any felt blessing that may have been wrought in your heart by a divine power. All this is good. It comes from a good God; it works in a good way; it leads to a good end; it will make a good deathbed, and will land you in a most blessed eternity.  Therefore "hold fast that which is good." Everything which is commended to your conscience as really good; every good man; every good minister; every child of God wi...

"I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” - Habakkuk 3:18 [KJV] If ever, as we pass through this wilderness, we feel one drop of solid joy, of true happiness, it must flow, it can flow only from one source— the manifestation of Christ to our souls. This joy may be very transient: we may have to look upon it through a vista of many years; and doubts and fears may becloud the mind whether we ever rejoiced truly in Christ, or whether our joy might not have been "the joy of the hypocrite" that perisheth. And yet we are brought to this point—we can find joy and peace in Him alone. Sin, the world, the things of time and sense, business, amusement, pleasure so called, afford now no joy; there is an aching void, a feeling of dreariness and misery connected with everything short of communications of mercy, favour, and love.  So that though we may not be enabled to say, 'we greatly rejoice at all times, in all places, at all seasons, in the Lord;...

"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." -Isaiah 53:11 [KJV] Is not this covenant promise of thy faithful God and Father peculiarly suited, my soul, for thine evening meditation, after the subject of the morning, in contemplating the first cry of Jesus upon the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?" And was not the cry answered in the case of the Jerusalem sinners at the day of Pentecost, soon after, when, under the apostle Peter's sermon, they were pricked to the heart, and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37.   Ponder over the solemn expression, the travail of the Redeemer's soul. Did Jesus really sustain in soul somewhat like those throes of nature with which a woman is exercised in her hour of extremity? Did He travail in birth for His redeemed?—Pause, my soul, and very solemnly consider the subject. If the eighteenth Psalm be supposed to contain prophetical allusions to...

"Heal me, O L ORD , and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise."  - Jeremiah 17:14 [KJV] If we feel that we have ruined our own souls, that no human arm can save us, that we cannot bring salvation into our own consciences, nor of ourselves see any beauty, glory, sweetness, or suitability in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet are striving with prayer and supplication to touch the hem of His garment, to taste the sweetness of His dying love, to feel the efficacy of His atoning blood, to be wrapped up in His glorious robe of righteousness, and to know Him in the sweet manifestations of His grace, we too can say, "Save me, and I shall be saved."  Here is this sin! save me from it: here is this snare! break it to pieces; here is this lust! Lord, subdue it; here is this temptation! deliver me out of it; here is my proud heart! Lord, humble it; my unbelieving heart! take it away, and give me faith; give me submission to Thy mind and will; take...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (08-10APR22) 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 - from our sins and from Hell: OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST Oh, what a Saviour is ours! The Almighty God; yet the tender Man. One who is as far above us in His original nature and present glory as the heavens are above the earth; yet One who can be “ touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” One who is the Creator of the universe; yet One who became man, lived His life on the same plane ours is lived, passed through the same trials we experience, and suffered not only as we do, but far more acutely. How well-fitted is such a One to be our Great High Priest! How self-sufficient He is to supply our every need! - preacher A rthur W. Pink "Storm Warning: Prove All Things" is a fifte...

  "And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors ."   -Mark 15:28 [KJV] Look up, my soul, to the cross, and behold thy Lord hanging with two thieves; yea, in the middle of them, as if the greatest malefactor of the three; and, what is the most awful part of the subject, not only was He thus considered by the Jewish rabble, but as the sinner's representative, Jesus was thus beheld in Jehovah's view; "numbered with the transgressors," and virtually, the great Surety and Sponsor of them all. Pause, my soul, as thou readest this scripture, and as thou beholdest it fulfilled on the cross. Will it not undeniably follow, that if Christ was so reckoned, and so numbered, then must it have been, not for Himself, for He had no sin, but for His people; and if made sin and a curse, surely He hath taken away both sin and the curse, by the sacrifice of Himself, that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him?   There is o...