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

"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." -Revelation 3:17,18 [KJV] My soul! take a leisurely view of what the Redeemer hath here stated of the church of Laodicea, and gather from it thine evening improvement. What a melancholy representation hath Jesus given! It would have been bad enough to have been in this state, even had the church been seeking deliverance from it; but to fancy herself well when very ill, to have the spots of death upon her when she supposed herself recovered, what can be more awful? See to it, my soul, that this be not thy case; ponder over the several characters here drawn, and mark well, w...

"By the fear of the L ORD men depart from evil." - Proverbs 16:6 [KJV] There is a very close and intimate connection between godly fear and being "holy in all manner of conversation." When do we drop into levity of conversation? When do light and frothy words fall from our lips? When do any of those hasty bursts of temper, or those fretful expressions, or that mere carnal, worldly talk to which we are naturally prone, hover upon our lips and break forth, more or less unguardedly, from our tongue? Is it not when this godly fear is not playing its streams as a fountain of life to well water the soul and soften it into humility and love, and is not springing up in wholesome checks and godly admonitions to keep the tongue as with a bridle and to rule that little member which, though so little, if untamed, defileth the whole body?  But if this fear be in exercise, it will restrain that levity of speech which not only grieves and wounds our own conscience, but is often...

"A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things." -Ecclesiastes 10:19 [KJV] What feast is this, which the wise man meant, and the wine which, for true mirth, he would here recommend? He could not mean the laughter of the fool for that, he tells us elsewhere (chapter 7:6) "is as the crackling of thorns under a pot." The drunkard's song is but the mirth of the moment, which, like the burning thorn, may blaze and flash amidst the midnight crew, but suddenly goeth out, and leaves a total darkness.     But if Solomon had an eye to the feast which Jesus hath made in the mountain of the Lord's house "a feast of fat things," where His body broken, and His blood shed, are the food of the table; this indeed is a feast made for real joy of heart, and "wine which cheereth God and man;" Judges 9:13. When the justice of God drank of this blood of the Lamb, it was satisfied; and when the poor sinner hath tasted of...

"Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."   -I Peter 1:17 [KJV] Our life here is but a vapour. We are but pilgrims and strangers on this earthly ball, mere sojourners, without fixed or settled habitation, and passing through this world as not our home or resting-place. The apostle, therefore, bids us pass this time, whether long or short, of our earthly sojourn, under the influence and in the exercise of godly fear. We are surrounded with enemies, all seeking, as it were, our life, and therefore we are called upon to move with great caution, knowing how soon we may slip and fall, and thus wound our own consciences, grieve our friends, gratify our enemies, and bring upon ourselves a cloud of darkness which may long hover over our souls.  Our life here below is not one of ease and quiet, but a warfare, a conflict, a race, a wrestling not with flesh and blood alone, but with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. We have to dread ourselves more...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (22-24APR22) 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: THE NECESSITY OF LIFE Neither the sound of thunder nor the most beautiful music in the world affects a dead man. He is altogether unmoved by either one. The problem is certainly not in the dreadful noise of a storm nor in the soothing sounds of a glorious concert; the trouble is with the man. He has no ability to hear or to respond; he is dead. Even so, though we proclaim to sinners the thundering of Mount Sinai’s law or the rapturous glad tidings of a crucified, buried, risen Redeemer, neither the threats of justice nor the mercies of the gospel will have any lasting effect on them. The defect is not in the law, for it is good and holy, and the fault do...

"And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." - Jeremiah 45:5 [KJV] Whatever schemes and projects the Lord's people may devise that they may prosper and get on in the world, He rarely suffers their plans to thrive. He knows well to what consequences it would lead;—that this ivy creeping round the stem would, as it were, suffocate and strangle the tree. The more that worldly goods increase, the more the heart is fixed upon them; and the more the affections are set upon idols, the more is the heart    drawn away from the Lord. He will not suffer His people to have their portion here below. He, therefore, says to them in His providence, as well as in His word, "Seek them not."   But you will perhaps say, "What are we then to seek?" I will tell you in one word,— Realities .   What are these great things that you are seeking after? say in religion. Could you see them in their right light, you would see that they are but shadows. You feel, fo...

Continual Acceptance  by D.G Miles McKee   I recently had a conversation with a brother who was having difficulty believing he could be continually accepted by God.  That’s a more widespread problem than you may think.   As believers, one of the subtle difficulties we encounter in the Christian life is that we begin to look for qualities within ourselves as being the ground and basis of our acceptance with God.   But this is deception.  And, if we do not continually bathe ourselves in the gospel, this kind of thing happens to us quite frequently.  An absence of the gospel will cause us to quietly forget that our continual acceptance before God is found in Christ alone plus nothing!   We may be in Christian service and ministry, but that’s not why we are accepted before God. We may work sacrificially for the cause of Christ,  but that’s not why we are accepted before God.  Indeed, we may have a great prayer life, but that’s not why w...