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

"And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the L ORD 's passover." -Exodus 12:26, 27 [KJV] My soul! thou hast lately been at the table of the Lord, to celebrate Christ as thy passover. If thy children ask of thee, as the Jewish children were here supposed to ask of their fathers, "What mean ye by the Lord's supper?" Wouldest thou not catch at the favoured opportunity to inform them? Yea, wouldest thou wait to be asked? Can there be a duty, or a pleasure upon earth, like that of a tender father instructing his household in the things, which accompany salvation? Can the imagination figure to itself any sight equally lovely to that of a parent, or a master of a family, encircled by his little ones, and answering to their interesting questions; yea, anticipating their inquiries, by speaking of Jesus, His person, His grace, His love, and all the wonders of His work, i...

"The poor have the gospel preached to them." - Matthew 11:5 [KJV] What is the gospel? Is not the gospel a proclamation of pure mercy, of superabounding grace? Does it not declare the lovingkindness of God in sending His only-begotten Son to bleed and die, and, by His obedience, blood, and merit, to bring in a salvation without money and without price? Is not this the gospel? Not clogged by conditions, nor crippled by anything that the creature has to perform; but flowing freely forth as the air in the skies? The poor to whom the gospel is preached, value it; it is suitable to them; it is sweet and precious when the heart is brought down. But if I stand up in religious pride, if I rest upon my own righteousness, if I am not stripped of everything in the creature, what is the gospel to me? I have no heart to receive it; there is no place in my soul for a gospel without money and without price.  But when I sink into the depth of creature poverty, when I am nothing and have noth...

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ." - I Timothy 2:5 [KJV] That  He is God,  is the very foundation of His salvation; for it is His eternal Godhead that gives virtue, efficacy, and dignity to all that as man He did and suffered for His chosen people. If He were not God, God and man in one glorious Person, what hope would there be for our guilty souls? Could His blood atone for our sins, unless Deity gave it efficacy? Could His righteousness justify our persons, unless Deity imparted merit and value to all the doings and sufferings of His humanity? Could His loving heart sympathise with and deliver us, unless "as God over all," He saw and knew all that passes within us, and had all power, as well as all compassion, to exert on our behalf?  We are continually in circumstances where no man can do us the least good, and where we cannot help or deliver ourselves; we are in snares, and cannot break them; we are in temptat...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (15-17JUL22) 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: Flee, Follow And Fight “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:11-12). Every believer, “O man of God” needs to pursue and practice these three instructions of grace given to us by the infinite wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). 1). “Flee these things,” this refers back to all that Paul had instructed Timothy in this epistle. Flee everything that is contrary to the gospel of Christ, especially those that...

  Gospel Truth from the Philippian                         Jailer, Part II Last week we noted that Jesus was much more than a man. Here are some scriptures to further help us understand this great truth.  Isaiah 45:21b-22 reads “… there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."   Notice that there is only one God and Saviour and if we are to be saved, it must be through Him.   “But,” someone says, “those verses are not talking about Jesus! They are talking about Yahweh!”   Exactly! Jesus is Yahweh!     Follow what we are saying. Did you notice that the speaker in this passage is the Saviour?  What a giveaway!  Anyone who has read the New Testament will tell you that, according to its pages, Jesus is the Saviour. (Matthew 1:21;1 Timothy 1:15;Titus ...

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, L ORD , only makest me dwell in safety." -Psalm 4:8 [KJV] My soul! it is blessed, indeed, to lie down, or arise, when Jesus is thy rest and refreshment! But, void of security and safety in Him, both the day-light and the darkness have their horrors. And how unsatisfying is every thing where Jesus is not? This is strikingly exemplified, day by day, among all carnal characters. "There be many," saith the Psalmist (in this divine psalm), "there be many that say, Who will shew us any good?" Yea, the whole world, who know not the blessedness of Jesus, will thus say! What a busy life some men make of it? And what is it for? Be their pursuits what they may; let them be ever so much diversified, one object is the aim of all. The apostle hath said what it is; "...to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," Romans 13:14 .   My soul! what is the first and last, the greatest and m...

"I will lay thy foundations with sapphires." - Isaiah 54:11 [KJV] Before we can stand firmly in the things of God we must have a good foundation, something solid for our faith, our hope, our love, our all, to rest upon. This God promises to lay for His afflicted Zion: "I will lay thy foundations with sapphires." "A gift," we read, "is a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it." Every testimony, then, that God gives to the soul, every promise brought into the heart, every manifestation of mercy, every visit of love, or application of truth, we may call, in a spiritual sense, a sapphire; for it is indeed a precious stone, radiant with heaven's own hue.   When God thus lays His sapphires in the soul, they afford a solid foundation for faith. And as they are laid by the hand of God Himself, they must be firm; as they are sapphires, they must be indestructible. These sapphires, it is true, may every one of them be buried in the dust of ...