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

"And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great." -Mark 16:3, 4 [KJV]   My soul, how very often, like these poor women at the door of our Lord's sepulchre, hast thou been at a loss to think whence help should arise to succour thee in the needed moment? And how often, like them, hast thou found, when looking again, all the difficulties which thou hadst figured to thyself removed! And with thee the mercy hath been, if possible, yet more striking. For thou not only needest the stone to be rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, that thou mightest see Jesus, but to have the stone taken away out of thine heart, that thou mightest love and believe in Jesus to the salvation of thy soul.   Is it so then, that whilst, at any time, thou art putting forth the question and inquiry, full of doubt, and fear, and misgiving, who shall help in this or...

"I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring." - Isaiah 44:3 [KJV] In pouring out His Spirit upon Zion's seed, God pours out therewith every spiritual blessing that there is in His heart or hands to bestow. Whatever earthly good you may enjoy, without the blessing of God it will but prove a curse; whatever afflictions fall to your earthly lot, if God bless, they must all eventually be made a blessing. Nor is this blessing niggardly given, for the Lord has here promised that He will pour it out! It shall be given as profusely and as abundantly as the Spirit Himself. Nor shall Zion doubt either the blessing itself or the source whence it comes, for it carries its own evidence, shines in the light of its own testimony, and manifests itself by its own effects. And does not the contrast between the dry ground and the promised showers of blessing enhance it all the more? Your very barrenness and sterility make the promise all the more suitable, an...

"Then is the offence of the cross ceased."   - Galatians 5:11 [KJV] The cross of Jesus was, of old, the great offence both to Jews and Greeks; and, in the present day, we may add, it is so to every one, who, by a perversion of language, calls himself Christian, but yet denies the Godhead of Him whom he presumes to call Maker. And if the believer would but relinquish this distinguishing feature in his Lord's person and atonement for his sins by the blood of His cross, then indeed would the offence of the cross cease.   But, my soul, ask thyself, whether the offence of the cross be ceased in thy view? Yea, rather, whether, like Paul, not only the reproach of the cross is taken away for ever; but thou art crying out with an holy indignation against all rejoicings but in Jesus and His cross? Say, is it not thy daily, hourly song: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world?...

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty." - Isaiah 44:3 [KJV] Thirst, as a feeling of the soul, in a spiritual sense, is certainly indicative of divine life. It is as impossible, spiritually viewed, for a man dead in sin to thirst after a living God, as for a corpse in the graveyard to thirst after a draught of cold water from the well. I know for myself that such a feeling as thirsting after God had no place in my bosom until the Lord was pleased to quicken my soul into spiritual life. I had heard of God by the hearing of the ear. I had seen Him in creation, in the starry sky, in the roaring sea, in the teeming earth; I had read of Him in the Bible; I had learnt His existence by education and tradition; and I had some apprehensions of His holiness in my natural conscience; but as to any spiritual thirsting after Him, any earnest desire to fear Him, know Him, believe in Him, or love Him,— no such experience or feeling, I can say for myself, ever dwelt in my bosom. I ...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (09-11SEP22 A.D.) 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: “ There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” All the types and symbols of the Savior teach you this. There was one ark in the flood – but one; and all perished save those who sailed in it. There was one altar in the temple – but one; and no sacrifices were accepted but those offered there – “the altar,” as the Bible says, that “sanctified the gift.” There was one way through the depths of the Red Sea – but one; and only where the water, held back by the hand of God, stood up in crystals walls, was a passage opened for those that were ready to perish. And even so, there is but “one mediator between God and men, the man...

"He is near that justifieth me." -Isaiah 50:8 [KJV] My soul, hast thou ever considered one of the sweet properties of justification; not only in the fulness and completeness of it, and in all the several blessings connected with it, as it ariseth out of Jehovah in his own threefold character of persons; all and each taking part in it; but also in that which this portion points out, the nearness in which Jesus, the glorious Justifier, always stands to thee, and surrounds thee? Sit down, this evening, and contemplate the subject of justification in this point of view, for it is indeed most blessed.   All the persons of the Godhead have, and are engaged in making it effectual to every poor sinner, so as to give the mind always somewhat to rest upon, in the assurance of it. God the Father is the source and fountain of it, not only in having provided it in His dear Son, but also as having by the justification of all the Redeemer's work, to all intents and purposes, justified ...

"For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." - Hebrews 2:10 [KJV] When, with believing eyes, we can view God the Son as the eternal salvation of all whom the Father gave unto Him; when we can see Him, by the eye of faith, coming down into this lower world, taking our nature into union with His own Divine Person; when, by faith, we can accompany the Man of Sorrows into the gloomy garden of Gethsemane, or behold Him groaning, bleeding, and dying on the cross, an object of ignominy and shame, and believe that in this way, and this alone, salvation could be wrought out, O, what a view it gives us of the demerit and awful nature of sin, that nothing short of the incarnation of God's only begotten Son, nothing short of such a tremendous sacrifice could put away sin, and bring the elect back unto God!   On the one hand, as we take a glance at the suf...