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

"For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." -Luke 7:5 [KJV] What a very interesting character is given, though but in few words, of this honest centurion. Though unconnected with Israel, and a Gentile, yet he loved the Jews. Was he, like another Rahab, partaker of the faith, and though unconscious of it, had a part in Jesus? It is most blessed to behold such rich provisions in grace, making way for the calling of the people, both Jew and Gentile, in that plan of redemption, "given in Christ Jesus before the world began!" But we must not stop here, in our view of the centurion. He not only loved the Jewish nation, but gave proofs of that love in building them a synagogue. Surely nothing short of grace in the heart could have wrought such acts of love and affection to Israel, and to Israel's God, in a Gentile mind! But, while admiring this gracious conduct in the centurion, and admiring still more the blessed author and giver of that grace whic...

"As willows by the water courses." - Isaiah 44:4 [KJV] The willow, we know, cannot exist without water; it must be near the brook or river, or it withers and dies. Take a young willow and plant it upon a mountain top or in the sandy desert, and it soon droops and perishes. But take the barest twig off the willow, and plant it near a stream, so that the water may reach it, and it will soon shoot downwards and push a vigorous stem upwards. So it is with the child of grace: he must live by the river side; he must dip his roots into that "river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God," and by it he must be continually bathed, or he droops and dies. He cannot live in the world, away from Jesus, His word, ordinances, house, people, presence, Spirit, and grace, any more than a willow can live upon the mountain top; he cannot live among carnal men, cut off from union and communion with his great and glorious Head, any more than the willow can thrive and grow in the...

"The King's daughter is all glorious within." -Psalm 45:13 [KJV] As the Redeemer is known to His church under a great variety of names and characters, and is blessed to the church in every one, whether of brother, or husband, or friend; so Jesus condescends to call His church by a variety of names also, all descriptive of the unbounded love He bears towards her. She is His fair one, His spouse, His chosen, His sister; and in this song of loves, she is called "the King's daughter." But it is most blessed to observe that by whatever name she is known, it is all in allusion to Jesus, for from Him, and in Him, she derives the whole of her beauty and excellency. Her glory is in her Lord, and she is wholly spiritual, all derived, like the shining of the moon, from the sun.   If the church be comely, it is from the comeliness the Lord Jesus hath put upon her. For as the whole perfection of beauty is in Christ, as a rich and complete constellation, so every perfec...

"And they shall spring up as among the grass." - Isaiah 44:4 [KJV] The Lord's people are spoken of here as at once "springing up" under the influence of the water poured and of the floods given. We cannot mistake the spiritual meaning of the figure, as it is so clear and certain. In those burning regions where rain does not fall at all seasons from the skies, as in our dripping clime, the effect of copious showers falling upon the parched vegetation is almost miraculous. A few days completely reverse the scene, and on every side vegetation springs up as if it started with gigantic growth out of the bosom of the heated soil. To this the figure in the text alludes, "They shall spring up," that is, Zion's children, "as among the grass," with all that young and active growth which so clearly manifests the power and the blessing of God.   But what may we understand by the expression  "grass?"  May we not interpret it as emblematic ...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (25-27NOV22 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: WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND In Rom ans 5:19 Paul describes to us the TERRIBLY EFFECTUAL results of Adam's sinful disobedience; "Many were made sinners." This is the awful truth that thunders through this chapter and all the word of God; "Sin hath reigned unto death." We had absolutely nothing to do with becoming a sinner; we are born that way by nature. Because of Adam's disobedience, we inherited all his sinful traits. Even so, by the obedience of one, Jesus Christ, we see the WONDERFULLY  EFFECTUAL results of His obedience; "Many shall be made righteous." Here is  a glorious truth that also thunders...

"And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." - Luke 10:18 [KJV] It deserves our utmost attention and prayerful consideration to see, by the eye of faith, the display of wisdom and power shining forth in the way in which the all-wise God sent His dear Son "to destroy" or, as the word is in the original, to unloose "the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8) . Satan had, so to speak, spun a ravelled knot when he cast the cords of sin round man's heart. This tangled and tight-drawn knot could not be cut through as by a sword of omnipotent power; but had by infinite wisdom and patience to be unravelled through its whole length. The work which Satan had done was to be undone. Disobedience had to be repaired by obedience—the voluntary obedience of the Son of God, and therefore of infinite value. Sin had to be atoned for by sacrifice—the sacrifice of the nature which had sinned, in union with the Person of the Son of God, and therefore ...

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen."   -II Corinthians 4:18 [KJV] His was the blessed plan of old testament believers, under present exercises— to look off from the objects of sight, and to substantiate and realize the objects of faith. They saw "the day of Christ afar off;" and in that view, "rejoiced and were glad." By this means they brought into present enjoyment things which—were distant; their faith acting like those glasses which magnify and bring home whatever is remote, as though it were nigh. Now, my soul, take instruction from those eminent worthies of the old testament school, that "through patience and comfort of the scriptures, thou also mayest have hope." By virtue of thine interest in Jesus, thou hast a large property in the world to come. If Christ be thine, all is thine. And certainly it is an extensive domain which thou hast in Christ's bond promises, and God's cove...