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

"Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him."   -Isaiah 40:10 [KJV] The whole scope of prophecy, as referring to the person and offices of Christ, was comprised in the two great branches of "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." From everlasting, the work of Jesus was before Him. To His infinite and comprehensive mind, all that He had to do and to suffer for His church, was always in His view. He saw His church in all the glory and beauty that, in His comeliness, He would one day put upon her; He saw this before creation took place, when "His delights were with the sons of men;" and He saw His church also, in all the depths of guilt and pollution, into which, by apostacy, she would fall, and from whence He undertook to redeem her with His blood. Hence, "for the joy that was set before Him," it is said, "He endured the cross, and despised the shame;" and having, as well by His active as His passive...

  "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." - John 17:21 [KJV] The apostle declares, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17) . If, then, we are joined to the Lord, in other words, have a union with Him, this is the closest of all unions. A man and his wife are one flesh, but Jesus and the saint are one spirit. If possessed of this we are one spirit with Him; we understand what He says; we have the mind of Christ; we love what He loves, and hate what He hates. But out of this spiritual union flows communion with Him, intercourse with Him, communications from Him, and the whole of that divine work upon the heart whereby the two spirits become one. The Spirit of Christ in His glorious Person and the Spirit of Christ in a believing heart meet together, and meeting together as two drops of rain running down a pane of glass, or tw...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (09-11DEC22 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: ASSURANCE IN CHRIST ALONE You may easily perceive how mightily people are mistaken, and, therefore, no marvel they live so uncomfortably; that they are in fear of death, and thereby in bondage all their life long, while they run for the refreshment of their spirits, to their own righteousness, to the plea of their own works, and will have their hearts eased upon that that they themselves do; whereas, nothing gets a gracious discharge from their Father, but only Christ, and His righteousness. Therefore, beloved, however it may, with some, be a harsh thing, to take men off from their own righteousness, in respect of speaking comfort unto them, and to lead...

  "Thus shalt thou say unto him, The L ORD saith thus, Behold, that which I have built, will I break down; and that which I have planted, I will pluck up ." -Jeremiah 45:4 [KJV] My soul, ponder well these words; and when thou hast duly meditated, behold and see, in the instance of the church at large, and in thine own circumstances in particular, whether the powerful operations of the Lord's grace be not thus frequently carried on, by seemingly opposite means? Doth not the Lord appear to be often breaking down what His own right hand hath built, and withering what He hath planted, when providences appear to run counter to His promises, and the way to their accomplishment seems impossible?   Thus the gourd of Jonah was blasted when the prophet needed most a covering: thus the poor man's child, in the gospel, when in the view of Christ, was thrown down by the devil, and torn more than ever he had been before; Mark 9:26 . Thus the children of Israel felt Pharaoh's ...

"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."   - Romans 5:20 [KJV] In order to know what grace is in its reign over sin, and in its superaboundings over the aboundings of iniquity, we must be led experimentally into the depths of the fall. We must be led by God Himself into the secrets of our own heart; we must be brought down into distress of mind on account of our sin and the idolatry of our fallen nature. And when, do what we will, sin will still work, reign, and abound, and we are brought to soul poverty, helplessness, destitution, and misery, and cast ourselves down at the footstool of His mercy— then we begin to see and feel the reign of grace, in quickening our souls, in delivering us from the wrath to come, and in preserving us from the dominion of evil. We begin to see then that grace superabounds over all the aboundings of sin in our evil hearts, and as it flows through the channel of the Saviour's sufferings, that it will never leave its favoured objec...

Jesus, The Grace of God   by DG Miles McKee   Titus 2:11-14 ;  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation …   As we wrote in a previous Wednesday Word, the Grace of God has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh.  Let’s face it, our Master is full of grace and truth, (John 1:14), and "of His fullness have all we received and grace upon grace.” (John 1:16). Literally we have received grace "piled upon" grace. In much the same way as the seashore is subject to the continual arrival of waves, so we have received and are receiving continual waves of grace in Christ Jesus. Isn’t He wonderful?   Jesus is the grace of God in human form. When we say we are saved by grace, we are literally declaring that we are saved by someone else, the Lord Jesus Christ. As gospel believers, we consent and subscribe to the doing, dying and rising again of Christ as our only hope of salvation.    His works were perfect, His works were s...

  "I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold, a Watcher, and an Holy One came down from heaven."  -Daniel 4:13 [KJV] See my soul, that which terrified the impious monarch in his visions of the night, ought to be to thee a subject of holy joy! When Jesus proclaims "the day of vengeance which is in his heart;" he adds also, "the year of My redeemed is come!" A day is enough for destruction; a year, yea, an everlasting year, will not be too long to make His people happy. But what a striking character is this of "a Watcher, and an Holy One!"   To whom but to Jesus can it possibly refer? Jesus, at the call of God His Father, stood up from everlasting, to watch over His church, to water it every moment; yea, to keep it night and day least any hurt it. And who shall describe in how many ways the Lord Jesus is for ever performing this blessed office, and hath been, and will be to all eternity? Is He not for ever in the midst of them, to do ...