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

  "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in thy land which the L ORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth."   -Deuteronomy 15:7, 8 [KJV] How is it possible, dearest Lord Jesus, that I can read this scripture, and call to mind Thy obedience for me, in fulfilling the whole law, without connecting with it all the blessedness of looking up to Thee under every circumstance, and in every case, for Thy favour and Thy love? When Jesus became circumcised for His people, He made Himself a debtor to the whole law. And is not this delightful precept of my evening meditation a part of it?   Surely, Lord, this precept speaks to Thee. Not that my glorious Surety needed a command to the love of any of His poor brethren; for, blessed Jesus, Thy love brought Thee d...

  "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."   - Matthew 11:28 [KJV] When we rest, we find relief to our weary limbs. So spiritually. When the soul comes to Jesus, He gives it rest and relief from its burdens; as well as deliverance from anxiety, and cessation from the labour that distresses and distracts it. He promises to give this— "Come unto Me, and I" —who else can do it? None, either in heaven or earth— "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and  I  will give you rest." How? By communicating to the soul out of His infinite fulness, by sprinkling upon the conscience His atoning blood, by shedding abroad in the heart His dying love, and enabling the soul to believe on His name, and cling to His Person. In this there is rest—nothing else will do it—nothing else will give it. Other remedies will leave us at last under the wrath of God. But he that comes to and leans upon Jesus, His finished work, Hi...

"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...