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

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (30DEC22 - 01JAN23 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: “ Salvation is of the LORD.” -Jonah 2:9c [KJV] “ God prepared a salvation for His elect, chosen by Him not because of any goodness in them, but because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. Is this not a salvation that will suit thee, O poor sinner?   If God had chosen them out of any merit, or if that choice depended on anything which men did or could do, thou wert a damned soul, for thou hast no goodness, and thou canst do nothing. If God’s election comes to those who are without merit, without hope, without strength, there is hope for thee.” -copied "Storm Warning: Prove ...

"Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." -Genesis 47:9 [KJV] My soul, in looking back upon thy life, mayest thou not well take up the same language as the patriarch, and confess that "few and evil have thy days been?" Surely the review appears like the heath of a desert, "that knoweth not when good cometh!" Out of Jesus, and considered without an eye to Him, there is not a single circumstance of real merit, or of real happiness to be seen. The whole of life, from the days of childhood, through all its intermediate stages, presents but one view "of vanity and vexation of spirit?   Precious Jesus! what would the arithmetic of life have been in the now departing year, or in the departure of myself from the world, but for thee? Hadst Thou not graciously sought me, when I sought not Thee: hadst Thou not opened to me "the good old way," trodden by the patriarchs, and guided and held up my feet in following them; had not Jesus ...

"I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." - John 15:5 [KJV] The great secret in religion—that secret which is only with those who fear the Lord and to Whom He shews His covenant—is first to get sensible union with the Lord, and then to maintain it. But this union cannot be got except by some manifestation of His Person and work to our heart, joining us to Him as by one Spirit. This is the espousal of the soul, whereby it is espoused to one husband as a chaste virgin to Christ. From this espousal comes fellowship, or communion with Christ; and from this communion flows all fruitfulness, for it is not a barren marriage.   But this union and communion cannot be maintained except by abiding in Christ; and this can only be by His abiding in us. "Abide in Me, and I in you." But how do we abide in Him? Mainly by faith, hope, and love, for these are the three chief grace...

"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."   -I Peter 4:7 [KJV] My soul, how hath the year been hastening from thee, and thou hastening in it from the world! Where are the days fled? They are gone to be numbered with the years beyond the flood; and thou art now standing as on the isthmus of time. "The end of all things is at hand." Friends are dying around thee, thou art dying thyself; yea, the world is dying: and the end of all things is at hand. In this state, my Lord, well may I look up to Thee!  Circumstances so very solemn may well induce soberness, and watchfulness unto prayer. Yes! blessed Jesus! I would pray Thee to induce in me every suited state, that every faculty may be on the watch tower, waiting my Lord's coming. Thou hast said: "Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry."   Oh! then for grace to live by faith on Thee; and so to live, that when I change worlds, I may ...

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." - Philippians 1:29 [KJV] After the Lord, by His special work on the conscience, has called us to repentance and confession of sin, as well as to faith in Jesus; after He has called us to godly sorrow; to live according to the precepts of the gospel; and to walk in the ordinances of His Church; He then calls us to suffer for and with Christ. But we cannot "suffer according to the will of God," that is, in a gospel sense and from gospel motives, till the Lord enables us in some measure to look to Him. The same Spirit, Who calls the believer to walk in a path of suffering, strengthens and enables him to do so.  To suffer aright, we must walk in the steps of the great Captain of our salvation, Who "though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered." The Father in this sense spared not His only-begotten Son, but led Him into the ...

  ONCE! D.G. Miles McKee   The book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of the Lord Jesus over the Old Covenant.  In fact, Hebrews makes it very clear that the Old Covenant has been done away. Because of the sufficiency and finality of Christ’s sacrifice, the Old Testament priesthood has been abolished.  When we comprehend the teachings of Hebrews, we realize, among other things, that there can be no priesthood in existence today which is qualified to make sacrifices for sin.  Why not?  Simply because there is no need for one.  Those, such as the Roman Communion, who claim to be able to offer sin-forgiving sacrifices declare themselves and their followers separate from the New Covenant.  Why? Because in the New Covenant there is but  one  priest who has offered Himself  once  for sin.  Christ Jesus is that priest and His work of dealing with our sins is finished.   Let’s look at this more closely and consider 4 in...

"For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." -Hebrews 4:10 [KJV] My soul, see to it, that among other blessed evidences of thine union and rest in Christ, thou hast this also "We which have believed," the apostle saith, "do enter into rest." Our dependence on, and knowledge of Jesus, are such, that we really and truly enjoy the blessings of redemption. And as God the Father, when He had finished creation, rested from all His works which He had made; and as Jesus, when He had finished redemption, entered into His glory; so true believers, when they have once found Christ, and redemption in His blood, no longer weary themselves in the works of sin, or the works of self-righteousness, by way of justification before God; but cease from every thing in self, and rest with complacency and delight in the rich, free, and full salvation that is by Christ.   My soul, what sayest thou to this blessed testimony...