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

" For we which have believed, do enter into rest." —Hebrews 4:3 [KJV] When Christ is known and believed on in the heart, ease and rest are enjoyed in the conscience. Therefore Jesus is esteemed a precious Saviour. The operations of the Spirit prove that He is the COMFORTER, by thus leading us to Christ. Hence faith and experience go hand in hand. There remaineth for the people of God a rest, perfect and uninterrupted in glory. We have the earnest of the inheritance of it on earth: by faith we enter into it: and while we abide in Jesus we enjoy rest.  Who is able to conceive? Who can describe the tumult of conscience, the distress of soul, under a feeling sense of sin and fear of wrath? None can, but the heart which knows its own bitterness. Who can express the sweet peace, the calm repose of that soul who finds rest in Jesus? It is a joy which a stranger intermeddles not with. It was God's command under the law, "When a man hath taken a new wife, he sha...

" I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." —Jeremiah 32:40 [KJV] I WILL and they SHALL. Such is God's gracious way of saving His people: while proud legal hearts and self-righteous spirits, puffed up with notions of free-will, are ever contending for terms and conditions to be performed by dead sinners in order to be saved; or by creatures, insufficient of themselves to think a good thought, to secure and make effectual salvation to their own souls. But this fear of God is a blessing of the covenant of grace.  Naturally the fear of God is not in our hearts. It is one black mark of an unregenerate person, "he has no fear of God before his eyes." How awful! how deplorable is this! Yet, naturally we fear not the power of the Lord, nor dread His wrath: nor are we at all sensible of our danger. What wonder of love! What matter of thankfulness, that the Lord hath put His fear in thy heart, O Christian! The fear of the Lor...

" There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." —Romans 8:1 [KJV] Mr. Burkitt observes, 'this chapter is a summary of evangelical duty, and a magazine of Christian comfort: it begins with no condemnation to believers, and ends with no separation from the love of God .' It is natural to conceive, if we had never sinned there would be no condemnation against us; but, that now we are sinners, and naturally under the condemning sentence of God's holy law; that yet there is now no condemnation to us; this our carnal reason cannot conceive, and therefore opposes it.  But it is God's truth and the joy of faith. This unfolds the great mystery, that we are one with Christ: viewed, beloved, and chosen in Him. This gloriously displays the attributes of Jehovah's justice and holiness; while a full and ample discharge from all condemnation is obtained from His righteous law, to all Christ's members. Therefore, that bles...

" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." —Matthew 5:6 [KJV] To thirst after happiness is natural. To seek it from wrong objects is natural. To desire to escape a hell of misery, and enjoy a place of happiness, is equally natural. If this may be called salvation, all men wish to be saved. The most wicked may wish to "die the death of the righteous, and that their last end may be like his." This every man is capable of as a rational, intelligent being. And many are striving to make themselves righteous in order to be saved.  But to desire salvation in God's way, to hunger and thirst after Christ and His righteousness, is peculiar to the quickened only. The dead hunger not. Spiritual appetites spring from spiritual life. A natural man can as soon seek to fill his belly with the east wind, or allay his thirst with the sunbeams, as do this. To know ourselves to be miserable sinners, destitute of righ...

" I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." —Romans 12:1 [KJV] Just before our dear Saviour left his apostles, He gave them this commission, "Preach the gospel;" glad tidings of the everlasting love and mercy of God, in Christ, to poor sinners. By this truth, through the power of the Spirit, souls are brought to repentance, faith, and salvation; and by the sweet force and constraining influence of the same truth, believers are to be exhorted, animated, and stirred up to glorify God in their souls and bodies which are His. This was the apostles' practice. With what affection and love do they address the members of Jesus!  The sound of wrath and terror, the thunderings of hell and damnation are not used to soldiers in the camp of Jesus. No; they are exhorted by love and mercy. So we delight to hear: and from these most powe...

" Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah ." —Psalm 3:2 [KJV] Had David's foes said of him, He deserves no help from God; he would readily have owned this as a great truth. As God's children are comforted by the truth, so the enemy advances lies to distress them. When he attacks their faith and comfort, he boldly impeaches the love and faithfulness of their God. "No help for me in God!" O, my soul, wilt thou listen to this suggestion? Canst thou indulge such a thought one moment? Art thou beset with distress of soul, and surrounded with troubles and difficulties? Art thou singing a melancholy note? Selah , saith David: pause, consider this; lift up thy mind to attend; how dishonorable to thy God, how destructive to thy faith, peace, love, and holiness, is this!  Know the voice of thy enemy. Hear the voice of thy Saviour. His word is adapted to thy circumstances, however distressing or desperate. "Thou ha...

  7 Gospel Mercies, Part 1    by D.G. Miles McKee For the believer, true guilt-free, victorious living can only be realized through continual exposure to the gospel and its benefits. There are no techniques or formulas for freedom. The true victorious life comes from beholding Christ alone . Far from being merely for the unsaved, the gospel is actually the essential message for every believer. Alas, in this day and age of formulas and the quick fix, this truth is missing from many of our pulpits. However, as the gospel is preached, applied and its mercies understood, God’s people will walk in the freedom and joy of their "SO GREAT SALVATION." Let’s begin to look at seven gospel mercies which pour out of the finished work of Jesus the Christ.   Forgiveness. The first gospel mercy we want to consider is that for the believer there is total forgiveness for every sin. The Scriptures say, ‘ Through this man (Jesus) is preached unto you forgiveness of sins’ ...