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

" ...I say unto all, Watch." -Mark 13:37 [KJV] It is very awful, when God’s precious promises are opposed to His righteous commands. Hence some get above and beyond duty: they cannot bear the word duty! O say they, don’t tell us of duty, it is such legal stuff! We are at liberty. We are not under the law, but under grace. True, indeed they are at liberty, but it is to pervert the gospel. They are awfully under the law of sin; not under the law of love, but the spirit delusion. Their ears are closed, and their hearts shut against the sweet voice of our loving charmer, Christ.  O my soul, watch against such, and their licentious notions of liberty, as you prize the love of Christ, and sweet communion with Him. He who sees no danger, and thinks he has nothing to lose, will give no attention to this command, Watch . It is here opposed to sleep. Sin is not dead. Satan never sleeps. The world ever invites and enchants. All is war against thee. Therefore, thy Lord in ...

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." -Mark 16:19 [KJV] The right hand of God means the right hand of power, of dominion, of authority, and of acceptance. When our blessed Lord went back to the courts of bliss, and the gates of heaven lifted up their heads, and the everlasting doors were lifted up, and the King of glory went in, He sat down at once at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But what did this place of preeminence imply? It certified to principalities and powers, and the whole bright and glorious throng of angelic hosts, that God had accepted His work and given Him for His reward that exalted place of power, of honour, and of dignity .  For remember this, that our gracious Lord went up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God in His human nature. He did not go up to heaven as He came down from heaven only as the Son of God. He went up to heaven as the Son of man as wel...

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." -Jeremiah 15:16 [KJV] Yea, Lord, I have indeed found Thy words most precious, and, through Thy grace, I have eaten them, and they are as honey and the honey-comb to my soul. In them I find my God and Father in His covenant engagements, all pledged in faithfulness to His dear Son, to be the everlasting and unchanging portion of His redeemed. Oh! what unknown, what unspeakable blessedness do I find in that one promise; "I will be their God, and they shall be My people!" Here also I find Christ and His fulness; the Holy Ghost and His graces; the whole covenant and its rich promises: all, all secured, made over, and co-operating to the assurance of salvation!  And how then can Thy word, Lord, wherein Thou hast caused me to hope, be otherwise than "the joy and rejoicing of mine heart?" I have Jesus in all, and His promises in all, and therefo...

GIVING THANKS  ALWAYS by D. G. Miles McKee This Thanksgiving I want to share a message from Dr. Clarence E. Macartney, (This was sent to me by Pastor Venlon Bradford).   "Giving thanks always for all things." -Ephesians 5:20   In the autobiography of the late Dr. Clarence E. Macartney, the following story is told: Two men were passing through a field in the country when they were charged by an enraged bull. They started for the nearest fence, but it was soon apparent that they couldn't make it before the animal reached them. One said to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We're in for it!" But John answered, "I can't. I never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must," said his companion, "the bull will soon be upon us." "All right," panted John, "I'll give you the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: `O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly than...

" He received from GOD the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased ." -II Peter 1:17 [KJV] These words furnish poor sinners with matter for sweet meditation. Spirit of truth, help us to see the honour and glory of the Father and Son in them, and to get comfort from them.  Here is, (1st.) a silencing answer to that objection: you rob the Father of His honour and glory, by ascribing so much to the Son Jesus. Have you never been assaulted with this temptation? It comes from the enemy of God and sinners. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? But God and we are agreed. Our faith puts all the honour and glory of our salvation upon God’s beloved Son. There God Himself puts it. IN His beloved Son, God is well pleased, and with us also IN Him.  (2d.) Here see the nature of faith. It causes the soul both to imitate and obey God, and to be well pleased with what God ...

"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...

"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 t...