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

" Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" —Genesis 3:1 [KJV] It is the grand masterpiece of that wisdom which is earthly, sensual, devilish, to call in question the truth of God's word; to insinuate a doubt about it . But here appears more modesty even in Satan, than in some of his servants; for he only puts a query upon it, whereas they absolutely deny and ridicule the truths of Jehovah . In the same way that the old serpent attacked and prevailed against the innocence of our first parents, he still attempts to destroy the comforts and oppose the holiness of God's children by artful suggestions against the truth of God's word. If he can but raise a doubt in our minds concerning what the Lord hath spoken, he strikes at the very foundation of our faith, hope, love, and obedience. As he abode not in the truth, he is a restless implacable enemy to the truth, and to every soul who embraces the truth as in Jesus . Really, one f...

"And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly." -II Chronicles 29:36 [KJV] Sweet thought, ever to keep in view, that it is the Lord that prepares the heart, and gives answers to the tongue. And Oh! how sudden, how unexpected, how unlooked-for, sometimes, are the visits of His grace! "Or ever I was aware (saith the church) my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadab." Is my heart cold, my mind barren, my frame lifeless? Do Thou, then, dearest Lord, make me to rejoice, in warming my frozen affection, making fruitful my poor estate, and putting new life into my soul. All I want is a frame of mind best suited to Thy glory.  And what is that? Truly, that when I have nothing, feel nothing, can do nothing, am worse than nothing, that then, even then, I may be rich in Thee amidst all my own bankruptcy. This, dear Lord, is what I covet. And if Thou withholdest all frames which might melt, or wa...

"...and be gracious unto thee." -Numbers 6:25 [KJV] How sweet the gospel is! But what makes the gospel sweet? That one word which sheds a perfume through the whole—grace. Take grace out of the gospel and you destroy the gospel; you nullify and overthrow it; it is the gospel no more. Grace pervades every part and every branch of the blessed gospel; it is the life of the gospel; in a word, it is the gospel itself. "Be gracious unto thee." In what, then, is God gracious? In a broken law? What does that know of grace? In resolutions of amendment, creature performances, and human righteousness? Can the Lord, will the Lord shew Himself gracious in these? I have read of a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers. We might as well expect to make sunbeams out of cucumbers as to make grace out of the law; it is cold as cucumbers; there is no sun in it. Grace, to be grace, must come out of the gospel . It is in the gospel, and out of the gospel must it ...

The Correct Formula by D.G. Miles McKee   I recently was asked the following question on the internet.  It asked, “What is God going to do with the people who were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit instead of the being baptized in the name Jesus Christ?” Here´s my reply, Thanks for the question. With respect, a baptismal formula does not justify ( declare not guilty ) anyone. Christ Jesus alone saves, and baptism is a public declaration that such is the case. The baptismal candidate must first, by faith, be a partaker of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Then, the believer is qualified for Baptism.  Baptism is a testimony which declares that salvation has already been accomplished. An incorrect baptismal formula cannot, therefore, undo the great work that Christ Jesus effectively accomplished at the cross 2000 yrs ago. You see, it is neither by Christ  and  a correct baptismal formula that we are saved, Nor by Christ...

" Mine iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me." —Psalm 38:4 [KJV] Those who think lightly of sin, and account iniquity a trifling thing, evidently shew that the god of this world hath blinded their eyes to the infinite atonement of Jesus, and hardened their hearts through the deceitfulness of sin; therefore they are insensible of grief, and without feeling of godly sorrow for sin. When Jesus is known in the heart, sin is truly abhorred, forsaken, and overcome. But it is most distressing to the regenerate soul when the load of guilt and the burden of sin are suffered to lie, day after day, upon the conscience. O the insupportable agony of such a state, none know but those who have experienced it! One would ask, Is not this contradictory to that comforting assertion, "There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus?" —Romans 8:1— inconsistent with that triumphant challenge, "Who shall lay any thi...

"I was brought low, and He helped me.” -Psalm 116:6 [KJV] It is blessed sometimes that the streams of creature comforts should be dry, in order to compel us to go to the Fountain Head. When the fig-tree doth not blossom and the field yields no meat, then a covenant God is precious to fly to. My soul, say, was not that assault of Satan sanctified, when it brought Jesus thereby to thy rescue? Was not that cross sweetly timed, when it tended to wean thee from the world?  And wouldest thou have been without that sickness, when Jesus sat up by thee, soothed thee in thy languor, and made all thy bed in thy sickness? Well was it for me that I was brought low, or I should never have known, in a thousand instances, the help of my God. Oh then, my soul, like Paul, Learn to glory in thy infirmities, that the power of Jesus may rest upon thee (see II Corinthians 12:9, KJV) .   -preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)

"The L ORD make His face shine upon thee." -Numbers 6:25 [KJV] The allusion here seems, to my mind, to be to the sun. Sometimes the natural sun has not risen; and the world must needs be dark if the sun be still beneath the horizon. So with many gracious souls; it is darkness with them, midnight darkness, Egyptian darkness, darkness to be felt, because at present neither the Day-star has appeared nor the Sun of righteousness risen upon them with healing in His wings . It will and must be dark with them till the Sun rise. But sometimes after the sun has risen we see not his face; clouds, deep, dark clouds, may obscure the face of that bright luminary throughout the whole day, and we may not get a single ray from him through the whole period that he is above the visible horizon. So, many of the Lord’s family, after the Sun has risen upon them in the morning of their spiritual life, may pass, perhaps, much of their subsequent time in the dark shadow, till perhaps ...