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

"...and that He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him Who died for them, and rose again." -II Corinthians 5:15 [KJV] Christ died for all, “Whom the Father gave to Him , ” (John 17:9.) Sooner or later, all these willingly and cheerfully come unto, or believe on Christ. Joyful to remember, we are drawn to Christ by the love of the Father, or else we never should have come to Him (see John 6:44.) Now, we have done with working for life, and asking, What must we do to be saved? For now, we actually are saved, and really do live.  (1st.) We are saved from the love of sin, from our natural hatred to the doctrines of grace, and from our aversion to full justification and final salvation by the word of Christ only. Legal self-righteous professors exclaim, ‘Do not tell us of doctrines of grace, but of what we must do to be saved.’ Truly, the way is plain: there is work enough for them to do. If they will enter into...

"And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them." -I Samuel 22:2 [KJV] My soul, was not this thy case when thou first sought after Jesus? Thou wert, indeed, in debt under an heavy load of insolvency. Distress and discontent sadly marked thy whole frame. Unconscious where to go, or to whom to seek, and no man cared for thy soul. Oh! what a precious thought it was, and which none but God the Holy Ghost could have put into thine heart— Go unto Jesus!   And when I came, and Thou didst graciously condescend to be my Captain, from that hour how hath my soul been revived! My insolvency Thou hast taken away; for Thou hast more than paid the whole demands of the law; for Thou hast magnified it, and made it honourable. My distress under the apprehension of divine justice Thou hast removed; for God's justice, by Thee, is not only satisfied, but gl...

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." -Romans 4:16 [KJV] Of faith we read expressly that "It is the gift of God." This is the grand master-grace of the soul; it is the grand wheel which moves every other wheel in the heart; it is the eye, the ear, the hand of the new man of grace. Only so far as we have faith, and the Lord draws out this faith in exercise, have we any true spiritual feeling. But what makes me prize the gift of faith? It is knowing so much and so painfully the inbeing and inworking of unbelief. Is not this the case naturally? What makes me prize health? It is having a poor, weakly tabernacle. What makes me prize rest? Fatigue. What makes me prize ease? It is pain. What makes me prize food? It is hunger. What makes me prize the cup of cold water? It is thirst. By these feelings, I not only know the reality by the want of it, but also enjoy the blessing when communicated. It is just so spiritually, as naturally. What can...

" Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." -I Corinthians 13:13 [KJV] It is a pity it was not rendered love, instead of charity, all through this chapter: it certainly would have been a means of preventing much error.  Consider, (1st.) The abiding of love. It springs from faith and hope, and has no existence in the heart without them. We have no more love to God, than a beast, yea, than a devil has, till we believe His love to us, and hope in His promises made to us in Christ Jesus. We love Him. Why? Because, merely of the glories and perfections of His nature, is He the object of our supreme love? No, but rather “because He first loved us” (I John 4:19.) How has God manifested His love to us? In this: “Because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (verse 9.) But our hearts are strangers to this love, till we believe in Jesus, and hope in His salvation. Then the effect ...

"Faint, yet pursuing." -Judges 8:4 [KJV] Surely what is said here concerning the little army of Gideon, suits my case exactly. I know that in Jesus the victory is certain; but I know also, that I shall have battlings all the way. From the moment that the Lord called me out of darkness into His marvellous light, my whole life hath been but a state of warfare; and feel what Paul felt, and groan as he groaned, under a body of sin and death; "as sorrowful, yet rejoicing; as dying, but behold I live; as chastened, and not killed." Truly I am faint, under the many heavy assaults I have sustained; and yet, through grace, pursuing as if I had met with no difficulty. Yes, blessed Jesus; I know that there can be no truce in this war; and looking unto Thee, I pray to be found faithful unto death, that no man may take my crown. But, dearest Lord! Thou seest my day of small things; Thou beholdest how faint I am. Thou seest also, how the enemy assaults me! and how ...

"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." -Ephesians 1:19, 20 [KJV] Man needs to be roused by a mighty and effectual power out of his state of sleep and death. It is not a little pull, a gentle snatch at his coat, a slight tug of his sleeve, which will pull him out of his sins. He must be snatched from them as a person would be snatched out of bed when the house is on fire, or pulled out of a river when sinking for the last time. Let us never think that the work of grace upon the heart is a slight or superficial one. Indeed, there needs a mighty work of grace upon a sinner's heart to deliver him from his destructions. We always, therefore, find the work of grace to begin by a spiritual sight and sense of our ruined condition before God. But this alone will not suffice to make us true-hearted disciples of Jesus. It is a ...

Jesus at the Right Hand. Part II   by D. G. Miles McKee There’s a story about a pilot of a small plane who lost his way in a thick fog, and in a state of panic sent out a distress call. “May Day, May Day… can anyone out there hear me?” The duty officer in a nearby control tower responded, and, after identifying himself, asks, “What is your present height and position?” “I’m 6 feet tall and I’m sitting in the front seat of the plane!” Misapplying a literal question can be confusing, but, when reading the Bible, mistaking the figurative for the literal brings, “confusion twice confounded.” This is what happens when we fail to see that the term ‘The Right Hand’ is figurative or more correctly, anthropomorphic language, language that ascribes human characteristics to nonhuman things.   There are several meanings associated with the Right Hand.    First, the Right Hand is a hand of  Blessing .  Consider   Genesis 48:1...