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

"The righteous is taken away from the evil." - Friends,   read the full verse in Isaiah 57:1 [KJV] Why then do we not rejoice over the dead, who die in the Lord? Why do we, who profess to be in the Lord, fear to die? Death will be the funeral of all our evils, and the resurrection of all our comforts. Why then do we at all dread it? Why so reluctant to be taken from the many evils we suffer here?  Why not rather be longing to be for ever with the Lord? Plainly, it is for want of faith. The point is not fully settled between our Saviour and our souls, whether we are His righteous members or not, and hence we do not walk closely and comfortably with Him, and then the fear of death prevails over us.  A believer in Jesus, and a righteous person, are convertible terms. Every believer is a living member of Christ, united to, and one with Him. They are righteous as Christ is, as man and Mediator. His very righteousness is theirs. They are clothed with it, and stan...

"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved." -Song of Solomon 8:5 [KJV] Who is it that asketh this question, my soul? Is it the holy angels, astonished as they well may, at the gracious condescension of thy Jesus in the grace and favour He hath bestowed upon thee? Or is it the world at large, looking on with amazement at the love of Jesus to His chosen? Is it the Jewish church, amazed that Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of God's promise in Christ? Or, above all, is it Jesus Himself, not because He knoweth not the grace He hath bestowed, but because He admireth the grace He hath given, and as He did the centurion's faith which He Himself was the author of, He looketh upon it with pleasure? And art thou, my soul, come up from the wilderness of nature, a dry, barren land, where no water of life is; from the wilderness of the world, and from all the unsatisfying and empty pursuits of it? Art...

"Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow." -Psalm 107:39 [KJV] Oppression is the exercise of strength against weakness, the triumph of power over helplessness; so that poverty literally opens the door for oppression. It was so with Hezekiah. When Hezekiah was laid on his bed of sickness, death stared him in the face, and he expected he should be cut off, and cast into perdition. This opened the door for oppression; says he, "Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me."   The cold damps of death stood upon his forehead, and despair pressed upon his soul. All his fleshly religion vanished in a moment; and he had but just faith and strength enough to cry out under the grip of the oppressor's hand at his throat, "Undertake for me" (Isaiah 38:14). Oppression then is a weight and a burden super-added to poverty. It is not the same thing as poverty, but it is an additional infliction to poverty. A man may ...

"What is it which made, and will forever continue to make, Christ’s righteousness so infinitely meritorious and successful in producing the divinely intended result?  It is the divinity of His glorious person.   All the created beings in the universe, whether angelic or human, unfallen, fallen or restored, would never by their endeavors united, be able to furnish out and make up a righteousness of sufficient value to claim the favours of God upon the footing of justice and merit, or to present anyone of the chosen seed blameless before the burning eyes of infinite holiness.   Such power belongeth only to the righteousness of the God-Man, Jehovah incarnate!  Nothing but that all-perfect and everlasting merit, which is the complex result of His obedience and of His sacrifice, can exalt and retrieve us to the dignity and suitability of heaven."                           -preacher...

  Jesus is the Friend of sinners, Bless His holy, precious Name! Let believers praise the Savior, Joyfully His worth proclaim! By His blood He washed and cleansed us, Made us whiter than the snow; For our sins the Savior suffered, To pay all the debt we owe.   Though for sin the law condemned us, From its curse we are set free; Jesus honored law and justice, When He died on Calvary. Let all those who love the Savior, Who adore and trust this Friend; Magnify our great Redeemer, Sing His praises without end.   Do you know our Lord and Savior, Who alone from sin can save? Jesus bled and died for sinners, His Own life He freely gave. O may God the Holy Spirit, Quicken sinners dead in sin; Granting faith to trust the Savior, Piercing darkness with the Light.     Tune: “Love Divine” 87.87 double Words by Jim Byrd

The law of God demanded nothing less than a perfect Sacrifice to satisfy its justice and put away our sins.  An attempt at perfection would not suffice; perfect obedience was required.  Not only outward morality, but an inner purity; not an occasional concern for the glory of God, but a ceaseless desire that, “not my will, but Thine be done.”   Offended justice required, not a few drops of blood, but blood shed to the death to satisfy the edict, “The soul that sinneth shall die.”   And while it must be man’s blood, it required that the victim be equal in holiness to the Judge against whom man has sinned.  The only One who could answer the conditions laid down by the law, satisfy the justice of God and meet the needs of the sinner was the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift”   (II Corinthians 9:15).   None but Jesus could accomplish the salvation of sinners.             ...

"It is ignorance of doctrine which is mainly responsible for thousands of professing Christians being captivated by the numerous fallacies of the day. It is because the time has now arrived when the bulk of our churches ‘ will not endure sound doctrine ’ (II Timothy 4:3) that they so readily receive false doctrines. Of course it is true that doctrine, like anything else in Scripture, may be studied from a merely cold intellectual viewpoint, and thus approached, doctrinal teaching and doctrinal study will leave the heart untouched, and will naturally be ‘dry’ and profitless. But, doctrine properly received, doctrine studied with an exercised heart, will ever lead into a deeper knowledge of God and of the unsearchable riches of Christ.” -preacher Arthur Pink , excerpt from  The Sovereignty of God