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

"The LORD is able to give thee much more than this."   -II Chronicles 25:9 [KJV] Thus spake the prophet to Amaziah, king of Judah. “He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart”   (verse 2.) His works were externally right, but he was destitute of uprightness of heart towards the Lord. Our Saviour forbids, “Judge not according to the appearance”   (John 7:24.) Be not hasty in judging of any one. Nay, not of thy own state neither, merely from a few external actions. Look well to thy heart. See that there is upright honesty and integrity at the bottom of thy conduct.  If otherwise, it will soon be made manifest. So it was with Amaziah. This chapter records three abominable evils which he fell into. Confidence in an arm of flesh—Idolatry—Pride, which proved his destruction. As to the first, he hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valour, to strengthen his army against his enemies, for one hundred talents...

"Christ hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour." -Ephesians 5:2 [KJV] If, when Noah offered by faith his sacrifice at the coming forth from the ark, the Lord smelled a sweet savour in it, because both the ark and sacrifice were a type of His dear Son, how fragrant and acceptable must have been the substance, when Jesus offered Himself without spot to God? Behold Him by faith, my soul, in that hour, in the full incense of His own merit, the censer of His own offering, and the golden altar of His own nature.  And while God, even the everlasting Father, accepts Jesus as thy Surety, in the fragrancy of His offering, wilt thou not by faith so apprehend the sweet influence of His person, work, and righteousness, as to rejoice before God in the sure acceptance of thyself and all thy poor offerings in the Beloved? Oh let a throne of grace be a daily, hourly, testimony for thee, that all thy approaches here are under th...

"...and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." -Hebrews 2:15 [KJV] It is no evidence against you if you are subject to bondage; it is no mark against you if you cannot look death in the face without doubt or fear. Is it not "the children"  who feel the bondage? And did not the Lord come to deliver them from it? Are you then not a child because you fear death? If you had no sense of sin, no tenderness of conscience, you would be as careless about death as most other people are. Thus your very bondage, your very fears, if they make you sigh and cry for deliverance, are marks of life. And the day will surely come when the Lord will remove these chilling fears and put an end to these killing doubts. As you draw near to the brink of Jordan, the Lord will be with you to deliver you, who, through fear of death, are now subject to bondage; He will extract its sting, and rob the grave of its victory, enabling you to ...

This is Gospel Truth! by D G Miles McKee   What is the Gospel? The simple answer is, the Gospel is the person, doing, dying and rising again of the Lord Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) .  Christ Himself is God’s good news from Heaven.  He is the Gospel. Since the Gospel is about Jesus it is, therefore, not about you and not about me. We benefit eternally from it but the centre of the Gospel is not us but Christ Jesus.   This is Gospel Truth!   The Gospel tells of how God came to this earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not an impersonation of God, He was, in fact, God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) .   This is Gospel Truth!   As a man, He obeyed God’s laws and requirements on our behalf (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5: 21; John 15:10) . I’m amazed by this grace when I realise that my only qualification for such a Saviour is that I'm such a sinner.   This is Gospel Truth!   As a man, Jesus made a suitab...

"And they shall come which were ready to perish."   - Isaiah 27:13 [KJV] What a blessed promise is this to a poor sinner, that is conscious of his being in perishing circumstances? My soul, pause over it this morning. Art thou not, if considered out of Christ, in perishing circumstances, by reason of the captivity of sin? Art thou not perishing under the sentence of God's broken law; under the just judgment of God, the alarms of thine own guilty conscience, the accusations of Satan, the fear of death, and the prospect of judgment and eternity?  And doth this sweet scripture hold forth a provision for such perishing circumstances? Doth it really say that such shall come; nay, that they shall come , whatever obstructions, either from within or without, shall block up the way? Will the Lord enable them, lead them, help them; nay, constrain them to come, in defiance of all impediments? Oh precious, precious Jesus! may the blessing of him that is ready to perish ...

"He who hath received His testimony, hath set to his seal that GOD is true."   - John 3:33 [KJV] Wherein consists the essential difference between the righteous and the wicked? In this, the heart of the former receives the testimony of Christ, and thereby honours the God of truth. The latter rejects it, and thereby makes God a liar (I John 5:10.)   No marvel then, that it is declared, “He who believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him”   (John 3:36.) And that “God is angry with the wicked every day”   (Psalm 7:11.) Why? Because they every day live in this daring, provoking sin of unbelief of the testimony of the Son of God, and give God the lie to his face. This is the greatest sin under heaven. O the long-suffering patience of God, toward such stout-hearted rebels.  Consider, (1st.) What is this testimony? It is the witness which Christ bears to the children of men, that He is the Son of God: that He ca...

"He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." -Micah 7:19 [KJV] Sin subdued is the next greatest blessing to sin pardoned; and wherever God does pardon sin He subdues sin; for the same grace which saves sanctifies; the same grace which casts sin behind God's back, puts its foot upon the corruptions of the believer, and prevents iniquity from having dominion over him. The Scripture is very plain and express upon this point. "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Why? "Because ye are not under the law , " which gives sin its strength and power, "but under grace , "  which is able to subdue its dominion. Nor do I believe that any child of God can ever rest satisfied except by the subduing of his sins as well as the pardoning of them. To have his unbelief, infidelity, worldly-mindedness, pride, and covetousness subdued by the grace of God, its power taken out of it, its dominion ...