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

  Brother 'Earnest Effort'   by DG Miles McKee   Let me introduce you to Brother Earnest Effort. He’s a decent soul, but alas, he has not been established in Gospel truth. All he knows to do is ‘to do’ ! He makes his personal efforts and condition the centre of his Christian life. Without knowing it, he is brewing himself a lethal spiritual cocktail of woe! After continually taking stock of himself he sees the ongoing rottenness of his very being. After all, he lives with himself. Everywhere he goes — there he is. He has tried rededicating himself to God so often that his re-dedicator has just about worn out. He still sees his secret thoughts and they are not good. He knows the cesspool of filth that bubbles up at the most inopportune moments. He gets deeply troubled by the continual plague of lusts and wicked thoughts that bombard him, but instead of looking to Christ for deliverance he tries more discipline and gets up earlier to have a longer quiet time. H...

Brethren, let us join to bless, Christ our Peace and Righteousness; Let our praise to Him be giv’n, High at God’s right hand in heaven. Son of God, to Thee we bow, Thou art Lord and only Thou; Thou the woman’s promised seed, Thou, who did for sinners bleed.  Thee the angels ceaseless sing, Thee we praise, our Priest and King; Worthy is Thy Name of praise, Full of glory, full of grace. Thou hast the glad tidings brought, Of salvation fully wrought; Wrought, O Lord, alone by Thee, Wrought to set Thy people free. Thee, our Lord, would we adore, Serve and follow more and more; Praise and bless Thy matchless love, Till we join Thy saints above. -Gospel hymn,   Depth of Mercy     -------0-------        "The doctrine of the total depravity of all men without exception is not revealed to insult us. The revelation of total depravity in the Bible is that God’s true grace means that all blessings and benefits of salvation are sovereignly, freely, and fu...

What does the Bible say about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ?  1. His death was eternally appointed. He was the spotless Lamb “Who verily was foreordained before  the foundation of the world” (I Peter 1:20) .   2. His death was divinely brought about. “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin...” (Isaiah 53:10) .    3. His death satisfied infinite justice enabling God to be “a just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:21) .    4. His death was substitutionary. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25) .    5. His death was the ransom price for His captive people. “He obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12) .    6. His death put away the sins of those for whom He died. “When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 1:3) .    7. His death restored chosen sinners back to God. “And a...

     We who believe the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus should not view our sinfulness and wretchedness to the point of despair and unbelief, but we should never forget it lest we presume and become ungrateful and proud. We need to realize that anything we have from God is mercy and grace from God in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true of all of God’s children, from the least to the greatest. Just like the apostle Paul, we must all say, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ , " (Romans 7:24-25a) .  God keeps all these things in our minds to show us  continually that we can never trust ourselves, but that our hope, confidence, and assurance is in Him Who saves us, keeps us, and blesses us in Christ. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. As one man wrote, "The more we are growing in the sense of our sins and infirmities, the more sha...

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."   -I Timothy 6:12 [KJV]   Soldiers of an earthly monarch are regularly enlisted to fight under his banner: they wear his livery, and are furnished by him with arms. In a day of battle, they prove their courage and faithfulness. So the Captain of our salvation chooses and enlists His own soldiers. He puts on them a livery, whereby they are known to his enemies. He puts an armour on them, and weapons into their hands. From the moment they enlist under Him, they enter the field of battle. There is never any peace with the enemy. The fight is the good fight of faith. The prize is eternal life. The daily word of command is, fight. Stand to your arms. Give no quarter to the enemy.    Beware of the least truce with them, for the danger is great, the effects will prove awful. It is a good fight. It is in a good cause: under a good captain, who gives good encouragement, and has assured us of certain victory over the...

"...but were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." -Psalm 106:35 [KJV] Pause, my soul, over this view of God's people of old. There is a natural disposition in the heart, to do and to live as others, in order to pass through life with as little reproach as possible; and, in the first face of things, what is called an innocent conformity to the world seems to be commendable and praiseworthy. But, alas! it is impossible to mingle with the carnal, and not to learn their works; and it is always dangerous to get on the confines of the enemy. In that blessed prayer, taught us by our Lord, we pray "not to be led into temptation;" and surely this implies, that we do not desire to lead ourselves into temptation.    But this every child of God doth, that mingles unnecessarily with the world, or with the men of the world. The precept is positive to this purpose; "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean...

"My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word." -Psalm 119:81 [KJV] How difficult, for the most part, it is, and we may add, how rare to be able to realise for ourselves, with any degree of abiding permanency, a sweet experimental sense of, and an assured interest in those spiritual blessings with which, so far as we are believers in the Son of God, we are blessed in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Glimpses, glances, transient views, sips and tastes, drops and crumbs sweet beyond expression whilst they last, but rarely given and soon gone, are, generally speaking, all we seem to get after much hard labour, many cries, earnest entreaties, and vehement longings before the Lord, as He presents Himself to our faith, seated on the throne of His grace.    How many there are who are daily and sometimes almost hourly crying out, if not in the exact words, yet in the substance of them: "O come, Lord Jesus, quickly come!" Thou much-expected guest; and yet h...