"The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." (Isaiah 38:20)

These are the words of Hezekiah as he praises God for the deliverance of his soul and body. He sounds a blessed word of testimony for every broken sinner to hear. He exclaims, "The Lord was ready to save me!" It is one thing that He might at the last moment, by some quickly put together scheme or in an instant of compassion save me; but it is another that He is ready to save. What is involved in God's "readiness" to save? It first involves God's purposing, planning and predetermining to save. He has always been ready to save. He's been ready to save because He determined before the foundation of the world to do so. Salvation is not a contingency plan with God. Christ has stood as the Surety of that covenant through which all God's people shall be saved and by which God readied Himself to save them. Hezekiah and all God's elect can praise God for their salvation because He carefully worked every detail of providence toward that end. He readied "all things" in time, nature, history and their individual lives, working them together to save them. The salvation of the Lord's people, since they are all sinners required the satisfaction of His justice and the honoring of all His attributes. God in grace sent His Son into the world as a man and Christ, being obedient unto the death of the cross, paid the ransom price of our redemption with His blood and glorified God in all His work on our behalf. He finished the work that the Father gave Him to do and in doing so He made all things ready. Furthermore, the readiness of God to save His people is in His having an "everlasting gospel" by which He would make manifest and reveal their salvation to them in time. All God's elect believe on Christ the Savior through the "gospel of your salvation." (Eph.1:13) God is ready with the power of His Spirit to give them new birth by which they are enabled and made ready to believe on Christ their salvation. God knew that He must be ready to save us for we cannot do anything to save ourselves. He is the Lord...ready to save! Christ our Ready Savior has saved, is saving, and shall save His people from their sins!

Gary Shepard

If a man's argument lays in human wisdom, human testimonies may strengthen it. But the best of human testimonies are an ill medium to establish the truth of the Gospel by, because the Gospel is established upon divine revelation, independent of the testimony of man. The man who goes about to defend the faith of the Gospel or refute error, by the testimony of authors, would have been an active instrument, in some of the ancient counsels, made up of learned doctors, in which they put truth itself to the vote, and enacted canons of anathema against all that were otherwise minded.

copied

When Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord with her costly ointment, it was for Him, and Him alone that she did it. However, the Scriptures tell us that the perfume filled the room and all who were there were blessed and privileged to enjoy the lovely fragrance. So it is with any service done for the love, honor, and glory of Christ--it benefits all of God's people.

Joe Terrell

In all the Word of God there is no doctrine which, if properly applied, is more conducive to godly living than is the doctrine of salvation by grace, and by grace alone.

R. B. Kuiper

The sinner who is enlightened to know himself, his wants, enemies, and dangers, will not dare to confide in anything short of an almighty arm; he needs a shepherd who is full of wisdom, full of care, full of power; able, like the sun, to shine upon millions at once, and possessed of those incommunicable attributes of Deity, omniscience and omnipresence. Such is our great Shepherd.

John Newton

Confessing Christ is the whole of a person's life, revealing outwardly what God has worked inwardly. It is the confession by word, act, deed, and attitude, what God, by His Spirit, has created within our hearts. "One tree is not a forest," it has been said. So one public act is not a confession of Christ.

Henry Mahan

OH CHRIST MY SONG

Oh Christ my Song and Melody,

The Music to my soul;

May I again hear of your grace,

And be your gospel told?

May I again hear of the One,

Whose blood is righteousness?

And know that it was shed for me,

And in His fullness rest?

May I again your presence feel,

And peace within me find?

In Christ my Hope again rejoice,

And be of His same mind?

May I again, delight to hear,

The promises of grace?

And feel the blessed Spirit wipe,

The tears from off my face?

May I again, your song now sing,

And feel within my heart,

Your hand upon the strings therein,

Sound chords in every part?

Oh God may I now sing your praise,

The Spirit bring each note?

And sing of Christ the Worthy Lamb,

And hymns to heaven float!

Gary Shepard (Tune: O God Our Help)

If you have ever had a child sick, in trouble or in danger, you know that indescribable feeling of concern, love and helplessness. The thought occurred to me, does God feel this way toward His children? “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” (Psa. 103:13) His concern and love is far greater but the difference is that He has both the wisdom and ability to help!