Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Joseph was an illustration
of Christ. He was rejected by his brethren.
He became unknown to them, yet he never forgot them, and he
made provision for their sustenance even when they had no knowledge
of their need. In the Lord's time, Joseph came
to a place of power, and he whom they sold for money was made
manifest as the deliverer of his brethren as they were fed
from the fruits of his table. Judah, on the other hand, demonstrated
the natural corruption of the flesh of man as he impregnated
his own daughter-in-law. Yet God would once again demonstrate
His glory even through the wickedness of men, for it is through that
lineage that He ordained Christ to come. He is indeed the one
who has prevailed to open the sealed book and to declare the
glory of God in the earth. Time would fail us to recount
the continual manifestations of the Lord's glory which he
has unfolded in the history of mankind. Every page of that epic
volume is written by his own pen and set forth by his own
interpreter so that he causes those who see to see and those
whom he has blinded to have no rejoicing therein. The sons of
God can find no greater place of joy than in contemplating
the wonders which he is pleased to unfold day by day. These are
those things which make us say with the Apostle Paul, and who
is sufficient for these things, as we are made to tremble before
him. It is pleased the Lord to manifest
his glory in the redemptive work of Christ, his only begotten
Son, who has come into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, making himself an offering for sin in his agony
in Gethsemane and his suffering on Calvary. His glory can only
be seen by those to whom it is given, and the further unfolding
of His glory in His resurrection from the dead and His ascension
back into the heavens forms the very basis of the hope of those
He has called from death unto life. We seek no other revelation,
nor do we look for another deliverer. He promised his disciples that
he would send to them a comforter who would lead them into all
truth. Those whom he calls his own, he will never leave nor
forsake. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. Those who are admonished to work
out their own salvation, he reminds of the source of their working.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. The psalmist describes this very
condition as he says, those that are planted in the house of the
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. The purpose of this
flourishing is so that his name might be glorified as he is pleased
to bring life and immortality to light in the declaration of
the gospel. To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joyful
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. The purpose of the
preaching of the gospel is for the glory of God. And then he
says, they shall bring forth fruit in old age, they shall
be fat and flourishing. The Lord will remain faithful
to his people unto the end. Even as Keane wrote in his timeless
hymn, in down to old age, all my people shall prove my sovereign,
eternal, unchangeable love. And when hoary hairs shall their
temples adorn, like lambs they shall still in my bosom be born. The soul that on Jesus has leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That
soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never,
no never forsake. John records such a thought for
us in John 13, verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. The psalm closes with
this to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there
is no unrighteousness in Him. The Lord will bring glory to
his name as he demonstrates his unfailing faithfulness to those
whom he loves. There is not even a shadow of
turning in him wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Do you find refuge in Christ?
For a free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send
an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.