Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The Jews in general despised
the gentle teacher from Nazareth, though they sought him out that
they might receive carnal blessings from him. The religious men of
this world are no different, especially those who seek him
simply to avoid destruction. The Pharisees demonstrated this
disdain for his glory and the beauty of his person as they
told him to rebuke his disciples who were saying, blessed be the
king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven
and glory in the highest. The Lord replied by setting forth
the principle of the certainty of His exaltation in the heavens
and in the earth. When He said, I tell you that
if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately
cry out. The worship of Christ is an absolute certainty which
must occur, since He is worthy to be praised as He came to perform
the perfect will of His Father. being that one sent by God to
be the Redeemer and King of his people. He cannot fail to accomplish
that for which he was sent, nor can those be silenced who are
ordained to worship him, whether it be the angels in heaven, the
sons of God chosen in Christ from before the foundation of
the world, or that creation which he made according to his good
pleasure. "'So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth. "'It shall not return unto me void, "'but it shall
accomplish that which I please, "'and it shall prosper in the
things whereto I send it. "'For ye shall go out with joy
"'and be led forth with peace. "'The mountains and the hills
shall break forth "'before you into singing, "'and all the trees
of the field shall clap their hands. "'Instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree, "'and instead of the briar shall come
up the myrtle tree. "'And it shall be to the Lord
for a name, "'for an everlasting sign that shall not, be cut off. The Lord said that all things
will be done according to the good pleasure of his will, and
that all contingencies are in his hand. Yea, before the day
was, I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
I will work, and who shall let it? Thus, when he said that his
people are the light of the world, he did not mean that they ought
to be such or might be such, but rather that they are such.
The salvation of his people and his work in them, both the will
and to-do of his good pleasure, are inexorably linked, and he
will cause it to come to pass. Just like his glory is hid from
the wise and prudent, so too is the manifestation of his Spirit's
work in his people not always able to be seen by the men of
this world. The Lord will manifest his glory
in his people, as Paul describes them, as the church, which is
his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. This
is the exact fulfillment of that which he prophesied when he said,
Upon this rock, that is himself, that one whom Peter confessed
according to the gift of faith given to him, upon this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. The Lord has raised up a testimony
to his glory in that people whose redemption he has purchased with
his own blood. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Paul in one of his letters to
Timothy said, some men's sins are opened beforehand, going
before to judgment, and some men they follow after. Likewise
also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and
they that are otherwise cannot be hid. This passage reminds
us of what he later wrote to Timothy. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. The Lord will make His people
known, even as He knows them. He has ordained them, not simply
to be delivered from the terrors of death, hell, and destruction,
but to be given a conscience void of offense, and a mind which
takes delight in that which He has commanded. For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. The law
demanded obedience, but gave no power to perform it, being
weak in the flesh. But this thing I commanded them,
saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be
my people, and walk ye in all ways that I have commanded you,
that it may be well unto you. Yet the Lord fulfilled His promise
to write the law in the hearts of His people, as He prophesied
in Jeremiah 31-33. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
This cannot be hid. Do you follow Christ openly?
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