Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. But error and its tentacles
weave their way very subtly among the sons of God, in the same
fashion in which one truth is built upon another over time.
So error establishes itself as well among those whose hearts
grow cold and in love with the religion of the flesh. Those
religious ideas that men toy with, which are from their imaginations
and not taught them by the Lord, will ultimately destroy them
unless he is pleased to deliver them from it. King Hezekiah not
only removed the high places which were established by man's
religion, but he destroyed the idols which some had been seduced
into worshiping. May our prayer be, as William
Cowper of Old wrote, the dearest idol I have known, whate'er that
idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne, and worship only
thee. Then we are informed that Hezekiah
cut down the groves. These groves appear to be those
places where the followers of Baal and his female counterpart
Ashtoreth gathered to worship in wickedness. Their worship
is akin to the preoccupation with sexuality and immorality
which have come to describe our society, and very sadly many
among those who gather with God's people. Probably never before
in history has it been harder to see a marked difference in
the behavior of those who profess to be the followers of Christ
and the ungodly. Many who profess to be Christians
seem just as enamored with the entertainments of the flesh and
the lives of ungodly celebrities as the world around them. How
can this be? And what concord hath Christ
with Bilal? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? In what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. We are
not friends of this world, and it is surely not friends with
us. These reforms that Hezekiah made were quite sweeping and
obviously needed among the sons of Judah. But the main thing
that Hezekiah did might even be considered sacrilegious to
some. Not only did he destroy those idols and places of heathen
worship, which were obviously not from the Lord, but he destroyed
a symbol that the Lord himself had instructed Moses to make.
In fact, Hezekiah showed no reference for it at all, calling it exactly
what it was when he labeled it Nehushtan, which is the Hebrew
word meaning thing of brass. Just because the Lord ordained
something to be used for a certain purpose in one age or time period
does not mean that He has ordained that it be used forever in that
fashion. Neither is something which He
has ordained for one purpose supposed to be turned into an
idol by subsequent generations. Many of the children of Israel
had been healed of the serpent's bites in the day in which the
Lord instructed Moses to make it as an enzyme for the people
to look to. No doubt there was in it a type and foreshadowing
of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who saves those that look for
Him. But as time went on, men lost sight of the meaning hidden
in the creation of the brass serpent and turned it into a
religious relic. Their eyes were turned away from
Christ through the brass from which it was made. There was
nothing wrong with the materials from which this serpent was made.
It was simply brass. But as the sons of Judah forgot
that fact, they worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator. Local churches exist for the
purpose of manifesting the glory of Christ's redemption in the
earth. They don't exist to perpetuate any sort of agenda but His glory.
They are not avenues whereby one can parade their own ideas
before the world to pick and choose the manner, form, and
degree wherein they will serve the Lord. Most churches begin
with devotion and rejoicing in Christ alone. As time goes on,
the working of the flesh causes men to begin to value the outward
forms of their religion, and eventually they lose sight that
the object of their worship is Jesus Christ alone. They begin
to take pride in that which they think sets them apart from others,
and they begin to worship and value their forms and traditions,
thereby turning these forms into idols, which ultimately must
be destroyed in order that Jesus Christ alone might be exalted.
Any church on earth which does not exist for the simple worship
of Jesus Christ as the Lord of all has either outlived its usefulness
or was never a church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first
place. A true church has no other message but Christ. It seeks
the exaltation of none but Christ. Its primary goal is the magnification
of His name in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
who has purchased eternal redemption for His elect with His own blood
and is now seated at the right hand of His Father in the heavens.
From whence he will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all
who know not God. For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net