Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Men are much more enamored
with their own abilities of reason and logic than they are of the
testimony which is found in the pages of the Bible. The Bible
is dismissed with a mere wave of the hand by the great and
wise scholars which inhabit our institutions of higher, so-called,
learning. After the Civil War, a recently
freed slave whom the Lord had brought out of darkness as a
young man by the name of John Jasper became somewhat famous
for a sermon that he preached from the book of Joshua. The
sermon was entitled, The Son Do Move. Now John Jasper was
not educated in man's institutes of higher learning, but he gave
some evidence of having been supplied with the highest learning
available. A course which is taught only by the Holy Ghost
to select students through the one absolutely true textbook
which can be found on the earth, that is the Bible. John was roundly
criticized and his premise scoffed at by the wise and learned because
he had the audacity to believe and publicly proclaim exactly
what the Bible described as having occurred in Gibeon when Joshua
prayed and the scripture says the sun stood still. John cared
not that his critics laughed because he did not know, as they
contended, that such a thing could not have occurred at all.
And even if it did occur, it couldn't possibly have happened
as the Bible described it. Because they knew beyond a shadow
of a doubt that the sun was fixed in the heaven and the earth was
moving around it. John was not ignorant of their
premise, but he was compelled to believe the Word of God. I
was recently made aware of how easy it is for us to rely upon
science and all of the experts when the question was raised
about whether or not the earth is a fixed object rather than
a moving one. I was surprised to learn that
there are actually some scientists who are not convinced that Copernicus
and Galileo were correct in their widely accepted theories. Now,
I'm not proposing to know the scientific answers to all of
this. And I would not comment upon this matter except to say
that regardless of how the bodies which God has created move about
the heavens, I am certain that the Bible is true in every jot
and tittle, whether I can explain it or whether or not what it
says fits in with accepted science, falsely so called. Who can help
but to stand in wonder and amazement as we read of the Lord's answer
to Joshua's prayer, and causing the sun to stand still, so that
it remained daylight for about a whole day? I have no idea how
to explain this occurrence in a way that will satisfy the natural
curiosity of man. All I can say is what the scripture
says, the sun stood still. But as marvelous as this miracle
was that day in Gibeon, a far greater miracle occurred on a
roadside outside of Jericho, when the one whose glory shines
brighter than ten thousand suns stood still. In Mark's Gospel
we read, And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called.
And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort,
rise, he calleth thee. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar
who could not so much as see this one who was approaching.
He only heard who it was. The men there told him it was
Jesus of Nazareth. Yet something miraculous occurred
because Bartimaeus sought mercy from the one he called, Thou
Son of David. This was a term which the Jews
reserved for that one they believed who would be the Messiah. It
was possible for men to tell him some facts about this man
from the carpenter's shop, but only the Holy Ghost could reveal
to him his true identity, even as the Lord Jesus said to Peter,
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. It
was a plea of mercy that caused the Son to stand still. Has not
the psalmist said, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a
broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit? Has
he ever turned a deaf ear to those who have sought his mercy?
Or will he now cause those who have fled to him for refuge to
be ashamed? This was an appointment made and kept by the one who
directeth a man's steps, just like his meeting with Zacchaeus,
or the woman at the well. This one was no chance meeting,
but was ordained by him who knoweth them that are his. It was the
Lord who sought out Bartimaeus, and came to where he was, because
Bartimaeus could not have come to him. Our own experience has
taught us that there is none that seeketh after God. He testified
through Isaiah, saying, I have found of them that sought me
not. There were no doubt many other blind men in Jericho, but
it was Bartimaeus that he had determined to heal at that moment.
He commanded that Bartimaeus be brought to him. He came into
the world for the purpose of saving his people from their
sins by substitutionary death. That salvation is applied to
them according to his decree, which can never fail. Have you
seen the sun stand still? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.