Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. But fear is one of the first
products of sin. Adam had never experienced fear
and had no reason to be frightened at the prospect of God's displeasure
until he ate the fruit which God forbade him to eat. Immediately
upon his consumption of that forbidden fruit, the scripture
says, and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves aprons. Shame was hardly the result that
Satan had promised Eve in his lie with which he deceived her.
Furthermore, whenever they heard the voice of the Lord, they hid
themselves, for they knew that they had no covering before God.
Thus fear was introduced to mankind whenever sin entered the picture.
Now we are quite certain that Adam's sin did not take God by
surprise, but was as much a part of his ordained purpose as was
man's creation. The antidote to the poison of
sin, which now coursed through the veins of Adam, and consequently
to all of his posterity, was already prepared before the sin
ever occurred. In order to manifest the glory
of His grace and the presence of all creation, it pleased the
Lord to choose a people in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Before Adam's creation, He had determined to redeem His
elect sons, and He caused them to spring forth from the loins
of Adam. In the same fashion in which those elect sons were
placed in Adam, he also placed those vessels of wrath which
were fitted for destruction, even as he determined to destroy
them, in place to spring from the same loins. So that by looking
at the offspring of Adam, one cannot discern the elect from
the reprobate, for they are all by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. Sin and natural birth are the
only common denominators of the elect and the reprobate. Sin
has its ultimate work in the death which God promised to Adam,
but there is an antidote already prepared for those who have been
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. It is a remedy
which is an absolute cure for the disease that has invaded
these houses of clay. We speak of nothing less than
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord, of whom
the scripture says, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. God has a people among
the sons of Adam who have no reason to fear nor to live their
lives in such a state. It is pleased the Father to give
them his kingdom, and we are sent as ambassadors of Christ
to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. There are many of the sons of
Adam who were yet plagued with fear of every sort, for whom
Christ has purchased a complete deliverance. In his own good
time he will quicken every one of them, and according as it
pleases him give to each one the measure of faith as he determines.
The preaching of the gospel is so that by hearing they may believe.
Fear must be cast out as they look upon him who gave himself
for them and recognize that indeed his grace is sufficient. The
sons of Adam are plagued with fears of every sort and have
sought out many devices and remedies. They have listened to many counselors
and physicians of no value. Yet the plague remains, and their
fears, while covered with a multitude of bombs and salves, are yet
like a cancer which eats at their very vitals and shall one day
overwhelm them. I claim to be no prophet, nor
even the son of a prophet, but it appears that there is likely
to come upon our nation, and even the whole world as a result,
very trying times and troubles, which shall shake the very foundations
upon which our society stands. It appears to me that as far
as can be seen by the eye of men, we are facing a perfect
storm, which could sweep away all of those things upon which
men so firmly rely, in an approaching economic earthquake of epic proportions. I hope that I am wrong. The sufferings
that could occur as a result are not at all unlike those that
befell Jerusalem in 70 A.D., when that city was utterly destroyed,
along with all of those things upon which its religion was built.
Of that time, the Lord said that men's hearts would fail them
because of fear. Any man whose hope is built on
his houses and lands, his technology, or his life's savings shall surely
perish in such time as that. When the very fabric of society
crumbles, those whose confidence is placed in law and order and
political parties shall be forced to flee to the mountains to escape
the wrath to come. The purpose of recording my somber
thoughts here is to remind the sons of God that our confidence
is not in princes, nor in the chariots of Pharaoh, nor in the
houses and lands which we may have been blessed together. May
we be ever as Paul who said, and now I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Upon
what do you rely? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.