Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morse's For Zion's Toy. Christ likened himself to a vine
and the keeper of that vine. The husbandman, that is, the
vinekeeper, is that one who grafts the branches to the vine. In
his own time, even as Christ said, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. The root stock from which these
branches were taken was wild by nature, and though the branches
had a form of life, they could produce no pleasant fruit in
their natural state, and were but worthy of the burning, to
which all unfruitful branches are ultimately cast. These dead
branches were made to live when the hands of the skillful vinekeeper
attached or grafted them to the vine, and the life of the vine
caused them to live. The casual observer might view
the branches now attached to the vine as being the same branches
they were before. But the reality is that these
branches, which were dead by nature, unfruitful and useless,
are not the same branches that they once were, because of the
vine to which they are now grafted into. Their outward shape and
form are the same, but the life of the vine is that which has
made them new. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. The man who is now a new creature
is not the same man which he once was. All things are become
new by the life of the vine which causes him now to live. And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Paul
said, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. This new man is manifested as
being a fruit bearer, according to the power of him who works
mightily in him. But now ye put off all these
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the
old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is
renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Now lest these new creatures should be lifted up with pride
and forget the source of their life and fruitfulness, they have
been given a thorn in the flesh. Paul speaks of a specific trial
that he was given. Yet all of the children of God
are still carrying around this body of death, that is, our flesh
and its propensities, in which they groan constantly with Paul's
lament, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Is
there any more common complaint and source of misery for the
true sons of God than to admit, for I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing? For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. This is that spiritual warfare
into which all of the sons of God are ultimately placed. As
Paul said, For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary to one to the other,
so that you cannot do the things that you would. We would be overcome
and destroyed, were it not for the vine to whom we are now attached,
and who is the source of all of our help. Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is
in you than he that is in the world. The psalmist spoke of
this very truth when he said, Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in
him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. Only the
faithfulness of the vine to sustain the life of the branches keeps
them from falling off to be cast away with the unfruitful branches.
I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My
flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. This true vine is Christ, who
is the eternal and only begotten Son of God. He is that one who
has life in himself, even as he told his disciples, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. To him all of the promises of
the everlasting covenant of redemption were made. The branches are the
objects of His mercy, those upon whom it pleased Him to set His
love and bring them forth in His own time to manifest the
glory of His grace in their redemption and deliverance from the bondage
of sin. Grace is the only difference between those who are numbered
with Him and those who are unfruitful branches, fit for nothing but
to be burned with unquenchable fire. He 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 Jesus Christ. He is
the vine, and we are the branches. Do you abide in the vine? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.