Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. It is interesting that the book
of Genesis, which literally means the book of beginning, ends with
a coffin in Egypt. A lot of events took place in
this first book between the record of God's creation of the world
and Joseph's burial in a coffin in the dry sands of Egypt's desert.
None of those events, however, has had any greater impact on
natural men than the one which brought Joseph to this somber
abode. According to the Lord's eternal purpose, he created man
upright and placed him in a garden and instructed him to eat of
all the trees of that garden but one. He then declared that
this same man would die in the day that he ate the fruit of
this forbidden tree. And exactly according to his purpose, this
is precisely what Adam did. Adam's action, which was a disregard
of the Lord's commandment, brought upon him the exact consequences
determined by the Lord for his disobedience. He died. Now we
know that he did not cease to breathe nor did his heart stop
beating, but rather the principle of death was introduced to him
and he became a walking dead man. He was banished from the
garden and had no access to the tree of life. Well did Job prophesy
when he said, Man that is born of a woman is a few days and
full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. Adam has passed this death on
to all of his posterity. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. For the judgment was by one to
condemnation. By one man's offense, death reigned
by one. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So in this we see that Adam's
unrighteousness is imputed to his sons, and his wicked nature
is passed along to all of his offspring and brings death to
all of those who have sprung from his loins. A man does not
have to do one thing to bring himself into condemnation and
its resultant sentence of death. Physical and spiritual death
is the result of this principle of sin, which is in all of mankind
by nature, even as David confesses, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. And then he declares, The
wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. Paul testifies that the wages
of sin is death. Therefore, dying men die without
remedy because death is in their DNA. As soon as a man is born,
he begins a slow or rapid, as God may determine according to
his purpose, descent back to the dust from whence he was formed.
Physical death is common to all men. Rich and poor, large and
small, powerful and weak, are all alike in this matter. All
things come alike to all, there is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean,
to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not, and
after that they go to the dead. It is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment. Death strips a man of all power
and he is soon forgotten. Joseph was a man of some power
and authority in Egypt as long as he lived, but death took away
any position which he held, and a later king had no regard to
his person or his people. The remembrance of a man will
slowly fade from those who have loved him, but it is quickly
forgotten by the rank and file of the earth. Even death cannot
destroy the hope of those who are awakened and made righteous
in Jesus Christ. This is due to the fact that
they are given a hope which is not of this world, for faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Joseph confessed that he was
not a citizen of Egypt, and he believed that God would deliver
Israel out of Egypt and went to his grave with this hope.
As righteous as Moses and the law he administered was, he could
not deliver Joseph from his coffin. All that Moses could do was to
remove the bones from one grave in Egypt and bury them again
in Canaan, for the law made nothing perfect. The hope of the saints
is not connected with any expectation of their own righteousness, but
in the complete deliverance of the one who is life itself. For
the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. While Joseph covenanted
with the children of Israel to bring his bones out of Egypt,
yet his confidence did not rest on their ability to carry this
out, but in the expectation and hope that God himself would visit
the people of God and deliver them. The natural man is fit
for nothing but a coffin in this earth. Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
The kingdom of God is not of this world, nor can a man in
his natural state enter into it. In order for a man to have
an entrance into this kingdom, he must be born again. The resurrection
power of Jesus Christ is thus manifested in the saints by calling,
and in the final day when their natural bodies are transformed
into those which are spiritual and incorruptible. If you would
like a free transcript of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor
at windstream.net.