Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of the Morshes for Zions 4. Nothing can or ever has transpired
which is contrary to his ordained purpose or outside of his predestined
will. He never makes apologies for
his actions, nor is he ever reluctant to declare that he is the first
cause of all events. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me. I form the light and create darkness.
I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
This is extremely humbling to men and devils, though neither
will willingly submit to it. They would both rather scheme
to overthrow his purpose than fall before him in adoration
and amazement. The scripture indicates that
one-third of the angels of heaven were cast out along with Lucifer,
the son of the morning. Their creation and demise were
all as much a part of God's ordained purpose to magnify the glory
of His grace and the salvation of His elect as was the flood
which destroyed the population of the world and the ark which
Noah was commanded to build unto the salvation of himself, his
family, and in essence the world. Man assumes that he cannot be
held accountable for his wickedness if such is ordained by God. And
this forms the whole crux of his defiant schemes to exalt
the free will of men and to dismiss the absolute predestination of
all things. Paul lays the axe to the root
of this rebellion in the ninth chapter of Romans when he says,
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall
the thing form say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
me thus? Had not the potter power over the clay of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? Nothing
rankles the pride of man more than the revelation of the absolute
predestination of all things by the hand of a sovereign God
who cannot even be called into question. Men will imagine all
sorts of vain arguments against His dominion rather than bowing
before the One who does all things according to the good pleasure
of His will, whether they be things in heaven or things in
earth. The salvation of God's chosen people is part of His
grand design to bring glory to Himself in the exaltation of
Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of sinners. It is this glory
which is manifested before men and angels in the work which
Christ has done and subsequently declared in the proclamation
of the gospel. He raises men up to declare it,
as well as calls men to embrace it, while falling at His feet
in repentance and rising in hope according to the gift of faith
which He so richly bestows upon those whom He loves. His boundless
mercy, and particularly His unswerving justice, is put on display as
He put His Only Begotten Son to death in their behalf as an
atonement for their sin, that He might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. His predestination both assures
and necessitates the occurrence of all things which must fulfill
his purpose and redound unto his own glory. He has ordained
the belief of the gospel by those he has appointed to it, as much
as he has every event which is set to stage for the manifestation
of the redemptive work of Christ, which is therein declared as
the basis upon which their faith and subsequent hope rests. The
Lord causes his people to obtain a hope, which is the most precious
possession of those who are so blessed, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, by whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This hope is described
for the sons of God as a good hope in 2 Thessalonians 2.16. All things were made to work
together for good to the sons of God. It is also described
as better hope in Hebrews 7.19. This hope is better than the
law, which could in no wise minister anything but condemnation to
all who have broken its precepts. Those who are found hidden in
the righteousness of Christ are better off than they could have
ever been, even if they had never transgressed the law. This hope
is described as a lively or living hope in 1 Peter 1. This hope
endures because Christ, who is our hope, ever liveth to make
intercession for us at the throne of God. This threefold hope causes
the sons of God to be ever looking for that blessed hope and glorious
appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ. The
Lord is gracious in supplying all that the sons of God need.
He is their Performer, Redeemer, and King, and He has made unto
them wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification. Their hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. What
is your hope and upon what basis do you expect to enter into the
presence of God?