Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The same Lord who spoke
to Saul on the Damascus road also directed him to the house
of Judas in Damascus, where he was led in his blindness. The
Lord sent Ananias, a disciple of the Lord, to minister sight
to the blind and awakened Saul of Tarsus. These same men whom
Saul meant to do harm to were those whom the Lord used to minister
unto him. How glorious are the works and
ways of him who sits upon the throne of heaven and shows mercy
to whom he will show mercy! Who is sufficient for such things?
It seems that very soon after these events the Lord led Saul
away into the deserts of Arabia. We have little information as
to what he did while there, but we do know that during this time
the Lord gave him direct revelation of the truth of the gospel by
the very teachings of the risen Christ. None could teach him
but Christ, who unfolded the mysteries hidden from many. One
can only imagine the consternation that gripped his mind and heart
as the Lord stripped away layer upon layer of his religious tradition,
which he so highly valued and followed with sincere zeal. By
the grace of God, he came to see the utter folly of all that
he had lived for up until that time. But what things were gained
to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection. His whole perspective changed
in a very short time. He was not an immoral man, yet
he came to understand that he was the chief of sinners. It
is often difficult for naturally religious men to realize the
separation between that which they might deem morally upright
and the embracing of the true righteousness which is only found
in Christ. Paul was given laser vision on
these matters, so much so that he was accused by the Judaizers
of preaching that men may sin, that grace may abound. This line
of thinking still exists among those who would define sin as
moral and practical choices, rather than seeing sin as the
condition of the flesh, more so in mind than practice. Whatever
a man values, promotes, and admonish others to seek and follow, which
is not the righteousness of Christ, is not the message which Paul
preached. As he told the Galatians, I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
into another gospel. which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. To preach any other message than
Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a perversion of the truth,
regardless of the morality of those who teach it. There are
many today who would equate moral practice with righteousness before
God. This equation does not exist. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. For he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men but of God. Paul admonished the Galatians
for wavering from the message of free grace and entertaining
the teaching of those who would bring them back under that from
which they had been set free. His warning to them was that
to go back to that which they had been delivered from was to
deny the gospel which they professed to believe. There are many who
are fearful that the message of a full and free salvation
in Jesus Christ will cause men to embrace their sinful flesh
and promote its base desires. Yet he says, how can such things
be? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? The clearer that the born-again
child of God sees that all of his righteousness is found in
Christ, the more desirous he becomes to be found in Christ.
Paul upbraids these Galatians for returning to the observance
of times, days, and seasons, which he describes as weak and
beggarly elements. The observance of a time or a
day is most certainly not a sin for the sons of God, but then
neither is the disregard of such. Carnal Sabbath keeping is often
pressed upon the children of God under the guise of following
the law. Yet Paul clearly says to do so
is to press the children of God to walk in foolishness. Let every
man in Christ walk as Christ walked, giving glory to him alone
and giving no place for the flesh to glory. Where is your righteousness
found? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.