Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. A certain lawyer in Luke
10, 25 inquired of the Lord what he might do to inherit eternal
life. The Lord replied by asking him what the law said. And he
answered and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. The Lord said, Thou
hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt live.
When confronted with his own obvious failing to keep that
law, he then reverted to the common default of the natural
man. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And
who is my neighbor? The Lord then set forth the parable
of the good Samaritan. Men will either deny the veracity
of the law, or when that fails, will seek to excuse themselves
by claiming that they do not understand it. In all cases they
will seek to convince themselves and all who will listen that
they have a good reason for disregarding the precepts of the law. Some
even imagine that they do keep it and wonder why they could
possibly be considered as failing to abide by its precepts. This
mind is illustrated by those in Matthew 7.22 who brought up
their supposed good works as grounds for their acceptance
with the Lord. Little did they comprehend their true need as
they desired to justify themselves by their own actions. These excuses
all illustrate the corrupt nature of man, left to his own thoughts.
It is impossible for a man to comprehend the separation that
exists between himself and a holy God, unless the grace of God
strips him of his excuses and causes him to see his devilish
rebellion against the Lord's precepts. This great grace is
illustrated for us as the Lord humbled Job before him, causing
him to put his hand over his mouth, saying, I have heard of
thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Job
was then a man without any excuse. We see the same scenario on the
Damascus Road, as Saul of Tarsus, who breathed out slaughters against
the people of God, was now brought down upon his face to confess
the lordship of Christ Jesus. He had excused himself of wrong,
as he held the coats of those that stoned Stephen, and convinced
himself that he was doing good by obtaining letters against
the disciples of Christ. Yet he was stripped of all of
that justification in his own mind when the Lord convinced
him of the truth, which heretofore he had kicked against. All such
pretense was now purged from his mind and he had no excuse.
This is the essence of repentance. True repentance does not exist
where men seek to make excuses for their actions or to justify
themselves in their own eyes. True repentance is a perfect
work. which is the product of the Holy Ghost convincing men
of their own sin, righteousness, the only perfect righteousness
which is found in Christ alone, and judgment, that which causes
them to tremble, and yet own that the judgment of God is right
and good. The Lord sent Jonah to Nineveh
to preach unto them the necessity of repentance. On that journey,
the Lord saw fit to bring Jonah to repentance in a very unconventional
but effective manner, as he prepared a fish for Jonah's passage there,
even though Jonah had bought a ticket going the other way.
In the belly of that fish, he caused Jonah to come face to
face with his own limitations and complete inability to deliver
himself from what he supposed would be his tomb. In the midst
of that darkness, the Lord convinced him of sin, righteousness, and
judgment, and he cried out, Salvation is of the Lord. Though the Lord
spared Nineveh according to His mercy, it was unto Jonah that
the Lord revealed His sovereign will. We see the natural depravity
of Jonah as he, though an object of the Lord's mercy, did begrudge
that same mercy shown to these Ninevites he despised. It seems
that the Lord did all of this to soften the heart of Jonah.
Yet the underlying reason for this account was not the sparing
of Nineveh, or even the softening of Jonah's rebellious heart,
but rather to illustrate the resurrection of the only begotten
Son of God as he triumphed over death and hell. For as Jonah's
was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall
the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this
generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at
the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The resurrection of Christ is at the very center of the preaching
of the gospel. There can be no gospel preaching
where the resurrection of Christ is not unequivocally declared.
If he did not rise from the dead, then his death on Calvary's cross,
while noble, could not have procured the redemption for any. Now is
Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept. Is your hope in Him? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net