Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. If you were going to pick
out the most likely candidate for becoming the chief spokesman
of God in the declaration of the gospel of His glory in Jesus
Christ, Saul of Tarsus would not have been mentioned at all.
Yet we see the Lord demonstrate that his hand is not shortened,
say, by many or by few, nor is he in any wise hindered in calling
one whom he has set his love upon out of darkness and into
the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
He is able in a moment of time to sweep away all impediments
that might exist in the mind of his elect, even as the psalmist
said, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. This
is in keeping with Peter's declaration on the day of Pentecost, for
the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that
are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. The
same Lord who spoke to Saul on the Damascus road also directed
him to a house in Damascus. The Lord sent Ananias to minister
sight to the blind Saul of Tarsus. In this we are reminded that
the Lord uses the gospel to bring life and immortality to light.
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? Very soon after these events,
the Lord sent him away into the deserts of Arabia, where the
Lord gave him direct revelation of the truth of the gospel. None
could teach him but Christ, who unfolded to him the mysteries
hidden from many. One can only imagine the consternation
that gripped the mind and heart of Saul as the Lord stripped
away layer upon layer of the religious tradition which he
so highly valued and followed with sincere zeal, bringing him
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, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death. His whole perspective
changed in a short time. Saul of Tarsus was not an immoral
man by man's standards, and 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. Whatever a man values,
promotes, and admonishes others to seek and follow, which is
not the righteousness of Christ, is not the message which the
Apostle Paul preached. To preach any other message than
Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a perversion of the truth,
however morally upright those may be who declare it, or how
otherwise scriptural their teaching may be. 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 from which they had been delivered was to
deny the gospel which they professed to believe. There were those
then and there are those today 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. Those who troubled the sons of
God in all ages are those who would seek to bring them back
under the law from which Christ has forever set them free. Thus
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. The weak and beggarly aspect
of such is when men seek to bind such observances upon those who
rest in Christ alone. 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. For a
free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email
to forthepoor at windstream.net.