Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Yet to say that the life
of the children of God is beset by struggles would be an understatement.
They are first born into the world under the bondage of sin,
which is most appealing to their flesh. Apart from having to endure
the natural heartaches associated with this condition, they are
most content to dwell in this state and have no knowledge or
desire to walk in any other. While in this state, they cannot
be distinguished from the children of wrath. They love sin and are
happy to travel the road to destruction, oblivious of the danger that
is on every side and surely awaits those who follow that path to
the end. In God's own time, He is pleased
to awaken them to the emptiness of such a path and to reveal
to them the wickedness of their own heart, making their sin and
rebellion against God odious in their sight. They are born
again by the power of the Spirit of God. In his time he causes
them to hear the gospel of Christ's redemption for the first time
and to give them faith to believe it. By that gift of faith they
are manifested as the new creatures which he has made them. And thus
begins a struggle that heretofore they had known nothing about.
This new creature is now locked in a life and death struggle
inside this same body which until this time the flesh had ruled
without rival. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary
the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that
you would. As the Spirit of God teaches
His children, they come to see more clearly the nature of the
bondage which they were under before they were made new creatures
and are brought unto the awareness that the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. They are made to understand that we are debtors not to the
flesh to live after the flesh. The flesh dictated every move
they made when they were without Christ, but now its power is
no longer absolute, for they have been set free from its dominion
by the power of Him who dwells in them. Because they have dwelt
so long and completely under the bondage of the flesh, they
struggle against the flesh, which constantly tries to reassert
its former place of dominion. One of the tactics that the flesh
employs to regain this place of authority is to seek to deceive
the sons of God as to the true nature of their liberty. Two
devices have been designed unto this end. Number one, fulfilling
the lusts of the flesh as if this was freedom. It never ceases
to amaze me that some are intent on defining their liberty in
terms of the things they are allowed to do in the flesh. I've
seen many grow angry at any who would raise a question as to
whether it's appropriate for Christians to engage in behavior
which is both destructive to the mind and the body, which
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the setting of a bad example
for others not to mention how things appear in the eyes of
the world. I once knew a gentleman who vehemently
defended his right to smoke a pipe as being a matter of Christian
liberty. Now, I'm quite certain that there is no law against
pipe smoking in the scripture, nor would I ever tell a man such
conduct is unlawful. But I fail to see how such a
thing could be described as liberty, since one could only be in bondage
by its habitual use. Our liberty as the sons of God
is to be set free from the things which once had us bound, not
to engage in them as if they were some sign of spiritual maturity
or freedom. Others defend their right to
imbibe copious amounts of alcohol, food, all sorts of entertainment
and amusement, and even coarse and unedifying language on the
same grounds. The man who thinks that these
things are freedom or expressions of liberty does not have a clear
understanding of that which had us bound. Paul said, all things
are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things
are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power
of any. God's children cannot be brought into condemnation
by any activity of the mind or flesh, but we are not called
to exercise our flesh, rather to recognize that our freedom
is from the lusts of the flesh and mind. Now having said that,
neither are we called to be policemen over the activities of other
brethren. And then the other device is disregarding the meeting
of God's children on a regular basis. Many of those who call
themselves Christians regard the assembly of the saints as
something which is optional for a true believer. God's children
most certainly are not bound by days, seasons, and times.
However, God has placed within his true sons a love for the
brethren and a need to be strengthened by one another in a functioning
body known as a local church. Our freedom as the sons of God
consists in being able to exercise love and esteem for our brethren
in Christ without false pretenses but with a pure heart, fervently.
For a free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send
an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.