Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Almost any person you meet
has some opinion about who he thinks God is and what He is
like. There are relatively few people in the earth who deny
the very existence of God. Men think they can find God.
Man's natural hunger for religion bears this out. It is quite common
for men to assume that they can discover God in the same way
they can discover anything else. But the Scriptures say, Verily
thou art a God that hideth thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
He is the one who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting. Unless the Lord is pleased to
reveal Himself to men, they cannot see Him as He is, nor can they
know His way. The Pharisees thought that they
could understand and know the way of God by studying the Bible.
But the Lord said, Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think
ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Men will
gladly embrace the God of their imagination, but unless the Lord
of glory is pleased to reveal Himself, men will perish in their
ignorance and rebellion. So instead of men finding God,
they need for Him to find them. Men think that God is in partial
control of the world. The natural theology of men requires
them to believe that God intervenes in the affairs of the world from
time to time, but largely lets it run upon a natural course
over which He can exercise some control as long as man prays
and asks Him to. Yet he testifies, I am the Lord,
and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness.
I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things,
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Nothing transpires in the universe
which is not according to his predestined purpose. Men think
that God will have respect unto their good deeds. However, the
scripture says that they are all gone out of the way. They
are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. God only has respect unto perfect
righteousness, which can only be found in Jesus Christ alone.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Apart
from the righteousness which he has been pleased to impute
to us, we are still miserable wretches without one shred of
righteousness before God. He is our righteousness in every
respect. Men think that God has respect
unto their free will. The man who thinks he can choose
to follow God whenever he gets ready is ignorant of his own
wicked heart. Apart from God in sovereign mercy,
breaking down the rebellious heart of man and changing his
will, that man will continue to choose sin and take delight
in it, even unto his own destruction. Man's will is not free, but is
in bondage to sin and darkness. Thank God that he conquers the
will of his elect. Men think that God must show
mercy to all men on the same basis. It is quite common to
hear preaching which purports that the gospel is offered to
all men. Yet the scripture indicates that mercy is the sovereign prerogative
of God. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
When one dares to preach on the doctrine of God's unconditional
election, he can be sure that man's sinful nature will cause
him to rebel against it. Rather than looking at the gospel
as an offer of grace, it is more accurate to describe the gospel
as God's operation of grace, wherein he is calling unworthy
sinners to himself. He does not leave this calling
to chance. Rather, he applies it himself. No man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day, who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Men think the gospel is for everybody.
The gospel is a message for sinners. They are the only one who will
find any comfort in its glorious message. The righteous man doesn't
need it. The religious man finds it beneath
him. When a man has been brought by the grace of God to see himself
as the old publican, who would not so much as lift up his eyes
to heaven but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner, then and only then will the gospel appear to
him as the very Savior of life. For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.