Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Until a man has been brought
to bow down before the throne of an absolute sovereign God
who does all things according to the good pleasure of his will,
he will never be far from accusing God of unrighteousness. He will
question in his own mind and heart the necessity of events
occurring the way they do, and he will murmur and complain when
he is dealt a particular hard set of circumstances. He will
try to make God fit some moral pattern which he judges to be
proper and he will not hesitate to demand that God should be
fair in his dealings with men and act according to that moral
standard which he deems appropriate. He will define good and then
say that God does good things because they're good rather than
confessing that whatever God does is good because he does
it. He will define justice and demand that God bow to it. He
would rather compromise the glory of God than portray him as one
who predestinates all things without regard to anything except
his own purpose. His lack of understanding of
the true nature of God will cause him to shun the proclamation
of one who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth. He will accuse those who preach
such doctrine as being cold-hearted and cruel. He will choose to
ignore such plain text in order that he might make God appear
more appealing to the masses. He will not acknowledge that
even the wickedness of men is ordained by God, even though
the Scripture says, The Lord hath made all things for himself,
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. A man's heart deviseth
his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. The Lord of heaven
and earth does all things primarily for his own glory and honor.
He said to Moses, I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. He
is above reproach and cannot be accused by those who are the
creation of his own hand. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of
the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what
makest thou? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? So it is foolish for men to even
try to understand God according to definitions and parameters
set up by men. There is no scenario that can
arise wherein God could be accused of wickedness or injustice, since
his actions are always right because he does them, and not
because they can be construed to fit a particular order which
men may approve of. There is probably no doctrine
proclaimed in the Scripture which angers the natural man any more
than the doctrine of reprobation. Reprobation is the sentence passed
upon all those who are not elected by His grace. Reprobation ensures
the destruction of the wicked according to the purpose of Almighty
God. The most classic verse in the Scripture that illustrates
this truth is this, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Those that bow at the shrine
of free will and man's worth are sent scrambling by this verse
to come up with all sorts of explanations to modify the plain
teaching of it and the rest of Romans chapter 9. The natural
man thinks it's awful to consider that God would hate Esau and
will often go to great lengths to prove it untrue. We must confess
that we find some difficulty in this verse as well, but not
because God hated Esau. The amazing and humbling part
of the verse is that He loved Jacob. Both of them deserve destruction,
yet God, who is rich in mercy, chose to manifest His grace in
Jacob. Now some who claim to believe
in sovereign grace take comfort in this truth after the fact,
proclaiming that God hated Esau as a result of Esau's wickedness.
But the Scriptures indicate that God made his choice without a
consideration of this fact. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. God does all things for His glory.
He said He would be honored in the hardening of Pharaoh and
He would be exalted in the salvation of His people. Whether it be
in the condemnation of men or their redemption, He alone will
be glorified. The proclamation of the gospel
is to be done to bring glory to His name in the publication
of the fact that He has redeemed His elect by the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ in their behalf. God's preachers have been sent
into the world to magnify His grace. He hath anointed them
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Have you heard the
Savior's call? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.