Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The design of Satan is
not necessarily to war against the plain facts of the gospel.
His intentions are more insidious than that. Recognizing the folly
of trying to turn all men away from the basic truths of the
gospel, he would use his powers of darkness to twist these foundational
truths into something entirely false. Therefore, he has transformed
himself into an angel of light, that is, one who appears righteous
in order to deceive. He has found willing listeners
among men, since their sinful religious flesh delights in changing
the truth of God and has a secret desire to worship the creature
above the Creator. Men have been worshippers of
themselves from the beginning, abandoning revealed truth and
turning to their own way. We are not amazed that this is
taking place now, but we are saddened when it takes place
among those who profess to be the followers of Jesus Christ.
Let the pot sherds of the earth strive with the pot sherds of
the earth. Let the dead bury their dead. But when someone
invokes the name of our Lord in these matters and leads others
to think that someone other than Jesus Christ is worthy to be
worshipped. Religion has always been a facet
of man's existence that he has taken great delight in. When
the Lord Jesus walked upon the earth, he laid the axe to the
very root of this mighty tree and hewed it down, leaving not
so much as a stump whereupon a man could glory. He called
the religious leaders of the day vipers and sons of the devil. Needless to say, they didn't
take it very well, and ultimately they conspired to destroy him.
Their sons and daughters are alive and well in the present
day, still contending for a religion that gives men places of glory
and honor. One does not have to visit Rome
to find them. They go about dressed in the
garments of most of the organized religion in the world that calls
itself Christianity. The message of the Lord Jesus
Christ was very plain to those who have ears to hear it. It
is not a message which the natural man approves of nor thinks is
appropriate. The plain truth which he spoke
has been twisted so as not to be recognizable. Some examples
are But be ye not called rabbi, for one is your master, even
Christ, and all are your brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. The
giving and receiving of titles among God's people is a grave
departure from the message of Christ. The attaching of such
labels as reverend or father to any man borders on blasphemy. The names given to the various
offices of the church-pastor, deacon, bishop-are merely descriptive
of the calling in gifts and are not titles of honor which are
to be bestowed on men. Away with such! All of God's
children are brethren in the Lord. We have one pastor and
one bishop of our souls. Even the term elder should only
be used out of respect for the age of a brother, not his calling
or office. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. This is one of the
most universally ignored doctrines which the Lord taught. All who
claim to believe the Bible pay lip service to believing this.
Yet most go about denying it in their methods and practices
which they call soul winning. They think that they can persuade
men with the newest fads, or they can draw men with contemporary
music or sports programs. If it appeals to the creature,
then it must be okay, according to modern religion. And then
we have, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Nicodemus was startled by this
declaration from the Lord, because he realized that there was nothing
that a man could do to bring such a thing to pass. This is
a far cry from the prevalent message of our day, which assures
men that they can enter the kingdom of God any time they get ready.
They tell us God just wants to save us if we will only let Him.
And then there's except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Christ often spoke of the necessity of repentance, but it is indeed
the forgotten doctrine of our day. Someone coined the term
easy-believism to describe modern evangelism at one time, but I
believe it's gone one step farther into what we see around us today
as only-believism. True repentance is not something
that a man can manufacture at will, so it doesn't fit in with
today's decision-based salvation. After all, if we tell a man he
can be saved simply by praying a little prayer or repeating
some script, how can we work repentance in? Repentance is
the work of the Holy Ghost in the soul of a man which cannot
be produced by deciding for it to happen. Does the Spirit of
God work in you? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net