Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. God made man to be without
excuse and does dare men to find some fault with him in whatever
he would ordain to do. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God, shall the thing formed say to him that
formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour and another unto dishonour? It is impossible for man to put
God on trial, or to bring any accusation of wrongdoing, whether
hypothetically perceived or real, against him. Whatever God does
is right, and He does not need any input or aid from the creature
to establish His sovereign right to do as He wills with that which
He alone has created out of nothing. Nothing exists without Him. We
can see most plainly that men are sinners by birth, by choice,
and by practice. Every evil thought proceeds from
their own corrupt nature, and all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Men cannot rightly blame anyone
for their sin. And as the Lord is pleased to
awaken a man to know his own depraved nature, he will confess
with David. Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin as ever before me. Against thee,
thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. The man who makes any excuse
for his sin does not know his own heart, which is deceitful
and desperately wicked. Such a man is a stranger to grace.
It is plain to see as we read the scriptures that men are to
be blamed for their sin, and it is sheer folly to think that
some mitigating circumstance can be brought forward as a valid
excuse for it. I am reminded of a hymn by John
Newton, In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till
a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career. I
saw one hanging on a tree, in agonies and blood, who fixed
his languid eyes on me as near his cross I stood. Sure never
till my latest breath can I forget that look. It seemed to charge
me with his death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience
felt and owned the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw
my sins as blood had spilt and helped to nail him there. A second
look he gave, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for
thy ransom paid. I died that thou mayest live. Nothing that a man can do, think,
or say can change the charges which the law has rightly and
justly brought upon him. That law which is just and holy
cannot be changed, nor can any crime which has been committed
or good deed omitted according to his demands ever be forgotten
or swept under the rug as if it never happened. This is a
law which demands satisfaction. The soul that sinneth shall die.
The wages of sin is death. The judge of all the earth will
by no means clear the guilty, nor will he at all acquit the
wicked. Therefore men find themselves in a dilemma from which they
have no escape, and are as the woman taken in the very act of
adultery and brought before the face of Jesus Christ, who is
of purer eyes than to even look upon sin, that is, to regard
it in a favorable light or have any approval of it, The Lord
Jesus did not need to breathe out condemnation upon this woman,
because she was condemned already. Why was she, of all the women
and men, for that matter, who were guilty of the very same
act, singled out and brought to the Lord? The wonder of all
wonders is that she was just a vessel of mercy upon whom the
Lord would demonstrate His power to deliver from just condemnation,
pronouncing her blameless. These glorious words, neither
do I condemn thee, rang in her ears with a sweet relief. she
had never experienced before. Yet his pronouncement was not
a setting aside of the law, nor disregard of the heinous nature
of her crime, but a declaration of his ability as the savior
of sinners to take away her guilt by burying it in his own body
on the tree. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Have you been made blameless
by the blood of Christ? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.