Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The kingdom of God is governed
by the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of
lords. Righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. A scepter was
that official instrument of recognition and acceptance which an ancient
king would hold in his hand, whereby either to accept a person
into his presence or by withholding it to banish them. There is but
one scepter in this kingdom of righteousness, and it is the
righteousness of Christ. Without this priceless commodity,
a man cannot be received into this kingdom, nor have any sort
of approach unto him who dwells in the light, to which no man
can approach. Many are those who expect to
come into the Lord's presence with their own righteousness.
They have no understanding of the fact that we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do
all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. They are like Cain of old, Nadab and Abihu, or the Jews
spoken of by Paul, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. What
a wondrous grace is bestowed upon men when they are made to
know themselves to be unworthy of the least of the Lord's mercies,
and caused to flee unto Christ as their only righteousness in
heaven or on earth. As surely as this kingdom is
one of righteousness, so too is it a kingdom which is hedged
about with judgment. The Lord has sent His Spirit
to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
His judgment is sure and steadfast. He may show mercy, but He shall
demonstrate judgment in the earth, even as He already has in the
heavens, when He casts out one-third of its inhabitants. It is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. All of the
philosophies of men are designed either to supposedly prepare
men for that judgment, as in the case of most religion, or
to put it out of their mind as one might whistle as they pass
by the graveyard. This is primarily why we find
the penchant of some to deny the creation of all things by
a sovereign creator. For if we have a beginning which
is solely in His hands, then surely we must have an ending
which involves coming into His presence. Among other reasons,
this is primarily why men hate the preaching of the gospel of
the glory of the blessed God. For nowhere in the annals of
time has the judgment of God been seen in its grandest, most
solemn and awful display than when the Eternal Father did pour
out His wrath upon His only begotten Son on the account of the sin
of His people which was laid upon His back. Surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. The preaching of the cross is
an offense to the natural man because it reveals that the only
acceptable righteousness in the kingdom of heaven is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. It is also an offense to the
natural man because it reveals the judgment of God from heaven
upon both the sin and the righteousness of men. This is totally unacceptable
to men by nature who are convinced that they can influence God by
their deeds of obedience and the activity of what they call
faith. They find it reprehensible that salvation is the gift of
God, and is not determined by anything which the creature can
bring or perform. As Cain grew angry at the Lord's
rejection, so too do those men who expect to worship the Lord
as they see fit. Righteousness and judgment are
met in Christ, and all who are moved by sovereign grace to behold
themselves as sinners, and he alone as worthy of worship, will
of necessity fall down at his feet and give him praise. that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil. whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. There are many religious men
who profess that they believe in the righteousness of Christ,
who actually deny his perfect righteousness, because they seek
to add their own good works, morality, and obedience to it.
To hold one's own righteousness is to reject that of Christ.
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