Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Bob Dylan wrote a song
entitled, You Gotta Serve Somebody, in which he stated that all men
will be captives unto a principle of sin or one of righteousness.
Paul told the Romans, for when you were the servants of sin,
you were free from righteousness. The natural man is free to walk
in his own self-destructive path, and apart from the intervention
of God's grace, his feet shall slide in due time, and he will
be utterly destroyed. He thinks this pathway that he
is on is one of great freedom, but he shall one day be brought
to see the utter folly of that which he has sought out with
every fiber of his being. God has not seen fit to totally
remove his restraints on the wickedness of men as of yet,
so it is not unusual to find many moral and upright men in
the earth, yea, even some mixed with religion of one sort or
another. The religious moralist becomes confused on this matter
and identifies his moral and upright behavior as righteous
because he assumes that he must possess the ability to please
God by his good deeds. Others may just desire to serve
his fellow man. Both avenues find many supporters
and those who go about doing good find great support and encouragement
in most of the preaching and psychological training that goes
on from today's pulpits and the bookshelves The only righteousness
which is acceptable in the courts of heaven is one which has no
mixture of error, nor is it in any way less than perfect. Who
shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand
in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. This is the righteousness which
can only be supplied by him who is righteousness. The man who
is outside of Christ is totally without an acceptable righteousness,
regardless of his morality, religion, or good deeds. But the man who
is standing in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ cannot be brought
into condemnation by anything. This is the glorious liberty
of the sons of God and is the basis upon which all of their
hopes and expectations are built. It is to these freeborn sons
that the Lord is pleased to send His Spirit to guide them into
all truth. He is pleased to not only establish them forever in
the courts of heaven as righteous in Jesus Christ, but He is pleased
to manifest their sonship in this world by the gift of His
Spirit, who works in them both the will and to do of His good
pleasure. Whereas they were once free from
the principle of righteousness when they walked in darkness,
now He has brought them into captivity to it. Paul said that
though we still walk in the flesh, yet we do not operate on the
principle of the flesh, as we did when we were without Christ.
The Word of God has come to us in power, casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. We are still men of flesh and
blood, and sin is a constant foe. Yet there is a principle
which has been implanted in our minds that we cannot escape.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Sin
may be present in the children of God, but it cannot reign over
them. They can no longer fully embrace
it. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is the knowledge of Christ's righteousness that enables the
sons of God to never again be in bondage to sin. I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. The
reigning power of sin can only be manifested in those who are
slaves and subjects of it. The sons of God have been given
the precious promises of God, and it is impossible that they
should ever be under sin's dominion. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. There are some who would
like to entangle the free-born sons of God with the chains of
the principle of sin and death, which has its manifestation in
the principle of law. Every time one of God's children
tries to operate under this principle, the fire and smoke of siny eye
clouds their vision of Christ, who is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth, and makes them to
feel the lash of the law, to remind them that they cannot
find any comfort therein. Does conscience lay a guilty
charge, and Moses much condemned? And bring in bills exceeding
large? Let Jesus answer them. He paid thy ransom with his hand,
and every score did quit. And Moses never can demand two
payments of one debt. The sight of this will melt thy
heart, and make thine eyes run o'er. A happy pardoned child
thou art, and heaven is at thy door. For a free CD containing
15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at
windstream.net.