Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Natural religion embraces the
concept of creationism and the natural relationship which all
men have with one another and supposedly to God himself as
a result of this creation. It takes delight in a God who
will be mindful of a man's troubles, not to mention answer his prayers.
In fact, the psalmist said that a man is a fool who would declare
that there is no God. So it should not come as a surprise
to us to conclude that man seeks after some fulfillment of his
imaginations concerning deity. Hence the Greeks worshipped and
served many gods, all of which were very similar in many ways,
and they looked forward to hearing and telling some new thing, most
especially when what they heard reinforced basic ideas that needed
no revelation to grasp. Paul said, For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Yet the absolute
truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
cannot be embraced apart from divine revelation, because it
forms the very foundation of the hope of the true sons of
God. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you are yet in
your sins. The fact of the resurrection can be seen by the natural man
in some measure, but the reliance and confidence by faith in this
event as one's hope and expectation can only come as God is pleased
to give men faith to believe it. When that occurs, the historical
fact of it becomes secondary to the delight and rejoicing
that one has in the one who triumphed over sin and death. John said,
and this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. This is
what the essence of being a witness of His resurrection is all about.
It is not simply being aware of the fact that He came forth
from the grave, but that His coming forth from the grave bears
witness that He is our source of life and light. He is our
life. in eternity. All life has its
beginning in Him. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. Though all forms of temporal
life have sprung from Him, that life which is alone eternal is
most especially that which is found in Him. The scripture says
that the Father chose a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world, and these were a people which He foreknew. Because
of the life which was given to them in Christ, they were predestinated
to be conformed to Christ before they were ever created in actual
fact. He is the very fountain or spring
from which their life is sprung and is eternally sustained. They
have life because He is their life. He is our life in this
world. The stark difference between
those who are without Christ and those who by His grace are
in Christ is this life which springs from Him. Paul said,
And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Though the elect were born into the same spiritual darkness and
dead condition that all of the human race share in, Yet because
they are appointed unto life in Christ, he has in his own
time awakened them and made them new creatures in Christ. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. We are now gladly identified
with Christ in our mind, which was at one time alienated in
enemies by our own desire. Having been reconciled to him
by that which he has performed for us and declared to us, he
has taken up an abode with us and is our daily performer and
sustainer. For it is God which worketh in
you both the will and to do of his good pleasure, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We have life
because he is our life. The natural life which all men
have will one day be taken from them, but that life which is
in Christ shall endure forever. He is our life through the ages
to come. It is impossible that the grave should hold the bodies
of the elect forever. The living cannot be found among
the dead. Jesus Christ has purchased redemption for our whole man,
and shall in his own time come to claim that which is his possession.
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit the redemption of our body. Though the worms eat our
flesh, and we slumber until the sound of the last trump, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. He is indeed our life. Do you
have life in Jesus Christ, or do you simply live in the present
moment? For a free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts,
send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.