Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. A very touchy subject to
some is a frank discussion of slavery as it occurred in the
United States prior to the Civil War. From a human standpoint,
I can think of few things more reprehensible than forcing another
human being, regardless of race or standing, into servitude against
their will. This whole system, from beginning
to end, was a demonstration of the depravity of men. From those
Africans who captured and sold their own countrymen, even to
those debauched buyers of these captives, who then pack them
into hellish slave ships to make the journey to the free world,
a misnomer to be sure in their eyes, there to be paraded, naked,
and sold to willing buyers ready to press them into servitude,
in order to wring up greater profits without regard to the
suffering and plight of these captives. Yet in all of this,
God had a greater purpose for good unto all those who were
his elect children, participating in this despicable practice,
whether they were captors or captives. We have all read of
John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, as well as hundreds of
other hymns. It was there on those slave ships
that God was pleased to convict him of his sin, as he was confronted
with the horror and insanity of it all. To his dying day,
he could never forget that pit from which he was dug. Then there
were countless thousands of those whom the Lord had set His love
on long before they were born into pagan tribes in Africa.
It pleased the Lord to bring them to this country, where they
might in His own good time be comforted with the good news
of the gospel, as He quickened them and gave them ears to hear
and eyes to see. Men meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. In time, the Lord saw fit to
put an end to this practice of slavery, and the blood of a nation
ran freely as He manifested His judgment upon such an institution,
as ought never to have been named among men professing godliness.
Those who had been enslaved, some for numerous generations,
were suddenly set free. Some had no doubt been enslaved
for so long that they didn't have any idea what living as
a free man even meant, let alone how to go about it. Many of them
were very reluctant to leave the only life they had ever known.
I'm sure that even years after their freedom became a reality,
that the sound of their former master's voice would still cause
them to pay attention to his commands, even though they were
no longer under his control. This is something of an illustration
of the newfound freedom which the sons of God enjoy as they
are brought out of darkness and into the light. While it is possible
to enslave the bodies of men, it is not possible to enslave
the minds of those who are free. In the seventh chapter of Romans,
Paul speaks about the fact that those who are born again by the
Spirit of God are no longer under the dominion of sin, even though
the motions of those sins can still be seen in them from time
to time. Paul said that he served the
Lord Jesus Christ with his mind. There are 20 different Greek
words that are translated as mind. The word translated as
mind in this passage is also translated as understanding five
other times. The literal meaning of this word
is the mental faculty, the understanding, or the perception. When the Lord
foretold the unveiling of the new covenant, He said, For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be to
them a God, and they shall be to me a people. It has pleased
the Lord to call out for Himself a people who are awakened and
made able to comprehend the spiritual nature of His kingdom. There
are those of whom he spoke to Nicodemus, saying, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. He has prepared a people to worship
him in the only way he is pleased for men to worship him. But the
hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Those
whom he has caused to be born again have been transformed in
their mind, heart, and understanding. They cannot be brought back under
the dominion of sin, because he ever works in them, having
made them new creatures. In order that they might not
be lifted up with pride, he has seen fit to leave them in the
same bodies in which they were born, which are still susceptible
to the motions of sin which one time dominated not only their
actions, but their mind as well. They long to be free from sin,
and because He works in them both the will and to do of His
good pleasure, they are engaged in the life and death struggle
with it, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you been set free
by Christ? For a free CD containing five
of these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream
dot net.