Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Moses for Zion's Tour. Paul says there are basic
concepts which are common in the world and form the foundation
of all of man's natural thoughts. We must beware lest we be spoiled
or overturned by them. As Solomon said, there is a way
that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. We don't have to learn these ways since we're already
indoctrinated and comfortable with them, which makes them extremely
dangerous. He describes these ways as philosophy,
vain deceit, and tradition of men. The first of these is philosophy. There are many different philosophies
which are found among men. Some think that their philosophies
are spiritual since they seek to rise above the mundane or
base desires of men, such as that taught by Plato. Other philosophies,
such as the Bacchanalians, exalt in the baseness of men and encourage
the indulgence of the flesh. This philosophy is quite prevalent
today. Still others, such as the Stoics, believe that great
gain is to be had by overcoming the emotions of the flesh and
adopting a strict lifestyle. Many religious men adopt this
philosophy. The Epicureans thought that the
highest good comes through self-control and high moral standards. There
are hundreds of philosophies that are found in all societies
around the world, and they all have some appeal to various groups
of individuals, but they all share a common theme, and none
is superior to the other. They were all developed by the
natural thinking of men, and regardless of what benefits they
may have, they fall short of being founded in Jesus Christ,
who is the way, the truth, and the life. Anything more than
Christ is too much, and anything less than Christ is not enough.
We are warned in the scriptures to not be spoiled, that is, destroyed
thereby. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And then
we have vain deceit. Man in his natural state is subject
unto vanity. In fact, Solomon said, all is
vanity, which literally means empty. Man is totally devoid
of any true spirituality in his own self and power. Until the
Spirit of God convinces him of that, he shares the common belief
that he has within his power to earn the favor of God by his
own actions. He believes that God is impressed
with morality and charity. Because he is vain and places
an intrinsic value and worth to himself, it is impossible
for him to come to grips with his own utter separation from
God, which has no remedy that can be found in his own effort
or free will. He may confess that he should
be punished for his wrongdoing, but he cannot conceive of being
a worthless maggot in the sight of God. He thinks it only fair
that God should give him a chance to correct his errors and make
amends in some fashion, and he holds out hope that all will
be better one day. This is the very depths of deception
which all of those who have been awakened by the Spirit of God
have been delivered from. They know themselves to be unworthy
of the least of His mercies, and despair of doing one thing
that could make themselves acceptable in His sight. Even as the publican
prayed, God be merciful to me a sinner. And then finally we
have the tradition of men. This is primarily having to do
with the religion which men choose to walk in. The man who relies
upon his religion is the one who is convinced that there is
a religion or religions with which God is pleased. Some think
that the one they belong to is the only one, and they are willing
to shed the blood of others, figuratively or really, to defend
it. Some point to their longevity,
others to their accuracy. If a man takes great pride in
his tradition, then he likely is enamored with religion rather
than Christ. The man who has Christ alone
as the object of his affections can say with the Apostle Paul,
But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may
win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. The
rudiments of the world are all around us. We are steeped in
them, and our flesh delights in anything that can be seen
with the eye. The spiritual man says, God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is it
that you take pride in? Whatever that is is where your
place of glory and affection is. For we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh. Christ is all. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.