Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. James said, Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. It is this common bond
which galvanized political enemies, religious deceivers, and lovers
of religious tradition to band themselves together in order,
as they thought, to destroy the Son of God. Pilate seemingly
recognized the innocence of Christ and knew Him to be unworthy of
death. Yet because he valued the praise of men above the truth
of God, he washed his hands, but could never take away the
stain of his own condemnation. He is typical of the supposed
moral majority, who, while never speaking ill of Christ, nonetheless
never worship him who alone is worthy of praise. He sentenced
the only just man who ever walked upon the earth to die in order
to please men and preserve peace. Herod was a man who was intrigued
by the presence of Christ. He was genuinely curious to discover
exactly what the Lord was about. Yet the Lord answered him not
a word. He is typical of the religious seekers of our day,
who think they can discover the mystery of godliness by their
own effort and study. When Herod discovered that he
had nothing for him, he grew angry and then began to persecute
him. These religious seekers are those
which in time fall away and walk no more with him. The chief priests
were relentless in their hatred of Christ and would leave no
stone unturned to destroy him whom the Lord had sent. He was
a threat to their status and traditions. They are typical
of those who promote their own traditions and despise the simplicity
of the gospel. They promote those doctrines
that are pleasing to men, but secretly and openly speak against
the revelation of Christ as Lord of all. They are always the proponents
of man's supposed free will and ability to be the sons of God
by their own power. The religious multitudes were
swayed by persuasive words, even as they are in the present day.
There is no soundness in them when the Pharisees convinced
them to seek the release of Barabbas. Because religious masses have
no foundation, they are easily blown about by every wind of
doctrine that comes along. Because they dwell in perpetual
darkness, they cannot see anything but those things they are taught
by religious deceivers. We live in a time when sound
doctrine is considered too hard and not appealing enough to the
masses. Some profess that they teach sound doctrine because
they mention the sovereignty of God, the blood of the cross,
and the need of sinners. Yet in the reality of all of
their clergical distinctions, programs, and promotions, they
only testify that they really think that it all ultimately
depends on man's choice to either serve God or not. The sons of
God are those that know they have no choice but to follow
Christ. They testify with Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thy
is the word of eternal life. They declare with Job, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. They can no longer be satisfied
with the praise of men, nor delight themselves in the friendship
of this world. They testify that this world is not their home.
Though the world is as appealing as ever to their flesh, yet they
are compelled to confess that they have here no continuing
city. They find themselves to be strangers in the land of their
nativity. They discover that their foes are often of their
own household. They cannot escape from the grace of God, who has
called them, and rejoice in the Lord's words, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. The language of the sons of God
is at odds with the language of this world. The world says
we ought to have better self-esteem than to speak of ourselves as
worms and depraved creatures. The world says that it is unhealthy
psychologically to dwell upon our unworthiness and imperfections.
But each time we are given a glimpse of His glory and the awful price
that He paid to secure our redemption, we cannot help but weep at the
thought of our own wretched condition and lament the fact that we have
nothing to offer which is of any value. The world tells us
we need to be well-rounded and involved in all sorts of pursuits
and activities, but the sons of God find their greatest delight
in the pursuit of His knowledge. As Paul said, but what things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but lost 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. We
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and find no
comfort nor help in any advice or counsel given by the men of
this world, regardless of their sincerity or religious distinctions.
Sir, we would see Jesus. Are you a friend of the world? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.