The leaders of the Jews relished
the notion of a Messiah who would come and establish the throne
of His kingdom in the earth. They spoke of Him often and longed
for His appearing daily. Yet when He came and walked in
their very midst, they ultimately despised Him and conspired to
destroy Him. At first they marveled at his
words and were amazed at his miracles. Yet the day came when
they began to realize that what he was teaching and doing was
laying the axe to the root of their long cherished traditions
and seats of power. Not only that, but his doctrine
was such that it gave a man no place that he might glory in
his own obedience to the external code of the Mosaic law. Religion
of one sort or another fills a very convenient need among
natural men. It gives men the opportunity
to compare themselves among themselves, and by setting apart of a clergical
or priestly class of men, gives them an air of respectability
and acceptance among the institutions of the world which highly prize
strong leaders. If a man is a tither or a Sabbath
keeper, or is skilled in oratory or public prayers, or wears certain
garments or coverings, then religion affords him an occasion to put
that on display before other men. All men, according to their
Adamic nature, love these convenient forms to some extent, and all
organized religion promotes such forms in one fashion or another,
whether the excuse for their promotion is tradition or desire
to encourage order and unity, and or the belief that adherence
to truth can be perpetuated by these various forms, however
subtle they might be. Spiritual worship is simply that,
it is unadorned in any way, and is contrary to the desire of
the flesh. This startling truth is set forth quite clearly by
the Lord when He spoke to the woman at the well. 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. The affiliations of the flesh,
along with its motions, have no weight in the kingdom of God.
This is not to say that where there are forms and traditions
that men cannot worship God, but it is to say that these forms
cannot facilitate or enhance the true worship of him who must
be worshipped in spirit and truth. The religious flesh of men will
often substitute or mistake these forms for true worship or rely
upon them as if they were true worship. Such was the error of
the Pharisees. The central message of the gospel
is clearly the redemptive work of Jesus Christ for sinners.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The finished
work of Christ in obtaining the eternal redemption of his people
renders as useless any religious work that might be offered by
men as a means of being counted righteous before the face of
God. 100% of the standing of God's elect before Him as those
who are without sin, justified and glorified, is owing to the
imputation of His righteousness to them. The manifestation and
culmination of that imputation is seen in the finished work
of Christ on Calvary's cross. It is impossible to properly
declare the scriptural doctrine of the atoning and redemptive
work of Christ if one does not magnify the totality of that
work as the redemption of those for whom he came into the world
to save. It is a perversion of the gospel to speak of that which
Christ performed as being any sort of general offering for
sin or a payment for sin which is only effective pending some
response by men. The basis of modern Christendom
is built upon the notion that Christ has merely made salvation
possible by His death for every individual in the world, with
the final outcome of whether or not it is effective depending
on whether or not men believe it. The salvation of God's people,
according to this notion, is therefore dependent on the free
will of men. This becomes the actual basis
of their salvation, rendering the work of Christ as a mere
part of the whole. Such a doctrine was conceived
in the pit of hell and designed to minimize the glory of God
and maximize the glory of men. Just as the Jews arose against
the teachings of Christ when he struck at their seats of power,
so too does the natural religious man recall at the message of
the particular redemption and definite atonement of Christ
as the sin substitute for his elect children, hidden in him
from before the foundation of the world. The work of Christ
alone is quite sufficient for those who know Him to be their
righteousness. They desire nothing else. A true gospel preacher
can have no other message than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Complete atonement thou hast
made, and to the utmost farthing paid, whate'er thy people owed.
And how can wrath on me take place if sheltered in thy righteousness
and sprinkled with thy blood? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream dot net.