The Lord has demonstrated His
purpose to hide the true nature of His kingdom from the wise
and prudent, that is, those whose confidence is in the flesh and
their own understanding. and revealing it unto babes,
that is, those who have been shown their own weakness and
inability, and who cry out to the Lord for mercy. This is nowhere
more clearly seen than in his use of Israel as typical of his
elect bride, insofar as he gave unto them his prophets. What
advantage then hath the Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God. The Jews
assumed that because they had a written and declared word from
the Lord that they could thereby inherit the kingdom of God by
their own obedience to its precepts and the orthodox practices outlined
therein. What they could not see was that
the very law which they thought was their key to life was in
reality given to manifest their innate corruption and willing
disobedience to the one who gave it. We certainly would never
speak against anyone who desires to obey the written word of God.
But we are also certain that men need something else besides
a fleshly knowledge of the things recorded on those pages which
can be read by natural eyes. Nicodemus was not ignorant of
the scriptures, and as a Pharisee he embraced those precepts quite
openly, but he was in darkness nonetheless. Thus the Lord confronted
him with this truth. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Many are those who expect that
they can adhere to the precepts of the Bible, and if they are
persuasive enough, they can get others to obey them too. In doing
so, they rely upon their carnal understanding and demonstrate
that they have no understanding of either the purpose of those
directives, the lofty nature of them, nor their utter inability
to walk according to them in the fashion in which they are
manifested by the teachings of the Holy Ghost. A man who looks
at the teachings of the Lord and thinks in his heart and mind
that he can abide by them and walk in obedience to them has
never been acquainted with the innate corruption that abides
within him. Thus, while he thinks that he
sees, he is in reality blind to the truth, and is yet in his
sin, and the kingdom of God is hidden from him. This was exactly
the mindset of the rich young ruler who came to the Lord, saying
that he had kept the commandments of God from the time of his youth.
Yet the Lord showed him how far from the kingdom of God he was.
Thus we see Israel in the Old Testament used by the Lord to
demonstrate the fact that he has a chosen people in the earth
who are the benefactors of his grace and mercy. Yet we also
see that he uses Israel in the Old and New Testaments as an
illustration of those who are naturally religious and who go
about to establish their own righteousness while rejecting
the only true righteousness which is found in Jesus Christ alone. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Those who think that they see by their own power, understanding,
and free will are in reality those who are blind. Flesh and
blood cannot inherit that kingdom, for it is made up of those which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. Men cannot and will not receive
this truth gladly unless convinced by the Spirit. Men can, in the
flesh, learn all sorts of doctrine and even vociferously defend
the same. Yet they cannot love it and gladly
bow their own knees unto an absolutely sovereign God apart from a new
birth. True faith always has an object. Christ Jesus is that one and
only object upon which great faith is based. Just like the
Ethiopian eunuch who declared, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, no greater faith than this can be found in Israel,
Samaria, or the uttermost parts of the earth. In whom do you
believe? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream.net.