Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morses for Zion's Poor. Around this time of year, one
often sees the phrase, Wise Men Still Seek Him, on church marquees
and holiday greeting cards. We know that this is a play on
words which has an obvious reference to the biblical account of the
wise men who, having seen the star of the Lord, traveled from
the east to worship the one who was born a king. The implication
of the phrase is that since these men discovered this star in their
wisdom and decided to seek out the Lord, that accordingly men
of the present time can and should do the same if they are truly
wise. This sort of thought process
is totally opposite to that which is revealed in the scriptures
and is actually an arrogant statement. Paul says in his letter to the
Corinthians, the world by wisdom knew not God. He said to the
Romans, there is none that seeketh after God. The fact is that these
ancient magi, or wise men, did not seek him because they were
wise men, nor did they make any discovery by the power of their
own understanding, but rather were given this knowledge of
the birth of the king by divine revelation. The scriptures clearly
state that those who are wise consider the gospel to be foolish.
And those cannot believe it, nor will they seek to know Him
who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. In fact, the Lord
said that He had hid these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them unto babes. In the same fashion, we read
in the scriptures that those among men who are considered
to be wise are the exact ones whom the Lord says do not seek
Him. We live in an age when every
gimmick and trick of reason is used to try to persuade men to
believe the gospel and embrace its truth. The prevailing thought
is that men can be caused to decide to follow Christ if we
can somehow or other appeal to their carnal understanding and
reason. It is thought that men with great skill of oratory and
persuasion can convince men to thus become believers by an act
of their own free will. The Lord Jesus Christ said, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The need
of dead sinners is not the persuasive words of the most skillful of
those who are called soul winners, but rather the life-giving power
of the Holy Ghost to awaken them from the spiritual death which
they are in by nature. Unless a man is quickened by
the Lord, he cannot hear the truth, nor will he ever embrace
it. We often hear preachers quote
John 1.12, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
in their quest to prove that men have the power to believe
and become the sons of God whenever they please. Yet the very next
verse describes the sole source of the power to believe as being
a miraculous birth which has nothing at all to do with the
will of men, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Without this
work of the Spirit of God, men will continue down the pathway
of destruction, completely oblivious and unconcerned with approaching
judgment. Religious men especially scoff
at the notion that it is not within their own power to believe
the gospel and obey the Word of God. Yet those who are awakened
by the Holy Spirit confess themselves to be sinners and cry out for
mercy from the hand of a sovereign God. They cast themselves at
His feet and say, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Wise men
will not seek Him, but those who are caused to see themselves
as beggars by the Spirit will indeed hunger and thirst for
a morsel from His table. That's ForThePoor.net. That's ForThePoor.net.