In 1774, the three million American’s situation occurred to them as grounds for the Revolution. Deliberations began after reading Psalms 35, and after a three hour prayer meeting. Let us see if we can get into how they perceived their situation so that we, today, can act on that perception.
CHRIST HAS SUFFERED
H. Jack Mizell
A bank teller is trained to detect quickly counterfeit currency by first counting true currency for days on end. Whenever a counterfeit bill is slipped into the count, it is instantly felt and observed as different, unreal.
Whenever grounded in the true words of God, one is enabled for early detection of the counterfeit, erroneous, heretical, and “satanic verses”.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” 1 Peter 3:18.
A positive truth, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, restored what the first Adam had lost. God, the Father sees only two persons, two races, two Heads. The first Adam is a created son, and the last Adam is God’s only begotten Son. Everyone born of woman is physically born into the first Adam’s race. Everyone who receives Jesus Christ is spiritually born into the last Adam’s race or family. Being born into the first Adam’s family gains you a living soul. Being born into the last Adam’s family gains you a quickening Spirit, and eternal life with the Father. The moment you receive Jesus Christ through believing in Him, the soul and God’s Spirit are joined into a new creation, old things are passed away; that is, the body is dead, and the soul is married to another, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.
“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 7;4, 8:10, 8:23.
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul: the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” 1 Peter 3:18.
Christ has suffered.
Movement into the last Adam ends in heavenly bliss. Being stuck to the first Adam ends in eternal torment. Truth frees the prisoner from the counterfeit who stole the first Adam’s estate.
Having been born into the family of the first Adam, how can you be adopted into the family of the last Adam, the only begotten Son?
What are your consequences if you elect to stay put, never offering yourself for adoption into the family of the last Adam? The Head of the second family has already agreed in writing to accept you. Will you agree to receive the offer and make your new family membership real, official, and final?
Is Hell a bunch of maggots in an eternal flame with no light? Was Jesus’ description clear when he said, “..into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”? Mark 9:44, 46,48. Three times he repeats, “WHERE THEIR WORM DIETH NOT, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.”
Isaiah 66: 24 is the similar Old Testament description. “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4. The value of a soul is well established in Mark 8:36,37 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Genesis 35: 18 “And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-o-ni: but his father called him Benjamin.” When the physical body dies the invisible soul departs. The first death is the death of the body. The second death is the death of the soul.
Revelation 20:14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
We now know who is involved in the second death and their destination. How did the destination (hell) come about?
Matthew 24:41, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” John 8:44,47, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. …there is no truth in him. (47) He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Revelation 20:2, “that old serpent, which is the Devil.”
The current shape of the soul is like the human body and is, at the second death, turned into the shape of a worm or serpent. (Luke 16)
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30, 31.
There are two Adams. There are two “musts”.
When our Lord spoke with Nicodemus He used the word “must” twice, a four letter word of great significant truth introducing light into our understanding. Let us study on it for a few minutes; for, though it be but a word of one syllable, it contains a vast volume of most precious evangelical truth from every viewpoint imaginable. Perhaps, in the word, is the key needed to escape the bondage of sin inherited from our physical parents.
Can it be that there is a cure in following those two “must” words?
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:7.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14
Man’s first birth, his first estate, is totally set aside. Can I boast of my first estate when I must be born again? I must have a new life, a new nature, a new estate. My boast matters not. Any man, born of woman, bears the worldly image, of his fallen parent stamped upon him, body and soul,. Adam, made by the hands of his Creator, was made in the "image of God." A descendant of Adam issued from his mother’s womb, bears the image and shape of a fallen creature. Adam lost one third of his three parts, his spirit. Hence Jesus said, with force, "Ye must be born again." He did not say, Ye must live better, ye must try and be better, ye must change your way of living, ye must turn over a new leaf. Had it been a matter of improvement, Nicodemus would never have asked, "How can these things be?" A Pharisee would have understood any or all of these things. Any self-improvement, any moral reform, a change of conduct, a change of character, all perfectly intelligible to a Pharisee of every age; he was told "Ye must be born again." Such a statement can only be understood by one who has reached the end of himself and his doings; who has been brought to see that in him, that is in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing; who sees himself as a thorough bankrupt without recourse, the account dead. He must get a new life that bankruptcy cannot apply, and another’s acceptable wealth set up, on which creditors have no possible claim.
The immense power of this little word "must." impacts all alike. It speaks to the alcoholic. The abstainer is addressed in the same manner, "Ye must be born again." "Ye must be born again." It speaks to every race, color, creed, and class, to every condition, to every grade and rank, and to every denomination, and declares in its own clear tone and emphatic, sweeping style, and says, "Ye must be born again."
The conscience bears far more weight than any appeal that promotes moral conduct can ever place. Wholesale moral reform is free to excel whatever the shape. Charitable programmers and moral reformers can fulfill their desires. Public opinion, government, law, or any other distinction is not disturbed. All these things remain perfectly untouched, but a commanding sound can be heard above them all, which shouts to the sinner, to man as born of a woman, to the best and worst of men, "Ye must be born again." It demands regeneration, not reformation, no make up on the corpse, demands a new life.
What are we to do'? Where can we go? How are we to get this new life? Jesus’ second "must" tells it all.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
This makes it plain and simple. There are two men and two musts. A second Man has entered the scene. The first man, he must be born again, and the second Man, He must be lifted up. The Cross is divine answer to the "How?" The cross is the grand solution to the problem. The first “must” strikes down completely the first man. Is the problem overwhelming? Has despair set in? I contemplate the apparent impossibility of what, nevertheless, must be. The second “must” falls on my heart with much power. "even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Why must He? Because I must have new life, and this life is in the Son, but it could only be mine through His death.
“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” John 3: 36
Life is alone in the last Adam. Many who breathe, and walk about, deceive themselves into thinking their motion that can be seen is evidence of life. True life, spiritual life, that cannot be seen is eternal, and is a gift only from God through Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation. God saves man. Man cannot save himself.
The death of the second Man is the only ground of life to the first, life to me. Just one look at Jesus Christ, as lifted up for me, is life eternal. The soul that simply believes on the Son of God, as he having died and risen again, is "born of water and of the Spirit;" he hath everlasting life. He is converted, passed from death unto life, from the old creation into the new, from the first man to the Second, from condemnation to favor, from guilt to righteousness, from darkness to light, from Satan to God. May God the Holy Spirit impart to your heart the depth, the comprehensiveness, the beauty and power, and the moral glory of the two "musts."
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3: 5-7).
The first man is all sin. The second man is without sin and cannot die. The first man is born of Adam and is shaped in the fallen image. The second man is born of God, and is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ so we can be like Him.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” “because as he is, so are we in this world.” “lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Romans 8:29, 1 John 4:17, 2 Corinthians 4:4
1 Peter 23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
1John 3:9, “Whosoever is born of God doth commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
The Gospel states it best in 1 Corinthians 2:5-16. “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of the world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. FOR WHO HATH KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE MAY INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”
What about the old body. I am still in it. I can see it, feel, taste, and touch it.
1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?” If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Romans 8:10, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
The soul has been circumcised from his sinful flesh.
Colossians 2:11,12 , “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins in the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
The new man is now married to the Spirit of God from heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:47, “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” Romans 7:4, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
What do we do today when we sin?
1John 1:8-2:1. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto your, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
The old man is sin, sin can never touch the new man. Praise be to God.
A child grows to be a man. Can we grow to be a man of God? A disciple is dedicated to Jesus Christ.
Luke 14: 33, “whosoever he be of you that foresaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” "That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3: 17.
Paul wrote to his beloved son Timothy. The two epistles are marked by intense individuality, and a striking contrast between the two Epistles of Paul to Timothy can be seen. In the first epistle, the church is presented in its full measure, and Timothy is instructed as to how he is to conduct himself therein. Contrary to the first, in the second epistle, the church is presented in its ruin. As in every great house there are vessels to dishonor as well as vessels to honor. So is the house of God wherein are errors and evils, heretical teachers and false professors.
The second epistle is where the expression, “the man of God" is used. What force, what meaning? Whenever the church is in times of widespread ruin, failure, confusion, and declension, it is the time when the faithfulness, devotedness, and decision of the individual man of God are especially needed and called for. Mercy marches forth the responsible witness for Christ to confront the hopeless failure of the church. As Christ’s representative on this earth, it is the privilege of the individual man of God to tread as lofty a path, to enjoy as rich blessings, and to taste as deep communion, that was ever known in the church's brightest days. The focus of the man of God in every age is on the real person of Jesus Christ, not the counterfeit prince of this world, Satan.
This is a most encouraging fact established by many infallible proofs.
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3: 17.
The word “perfect," in the above passage, describes one who is ready, willing, and able to represent Christ. He is the Master’s instrument complete with all its strings, a well-oiled machine with all its parts, a body without blemish, with all its limbs, joints, sinews, and muscles.
Today’s church with all the ruin, confusion, heresies and moral depravities of these last days, stands “the man of God” in his own distinct individual stance, "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Could anything more be said of the church in its brightest days than to have such a one in its midst? Even in the day of Pentecost itself, where power and glory was on display, what better or higher than that expressed in the words “perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works?"
If it be that our desire is to stand for God in this dark and evil day, one must possess and be told that, despite all the darkness, error, evil and confusion, he is made wise unto salvation, and made perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works. Assuredly God is worthy of praise from a spirit filled heart that overflows.
The words of God give us access, in these dark days, to the eternal fountain of inspiration, a fountain so clear that you cannot see or reach its bottom where the child and the man can meet and drink and be satisfied. The child at his mother's knee was made wise unto salvation. The man in the most advanced stage of his practical career is made perfect and fully furnished for the demands of every hour.
Later we will visit in detail “the man of God," and to consider the meaning and special force of the term, “the man of God”.
So far we have identified three aspects in which man is presented in scripture; first, we have man in nature, second, a man in Christ; and, third, we have, the man of God. It might perhaps be thought that the second and third are synonymous; but we shall find a very material difference between them. No doubt, I must be a man in Christ before I can be a man of God; but they are not interchangeable terms.
What about the man in Nature?
The title affords every possible shade of character, temper, and disposition. Man in nature swings between two extremes. He may today present himself as a gentleman of the very highest point of cultivation, or in the very next hour present himself at the very lowest point of degradation. He may at once surround himself with all the refinements and the so-called dignities and advantages of a civilized life; or on the other hand he may be found sunk in all the barbarous, shameless stripes of savage existence. The human family maintains a wide variety of castes, classes, ranks, and grades made for the adaptation of the man in nature.
Even in similar classes of the man in nature one can find the most vivid contrasts. The way of a man’s character, his temperament, and his disposition varies. For example, a man with a lost temper may prove to be a horror of every one who knows him. He burdens his family circle, and comes to be a perfect nuisance to society. He exhibits a porcupine with erect quills. Who would want to meet him again? Again, on the other hand, is a man of most amiable temper, the sweetest disposition and He is just as attractive as the other man in nature is repulsive. He personifies a tender, loving constitution. He is a generous friend, a kindly, genial neighbor; a thoughtful liberal employer; a faithful husband; a kind, affectionate, considerate father; beloved by all, and rightly so; the more you know him the more you will like him, and when you meet him once you meet him you surely want to meet him again.
You may meet a man in nature who is bloody and deceitful down to his heart’s bottom. He delights in deception. He lies. He cheats. He had rather lie than tell the truth even if there is nothing to be gained by lying. His ways are contemptible. He is profane in word and thought. All who know him wish to stay away from him. Again, on the other hand, you may meet a man of great dignity, of high high principle, honorable, generous, frank, and upright; one whose reputation is unblemished, who would be embarrassed to lie, or act in a mean way. His word is his bond in any amount. Dealing with him is a delight. In many ways, he is almost the perfect natural man. He lacks but one thing, he is alone in the world without God.
Finally, the atheist is always there somewhere in nature denying the existence of God; along with the infidel who denies God's revelation; and with the skeptic and one whose reason drives him to disbelieve everything. By contrast, the religious recluse, or monk, who is given to much time in prayers and fasting, ordinances, and rituals; all in the assured attempt to earn a seat in heaven conducts a repetitious round of religious observances that actually renders him unfit for the proper responsibilities and functions of family and social life. You may meet men of every imaginable denomination, every shade of religious opinion, all without a spark of divine life in their souls, moving about like clouds with no rain.
True of all these various men is the solemn fact, irrespective of their grades, shades, class, caste, and condition, the natural man has no link that connects him to heaven. He knows not the Man who sits at the right hand of God. He will never see life, the new creation. Such men are without Christ and without hope. They are unconverted, unsaved, without eternal life. They have no regard for God, Christ or eternal life, and heaven. Regardless of how they may differ, morally, socially, and religiously or their standing on one common ground; they are far from God, out of Christ, in their sins, in the flesh, of the world, and on their way to hell.
Underneath the feet of the man in nature are the future flames of an everlasting hell. There is really no escape from the flames, so says the Holy Scriptures. The fact cannot be altered even by false teachers who would deny it. A contemptuous smile of the infidel will not smother the flame. Several verses of scripture throughout the Bible proclaim the warning of a fire that NEVER shall be quenched, and of a worm that shall NEVER die.
Any attempt to deny the coming wrath of God is sheer folly. Why abolish the plain testimony of the words of God. Surrender the heart and conscience to the weight and authority of the Holy Scriptures. Flee the eternal wrath to come by the simple acceptance from the heart of a free gift, after confessing that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. Yes, for ever, and for ever, and for ever! Tremendous thought! To be saved or to be lost, either is forever. Listen, dear soul of the unconverted to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. Do you not understand what is to be done?"
The question, “What must I do to be saved?" Peter said to the Jew, "Repent and be converted," Paul said to the gentile, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house," Paul summarized his ministry, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
Have the words penetrated to your very heart? Is the only way not understood to alone be a heart felt belief in Jesus Christ? It is not a head belief, superficial, not a mere flippant profession. Is it not real, deep and simple? Knowing the salvation through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ allows one to see oneself as he is. The will is broken; self-confidence and self-importance is cut up by the roots. The conscience has made peace with God.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
The simplicity which is in Christ Jesus is real, not superficial. Present day presentation weaken the bonds of sin by pretending to wrap the wrist in love alone, losing sight of the essential and eternal necessity of repentance, which is the turning to God from idols. Misplaced human faith is a worthless human exercise that passes away like the morning fog thereby leaving the soul in nature’s chains, satisfied with itself, fettered by a counterfeit gospel that cries peace, peace, when there is no peace, only imminent danger.
Most serious. Should we all not give into grave, pointed and immediate consideration. Answer now, “Do you have eternal life?" “He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life." Without it, you have nothing. Though you be most pious after a merely human fashion. Though you be found generous, honorable, truthful, attractive, affable, amiable, beloved, cultivated, learned, polished, upright and frank. You may be all this, and yet dead, not have a single pulsation of eternal life in your soul.
Does this sound too harsh, too severe, and too stern? Is it true? Can you find out now, or do you want to wait until later? The high court of heaven has declared you bankrupt. Can you not see that you are a thorough bankrupt, in the fullest sense of that word? The terms are these, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God." Are you in the flesh? Does this sentence apply to you? So long as you are unrepentant, unconverted, unbelieving, you cannot do a single thing to please God, not a single thing. If you are still “In the flesh" and “on the platform of nature", you cannot please God. “Ye must be born again". While you are still in the flesh, you are wholly unable to see and unfit to enter the kingdom of God. You must be born of water and of the Spirit, that is, by the living word of God, and of the Holy Ghost. The way for entry into the kingdom of God is by the new birth through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. It is not by self-improvement. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God." “The flesh profiteth nothing,"
“Ye must be born again." If you ask again, “How?" Listen to the divine response from the lips of the Master Himself, Jesus, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Here is God’s cure for every hell deserving sinner, for every one who owns himself lost, hopelessly ruined, for every poor broken-hearted sinner who judges himself and confesses his sins, who is conscience-smitten, and for every weary, heavy laden, sin-burdened soul, here is God's own blessed promise for the soul. Jesus drank your cup of wrath, that you might drink the cup of salvation. Jesus died on the cross for you that you might live. He was condemned, that you might be justified. Look up and see what He did for you. Believe that Jesus satisfied, on your behalf, all the claims of the throne of God.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.”
All your sins were laid on Him or imputed to Him. His atoning death answering perfectly for all that was or ever could be brought against you. See Him seated at the right hand of the Father, accepted, having finished the will of the Father, having risen from the dead, having accomplished all. He ascended into the heavens, the nail prints bearing the marks of His finished atonement. He is seated on the throne of God, in the very highest place of power. He is crowned with honor and glory.
Believe in Him seated there on the throne, and you will receive the gift of eternal life, the earnest of the inheritance, and the seal of the Holy Ghost. You will pass from the death of the old man into the glorious life of the new man, off the platform of nature; you will be “A man in Christ, a Christian."
When the convicting power of the Holy Spirit has opened the eyes of the natural man to see his true condition, who knows the meaning of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, is made to know the divine secret of rest and peace. God said, “they that are in the flesh cannot please God." How is anyone to get out of the flesh? How can he abandon the old man in nature for the new man in Christ? How he to reach the position is declared by the Holy Spirit, “Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit?"
The old nature has no standing before God. The old nature cannot be improved. It may be in splendid condition as far as human life in the body and the attached soul is concerned. Many a man tries to improve himself by every means within his reach, by trying to advance his social position, hoping to cultivate his mind, sharpen his memory, and to elevate his moral tone, or hopefully achieve enlightenment. Who would not applaud the effort?
Can the solemn and sweeping statement of the inspired apostle be escaped that “They that are in the flesh cannot please God." There must be a new standing. A change in the old nature, a new feeling, new sayings, ordinances of religion doings or sayings, prayers alms, or sacraments will not suffice. Nature remains nature still. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" Flesh cannot be made spirit. There must be a new life in the new man which flows from the new man, the last Adam, who resurrection proclaimed the Head of a new creation.
How can this most precious new life be had? Hear the memorable answer and live.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life." John 5: 24.
We have a total change of standing having passed from death to life. Now there is not a single link with the first man, with the old creation, and this present evil world. How? Through believing from the heart on the Son of God, confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus, believing in the heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Salvation is assured because God said so. Only then does any one become A MAN IN CHRIST, eternally saved.
There cannot be any difference here. The factual state may differ significantly; but the standing cannot change. The man of nature has a fixed, though lost, standing before God. As with the man in nature, there is a fixed standing before God with the man in Christ. The man in Christ is a child of God residing in the body of the old man. Sins of the flesh in the old body cannot touch the new man. “Walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh.” Sin shall not have dominion while we wait, to wit, for the redemption of the body. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Judgment is given for the things in the flesh needed to determine the reward for your faithfulness, but the standing of the child of God cannot change regardless of the reward attached to his ever changing state.
We are either in our sins or in Christ. If we are in our sins, then we must be born again to get into the standing of being in Christ. Once in Christ the standing cannot change. One’s state of being near or far from Christ in obedience and devotion is always changing. We die daily.
The foundational truth is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15: 45-48, Paul speaks here of two men, "the first and the second." Each is in contrast to the other. The second is born only if the first is willing to be planted in death similarly to a “corn of wheat” that is planted and becomes a new stalk nourished by means outside himself, a heavenly source of life in Himself. The first man guilty and ruined has been a creature cast out entirely. Adam is the head of a fallen race even though he was saved by the grace of God.
Hebrews 8:7, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second."
Only the new could be introduced because the old man was beyond repair, was a complete ruin.
Galatians 6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." Romans 8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
Christianity is the only salvation from God through the faith of Jesus Christ, head of the race of new men. Every other religion under the sun is man’s attempt to save himself by the improvement or advancement of the old man. There is a choice between the two. Man saves himself or God saves man. Salvation is in a person, Jesus Christ. Without question it is your choice.
The cross is where judgment brought the old man to an end, banished, crucified. Sin was canceled. Christianity itself was defined as presented according to the scriptures.
Galatians 5:24, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Roman 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
The Old Testament saints were “just men made perfect” through faith and works, and upon dying ended up in Abraham’s bosom. Luke 16. The cross ended the history of the old man and ushered in the dispensation of grace where salvation for the new man is by grace through faith plus nothing. Ephesians 2:8 Abraham’s bosom was emptied by Jesus and is now relocated to heaven. 1 Peter 3. The unconverted, unsaved man of all ages is in hell awaiting the White Throne Judgment. Revelation 20.
On the cross, Jesus became sin for every descendant of the old nature, the old man. The open grave of the second man, Jesus, proves He is God in the flesh without sin in Him, and, absent of any indwelling sin, death could not prevent Him from rising, never to die again. The cross indexed the worthlessness and condemnation of the old man in nature, willing to shed divine blood. Christianity began at the open grave of the risen savior moving onward to its eternal glory with no remains of the old man. The salvation of God has not one particle of man, man doesn’t have means of salvation, hence the salvation of God, a free gift, and if we get it, we get it because it is a free gift from Him.
What a relief for the poor burdened soul! What a rejoicing to rise freely to such a high moral elevation, one inside Jesus Christ in glory! What great strength and power to be given all things. What eternal comfort and rest! What strength! Years of seeking in vain are ended when the sinner comes to Jesus having overcome for himself that which 6,000 years of human history has not achieve, and that is to overcome dead.
“O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING? O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY? 1Corinthians 15:55.
Now the sons of God shall be just like Jesus when he appears and be able to see him as he is. They will, like Jesus, move faster than the speed of light, even thru solid objects. In glory, the child of God will be able to do everything he wants to do when he wants to do it, and everything he does pleases God. It is a blessed thought just knowing that there are no bureaucratic restrictions, no government regulation that can govern the child of God. Never again will the child be exposed to having to deal with his ruined, bankrupt, guilty, illegal, old man that God has completely set aside. God has put to death, on the cross, the old man, and completely. Try as he may, the old nature had no means or path for improvement. What vain existence for all who would attempt to decorate the corpse into acceptance. Such men are still outside of Christ, are dead in their trespasses and sin.
There is no good in the unconverted though a monk or a ceremonialist wrapped in religious robe. All in this world, moved by the acceptance of a free gift from Christ, now can clearly know that all things seen are temporary, and all unseen things are of God, are eternal and that no old man can approach. The slave to Satan, sin, and death has been set free, bought by a price most precious. Such emancipation. Such power. Just to think that now in reality a child of God, is a member of the race of the second man who “is the Lord from heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:47. No more corrupt religions though they number in the thousands formed for the ruination of untold millions of souls. It is Satan, the deceiver who blinds many by promoting false “Christian religions”, doctrines and ordinances designed for the strut of the professional, and for application by all the self-satisfied descendants of Adam, the first man. In this way Satan blinds their eyes to their own true condition outside the person of Christ. The deadly robe, the old garment, for the self-righteousness old man is fashioned to deal a deadly blow toward the pure recorded Gospel of Christ. Truly profession is not possession.
Mark 2:21, “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth to an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up talketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.”
“For I through law am dead to law, that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." “And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2: 19, 20, 21.
Please note that this “in the flesh” refers to one living inside one’s physical body. In the “in the flesh” in Romans 8 refers to one’s standing of being in the spirit as opposed to his being “in the flesh.” Sometimes being “in the flesh” simply means being “in the body.”
Christianity at it simplest definition is death to the old man, and becoming a new man in Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of the new race, the new creation. Every single true believer is a new man in Christ. The old man in nature, the old creation, is crucified, past. The standing of the new man is life and righteousness in a risen Christ now seated on the throne at the right hand of God the Father.
One must either be in the first man or the second, the last Adam; in Christ or in my sins. God sees the believer in Christ, as one with Christ who represented the believer, bore the believer’s sins, died the believer’s death, paid the believer’s penalty, took the entire believer’s guilt, and having borne the believer’s judgment, He rose from the dead, and is now the only definitive expression of the believer before God.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6: 1-11.
The foundational doctrine of true Christianity is expressed in Romans 6, death to the old man, a risen Christ for the new man. Over and over it is driven home that the old man is dead, crucified with him, buried with him, dead indeed unto sin, dead with Christ. More than just the forgiveness of sin is figured here. All sin is condemned, all the entire old system of sin is set aside once and for all, forever. The body of sin common to the condition of the first Adam has been destroyed.
1 Corinthians 15: 1-6 defines the Gospel. “Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”
The written account of His ascension into heaven.
“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 10, 11
Jesus alone rose from the dead never to die again. The forty-eight prophecies recorded hundreds of years before his death and resurrection came true, all of them. The mathematical odds of forth-eight prophecies spanning several hundred years coming true on one man are one out of ten with one-hundred fifty-seven zeroes following it. Can you believe that one can still get a college degree in comparative religion? What is there left to compare. Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. He is who He said He was. Only God could rise from the dead never to die again.
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35.
Further evidence is recorded in Colossians. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Are your affections now set on things above? Are you “as though” living in the world or in heaven? Are you dead to this present evil world? Is heaven your home, in Christ Jesus who is seated at the right hand of God the Father? We know that a Christian belongs to heaven. He may be walking on the earth now, but a Christian is a heavenly man.
Psalms 32:8, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
A Christian’s affections, his thoughts, his politics, his religion, and his morals are all now heavenly. Where ever the hand of God has placed him, the child of God is called and equipped to be there as guided. He may be in relation to others, a servant, a father, child, or a husband. He is a spiritual man. His body may now be on earth as a fact of his condition, but he is not in the flesh as to his standing. He is truly a man in Christ.
A man in Christ has a positive standing with God through Christ. His state from time to time may vary into one of many listed in 2 Corinthians 12: 20, 21. Romans 12:1 encourages us to be watchful and to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
The priorities for the man in Christ are given in Hebrews 13:12-16. A man in Christ is outside the camp bearing Christ’s reproach. First priority is praise to God. “By him, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” The second priority is, “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” First, praise God, and second, do good to your to your fellow man.
The flesh even in a saved man may cause one to sink to the very depths of degradation. The apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh as a humbling agent, to keep him from being “exalted above measure," even though he had been caught up to the third heaven. Can pride, one of the three conditions that the world has to offer, be an overshadowing influence on the saved? Yes. The flesh, if not kept under, day by day, minute by minute, by the grace of God, will manifest its incorrigible nature, its ruin, and will make the work full of sorrow and grief. Yet, sin will not have dominion over you.
The believer, the Man in Christ has a standing that cannot be touched. He is accepted in the beloved, perfect, justified, and all that forever. Legalism is the notion that obedience to a code of religious law is necessary for salvation. Antinomianism is the opposite, an idea the members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of morality or ethics as presented by religious authorities. Essentially, these two persuasions are dedicated to the judgment of one’s standing by his state. This will never do. The state must be judged by his standing. Trying to reach the standing by my state is legalism, to refuse to judge my state by my standing is antinomianism. Both differ and are an offence to God and the Holy Spirit because both are false, opposed to God’s truth, and both alike are removed from, the divine idea of a Man in Christ.
Let us move now from the man in nature and the man in Christ to the man of God. When we are first born again we can only deal with milk, not strong meat. Not every man in Christ is a man in God. A man of God will live godly, is steadfast, unmovable especially in the face of false prophets, in the midst of failure and error, during perilous times, keeping his eye focused on the person of Christ himself. Christianity is belief in a person not in a set of ordinances or man’s rituals, ceremonies, or man’s tradition. Losing a focus on Christ himself allows sin to creep in.
It is the 2 Timothy 3:17, “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” When the days are dark and perilous, the man of God is called upon with ample provision, especially in the day in which he is called to live. Godly living demands the eye to be fixed steadily on Christ Himself, His word, His Name, and His Person. All are useful to the man of God who wishes to stem the rising tide in opposition.
How profound the opening statement of the Second Epistle of Timothy. “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day." The sacrifice of praise to God by giving thanks to his name, and then to do good by being a prayer warrior for another man of God personifies the action of such a dedicated man..
The Second Epistle of Timothy finds the church in ruin, and many who had claimed to be his friend had now deserted him, becoming “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, and of his prisoner." When faced with trial, Paul faced disappointment at seeing his fellow Christians now turning their backs on him. Christian they still were, but weak.
Now, absent individual sympathy and fellowship in such trying circumstances, Paul has to turn his heart with individual faithfulness, affection, and tenderness to address the needs of the moment. Better would it have been to have found himself surrounded, on all sides, by a great cloud of witnesses, a large army of good soldiers, and true hearted confessors of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, now when the atmosphere drops with things low, when the majority prove without strong faith, when his old associates are dropping off, turning their backs to him, nothing can be more valued than the man of God exhibiting personal grace and true affection. By contrast, the backdrop of general declension showcases the individual devotedness as a beautiful relief.
The very depths of heart are touched listening to a true yoke fellow, and aged prisoner of Christ speaking of serving God from his forefathers with a pure conscience, and speaking of unceasing remberance of his beloved son in Christ.
“I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice: and I am persuaded that in thee also." Paul spoke thusly of Timothy counting him a faithful friend. All of Paul’s Christian companions had deserted him. A true men of God in a dark and evil day must exhibit two qualities, a “pure conscience", and “the unfeigned faith." Paul had served God, from his forefathers, with pure conscience, before he had known the fellow Christian, Timothy, who exhibited “the unfeigned faith."
We must run from the danger of falling under human influence, depart from the path laid out for us by the thoughts of our fellow man, and flee their conversation in life. All our life streams must flow from the one true living God. A pure conscience allows us to walk before God; an unfeigned faith enables us to walk with him. Both together form the indispensable character of the true man of God.
Nothing is more important than to keep a pure conscience before God, in all our ways. God in everything, the hand of God, the eye of God, the love of God covers the entire range of vision, both physical and spiritual, when the conscience is pure. When the eye remains focused on Jesus Christ, we cannot be tossed to and fro, and carried away about with every wind of doctrine, by sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. We must be intimate enough with Jesus to see the movement of His eye.
Keeping in constant view the person of Jesus maintains the conscience and keeps consistent and stables the character of the man of God. The current of human opinion with its destructive forces has no impact on the integrity of the man of God. Man’s wisdom and mere human thought will assert that instead of being a man of God, one should please his fellows, join the party, a sect and acquire heaven by trading earth, hiding the fact that all human systems totter and fall; but the name of Jesus Christ endureth for ever
The man of God plants his foot on this holy elevation, and enjoys sweet converse with the unchangeable and eternal Source of all good thereby keeping the originality and freshness essential to the individual servant, man of God through Christ.
The integrity of one’s individual character and path must be maintained lest there manifest a fall into the ruin of impotent workmen. Let us carefully guard against this. Some began with God. They started along their divinely designated path boasting a pure conscience, with a bloom and freshness, most rewarding to all who came in contact with them.
They drank for themselves from the fountain of the Holy Scripture, taught by God. Perhaps they knew little; but what they did know was real to them because they perceived that it came from God. Proven was the passage, “there is much food in the tillage of the poor."
But, failing to steadfastly go on with God, they gave under to human influence; they drank from broken cisterns of human opinion, what truth was had came second-hand; they lost the passion, lost originality, freshness, simplicity and power, and became miserable caricatures. No longer were they giving forth “rivers of living water" which flow from the true man of God in Jesus; they paraded as impassioned technicians of mere systematized religion.
What is the secret power for the man of God? What is to be understood by a pure conscience? Certainly one must believe, pray, and seek to serve God with a pure conscience. His blessed countenance gives light enabling one to enjoy the holy intimacy of personal communion with Him, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
The heart must know of a deep and cherished sense our own personal responsibility to Him gained by living in His own immediate presence and in the light of His blessed countenance. This can only come to the possessor a pure conscience through the advocacy of Jesus Christ before God being just and faithful to forgive all confessed sins and to cleanse the confessing man of God of all unrighteousness. It is all of God.
True fellowship, holy communion with true fellow Christians, Christians will experience great heavenly value when all are men of God. God blessed glow, depth of tone, energy, and power will be imparted to the fellowship if every “man in Christ” were acquitted thoroughly as “a man of God.” Absent would be the dull formalism or religious dogma.
Fellowship among believers, who enjoy a living communion with Christ, and dedicate themselves to a personal devotedness to His cause, who know themselves to be the “bride of Christ” constitutes a privileged group different from nominal membership in some religious denomination.
Just what is fellowship? It is knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost. God accepted Christ and His finished work on earth and seated him on the throne at His right hand. God accepted the finished work of Christ and Christ should be acceptable to us. Offering the sacrifice of praise to God continually is the very highest expression of our oneness with God.
This is fellowship with God, knowing and enjoying the common object with Him, which is Jesus Christ His only begotten Son. What a high privilege! What a great dignity! What unspeakable blessedness! To be allowed to have a common object and a common portion with God Himself! To delight in the One in whom He delights!
We will enjoy the holy intimacy of personal communion with Him, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can be higher nothing can be better than knowing the holy intimacy of personal communion with Him, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Heaven will make known nothing beyond this.
The complete new man with a redeemed body will, thank God. We shall be done with a body of sin and death, the body of the old man, and be clothed with a celestial body in glory. Our fellowship in heaven then will be as it is now, “in the light with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
As to our fellowship one with another, the authority of the word is brought to satisfy forever the question. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)
Fellowship one with another can be felt only as we walk in the immediate presence of God. Fellowship without the presence of God is mere intercourse without one single particle of divine fellowship. What passes for Christian fellowship is nothing more than gossip; soul-withering chit-chat of the religious world, lifeless, worthless, and miserably unproductive.
When we are individually walking with God, in the power of personal communion, and in the light, true Christian fellowship can only then be enjoyed. It is following a path of service when the heart is true to Christ, true to His name and cause, true to His Person, and true to His people. Into such fellowship, the Holy Spirit opens u the precious treasure of divine revelation and pours a flood of living light upon our understanding revealing a sure footed path of service as clear as a sunbeam before us. We have only only to tread it with a firm step.
It is not a heartless traffic in some favorite doctrine held in common. It is not morbid sympathy with those who see, feel, and think as we do about some favorite theological theory or dogma. It is being accepted by all those beloved who in their heart and soul are concentrated to that blessed One who loved us enough to die for us and to wash us from our sins in His own blood, transporting us into the light of God's presence, there to walk with Him and with one another. God knows all them that are His. Only they can have fellowship with God.
So far we have seen the equipment that “the man of God” must put on however dark his day. Truly he must adorn a “pure conscience” and “unfeigned faith.”
There is more. The man of God must work on even in the face of all sorts of controversies, questions, sorrows, difficulties, trials, obstacles, and disappointments. Whatever confronts him, he must none the less serve.
The church may be in ruins around him, false brethren may hinder and desert him; there may be strife, controversy and division to darken the atmosphere; still the man of God must move on, regardless of all these things, testifying, working, serving, according to the gift bestowed upon him wherever the hand of God has placed him. Satan will oppose, and the world will cast a frown. How can he show the virtues of a mighty man of valor? "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."
The gift must not lie dormant, it must be stirred up. Circumstances will not be a source of discouragement to a stirred up gift. A stirred up gift grows and expands. The gift we possess must be cultivated, waited upon, and exercised to bear improvement.
In Ephesians 4 is recorded “the gift of Christ." There the gifts given to the church range from the highest gift to the lowest, all are given by Christ the risen and glorified Head of His body the church. But in 2 Timothy, we have it defined as “the gift of God."
The distinction between the two words can be seen as used in 2 Chronicles 18: 31, “And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.” “The Lord” brings out his connection with His distressed servant, Jehoshaphat, His connection in grace; the expression “God” shows out the powerful control He exercised over the Syrian captains.
Many men in Christ can be nurtured while they are growing babes. As Lord, he deals with His own redeemed people, supplying all their needs, and meeting all their weakness. As God, He holds the omnipotent hand in the hearts of all men, to turn them as He would have them go.
God is seen by the unconverted as One who exercises an influence from a distance; God uses a thoroughly furnished man of God to represent Him in the face of the enemy who is encouraged to surrender for Life eternal. On the other hand, one who loves Jesus Christ knows Him in a near relationship. The man of God is especially useful during the hopeless ruin of the professing church, during difficulties and the dark day.
Heresies, error, false doctrine, and legalism is met by “the gift of God” communicated to “the man of God” for the transformation of a professing church mired in hopeless ruin. The day may be unique in its depravity, but God can use the gift exercised to achieve His good pleasure. Regardless of the gloom of the day “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”
God always knows the right combination furnishing His man with the very thing he needs to meet the conditions to be confronted of his day, "not the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
Note that the exact and correct amount is given, not too little and not too much. Power alone could lead to an arrogant high hand. Love might be exchanged for imagined peace, and to tolerate evil giving none offence, all at the expense of truth. Love is strengthened by the power, and the power is softened by the love. The wisdom of a sound mind balances both the power and the love.
Even though the day is full of varied and perplexing questions, even apparent contradictions, especially in these “last days”, this very provision for “the man of God” is graciously given to him for the shaping of character, setting of his path, and with never ending instruction from the very Eye of God guiding him in the way he should go. “A man of God” is equipped and used by the mighty hand of God.
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."
Paul is writing alone from Rome having been forsaken by all of Asia; Hymeneus and Philetus are at the time denying the resurrection; the gospel landmarks are uprooted by a swirl of apostasy; and corruption; evils, heresies, and errors are creeping in on all sides.
What is needed is a return to the early days of the Acts of the Apostles, when there was unity of the bride of Christ having all with one heart and one mind; the fountain of divine grace poured out mighty rich blessings yielding three thousand ransomed souls in just one day who partook of the triumphs of the gospel.
The exceeding exhibit of such diving power overawed all bystanders. No afflictions for the gospel were at hand. By the time of the epistle of second Timothy, all is changed. Only an exercise “man of God” serves the needs of that day.
Seeing all this that swirls around him, the “man of God” must stand firm, unmovable, anchor himself in sound words, contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints; keeping that which was committed to him; do as he was commanded to be strong and of a good courage; to be not afraid, neither to be dismayed; to wear all the armor of a good soldier; he must follow righteousness, peace and faith, and charity to all of them who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. He must flee youthful lusts.
He must support unity of the brethren by avoiding foolish questions and meaningless genealogies. He must know the scripture thereby being thoroughly furnished to do the work of an evangelist; able to endure afflictions, preaching the word instantly in and out of season. Also he must avoid all forms of education that profit by the exaltation of man; excitedly strutting self-importance, and displaying the fruits of a man’s work.
He must maintain the proper order that first the mind of God is to glorify Christ, and the heart of Christ has the end of the salvation of souls, and to visit the church with full blessing. In doing all these things he must exhibit a real, calm, quiet, unpretending demeanor that waits patiently, earnestly, simply, and believingly on God. Self must be on the sidelines, Christ will be owned, trusted, and exalted above all measure. There with “the man of God” all will be right.
Can God empower such a one for such work? Where can such spiritual power be found except at the mercy seat? The “man of God” finds such power only by waiting earnestly, patiently, and believingly upon the living God. There can be no other way. God alone can provide sufficiently for the darkest of days.
All good and perfect gifts come from heaven above. Difficulties are never too great for God, and nothing to small for use in the purpose of God. The “man of God basks in the light of the divine presence of God, truly enjoys high communion, and tastes the rich goodness of God personally while suffering afflictions for Christ. The day that God has presented through a purposeful use of the man of God is a bright day for rejoicing.
Focus on the real for comfort, peace, and strength; none can be enjoyed in the midst of the ruin. We must set our affection on Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens above. Are we not spiritually able, in Jesus, to look down from the heavens above to observe the earthly ruin below? Nothing can be gained from the earthly view of the ruin itself.
We should constantly focus on our place in Christ, while with all our heart and soul offering constant praise to God. Christ must be ever before us, making aware of His work for the conscience, His Person for the heart, and His word for the path. The one divine, sovereign prescription for a ruined self, a ruined church, and a ruined world.
Romans 12:1-2 are verses worthy of our remembrance. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
A man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. All that a believer is, all that he has, should be consecrated to His service. Our earnest whole-hearted devotion to God, through his gracious mercy, should be made real in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ in all things yearning to be “a man of God”.